Wow, lots of thoughts this week. People were definitely opinionated about this loss. Tough to blame them. One of the worst offensive halves I've ever seen coupled with way too many USC fans at the stadium will leave a bitter taste in anybody's mouth. People were certainly reasonable, but, nonetheless, critical. It was actually quite a bit better than I anticipated given the disaster that was Thursday night.
Many thanks to all the readers who provided comments. We really appreciate the time you take to fill the Report Card out. After the jump, we can see what you all had to say. GO BEARS!
Pass Offense
Category
Average Score
Standard Deviation
.266
.166
Rush Offense
.335
.171
Pass Defense
.679
.171
Rush Defense
.691
.145
Special Teams
.338
.235
Coaching
.304
.207
Overall
.277
.148
Win likelihood vs Utah
.503 (-2.0%)
.225
Berkelium97: The defense earns solid scores while the offense and special teams failed miserably. Familiar story, no?
The scores for defense would have been even better if USC didn't start several of their possessions just outside the red zone. Still, the defensive unit earns plenty of praise after shutting down Robert Woods and Matt Barkley.
Despite two consecutive blowout losses, we're only 2% less confident in our chances against a Utah team that is competing for a Pac-12 title. What? Utah has been embarrassed in Pac-12 play and Jordan Wynn is out for the year? And we're still less confident in a win against them? DOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!
Editor's Choice Awards:
"Keenan Allen Would Have Read Directions" Award:
The lone editor's choice award goes to c98, whose response in each category was "F, Keenan Allen or not." Of course, we had to toss this report card out because c98 did not follow directions! Several others also posted grades instead of numbers. Remember, use decimals for your responses!
Next up we have the usual set of awards, the Old Blues and Tedford's Sunshine Pumpers.
In a surprise to none of us, SoCal Oski remains the king of the Old Blues.
|
Tedford's Sunshine Pumpers |
Net Score, Percentage |
| 1. Longhorns, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! |
4.60, 65.7% |
| 2. rurata |
4.30, 61.4% |
| 3. mrjpark |
4.10, 58.6% |
| 3. atomsareenough |
4.10, 58.6% |
| 5. FiatLux |
4.00, 57.1% |
| Old Blues | Net Score, Percentage |
| 1. SoCal Oski |
.731, 10.4% |
| 2. crazedfan | .900, 12.9% |
| 3. Texpatriate |
1.36, 19.4% |
| 4. prd74 |
1.40, 20.0% |
|
5. iVinshe |
1.70, 24.3% |
.098
The Voice of Reason
Total Deviation
1. Californication
.063
2. bamboobanga
.078
3. Golden Bearcats
.089
4. FiatSlug
.090
5. CoBears
Next up we have The Voice of Reason for those whose scores most accurately reflect the group scores.
These are some pretty large deviations for the top-5. You all are grading not to lose, you need to grade to win!
Now let's hear your thoughts on this miserable, miserable game. Use your inside voices, please.
Gameday Experience
iVinishe - "Front row, Student Section.
The student section sucks. We're not heard, despite being LOUD. We can't do a ""Hey alumni GO!"" because the alumni can't hear us, or just don't respond. Our card stunts look crappy because the angle sucks.
Much hate to the USC punter, who came out at halftime and used Cal Band and the student section as target practice. Smirking while hitting people doesn't improve your stock as a human being, #35."
GoldenOso - I knew it was going to be a looooooooooong night after I cracked open my third beer in the middle of the first quarter.CalJeff - Thank goodness I had started my DVR before I was able to come home and catch the rest of the 1st quarter...and thank goodness I could fast-forward the end of the game when I was thouroughly disgusted that a lame-playing USC team got to score 30 points on us.
Crystallograbear - I stayed up until 1 am for this?
Californication - What a beautiful evening for a football game! The crowd was massive, but there were WAY too many USC fans in the premium bench section. Also, lines for concessions were painful. And the top it off, we ate a sh*t sandwich on the field thanks to Zach Maynard. As bad as the running game was, and as much as the fumbles hurt, this game would have gone down to the wire with any competence at the QB position.
Longhorns, Tigers, & Bears, Oh My - As a bigtime cheapo, I never used to buy concessions at Memorial. But the food at AT&T is so freaking tempting. I think 5 people in my vicinity got those chicken strips + fries. Oh my word.
Oski4Heisman - Surprised to see so many SC fans in such a small venue. There's no reason a 40k-seat stadium shouldn't be 90% Cal fans. Still, the stadium got pretty loud in the 2nd half and seemed to cause a couple false starts and a delay. I can't wait to have Memorial back.
BTown85 - Ordered a pizza and watched with my son and daughter. In the first quarter my 11-year old daughter said, "Daddy; please don't yell." Since I usually only yell on great Cal plays there was very little yelling.
Texpatriot - Overslept the start of the game, and after watching that I'm glad I did. You know your program is in dire straits when you dread gamedays, knowing that your team will once again perform under its talent level.
rollonyoubears1111 - Not a lot of buzz being felt from the student section throughout the game. It started out promising with one of the yell leaders leading us on...but it fizzled, like the offense.
WillisChong - "We finally started using some of that fancy sound equipment at AT&T Park. Too bad we used it:
A) When we were down by 3 scores
B) When our team was in the huddle.Smooth move, guys."
moman - can't wait until next year!
Taf - Beautiful night. My wife and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. Had a wonderful time eating at the Ferry Building. Too bad about the football.
GoldenBearscats - I heard Tribute five times before the game even started. Simply unacceptable.
minesweeper - Despite the results on the field, it was nice to see a full house at AT&T. There was a good amount of energy despite the futility on the field. I'll be there for the rest of the games, though I expect to see a lot of empty seats the rest of the way.
cheeseinvert- First half was the worst performance I have seen at home in the last 4 years.
c98 - F, Keenan Allen or not.
hardtobeacalfan - why the hell did they talk about stanfurd and luck so much? i could understand if they talked up barkley since we were playing him and all, but i wanted to punch all the commentators in the face.
prd74 - This is perhaps the most disappointing game that I can remember in the Tedford era. The offense and special teams should apologize to the defense and the fans for losing the game. From the looks of the number of fans who attended the game i guess the marketing plan for ATT by the AD was just as disastrous. Sandy needs to get some accountability from her employees.
JABear - The Bears have 1 more year to beat the trojans before I graduate and join a club of Cal fans who have never got to see a victory over USC during their education.SoCal Oski - Another effing thursday night game. Why do we agree to be on national teevee only to come across looking like possibly the worst team in college football?
Pass Offense
mrjpark - "I think Maynard needs to just take a week or two and slow down his play. He's a gunslinger-type QB, so he's going to throw interceptions. I've accepted that fact. He still needs to make his reads. There's a difference between blindly forcing any play that doesn't work perfectly to Keenan and being aggressive. Right now, I think defenses are catching on to his mindset and are just jumping Keenan's routes whenever they're getting any resemblance of a pass rush.
Also, this is the second week in a row that the announcers have mentioned poor mechanics from Maynard affecting his throwing to the right half of the field. The right HALF of the field. This is something that can be fixed fairly simply, as I think the mechanic problems are a result of happy feet more than anything else. With some coaching and adjustment to a bigger stage, the game will slow down for him and his internal clock will give him ""time"" to set his feet and throw with better mechanics.
Another problem is that he seems to auto-target on Keenan Allen like on 80% of passing plays. He needs to show the opponents that he's willing to pass to Jones, Calvin, Miller, Sofele, etc. more or we will continue to have problems.
I don't really like what I saw of Bridgford against Presbyterian and don't agree with those of you asking for Tedford to go to the backup. What you need to consider is that once he makes that decision, it cannot be unmade. If Bridgford doesn't pan out, you have an awkward situation where nobody trusts either of the quarterbacks and the locker room is potentially split. Maynard has shown us he is capable of performing at the PAC-12 level of play, and that while he may be a honey badger, he may need to give a little more of a fuck."
Californication - Keenan Allen is an amazing player, and Marvin Jones is pretty great. It's too bad it doesn't run in Keenan's family.Longhorns, Tigers, & Bears, Oh My - I was pretty impressed by both the pass protection and Maynard's improved accuracy on short to intermediate crossing routes, particularly when compared to the Oregon debacle. He was good enough that the occasional over- or under-throw didn't bother me too much. But lest you think this comment is overly positive - TURNOVERS. Blargh.
Texpatriot - I think it's clear what we have thus far, and it's not pretty. Our receivers are talented, sharp route runners who bail out a middling quarterback on the regular. Passes continue to arrive late, well overthrown, and just generally out of sync. But hey, Maynard was accurate on the stat sheet!
beson - "Pass protection looked good. Maynard looked baaaaaad. So many bad mechanics. What happened to the days when Tedford hammered the quarterbacks about fundamentals (Boller with over-striding, Rodgers with that high ball release)? Its so frustrating to watch ANY other team's quarterback complete passes and make it look so easy.
The game just has not slowed down for Maynard. He locks onto his first read and by the time he throws it, every person on the field knows where he is going with it. His out passes are particularly problematic and if he were on target more, he probably would have throw a couple pick sixes last night. He has been more effective when we play fake or do misdirection, but I've also noticed that on misdirection plays, he'll fake and then throw to the other side without even looking to see if the play is open or not.
Although Maynard may give us escapability, if Bridgford can consistently hit the short stuff and get rid of the ball quickly, that escapability might not be necessary, i.e. Longshore '06"
Taf - I'd be doing a triple facepalm if I could. Something has to change after that game. I don't know what, but I don't think you can leave a game like that with only a "we just need to execute" better attitude. Something structural has to change.
c98 - F, Keenan Allen or not.
cannonbear - Wow. Maynard was flat out bad. Telegraphing his passes, and making poor poor decisions. Granted, I don't think the play calling helped him any, but he was not fun to watch. I will have no expectations for the rest of this year.
cjwethers - "Jesus H. Christ and his 12 Disciples! Maynard needs to learn to throw to his own guys!In all seriousness, they KNOW we're gonna pass at least 75% of the time when we got shotgun- so don't go shotgun the whole game! I know Maynard is mobile but that doesn't mean we should completely abandon our undercenter ground game!"
hardtobeacalfan - maynard could easily have had 5 INT. the saddest part was hearing the commentators at the start say that tedford has complete confidence in him and knowing that even if zach had a meltdown he would not be yanked. if he's our best chance to win, either our recruiting or our coaching has been crap these last 5 years. the drops did not help.
rollonyoubears1111 - "Uh, has there been ANY development of poor Maynard? The coach needs to get him more comfortable in the pocket. He seems to be most productive when rolling out, perhaps he's sort of a lateral movement guy...he doesn't seem comfortable seeing vertical movement of his receivers hence he overthrows them- or into the hands of a LB.
KA21 had a good day...whereas MJ was losing some stock of his draftability by dropping some key passes (particulary the one closer to the endzone)..."
crazedfan - If you look at the amount of yards and completion percentage by Maynard, you might be fooled in to thinking he played all right. But those three interceptions were absolutely egregious. They weren't even close, especially throwing in to triple coverage in the endzone at the end of the first half. The USC defenders didn't have to make any kind of spectacular, athletic play to get those interceptions, they were thrown directly to them. Maynard has had 6 weeks to show what he's got, and it's not much. The clock is ticking on Maynard.
Run Offense
CalJeff - Isi had a couple of nice runs, but we got behind too quickly in the 2nd Quarter to allow us to continue to try and build a running game...hard to run when you're playing from so far behind.
VandyImport - STOP RUNNING SOFELE UP THE MIDDLE IN THE SHADOW OF OUR OWN GOALPOST. At least there seems to have been more of an effort to get him the ball in space. This should continue. The one thing USC was unquestionably more effective at was downfield run blocking. Learn, guys.
cjwethers - "Same story as Oregon:
-Decent to good run blocking/RB play
-Not enough touches for RBs (especially Sofele) because of a large deficit late in the game
-One-dimensional offense... and I would argue that if anything, we should be a one-dimensional running offense rather than putting the ball in the air 40 times!"c98 - F, Keenan Allen or not.
1988goldenbear - Never got a whole lot going, but we had such bad field position and then had to try to crawl back from a big deficit, there was not much time to establish a run game. FIVE TURNOVERS.
prd74 - Isi and CJ are trying, but with the pass offense stinking on every other attempt, the run offense was a non factor.
BTown85 - What run offense? While the field seemed slippery (for Cal, anyway), I would LOVE to have seen an Isi cutback play. Get the SC momentum going one way and give him some open field to play with.\
bigdruid - "Decent, although the backs *really* need to learn that you can't try to outrun the USC defense sideline-to-sideline. You've got to turn it upfield immediately. A couple of Sofele's TFLs were when he tried to bounce it outside, and you *cannot* do that against USC.
I really wish we were willing to run more QB draws. So often on midrange passing downs, it looks like an easy several-yard pickup is available, and would force the defense to slow down its pass rush."
golden oso - Did we even attempt to run the ball? Oh yeah, the fumbled end-around. How can I forget that one? And why did we abandon it so early? Isi has looked good going into this game and against that giant block of swiss cheese that SC calls a defense, he should have shredded them for at least 100+ yards.
Pass Defense
CalJeff - The real highlight of the Cal performance....Kudos to McClure for blanketing Woods - as well as the rest of the secondary. Barkley may have had an off night, but the secondary probably had a lot to do with that. Shame the pass rush couldn't capitalize on the good coverage and get sacks.
Crystallagrobear - The defense gave it their all, but having to play most of the game wore them out. Also, it seemed that almost all of USC's big plays were against our freshman corner.
Longhorns, Tigers, & Bears, Oh My - The pass defense was reasonably solid. With all the press coverage Cover 1/Cover 0 Cal played, I'm pleased that there were so few big plays (the one long touchdown being the exception). I think USC was probably satisfied to have their Goliath receivers catch quick hitters and try to manhandle Cal's smaller corners. It worked to some degree, but the tackling was solid enough.
JABear - Held Barkley to a bad game. But gave up the occasional big play. Can't be mad, they can only do so much.
c98 - F, Keenan Allen or not.
1988goldenbear -"A lot of good in this game, despite the couple long plays and the bad penalties. The timing was definitely off between Barkley and Woods, but to hold them to those numbers was a pretty good effort.
The front seven still needs to get more pressure (and hits) on the QB to be effective at the corners, but it was not a bad effort."
Golden Bearcats - I didn't see Robert Woods running up the score, so I guess I'm actually kind of impressed by it.
WillisChong - "All things considered, I think our DBs did a pretty good job shutting down Woods. I will no longer have nightmares about Barkley-Woods. McClure seemed to acquit himself in this game. Maybe he'll put together a solid year, a la SQT?
Oh, and the Pac-12 officials still suck for calling phantom PI's on our CBs."
Sycasey - Not bad, Barkley seemed off-balance and Woods never got going. Probably a better performance than expected.
Spazzy McGee - Ehhh. Not great, not bad. Most of the Woods neutering had everything to do with Barkley overthrowing, not so much coverage. There were a couple pass breakups but I was not overly impressed. Barkley had an off night. If he didn't this game could've been a lot uglier.
golden oso - McClure and Williams were stellar. Shut down Woods, McClure did get beat by Lee for the TD but no one could have defended that pass. It was too perfect. AND, and we held our own in the flat and didn't burned by the screen or get dinked and dunked all night by the short dump offs.
Run Defense
beson - Run defense was decent. If it wasn't for the offense's turnovers giving USC short fields, USC would have had a hard time putting up points, which only makes this loss that much more aggravating.
Oski4Heisman - STOUT.
SoCalOski - This constant inability to either make a tackle or even touch the other guy, even when our guy is 8 yards into the other team's backfield and face-to-face with the running back, is starting to become annoying.
cjwethers - We did well controlling the point of attack in most cases, but they started wearing us down a bit in the second half. If the game had been closer and they had needed to move the ball on the ground in the second half rather than just killing clock, their YPC probably would have been better. Still, a decent effort.
brooklyn bear - Not bad considering that they were up against Barkley and Woods. We brought some pressure, Williams was solid again and McClure looks like he's going to be a player.
c98 - F, Keenan Allen or not.
fuzzywuzzy - I'm just glad as hell that TMZ-sound off puppet Tyler didn't break any long ones up the middle. Pretty darn good as well, good enough to win if you don't throw four picks
Special Teams
beson - "Another missed PAT! WTF! I'm no kicking expert, but shouldn't XP's be kicked so high that not even ""My Giant"" Gheorghe Muresan would be able to get a hand on it?
Also, I'd like to see what Hydrotech saw on that fake punt and see if it was an autocall or called from the bench."
ososdeoro - Despite the extra point, the mess that was supposed to be a rugby punt that would have been blocked had Anger tried to kick it, the punt reception at the 3 yard line and the usual assortment of stupid penalties, the kickoff coverage (all three instances!) was good, SOME punt returns were good, and the kickers performed ok. Amazingly, there's SOME skill that might be emerging from this unit. Now they just have to iron out the massive wrinkles of stupid.
c98 - F, Keenan Allen or not.
cheeseinvert - good job.
1988goldenbear -Tavecchio is kicking FG's great, but WTF is going on with the PATs? A couple nice runbacks, and generally good containment on our punts and kickoffs. That one monster punt from Anger was great.
JABear - Terribad. Fake punt was a gutsy call, bummer it didn't work. Rugby punts?! Another blocked extra point?! Fair catch inside the 5?!
brooklyn bear - Nice fair catch at the 4 MJ... That was a great move.
WillisChong - Beatings will continue until blocking improves.
moman - Should not have faked punt in that part of the field
George Watson - Fake punt in your own territory. That was probably the turning point. Goofy-stupid. Failed PAT. Thanks, Giorgio. How about practicing more?
bigdruid - "OH GOD, THE HORROR. WTF are we doing with that fake punt on 4th-and-long? That's *such* a terrible play call. I don't care what you see on film, you can't expect your punter to get 10 yards against the speed USC has. We deserve to lose the game just because of how terrible that call was. Yeah, if it's 4th and 3, I say maybe ""go for it"". But geezus.
Also, another blocked extra point. And Marvin Jones' brainfart on the 4 yard line.
On the bright side, it looks like Bigelow is starting to gain some confidence on the returns, and we did a solid job on kick coverage."
rurata - That fake punt was really weird, especially since it was 4th and 7. I'm not really sure what was going on there. Did Gynek go behind Tedford's back? Or was it some sort of miscommunication?
Coaching
crazedfan - Zero. The fake punt was one of the worst calls I had ever seen. Ran from your own territory, and IIRC, was over 10 yards to the first down. Not the time, or place to run that play. Tedford, being a former quarterback, refuses to pull his starters, no matter how ineffective their play.
crystallograbear - What was Tedford thinking? A fake punt on 4th and long in our own territory? That had to have been the dumbest play call I've ever seen Tedford make. And as much as I like the idea of getting Maynard experience, we should have gotten to see Bridgford play after Maynard's third INT, if not after his second. I don't claim any sort of expertise in knowing what plays to call when, but for the first time as a Cal fan I found myself asking, what in the world is Tedford thinking?!
bamboobanga - wtf was up with that fake punt call??
WillisChong - "Whoever called that fake punt needs to be fired. We have one of the best punters in the game and a chance to go into half time only down by 2 scores when our offense seemed to be pretty impotent. It would be hard enough to get two scores, but that botched attempt made it 3 scores. Classy.
Hindsight is 20/20 in that I know the play failed, but I was totally expecting us to, you know, use Anger like we're supposed to and pin USC deep."
prd74 - I was a huge Tedford supporter, but this game has me saying, "enough is enough". Jeff Tedford has turned into Joe Kapp. Tedford yells at his WR return man who just made a bonehead decision to fair catch on the four yard line and that guy simply blows off his HC. The team is obviously not paying attention to the coaching staff. No improvement since the first game in so many areas. There is no penalty for not executing. You screw up and you keep playing. The coaching staff seems to have no control over this team. That fake punt showed a lot. Sandy needs to stop treating JT and his staff like they are civil servants and demand better results or else.cannonbear - Playcalling was sooooo uninvented. Pretty disappointing.
CalBear91- Tedford is leading another losing, horrible season. The fan base is demoralized. If he had the answer, he would have changed something by now. He doesn't, so he needs to be gracefully let go and thanked for his past accomplishments.
hardtobeacalfan - genyk needs to gone by the end of the season. my faith in tedford is seriously being tested. if he can't turn our program around next year we need to reconsider his future, but i think he deserves at least one year with the new facilities. defensive gameplan seemed sound.
c98 - F, Keenan Allen or not.
cheeseinvert - I liked the risky fake punt call.
goldblooded - "OH SOMEBODY KILL ME PLEASE
SOMEBODY KILL ME PLEASE
I'M ON MY KNEES
PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE
KIIIIIIIIIIIIIILL MEEEEEEEEEEE"fuzzywuzzy - Make sure we know what not to do when we do eventually score a TD
Taf - Aside from the special teams, I don't know that the catasrophe of last night was directly coaching related. But the onus is now on the coaches to make sure that it never happens again. Again, something has to change.
Sycasey - Well-coached teams do not fair-catch inside the 5. Well-coached teams do not fumble snaps and simple handoffs. Well-coached teams do not try ridiculous fakes that require the punter to run about 15 yards in the middle of the defense. What happened to you, Tedford?
CoBears - The offensive coaching was abysmal--or the preparation for the performance was abysmal--either way, that falls on the coaches. The fake punt was the worst trick play ever run by Tedford. The turnovers are absurd. We'd better use the long week of preparation to actually PREPARE for the Utah game, which is a MUST WIN. Makes me feel ill.
Overall Performance
VandyImport - "I hate USC. I hate their slutbag ""song girls"", I hate their overrated band and their spectrum-disorder song selection, I hate their sidewalk alumni douche fandom, they're Alabama with a better payroll except Alabama doesn't have to give their trophies back. But mostly I hate the fact that even after getting nuked by the NCAA and having a legit paint-chip-eating mental defective for a head coach, we still find a way to piss the game away with more turnovers than I can count.
And most of all, I hate that we've lost eight in a row...because that includes 2004, which demonstrates that in college football, it's always better to cheat and reap the rewards.
USC makes me hate college football. And for that they should be destroyed. And the fact that we cannot beat this shitbag team makes me want to scream. "
brooklyn bear - Jeff, your time has come. Thanks for opening our eyes to some good football, but now it seems that you are out of your league. Best wishes for your HC job in the WAC.
c98 - F, Keenan Allen or not.
rollonyoubears1111 - "I made a comment that I was trying to be a sunshine pumper, and when I went to the game, I was feeding off my power of suggestion. I watched the first drive, and I said to my wife, ""Maynard needs to just shake it off"". The second offensive drive...""oh, they are just warming up.""
Then, after all of those 3 and outs, the negative yardage, the dropped balls, the fumbles, the INT's...I was f'n furious! But I didn't show it. I screamed my voice out when our D went out on the field. I stayed positive. But then, something happened.
My wife is in her 3rd trimester, and her pregnancy's been going pretty well. She's so sweet and understanding, but for the first time, she turned to me and said something that I never thought she'd opine. You see, she is usually very optimistic and sweet. She told me she doesn't think that watching ""losers"" is good for her pregnancy. I laughed. Hormones are kinda funny."
Texpatriot - We're the West Coast Iowa. Or Clemson. Consistent track record of NFL talent, consistent underachiever. Hell, we lose in more spectacularly embarrassing fashion than either of them, but their fans hold the staff accountable for the talent and resources given to them. Ferentz and Swinney have been off and on the hot seat for years, and we all remember the long-running Bowden saga.moman - hard pressed to win another game
George Watson - Bad playing, worse coaching. I am embarrassed to be a Cal fan having watched last night's game. Does Tedford still have any clue? Fake punt on 4th-and-7 (+10 for the punter), fair catch on our four, missed PAT, QB who can't look off pass defenders and nearly threw many more receptions, passes into horrendous coverage, has happy feet and lacks fundamentals. All of this in the 6th game of the season, at home. I want to put a sack over my head for the next game. But so should Maynard and all the Cal coaches. Disgraceful.
Californication - Miserable performance on offense and on special teams wasted a pretty good defensive showing. This game should have been much closer were it not for all the mistakes.
FiatSlug - "Offense played poorly; numerous gaffes in execution, almost as if the offense was dazed. Special Teams played credibly (two exceptions noted above); Defense kept the team in it as much as they could. If the offense hadn't shot themselves in the foot repeatedly, the outcome could very well have been a Cal victory.
I want to point out that Pac-12 officiating continues to show a marked need for improvement. Cal was called for a personal foul on an out of bounds play (USC sideline) where the ball carrier was barely out of bounds; it's not clear that the whistle had blown.
Cal was called for a PI near midfield near the Cal bench; the pass was clearly overthrown and not catchable.
Cal was called for a personal foul after its only TD; no number was ever announced. Even looking at the PBP Summary doesn't tell you who was flagged for the personal foul. I think that the foul was for Zach Maynard extending his left arm after breaking the plane of the goal line (taunting?). Regardless of who committed the foul, it looks like a horseshit call because no number was announced and there was no explanation of the infraction."
rurata - "Defense was as about as good as it could be with all of the short fields they were given. I remember part way through the second half, seeing some sort of stat where Zach had more yards than Barkley, but USC had more TD's because of the short drives and fewer turnovers. DAMN THOSE TURNOVERS!!!
Even though I was sort of expecting a loss this week, I never thought it would have been like this. The fact that we had a good chance of winning if we didn't turn over the ball 5 freaking times made the loss sting even worse."
CoBears - "I don't know why I force myself to watch the entire game, every game when we continue to play like this (particularly against $C). Being a Cal fan can be difficult sometimes, and this game was a real downer. The coaching was bad. The players were making stupid mistakes (bad penalties, dumb fake punt, crazy fair catch at the 4, bobbled handoff, fumbles, interceptions . . . the list goes on and on). And we couldn't take advantage of an $C team having a lot of its own difficulties. Troubling.
I'm nonetheless going to do what I hope the team can and will do, though, and put this game behind me to focus on the opportunity that lays ahead, namely a winning season and a bowl game. These next few games will be critical. Go Bears! Beat the Utes!"