How are you feeling now going into the WSU game???
Berkelium97: The win over UCLA has not changed my outlook on the game. I am still concerned that the Bad Bears will show up, lose, and force us to spend another week looking for a potential replacement coach.
NorCalNick: What the win over UCLA allows is for optimism. Cal has again demonstrated that they have the talent to hang with (and beat) almost any team on the schedule. Considering Wazzu's rather extreme struggles this year, that means that it's very reasonable to expect a strong performance on the road.
But one win, no matter how stirring, isn't enough to cure my skepticism that has been built up over the last few years. The good news is that no matter the state of Cal football, Washington State has simply never been able to compete with Cal's talent and I don't really see what that would be any different this time.
Kodiak: At risk of jinxing the heck out of Juju, I don't see Pullman as being more intimidating than the Horseshoe. It's another spread attack, but it looks like we might be figuring out how our D matches up against that type of offense. The emergence of Kam Jackson as a potential playmaker at corner really changes the dynamic of our secondary. It's great to see him bounce back after a rough first game against Nevada.
I'd like to see us build on the ucla game and show that we can put together some consistency. If we regress back to ASU-levels of sloppiness, then all the goodwill generated from the last win is gone.
Avinash: Cal can win any game they play the rest of the season. The talent is there. But the team must build upon what they learned last week. The mistakes need to continue to be cut down. The defense has to stop surrendering on 3rd down and they need to shore up against the run. The offense has to keep on producing a few big plays. The penalties need to go down. The communication needs to be better on the sideline. The in-game adjustments have to keep on coming.
.500 is a challenge (this schedule is a monster), but beating a talented UCLA squad is encouraging.
TwistNHook: We've got a shot! Before I marked it down as another Cal loss. Road game. Potentially better (but not really) WSU team. I marked this one down as a loss, the same way I marked down UCLA as a loss. The fact that we won against UCLA (and looked pretty good doing it) gives me hope. Having said that, it's still Cal. And it's still on the road. And it's Mike Leach, so, I don't feel super strong about it.
If you look at their rankings, they are still bad in a lot of ways:
123rd in rushing yards. 93rd in pass D. But their pass O has improved. 15th in the nation! Hope our D is up to the task!
But if we win here, then we're just a Big Game victory away from being at .500. GO BEARS!
Unclesam22: I should feel good, but I'm a Cal fan so I have an impending sense of DOOOOM. I'm afraid our pass D gets exposed and WSU suddenly puts it all together just in time to pull the upset (though we have the same record so I'm not sure how much of an upset it'd be...). But if the same team that showed up Saturday night shows up again, I'll feel very confident. Problem is, I won't know which team is showing up until Saturday night, so I'll worry all week.
Ohio Bear: Cautiously optimistic. This is a game we can win. It is also a game we can lose. Cal must build on its performance vs. UCLA.
VincentS: Very worried. Marc Anthony absolutely has to be healthy against WSU. The Pirate likes to spread everyone out and attack the most mismatched WR-DB combination, and we are extremely thin on that front. Our young guys have to maintain coverage and assignments for us to stop WSU's offense.
LeonPowe: I'm still confused. I guess I was one of the biggest sunshine pumpers around here - I still think Maynard is talented but flawed, not a waste of a QB slot as some Cal fans would like to label him. I still want Tedford here - and want him to re-claim the 2004-2006 crown of QB guru and offensive genius.
However, not having actually seen the game - I see a lot of the flaws of box score. Turnovers and penalties, and UCLA gifting us a game with penalties and turnovers of their own.
I so want to be confident going into WSU. I want Maynard and Tedford to prove the doubters wrong. But I'm not sure what to believe on the road just yet. I know we can do it - but I'm not sure if we will or will not.
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