This Week In The Pac-12: Half The Conference Wets The Bed
by norcalnick on Sep 5, 2011 10:30 AM PDT
in California Golden Bears Football
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PrintFor those new to This Week In The Pac-12: We're quickly breaking down each Pac-12 game and what it means, and each game deemed important enough will have a question in bold for readers to respond to. Answer as many as you can!
At various points this week Pac-12 opponents were struggling mightily with Eastern Washington, Hawaii, Houston, Montana St., Minnesota, and Sacramento St. . . . which isn't exactly a list of college football powerhouses. And perhaps more painfully, the standard bearer for the conference contracted fumblitis at the worst possible moment, and LSU borrowed the Clancy Pendergast patented blueprint® to stop the Oregon spread in a convincing Tiger win at the Jerrydome.
Let's break down the week that was game-by-game, from most embarrassing to least embarrasing. The starting point on our journey is a pretty easy choice. Beavers, step up!
Sacramento St. 29, Oregon St. 28
Part of me is feeling just the smallest bit smug for predicting a down season for Oregon St. On the other hand, nobody predicted this. The Beavers were somewhat crippled by a slew of injuries and the Hornets took advantage. Oregon St. has taken their penchant for non-conference losses to a whole new level. Despite their troubles the Beavers still should have won - out-gaining Sac. St. by a healthy margin and missing what should have been a game-winning field goal. As it is, this team very much looks like a 5-7 squad that lost its best player on both offense and defense to the draft.
Building the Dam responds rather calmly:
11 true freshmen dressed for the game, and 8 played, including 3 who started. 14 Beavers made their first start, including 8 on defense. And those counts don't even include safety Anthony Watkins, who didn't start until the end of last season, or CB Sean Martin, who played more than half the game after Rashaad Reynolds, him self a first time starter in place of the injured Brandon Hardin, cramped up in the 90 degree plus heat.
Yet it wasn't just OSU's youth that betrayed them - 2nd year starter Ryan Katz was generally ineffective and was eventually removed from the game, a shocking development for a player many pegged as a dark-horse All-Pac-12 candidate.
Do you still irrationally fear the Beavers, or has the Mike Riley magic finally run out?
Washington 30, Eastern Washington 27
While Oregon St. was a bit unlucky to lose to Sac St., Washington was extremely lucky to beat Eastern Washington. Nearly every meaningful stat shows a game that Eastern Washington dominated. Eastern doubled UW's yardage total and completely corralled new Husky QB Keith Price, who finished with a long completion of 10 yards. The Pac-12 was thisclose to two shockingly bad FCS defeats.
No pressure...absolutely no pressure most of the night against a 1-AA foe. Alameda Ta'amu played like a big fat pile of goo. He was dominated most of the evening by players who had no business being on the same playing field with him.
Washington has Hawaii visiting Seattle before traveling to Nebraska. What will be UW's record when they take on the Bears in week 4?
Hawaii 34, Colorado 17
The road losing streak drags on for the Buffaloes, who actually did a pretty good job slowing down Hawaii's run and shoot passing attack but utterly failed to stop Bryant Moniz's running attack. Meanwhile, counting sacks, Colorado averaged 0.6 yards per carry. I didn't wish Marshall on Buffalo fans who certainly deserve some kind of optimism, but Cal fans can't say they're shocked.
Ralphie Report preaches patience with the new regime:
As Buff fans, we knew 2011 was potentially going to be a difficult season. Colorado has a brutal schedule both out and in conference. New coaching staff transitions always have their growing pains especially given the lack of success from the prior regime. We all expected the Embree debut to be better than it was and I am sure the staff did as well. It's still very early and now we know that patience will be need to get this thing turned around.
If you can remember your pre-season confidence score for Cal @ Colorado (on a scale from 0.0 to 1.0) how far has it moved due to the events of week 1?
Houston 38, UCLA 34
Last year UCLA had a bad defense, and they lost two high-round draft picks to the NFL. So 38 points from Case Keenum and Houston at home perhaps shouldn't be a surprise. Still, pundits continue to identify UCLA as a team to watch each year, so it's just as well that the Bruins let their supporters down early in the season. Frankly, UCLA did better than I thought they would, but many pegged this game as a must win for UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, and in that regard it's a failure.
I was actually plesantly surprised by the UCLA offense and the play of Richard Brehaut. Jonathan Franklin was his usually productive self, but with marginally improved line play. Houston likely doesn't have a great defense, but 34 points and 554 yards is still a strong statement. We'll see if they can do it against stiffer opposition.
Bruins Nation wants to be optimistic but the losses are piling up:
In my eye-test, I can only see this game as a failure, because this is a game that we didn't have to lose. That's the bottom line. If we execute two or three plays differently, the final score is different.
Who would worry you the most as UCLA's new coach in 2012?
USC 19, Minnesota 17
How many games can USC expect to win just based on the production of Barkley to Woods? Because that's all it took to hang on against Minnesota. Yet I'd like to think most Pac-12 teams will present a more difficult challenge than the Golden Gophers. USC didn't help themselves out any by missing two 2 pt. conversion attempts, but Minnesota did worse by missing two field goals. All in all, a thoroughly unconvincing win for the Trojans.
Conquest Chronicles isn't sure what to make of USC's struggles:
I just don't understand why Kiffin is so conservative. He says one thing then does another. I thought we would win comfortably yesterday. We didn't and now there are a lot more questions. I am not sure how this season will play out...
Is USC actually vulnerable or is this another elaborate plot to lure us into a false sense of security . . . or both?!?
Warning: Obnoxious music ahead
Utah 27, Montana St. 10
Utah raced out to a 24-0 lead, then Montana St. controlled the rest of the game for an uninspiring debut as a BCS team. The Utes struggled mightily to move the ball through the air and couldn't convert 3rd down attempts against the #6 ranked FCS Bobcats.
BlockU worries about what these struggles might portend for the future:
Yeah, the Utes won and are 1-0 and didn't fully embarrass themselves like Ole Miss and Virginia Tech did last year against FCS schools, but there was nothing in this win that gives me confidence this team is ready to head on the road, to play in front of 90,000 fans, and compete, let alone win, against a hungry and talented USC program.
Call me a defeatist and hopefully I'm proven wrong, but Thursday's game makes it difficult to find any confidence in this team - at least right now.
Opening day jitters or an omen of worse things to come for Utah?
LSU 40, Oregon 27
Statistically, LSU and Oregon played each other even, but boy do those penalties and turnovers sting. I don't think this loss means nearly as much as everybody else seems to think - Oregon is still a major contender for both the Pac-12 and a BCS bowl - but that doesn't mean this team doesn't have flaws that appropriately talented opponents can exploit. I only hope Cal is appropriately talented!
Addicted To Quack rues inexperienced players:
Watching the game, it was clear that the Ducks were a young team. There was little consistency for the offense, and small mistakes were made that more experienced players simply don't make.
Do you still consider Oregon to be the favorite to win the Pac-12 North, or is it . . . gulp . . . Stanford?
Arizona 41, Northern Arizona 10
Arizona destroyed an over-matched FCS opponent after fooling around for two quarters. Moving on.
Arizona St. 48, UC Davis 14
Arizona St. destroyed an over-matched FCS opponent without fooling around for two quarters. Moving on.
Stanford 57, San Jose St. 3
Stanford destroyed the functional equivalent of an overmatched FCS opponent without fooling around for two quarters. Moving on.
Did anything that happened in the above three games provide any meaningful info about any of the teams involved? Bonus points if you can make a compelling argument for a 'yes!'
Washington St. 64, Idaho St. 21
Washington State destroyed an over-matched FCS opponent . . . except, considering recent WSU results, that's actually a significant achievement, particularly without the help of Jeff Tuel. But of course, when WSU takes a quantifiable step forward, cruel and uncaring fate decides to break a bone in Tuel's spine.
CougCenter has to deal with another punch to the gut:
Jeff Tuel, the quarterback on whom WSU's hopes and dreams rest this season, fractured his left collarbone in his one drive of play today against Idaho State. It's unknown how long he'll be out, but collarbone injuries typically don't heal very fast, and have to be solid before being exposed to contact again.
Do you expect WSU to remain competitive if Jeff Tuel is unable to play this year?
NEXT WEEK
Here's your schedule. 10 almost uniformly intriguing games over three days should keep you appropriately glued to the couch you lazy, awful person. All times Pacific Standard.
Thursday
Arizona at Oklahoma St., 5:00 pm, ESPN
Friday
Missouri at Arizona St., 7:30 pm, ESPN
Saturday
Oregon St. at Wisconsin, 9:00 am, ESPN3
Cal at Colorado, 12:30 pm, CSN California
Stanford at Duke, 12:30 pm, ESPNU
Hawaii at Washington, 12:30 pm
Nevada at Oregon, 12:30 pm, FX
UNLV at Washington St., 2:00 pm
Utah at USC, 4:30 pm, Versus
San Jose St. at UCLA, 7:00 pm, Fox Sports West
Burning Questions: Can the Arizona schools rep the Pac-12 on ESPN after waxing FCS teams in Week 1? Can Washington avoid a loss to a feisty Hawaii team that runs an offense very similar to the Eastern Washington team that shredded them? What happens in the two Pac-12 matchups this weekend (official league games or otherwise)? And troubles aside, there's no way that UCLA struggles with San Jose St., right? RIGHT?
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We play them again next year
At Stanford Stadium
by RedOscar on Sep 5, 2011 10:50 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
you won’t be pre-season #7 next year. you won’t have Luck. You’ll be Stanfurd again. I may go back to indifferently not caring who loses.
Wouldn’t you still root for Duke in that situation?
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As someone who is also a Carolina BB fan, I hope both teams lose.
Can’t get myself to root for either.
The DOOK QB is probably conditioned to fall over backwards when a defender comes close after he passes the ball.
I feel terrible for OSU
They had such a small margin for error this season that they needed to win the Sacramento! State game. Now it looks like they will not make a bowl game.
Their easiest path to six wins involves winning the following games:
UCLA
Arizona
BYU
@Wazzu
@Cal
UW
I can’t see them winning those six games (and certainly not at ASU, at Utah, at Oregon, or vs Stanford). Hopefully they don’t start calling for Mike Riley’s head.
"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
Kevin Riley’s career began with OSU and ended with OSU.
Im hoping that with departure of Kevin Riley, the OSU curse has gone away.
That was some bad JUJU...
Drew: 'Oh no.. That is certainly the meaty part alright, but it's not the thigh..."
Randy: "No... that bone is NOT connected to the thigh bone..."
www.fearthefin.com - Where masochism is defined.
I rushed the Furd's farm in 2009
www.californiagoldenblogs.com - Where Cal grads prove they learned something.
I don't know that I feel bad precisely.
One of the hallmarks of the Mike Riley era has been slow and lackadaisical starts. His teams routinely start slow, losing games they should win, laying down and failing to compete in games in which they should be competitive. This is usually followed by an uptick in play just in time to make life more difficult for the Pac-10. Don’t know if this will continue to the Pac-12, but…
Combine that habit with a regression in talent, and you get a game like this. I know it objectively hurts the Pac-12 and all its denizens to have OSU lose this game, but I’m happy for Sac State for pulling this out. Most of the time, these sorts of games seem to miraculously break in favor of the BCS team (See USU v. Auburn).
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Official Acceptor of TwistNHook's Unconditional Surrender Person of CGB and Queen of Spite Recs
They only need to win 5
I thought for bowl eligibility, you needed 5 wins against FBS schools. That’s why most of the time, it’s six win schools, but one of those wins came from FCS. Occasionally, a 5-7 team is bowl eligible.
I am pretty certain that you need to have a winning record to be bowl eligible.
by LEastCoastBears on Sep 5, 2011 2:50 PM PDT up reply actions
You need to be 6-6 to be bowl eligible, with the caveat that no more than one win counts against an FCS opponent. Thus, ASU at 6-6 last year was not bowl eligible due to 2 wins coming vs. FCS competition.
If you play 13 regular season games, 7-6 is bowl eligible.
Keeping January 2 open. You know, just in case.
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insight bowl!
Drew: 'Oh no.. That is certainly the meaty part alright, but it's not the thigh..."
Randy: "No... that bone is NOT connected to the thigh bone..."
www.fearthefin.com - Where masochism is defined.
I rushed the Furd's farm in 2009
www.californiagoldenblogs.com - Where Cal grads prove they learned something.
Too many questions to answer individually, but here are some thoughts:
1. USC is in for another year of the stark reality of not being the big punk on the block anymore. That said, they still beat us 52 – 3
2. Ucla fans better strap themselves in. Their offense won’t be as good as this in conference, nor their defense as bad. But I can’t see them cracking 6 wins.
3. Oregon State fans are going to be hella frustrated with their team, because there’s a really good chance they only win 4 games. Of course, one of those will be against us.
4. Despite all the posing, oregun & Kelly are not humbled. They’re still as cocky as they’ve been the last two years. Call this a replay of 2009 when they looked like crap against Boise State, then pretty much dominated.
5. ASU, Zona, Furd … no real discovery, as they played warm-up games this week.
6. Utah better not stroll into conference games the way they did against Montana State, or they’ll be spanked hard.
7. I feel so bad for Wazzu
8. UW is pretty bad right now.
9. I wonder if all the surprising and baseless strutting and confidence Colorado fans had is still there? They seemed pretty confident about being very competitive and winning a lot of games before the season started, and now that they’ve been Marshalled, I suspect that cruel reality is starting to set in.
As for us? No change in the way I see this season panning out. We win a game or two against teams we shouldn’t (Furd, oregun, ASU, USC, Utah), and lose a game or two against teams we shouldn’t (Oregon State, Wazzu, Colorado, Ucla).
"Thanks. Go Bears!" - Ernest Owusu: the next great Cal DE
Bold prediction
A combination of swagger from Maynard and Cal’s defense makes the $UC game a close one.
Uncle Ted named Cal Team of the Week,
named Kendricks the standout defensive player (over Vontaze Burdict & his 3 sacks), and we got the “smiley face” (that one is actually for the Bay Area so it’s an honor we have to share with the ’furd).
I can’t wait to see his new power rankings – maybe we will get some respect.
http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/25140/page/WeekendRewind/pac-12-rewind-and-look-ahead
by C98 on Sep 5, 2011 11:18 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
NorCalNick, I liked This Week In The Pac-12 when it was This Week In Pac-10. You really sold out! I have no idea why you decided to bring in Colorado and Utah to the Pac-10 just so you could write a This Week In The Pac-12. Clearly, mistakes were made.
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No Marshall. No Problem. ONTZ ONTZ ONTZ
Alright, and after it's all over, you say "Ooh, what a lovely tea party"
by Redonkulous Bear on Sep 5, 2011 11:24 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs
Good, good!
Alright, and after it's all over, you say "Ooh, what a lovely tea party"
by Redonkulous Bear on Sep 5, 2011 12:45 PM PDT up reply actions
MOAR MARSHALL
Alright, and after it's all over, you say "Ooh, what a lovely tea party"
by Redonkulous Bear on Sep 5, 2011 2:03 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
Instead of teaching OLinemen to play football well, he purchases adult diapers. Its a play on the word “max protect.”
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No wuckers, mate. If you look at the penultimate frame there, Marshall has a giant box of Depends on hsi desk.
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Don’t ever post this kind of thing again or I swear to god i will jump through this computer screen and kick your ass! (god damn, mutherf*cker…)
Drew: 'Oh no.. That is certainly the meaty part alright, but it's not the thigh..."
Randy: "No... that bone is NOT connected to the thigh bone..."
www.fearthefin.com - Where masochism is defined.
I rushed the Furd's farm in 2009
www.californiagoldenblogs.com - Where Cal grads prove they learned something.
Week 2
My very shallow analysis says that we will know more after week 2.
Nevertheless here is my guess work for this week’s Pac-12 action:
1) Arizona vs Okie Lite – New Pac-16 mates because they are at home
2) Mizzo vs ASU – Sparky because they are at home in the hot weather but dry heat
3) OSU vs Bucky Badger – OSU bounces back (j/k)
4) Stanford vs Duke – The Cardinal because Duke can’t duplicate ‘the play’
5) Nevada vs Oregon – The Ducks play inspired football so they don’t have to run gassers two weeks in a row.
6) Cal vs Colorado – long losing streak on the road takes a break, but the losing doesn’t.
7) Hawaii vs Wash – Huskies because they are at home and because Gary Payton said so.
8) UNLV vs Wash St. – a functional equivalent of an over-matched FCS opponent with no fooling around, moving on.
9) Utah vs USC – the Trojans because as newbies we should be humble.
10) SJSU vs UCLA – a functional equivalent of an over-matched FCS opponent with no fooling around because Rick Neuheisel is on the hit seat
edit
" ….with no fooling around and because Rick Neuheisel is on the hot ejector seat."
by Utah-UCLA alum on Sep 5, 2011 11:40 AM PDT up reply actions
But it actually said “hit seat,” which seemed kind of drastic. Or not.
Keeping January 2 open. You know, just in case.
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A few more conference losses this upcoming weekend
Specifically:
Washington, after reading UW’s blog entry it seemed like everything went wrong, and I can’t imagine that would be cleaned up in a week.
Arizona, playing as the road team on a Thursday night without a bye sounds like a bad idea to me.
Oregon St, they just lost to Sac St, they aren’t beating Wisconsin, and this could get ugly
I support the NBA player's union.
Agree
After watching Wisconsin roll last week as if they were in midseason form, I think I might actually feel bad for OSU, but not too much. Mizzou is gonna bring it against ASU and Okie St will handle Zona. I was worried going into the season about the CU game, but now that they’ve been Marshalled and seeing how deep our front 7 is, I can see a lopsisded game like last year. But not 52-7 lopsided.
Yeah...
…I’m thinking more along the lines of 63-3. I mean, our ST is gonna fuck up once and give them good field position they won’t be able to take advantage of.
GEEEEEEEENKKKKKK
Drew: 'Oh no.. That is certainly the meaty part alright, but it's not the thigh..."
Randy: "No... that bone is NOT connected to the thigh bone..."
www.fearthefin.com - Where masochism is defined.
I rushed the Furd's farm in 2009
www.californiagoldenblogs.com - Where Cal grads prove they learned something.
irrationally fear the Beavers?
Cal is 2-7 against the Beavs under Tedford, including zero for their last four. It’s not as if OSU has been phenomenal over this stretch, nor Cal terrible. The beavs and Mike Riley just seem to have Cal’s number. It’s the same with the trojans. $C looked thoroughly mediocre against Minnesota, but they didn’t look very good against Minnesota last year and still were up 600-0 against us at half. Cal is still 1-8 against the trojans under Tedford, and until Cal beats either of these teams again (much less string a couple of wins against them together), I don’t think it’s irrational in the least to predict a loss to both of these teams. Indeed, I would hold that it’s irrational for us to expect a change in these trends before we see it.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
The OUS thing is historic (at least for the last 35 years or so)
When Oregon State was the absolute doormat of college football they would STILL beat us…
Pat Barnes and the 3-8 1996 Bears disagree! (I was there. We beat them 13-10. Pat Barnes was thrown out of the game for taunting)
Picking nits
In 1996, we beat Oregon State 48-42 in 3OT in, IIRC, the first overtime game in Cal history.
You’re thinking of the 1995 game we won 13-12 in Corvallis.
Keeping January 2 open. You know, just in case.
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There's something to be said for that
But at the same time, has there been a year when Oregon St. was clearly a much worse team than Cal but still won? In each of the last four years in which OSU beat Cal, OSU also finished ahead of Cal in the Pac-10 standings. Rationally, OSU can be expected to beat Cal. But if they’re demonstrably worse this year (and losing to Sac St. is pretty strong evidence) then perhaps Cal should be expected to win this year?
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
OSU loses non-conference games every year
yeah, this is Sac St, but they always perform terribly in the pre-season, yet they have won 4 in a row against us. SC has been mediocre for years now but they always beat us too. Definitely not expecting a win against either team this year.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
I guess what I’m trying to say is that in the past, you could make a pretty good argument that the better team won each time when Cal played OSU and USC. I’d be more inclined to think that USC and Oregon St. had some kind of edge on us if they kept beating us with an obviously inferior team.
Obviously it’s waaaay to early in the season to conclude that Cal has a superior team to OSU or USC, but the possibility exists.
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
well
I think you could make the case that Cal was superior to Minnesota last year, yet Minnesota hung with SC and SC destroyed us. That’s more my line of thinking – just because $C or OSU look terrible against some team, even a team that is worse than Cal, does not mean that we’ll be able to beat them. $C was definitely a better team than us last year, but 45-0, or whatever the halftime score was? $C was not THAT much better than Cal (nor was Tennessee 35-0 better than Cal in 06, nor Oregon 42-6 better in 09…), but that was the halftime score.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
Cal was superior to Minnesota last year
This was 2009, and yes we were superior.
Am I known as Cugel the Clever for nothing?
no, last year
both Cal and Minnesota played $C, Minnesota played them relatively close and Cal got rolled.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
You may want to check this, it was 2009, I was there, Best scored 5 TD’s, we were ranked 6th after this game – any of this ringing a bell?
Am I known as Cugel the Clever for nothing?
I think CBKWit knows we played at Minny in '09
I think CBKWit is saying we were better than Minny last year, too, making the point that they played SC closer than we did despite that fact.
Minny was pretty bad last year.
Keeping January 2 open. You know, just in case.
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ding ding ding
I was also in Minneapolis for the Cal/Minny game. I remember all of that and more, Cugel, youcondescending asshole valued commentator. My point is what Ohio Bear stated, that they played $C much closer than we did, despite the fact that we were by most measures a better team than Minny. My larger point, as it pertains to $C and OSU, is that just because they may struggle against other teams and even lose several games, they still have a combined 15-3 record against Tedford coached teams, and that as bad as they look now, I’m going to hold off predicting a victory against them until we actually beat them.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
Jeez
Honest mistake dude. You have a point, just I usually don’t see these transitive football equations spanning more than a single season.
Am I known as Cugel the Clever for nothing?
You have a point, just I usually don’t see these transitive football equations spanning more than a single season.
Fair enough, but our trends against $C and OSU are pretty well established. We’d have to win 7 in a row against $C just to be even with them under Tedford; I’d settle for one in a row at this point.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
We will finally beat Oregon State because we are close to Sacramento and just the thought of it will fill their hearts with fear of failure
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I think USC will crush us.
But I feel better about OSU. I dont know why. I just do.
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I figure'd we would beat them this year BEFORE they lost to CSUSAC
Drew: 'Oh no.. That is certainly the meaty part alright, but it's not the thigh..."
Randy: "No... that bone is NOT connected to the thigh bone..."
www.fearthefin.com - Where masochism is defined.
I rushed the Furd's farm in 2009
www.californiagoldenblogs.com - Where Cal grads prove they learned something.
meh
As with everyone else, I’m stoked about the new season. I was pessimistically optimistic while sitting at the Stick. Our first interception, the laundry on the field, the blocked kicks, Isi running into walls all made me a bit queezy to the point of apathy. So the win was anticlimatic. We can know our enemies, but do we really know ourselves? Really? I mean, really, after one game? Do we really?
just saying.
by rollonyoubears111 on Sep 5, 2011 12:02 PM PDT reply actions
“To venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose oneself.”—S. Kierkergaard
by manus on Sep 5, 2011 1:41 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs
“He who knoweth not who he may be, yet erstwhile some things escape unto us from which they did not.”
Number one fan of Justin Bieber being the number one fan of the Dodgers, and not the [2010 World Series Champion] Giants.
by Spazzy Mcgee on Sep 5, 2011 10:52 PM PDT up reply actions
1) Do you still irrationally fear the Beavers, or has the Mike Riley magic finally run out?
I don’t fear them this year, but I don’t think Mike Riley has any magic, just a well coached team, but it’s going to be a down year for them.
2) Washington has Hawaii visiting Seattle before traveling to Nebraska. What will be UW’s record when they take on the Bears in week 4?
I think they’ll be 2-1, I expect them to play better against Hawaii, also EWU is a championship FCS team, it’s not all that surprising they played well, and for my money the gulf separating middle of the pack FBS team vs elite FCS teams has lessened great in the past decade or so.
3) If you can remember your pre-season confidence score for Cal @ Colorado (on a scale from 0.0 to 1.0) how far has it moved due to the events of week 1?
This went up 10% from 65% (I think) to the 75% I feel now.
4) Who would worry you the most as UCLA’s new coach in 2012?
Well, Urban Meyer, but I don’t see that happening.
5) Is USC actually vulnerable or is this another elaborate plot to lure us into a false sense of security . . . or both?!?
100% USC is vulnerable now, but whether we can take advantage of this remains to be seen. Our offense needs to be much more polished than it was against Fresno for us to beat them.
6) Opening day jitters or an omen of worse things to come for Utah?
They are not going to find it easy to play week in and week out in the Pac-12, but it’s hard to take anything away from this one game, they weren’t really challenged; also see comment in #2 re: good FCS teams.
7) Do you still consider Oregon to be the favorite to win the Pac-12 North, or is it . . . gulp . . . Stanford?
Gulp indeed, I know the Spartans aren’t very good, but Stanfurd looked very polished against them, I don’t know with Luck on the team why anyone would not pick them to lead the Pac-12 North. In fact, I thought had they gotten to the NGC they would have matched up much better against Auburn than Oregon did. I don’t think they’ll ba as good as last year, but I think this year’s Oregon team has a greater drop-off.
Am I known as Cugel the Clever for nothing?
1) Do you still irrationally fear the Beavers, or has the Mike Riley magic finally run out?
As a bit of an outsider to both teams, the Bears seem to have as big of an edge in this matchup as they have had in a while. Before the season started, it seemed to me that Cal was a solid, talented team that would do better than people (even a lot of their own fans) thought. On the flipside, OSU seemed headed for a backslide, even from last year’s 5-6. They lost a lot of their best talent with no ready replacements, and then had major injury issues on top of that. Riley has built enough of a reputation that people expected competence no matter what the roster looked like, but it seemed that this could very well be the year the shine comes off. After this last weekend, both of these observations seem about right – though of course it’s week 1, so nothing means anything.
2) Washington has Hawaii visiting Seattle before traveling to Nebraska. What will be UW’s record when they take on the Bears in week 4?
Probably 2-1. Between OSU & UW, why couldn’t the fuskies have been the ones to go down? I’m conflicted on Hawaii – Colorado’s not great, but Hawaii looked legitimately good. If this were on the islands maybe it goes Hawaii’s way, but something tells me the Huskies make at least enough progress this week to slip by, if not post a solid win. Remember back in 2001, OSU barely squeaked by an I-AA team, looked awful, then proceeded to go 11-1 and make the Fiesta Bowl. Of course, it was week 1, so nothing means anything.
4) Who would worry you the most as UCLA’s new coach in 2012?
Who’s out there? For some reason, it’s hard to put together a list of fearsome coaches. Most of the greats are already employed in at least equally attractive jobs. Urban Meyer seems far gone, but who knows. Speaking of ESPN personalities – how about Mike Bellotti? He was a candidate when the Weez got the job, or at least in talks. There’s been a lot of speculation that he might want to get back in, and he has better ties to the West Coast than just about anyone out there. On the other hand, he might have done well at Oregon but doesn’t quite have that A-list sparkle. And he might be a little old at this point.
Al Golden? Speaking of last time, I’ve read that Golden might have had the job last time if not for internal pressure to go with the Alum. He’s young with a great reputation (revived Temple!) and at this point, you have to think he wants out of Miami with all that’s about to come down. You’d think that legally he’d be in good contract shape what with the concealment of massive misconduct before he signed on.
But the winner perhaps… Mike Leach? Imagine him and Kiffykins battling for LA each year.
7) Do you still consider Oregon to be the favorite to win the Pac-12 North, or is it . . . gulp . . . Stanford?
TBD. I think it’s too early to tell. For Oregon, we learned that the possible issues are real. Mostly though, I think we saw an affirmation of the talent difference, particularly on the lines, between Oregon and the upper crust of college football – ‘Bama and LSU, or say USC in their prime, to impose their will and plow ahead when complex schemes aren’t working after a long layoff. On the plus side, the Oregon D looked good, and played well enough to very much keep them in it if Oregon doesn’t make a ton of boneheaded mistakes (d’oh!). It should get better when (if?) Kiko and Cliff get back on the field. Long story short, if Oregon bounces back well, resolves the issues and starts rolling, they are still very much in it, but the questions are very real.
Of course, it’s week 1, so nothing means anything. Except that Oregon is out of the national title picture. What a screwy sport.
They were out of the title picture in 2007 after we beat them...
Then climbed back to #2 before losing again…
In the current climate of college football, I don’t see how its impossible for them to get back there – especially with losses from Oklahoma, or Alabama.
Drew: 'Oh no.. That is certainly the meaty part alright, but it's not the thigh..."
Randy: "No... that bone is NOT connected to the thigh bone..."
www.fearthefin.com - Where masochism is defined.
I rushed the Furd's farm in 2009
www.californiagoldenblogs.com - Where Cal grads prove they learned something.
My answers
Do you still irrationally fear the Beavers, or has the Mike Riley magic finally run out?
— I fear the Bears’ tendency to lay an egg more than I fear the Beavs this year.
Washington has Hawaii visiting Seattle before traveling to Nebraska. What will be UW’s record when they take on the Bears in week 4?
— 2-1
If you can remember your pre-season confidence score for Cal @ Colorado (on a scale from 0.0 to 1.0) how far has it moved due to the events of week 1?
— 0.7… That’s as much confidence as I can have in a Tedford team on the road.
Who would worry you the most as UCLA’s new coach in 2012?
— Mike Bellotti
Is USC actually vulnerable or is this another elaborate plot to lure us into a false sense of security . . . or both?!?
— Vulnerable, but they’ll be better than they looked against Minnehaha.
Opening day jitters or an omen of worse things to come for Utah?
— Overconfidence, maybe. But I think they’ll lose at U$C.
Do you still consider Oregon to be the favorite to win the Pac-12 North, or is it . . . gulp . . . Stanford?
— Sticking with the Duckies. The furds don’t have LSU’s defense.
Did anything that happened in the above three games provide any meaningful info about any of the teams involved? Bonus points if you can make a compelling argument for a ‘yes!’
— No.
Do you expect WSU to remain competitive if Jeff Tuel is unable to play this year?
— Competitive as in 3 or 4 wins, yes.
MJB
Do you still irrationally fear the Beavers, or has the Mike Riley magic finally run out?
I don’t irrationally fear the Beavers, my fear is 100% rational. Cal’s record against OSU during the Tedford era is absolutely abysmal 2-7 and the only 2 wins were in 2004 and 2006 in Corvallis!! Other than U$C, the Beavers just have had our number in the past decade. HOWEVER, I am cautiously optimistic that Tedford will get his first “home” victory against the Beavers this year.
Washington has Hawaii visiting Seattle before traveling to Nebraska. What will be UW’s record when they take on the Bears in week 4?
I believe that it will be a close fought game between UW and Hawai’i, with UW coming out on top. The following week, Nebraska will absolutely slaughter the Huskies. I believe that they will be 2-1 while Cal will hopefully be 3-0 (the Blue Hose looks threatening). If UW is 1-2 going into that game, however, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.
If you can remember your pre-season confidence score for Cal @ Colorado (on a scale from 0.0 to 1.0) how far has it moved due to the events of week 1?
I was at about a 0.6 going into the season, and now I am probably at 0.75 or 0.8 . . . unless Colorado fields a completely different team than we saw in Hawai’i, Cal shouldn’t have too much trouble taking down the Buffaloes.
Who would worry you the most as UCLA’s new coach in 2012?
I have no idea . . . can they just steal Tom Holmoe away from the AD role at BYU? While they are at it, I’m sure Ben Braun would love to leave Rice and lead their basketball program as well.
Do you still consider Oregon to be the favorite to win the Pac-12 North, or is it . . . gulp . . . Stanford?
Predicting Stanfurd to win anything is absolute blasphemy in my eyes, so I still have Oregon winning the Pac-12 north. Once we see Stanfurd go against some actual competition (not until Oregon on the Nov. 12), I may have to change my mind.
Did anything that happened in the above three games provide any meaningful info about any of the teams involved? Bonus points if you can make a compelling argument for a ‘yes!’
No. I guess I get no bonus points.
Do you expect WSU to remain competitive if Jeff Tuel is unable to play this year?
I was guessing that the best they could do is 5-7 or (gasp!) 6-6 WITH Tuel, without him, I’d say they are in for another loooong season with 3-9 being the best possible scenario.
Burning Questions
Arizona Schools: Don’t make me laugh. ‘Zona will lose to future conference mate Oklahoma State and ASU will lose to Wisconsin. Period.
Washington: I believe it will be a close fought game with UW coming out on top, but it wouldn’t surprise be at all if Hawai’i pulls out the win.
USC/Utah and Cal/Colorado: I think Utah might be able to pull out the W here in an interesting game that I will definitely be sitting down to watch. Cal/Colorado? See my comments above.
Ucla/SJSU: If Ucla has problems with SJSU, then Neuheisel will not even survive the following week. I think our little sister will win, but it won’t be pretty.
www.LosAngelesRams.org
CALIFORNIA ANGELS . . . ANAHEIM DUCKS . . . CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS
1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1937 • 1947 • 1951 • 1957 • 1959 • 2002 • 2007
Missed two:
Is USC actually vulnerable or is this another elaborate plot to lure us into a false sense of security . . . or both?!?
The latter. I f*cking hate $C and hope to God almighty that we can finally beat them when it looks as if they are down.
Opening day jitters or an omen of worse things to come for Utah?
Meh, I still think they are the favorite to represent the Pac-12 south in the championship game. I suppose I’ll chalk their performance up to opening day jitters.
www.LosAngelesRams.org
CALIFORNIA ANGELS . . . ANAHEIM DUCKS . . . CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS
1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1937 • 1947 • 1951 • 1957 • 1959 • 2002 • 2007
The okie st and wisconsin games are solid A- games. Scheduling UNLV and SJSU are good Mtn West/WAC schools to schedule…much more than the upper half teams like Fresno and Nevada. I’m not a fan of scheduling games that are technically ‘A’ games (Colorado and Mizzou) but are more likely C+ or B- games. Too risky.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
I really wanted to vote UCLA
but Oregon State lost to Sac State…….
Sac state…..seriously guys.
In Hue We Trust
by LouisMurphy'sLaw on Sep 5, 2011 6:05 PM PDT reply actions
Has anyone seen those horrendous Maryland uni’s. They are two-face style helmets and shoulder pads with black and yellow checkers. Yikes!
I actually like the Maryland unis. It’s cool how they incorporated the state flag into the helmet and jersey.
Very cool.
"We do not seek men who will bravely lie down to die, but men who will fight valiantly to live."
"Winning is not everything. It is far better to play the game squarely and lose than to win at the sacrifice of an ideal."
-- Andrew Latham Smith
...
You know, if done properly, that would look pretty cool.
Mainly because the CA state flag doesn’t have those searing colors that Maryland does.
"Today's weather, excessively violent with a chance of dismemberment. Tune in later for our 5-day forecast!"
~ Three Dog - Fallout 3
The only problem is that the California flag is red and white and hasn’t a single speck of blue in it…
Member of the Lost Tribe of Mooch
At least you have a bear on yours.
Up in Oregon, this could never work because we actually have a Beaver on the back of the flag.
Though come to think of it, with Oregon’s respect for traditions and opposing teams colors/ schemes, maybe a Cal-colored blue/gold uni with a beaver on the helmet would fit right in.
by omb on Sep 6, 2011 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions
1.Do you still irrationally fear the Beavers, or has the Mike Riley magic finally run out?
Of course I still fear the Beavers, although I don’t know if my fear is irrational. With the record we have against them, I’d be more pressed to consider underestimating them the irrational thought process. The fact of the matter remains that they are a very well-coached team under Mike Riley. They’re going to undergo some growing pains as these new players jump on the field to replace their injured starters, but they’ll probably have a break out game against us.
2.Washington has Hawaii visiting Seattle before traveling to Nebraska. What will be UW’s record when they take on the Bears in week 4?
Probably 2-1. Their struggle was probably first game issues and they’re gonna be better in the following weeks. I see them beating Hawaii in a close one and then losing to Nebraska.
3.If you can remember your pre-season confidence score for Cal @ Colorado (on a scale from 0.0 to 1.0) how far has it moved due to the events of week 1?
Hasn’t moved at all, I’m sure we’re going to blow them out. It looks like Marshall hasn’t improved their O-line much and they just don’t have the players to match up to us physically/athletically. They’re definitely a D1 team — I don’t mean to make them look like a bunch of scrubs — but Keenan Allen pretty much beat them by himself last year (along with Vereen). He’s better, we have a QB who can run and pass now, and our defense is even better.
4.Who would worry you the most as UCLA’s new coach in 2012?
Probably someone like Urban Meyer, as someone posted earlier. Here’s the thing, I wouldn’t really be scared of any coach in 2012. They’re just severely lacking in talent across the board and are in a dismal state. It’s going to take years for any coach to really fix everything that’s wrong with UCLA and I don’t envy the man who takes on the job. Someone like Mike Riley would be perfect for the job, as he’d bring his immense coaching capabilities to a school that gives him the opportunity to find 5 star recruits. But yeah, that’s not happening.
5.Do you still consider Oregon to be the favorite to win the Pac-12 North, or is it . . . gulp . . . Stanford?
I think Stanfurd was always the favorite to win the North. Not only do they still have Luck, they now have Cal’s blue print to stopping Oregon’s offense. It’s all up to whether or not they can execute now, and I think they can.
6.Did anything that happened in the above three games provide any meaningful info about any of the teams involved? Bonus points if you can make a compelling argument for a ‘yes!’
Brehaut is a better QB than Prince from what I could tell. Neither are the long term solution to the program, but it seems like Brehaut is going to let them win a few games now, and that’s what matters for Neuheisel. Washington may play spoiler in the Pac-12. Price seems to be a better QB than Locker (who was more of an extremely athletic bundle of potential), which will allow Polk to do his thing. It’s gonna take them a few weeks, but they will have a decent offense once it gets in sync. It’s up to whether or not their defense can step up their game against BCS conference offenses.
7.Do you expect WSU to remain competitive if Jeff Tuel is unable to play this year?
No, I find that he is their saving grace. I’m not bagging on their team — too much — Tuel is just that good. Right now, their team needs him and losing him for the season is going to be crippling.
8.Burning Questions
Can the Arizona schools rep the Pac-12 on ESPN after waxing FCS teams in Week 1? Can Washington avoid a loss to a feisty Hawaii team that runs an offense very similar to the Eastern Washington team that shredded them? What happens in the two Pac-12 matchups this weekend (official league games or otherwise)? And troubles aside, there’s no way that UCLA struggles with San Jose St., right? RIGHT?
I think the Arizona schools will do well. It’s kind of a baseless argument, but I just have that gut feeling. I think ASU wins and UA loses in a close one. Washington will do fine against Hawaii, having already faced a similar offense. Sark is a good coach. I think Utah beats a struggling USC in a close one. They’re out to prove they belong with the best (or maybe just better?) and will come out guns ablaze. Cal should rock Colorado. UCLA should get themselves together and beat SJSU in a confidence booster.
9.Is USC actually vulnerable or is this another elaborate plot to lure us into a false sense of security . . . or both?!?
They’ve been vulnerable for a while, I just feel like they’re a really bad match-up for Cal. If we want to beat them with our style of play, we need much better play from our O-line, who probably also need to be bigger and/or more athletic. Otherwise, we can just mark this as a loss every year.
10.Opening day jitters or an omen of worse things to come for Utah?
Jitters.
The most feared UCLA hire
Clancy Pendergast, who brings with him Tosh Lupoi as DC, and somehow convinces Mike Shannahan he should be a college OC.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
by carp on Sep 5, 2011 9:45 PM PDT reply actions 3 recs
hah! rec'd for cal fannism
Number one fan of Justin Bieber being the number one fan of the Dodgers, and not the [2010 World Series Champion] Giants.
by Spazzy Mcgee on Sep 5, 2011 11:00 PM PDT up reply actions
"All times Pacific Standard."
That’s actually Pacific Daylight Time…. we’re in Daylight Saving time until November.
If you can remember your pre-season confidence score for Cal @ Colorado (on a scale from 0.0 to 1.0) how far has it moved due to the events of week 1?
I gave Cal a 55% change of winning at Colorado (given our road travails and general pessimism about this season). After week one’s events, I’d bump that up to about 80%. I like what I’ve seen from Cal so far and was not impressed by Colorado.
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Golden Bears Football Schedule
| Fresno St. | Sat 09/03 | W 36 - 21 |
@
Colorado
|
Sat 09/10 | W 36 - 33 |
| Presbyterian | Sat 09/17 | W 63 - 12 |
|
@
Washington
|
Sat 09/24 | L 23 - 31 |
|
@
Oregon
|
Thu 10/06 | L 15 - 43 |
|
USC
|
Thu 10/13 | L 9 - 30 |
|
Utah
|
Sat 10/22 | W 34 - 10 |
|
@
UCLA
|
Sat 10/29 | L 14 - 31 |
|
Washington St.
|
Sat 11/05 | W 30 - 7 |
|
Oregon St.
|
Sat 11/12 | W 23 - 6 |
|
@
Stanford
|
Sat 11/19 | L 28 - 31 |
|
@
Arizona St.
|
Fri 11/25 | W 47 - 38 |
|
@
Texas
|
Wed 12/28 | L 10 - 21 |
