Golden Nuggets: Cal Football 2012 Season In Review, Uncle Ted's Take

Yesterday we looked at how the Bears measured up against our predictions. Today is Uncle Ted's turn. His season review gives the Bears an F.

What went right: The renovated stadium looked great on Sept. 1 when the season opened. The Bears played a highly competitive game they probably should have won at Ohio State, which went undefeated. A two-game winning streak the first two weekends of October, including a blowout win over UCLA, briefly -- falsely -- suggested the potential for a midseason turnaround. It seemed as though there was a real effort to handle Jeff Tedford's firing with as much respect as possible, considering his substantial contribution to the program over 11 years.

You know it was a bad season when a well executed firing of the head coach is among "what went right.".

Outlook for 2013: The Bears not only will be rebuilding next fall under new coach Sonny Dykes, they face a brutal schedule that could make things look worse than they are. The nonconference schedule includes visits from Northwestern, a sure Top-25 team, and Ohio State, a national title contender. Further, the Bears, per masochistic scheduling demands made by the school, insist on playing UCLA and USC every year. Let's hear it for the weekender! Who cares about the Rose Bowl?! Cal also takes road trips to Stanford and Oregon, which benefits significantly from Cal and Stanford demanding games with USC and UCLA every year. The Ducks and Cardinal will be ranked in the preseason top five, meaning Cal may play three top-five teams this season, as well as several others who likely will end up ranked. It might be the nation's toughest schedule. Aside from the schedule, Dykes needs to find a quarterback and will be switching the Bears from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense. There's some nice pieces coming back -- most notably some promising young receivers, as well as defensive end Deandre Coleman and running back Brendan Bigelow -- and 2012 set the bar low, but next fall is unlikely to produce enough wins for a bowl berth.

What do you all think--can we manage six wins next season?

Football

• Thursday is the deadline for season ticket holders to renew their 2012 seats.
• The Bears picked up two defensive tackles and an outside linebacker on Sunday. The Bears have the 23rd-ranked class according to Rivals and 19th according to Scout.
• At the Pro Bowl Marshawn Lynch scored a TD and Lorenzo Alexander led the NFC team with five tackles. DeCoud had four tackles for the NFC. Aaron Rodgers and Tony Gonzalez were named as starters but sat out with injuries.
• Marc Anthony and Brian Schwenke started in the Senior Bowl. Their South squad defeated the North 21-16.

Basketball

• Layshia Clarendon broke the 1,500-point barrier in the Bears' 71-54 win over Utah.
• Coach Gottlieb has some good insight into how the team gameplanned around the absence of Gennifer Brandon.
• The men's team lost another frustrating, forgettable game.
• Faraudo's live thread follows along as the Bears played one half of offense and one half of defense.
• Cal Athletics Hall of Famer Andy Wolfe will receive the Pete Newell Career Achievement Award at halftime of the UCLA game.

Tennis

• The no. 7 women's team swept Fresno State 7-0.
• The women's team swept Saint Mary's 7-0 to earn a bid to the ITA Championships.

Gymnastics

• The no. 21 Bears notched the third-highest score in school history but barely lost to Stanford by a final score of 195.775-196.450.