Cal football doesn't usually struggle with Arizona in Berkeley (Tuscon is another, far more bitter story), so beating the Wildcats in football doesn't illicit too much excitement.  Beating the Wildcats in basketball?  Now that's rare, as Cal was sporting a 2-18 record against Arizona over the last 10 years coming into last night's game.  I derive special pleasure from watching Arizona go down in Haas, partly because it happens so infrequently, and partly because Lute Olson's teams were such whiners when things didn't go their way (I'm looking at you, Luke Walton.)  Of course, things generally did go their way, especially because the refs had just a liiiiiiiiitle more respect for Lute Olson than they did for Ben Braun.  That's why games like the 2004 victory over a ranked UA team stand out, with freshman Leon Powe going for 21 & 12 fouling out Channing Frye in the process.

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If Friday night's 69-55 victory was special and memorable, it was for different reasons.  There's such a history of futility against these punks that 10 straight victories at Haas wouldn't seem repetitive.  I also really enjoyed saying "The game's over!  Your players are on the bench!  Time to leave," to some loudmouth Arizona hecklers sitting in the middle of a Cal section when, with about 2 minutes left and Cal up a 15 or so, the Arizona coach pulled out Jordan Hill, Nic Wise, and Chase Budinger.  But instead of savoring a rare upset victory against a powerhouse opponent, as we occasionally experienced in the later Braun years, I left Haas with a newfound sense of confidence and optimism.  This didn't feel like a single happy blip in an otherwise lost season; it felt like the beginning of things to come.

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Still reveling, two days later.  Before I wax sentimental about Mack and Follet and Felder and all the rest, let's start with the hilarious.  Ordinarily I don't pay much attention to the video board announcements at halftime, but the first one caught my eye:

"Watch the Fake, Alamar!" -- Your friends in QQ

I was so stunned by the simple brilliance of the message that I froze, paralyzed with laughter for 30 seconds before I thought to snap a picture. By the time I recovered it was too late and the message was gone forever.  If anyone was quick enough to grab a shot, or if anyone knows the identities of the brave young alums who paid for it, please post it here.  I only wish that they had paid for an extra dozen words or so, in order to clarify that you can defend fakes with more than 10 players on the field.  Hopefully Alamar learned his lesson after the Maurice Jones-Drew game in 2005, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Ahh memories.

Happier times, for my sake:

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Not too much to say about this one.  The 2008 Washington State Cougars gave up 58 points or more six times in their thirteen games...and still managed to beat the Huskies.  This Husky team, in other words, is really, really bad.  In fact, a lot of the Pac-10 is really bad this year.  Cal finished the year 6-3 in conference which was only good for 4th place; that's because the bottom four teams (UW, WSU, UCLA, and ASU) were a combined 0-16 against the top 4 teams (the next two teams, Arizona and Stanford, are only 2-6 against the top, so the bottom 6 teams have only 2 wins in 24 games against the top 4).  Aside from USC, none of the other top 4 teams (OSU, Oregon, and Cal) are particularly great; the bottom of the conference is just that bad.  I had only seen the Huskies against UCLA and in the last 5 minutes of the Apple Cup, so while they looked bad, they weren't awful in comparison because they were playing teams almost equally hapless.  I went into today's game with a sort of morbid curiosity, like someone investigating a car crash, wondering what the Huskies would look like against a decent team.

Can't...look...away

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The result was four first half turnovers by the Huskies and 311 rushing yards (yes, that is a three, you are reading this correctly) by Jahvid Best.  The betting line started at Cal -33, which seemed, um, high.  I couldn't believe when the line actually went up during the week, ending at -35 or -36.  Cal won the game by 41.  How do you beat a 36 point spread?  Grab four turnovers and take a 31-0 lead at half.

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I feel good.  As a faux-journalist blogger, it is my duty to analyze the results somewhat objectively, noting the positives (what a third quarter!) and the negatives (ALAMAR!).  It's also in my critical and pessimistic nature to never be quite happy - there is always some problem or looming issue to temper a good moment.  But right now, I simply feel good.  I know the season hasn't gone as we had hoped (though it has gone pretty much as we expected), but, as a Cal fan, if you can't be happy after a 21 point Big Game victory, you're not going to be happy very often.

At first I was a little annoyed that we were rushing the field - we're an 8 point favorite at home against a 5-6 team, and I feel like we should act like we've been there before.  But then I saw students mobbing the axe, and if the axe is as important as the players have said all week, then why shouldn't we revel a bit in winning it back?  I took to the field and meandered about the students, just trying to enjoy the moment. 

I saw Sean Young and asked him if he was happy he came back for his sixth year; he said "Yes," with a huge smile, and I congratulated him on winning Big Game in his final year.  Near the north end zone, I found Anthony Felder; Anthony and I are both from the great state of Washington, and when I was still in school, we were often on the same flight or in the Seattle airport at the same time.  He was always a great guy when I spoke with him, and he recognized me when I said hi on the field.  I thanked him for his (still not finished) great career at Cal, and he smiled before continuing to sign autographs for a horde of kids.  I found a group of senior bandsmen on the field, disregarding the order to stay in the stands so they could soak up the moment in their final Big Game.  Now I'm listening to them play "Fight" from my office, and I'm getting chills remembering my last Big Game as a student.  It doesn't really matter that we were expected to win against a pretty mediocre team; getting the axe back, no matter what the circumstances, is always a reason to celebrate.

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Pete Newell Court

Pete Newell, Cal's coach from 1954-1960, died on Monday at the age of 93.  He led Cal to its last national championship in 1959 and retired shortly thereafter, having beaten John Wooden's Bruin teams 8 times in a row (and without even paying his players).  In fitting irony, Tuesday's game at Haas featured the two teams he led to national titles - USF, which won the NIT in 1949, and Cal.  Cal paid tribute to Newell before the game with an announcement and video presentation, a moment of silence, and the loudest cheer of the evening.  I was sitting with an Old Blue who commented that "Newell was a great coach and an even better person."  Those that knew him speak with glowing admiration; the rest of us will have to settle for the pride in having this great man associated with our University.

This Cal team is going to live and die on its three-point shooting.  We don't have much of an inside presence (more on that later) so we're going to have to rely on Patrick Christopher, Jerome Randle, and Theo Roberston to hit outside shots.  When they're hot, we'll probably win; when they're cold, we'll almost definitely lose.  Last night, Theo was scorching, hitting 5 threes in the first half and scoring 11 straight Cal points during an early stretch.  He found a spot outside the arc about 1/3 of the way to the left baseline and started firing away - I'm pretty sure he hit all of his threes from the same location.  He ended up with 19 of Cal's 38 first half points.  In the second half, Jerome Randle took over the scoring with 21 points in last 20 minutes.  He finished with 25, 3-4 from beyond the arc.

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Ed Note: We received the following from loyal reader Andrew.  It would have been interesting to read this article had Lehman Brothers and AIG not collapsed, since it was primarily this economic downturn and not a historically unpopular president nor a once in a generation unifying political figure which stole the election from John McCain.  I, for one, would have loved to hear John McCain's take on that muslim Mark Hussein Sanchez, that domestic terrorist/tight end/education professor Blake Ayles, and that Commie Pete Carroll's socialist philosophy of spreading the carries.  Why the mainstream media isn't reporting on these stories, I do not know.  But it sure would be a lot more interesting and divisive than the lame unifying and uplifting message that follows.

Zoonews, you know what to do.

via www.bancroftclothing.co & mobasoft.com

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Or, perhaps more appropriately, Shivering in Victory.  The associated press calls this game "Berkeley's worst game-day rainstorm in a decade."  I'm not sure if it was any worse than last year's USC game, which was definitely colder, but it was close.  Regardless, I feel a lot better now than I did after USC last year, and I doubt any Cal fans are complaining about the win.  And besides, RemorsefulBruinBabe reports that the ESPN crew gave a nice shout out to those of us who toughed it out in the rain: "If you are still in the stands right now [~45 seconds left in the game], you are a great fan."

There were 8 turnovers in the game, not including a snap out of the endzone for our long coveted safety (finally!  it seemed impossible that the refs could call anything else, but I was holding my breath and looking for a flag).  It was a pretty volatile game with a number of rapid, intense swings, especially in the second quarter as the teams tried to out-turnover each other.  Yet the biggest play of the game wasn't one of our four (!) lost fumbles, or even Worrell's huge interception at the end of the second half.  In a game full of huge plays, the biggest was a 5 yard false start.

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He's no Ed Hochuli

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My enthusiasm pail overfloweth.

Honestly, I wasn't very energized until the horrible flea flicker turned miraculous TD to Boateng and the prophet Mohamed's pick 6 in the fourth quarter.  Prior to that, we experienced the same herky-jerky game last witnessed (successfully) against ASU.  I felt a pair of series in the third quarter nicely encapsulated they alternating excitement and discouragement so prevalent throughout the game.  After Anger pinned the Bruins on the 10, Alualu came up with a sack on 1st down and we (AGAIN!!) came thisclose to a safety on a stuffed run.  On third down, the little bruins completed a short pass and we were ready to start our drive at the UCLA 40.  Our defense had done its job and then some, forcing UCLA backwards and almost coming up with the safety.  Then our offense took the field.

On first down, a holding penalty.  On first down again, a sack.  On second down, a decent QB draw...with another holding penalty.  2nd and 34(!) netted us a 12 yard screen pass and a high, almost intercepted pass that would have been short of the first anyway.  With a 1st and 10 on their 40 yard line, we went back 12 yards.

Clearly, this type of offensive effort is not going to win us road games at USC and OSU, and will make life pretty difficult at home against Oregon and Stanford.  Our offensive line continues to struggle with penalties and protection, our receivers continue to drop catchable balls, and our QBs continue to make slightly to very inaccurate throws.  I wasn't terribly optimistic about our offense coming into this year, but I thought they'd be ahead (through 7 games and two bye weeks) of where they are now.

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He's the most awesomest.

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First of all, I was wrong.  About the Lipizzaner Stallions, they are from Spain, not from Portugal (ROLL TIDE).  Also, about the point spread.  Clearly, Cal -8 to 10 was the correct line, not Cal -5 as I would have pegged it.  Avinash, to the victor go the spoils.  For your reward, you may now have sex TwistNHook.

The biggest surprise to me, and the difference between a Cal victory of 7-14 points and a Cal victory of 3-6 points, was the defense.  Our offense performed pretty much as I expected, but our defense dominated a major opponent like I haven't seen in a while.  Here's what I saw:

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Cameron Jordan, official badass

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Why they don't use the Thursday night game but do count the Friday one, I have no idea.  Thursday night college football is the norm but for some reason BYU has a random Friday game, which prevents me from giving 15 other teams the pleasure of my endorsement.  I'm sure my competitors are breathing a heavy sigh of relief after the recent revelation that I am making up ground faster than Rulon Davis can suffer a lower extremity injury.

Well, you huge nerds that somehow submitted your picks before Friday at midnight:  You may "win", in the technical or actual sense, but I am submitting my picks right here for you to marvel at.  If, at the end of the year, I lose by 7 or 8 but got 10 right in the space below, I hope your victory rings as hollow as Rulon Davis foot bone.

Penn St over Purdue

Kansas over ISU

Florida over Arkansas

Oklahoma over Baylor

VT over West Kentucky

Alabama over Kentucky

Texas Tech over KSU

Vandy over Auburn

Texas over Colorado

A&M over OK State

Uconn over UNC

OSU over Wisc

Oregon over USC

Mizzou over Nebraska

Fresno over Hawaii

I would have taken BYU, so 0 for 1.

I'm going to get more games than Rul...