Golden Nuggets: Dykes still building his foundation, defense finally playing as a team, and a birthday present for Goff

At today's press conference, Coach Sonny Dykes opened by discussing the progress the team is making, which may be more about the foundation of a new culture than immediate wins.

.@GoldenBlogs Sonny is speaking about building a foundation & culture, players are still buying in...

— GoldenBlogs (@GoldenBlogs) October 15, 2013

The subject moved to the preponderance of record-breaking performances, which he mainly attributes to the evolution of the game. But a little hint, Coach, discussing your record-breaking stats in the same sentence of steroids might not be so wise.

"It's almost like the steroid era in baseball, stats are a lot bigger because of the number of plays and the way people play." -Dykes

— Hunter Hewitt (@HunterHewitt) October 15, 2013

DB Cameron Walker attributed the defense's improved performance against UCLA to the players finally coming together and playing as one. Let's hope this continues for the rest of the year.

"Last week was the first week we played as a team," says Walker of #Cal defense.

— Ryan Gorcey (@RGBearTerritory) October 15, 2013

One notable defender the fans have all been anticipating is LB Nick Forbes. Forbes, who has been named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works team, is one of the nine intended defensive starters currently not on the field. Forbes saw his first action of the year against the Bruins on special teams, but it sounds like the fans might have to keep waiting.

Dykes says LB Nick Forbes has had a "setback," and didn't "move particularly well yesterday."

— Ryan Gorcey (@RGBearTerritory) October 15, 2013

Check out @GoldenBlogs for more injury updates on RB Daniel Lasco and OL Matt Cochran and some news about what QB Jared Goff received for his birthday yesterday.

Goff up next - his 19th bday was yesterday: parents came over yesterday, he got an ipad mini

— GoldenBlogs (@GoldenBlogs) October 15, 2013

Women's Soccer

• The 13-game undefeated streak comes to an end thanks to those dastardly Bruins...

Men's Soccer

• But the first-ranked men's team were able to conquer the southern branch to stay undefeated

Men's Water Polo

• With wins over UC Irvine and UCSB, no. 5 Cal finishes fifth at the SoCal Invitational

Women's Tennis

• Kelly Chui and Cecilia Estlander finish up at the Saint Mary's Invitational with losses in singles, but a win as a doubles tandem

Lacrosse

• Coach Ginger Miles blogs about the evolution of the preparation process as the team heads into their game against UC Davis

Men's Tennis

• ALL of California is Bear Territory as Andre Goransson won the Battle of the Bay Classic in Northern California and Nikhil Jayashankar won in Southern California's UCSB Classic

Women's Swimming and Diving

• Missy Franklin is getting acclimated to her first-year classes and dorm life just like we all did--except she's also spending her time training and giving international interviews

Women's Basketball

• Be on the lookout for new Bears on the prowl with hires and promotions for the support staff
• Introducing Bay Area–native and Cal freshman forward KC Waters!
• Layshia Clarendon and her golden mohawk are going worldwide--she'll be spending the offseason playing with ZWZ USK Prague

Field Hockey

• The Golden Bears lost to the undefeated UC Davis Aggies

Volleyball

• Cal lost to Utah at Haas Pavilion in four sets
• But there's no rest for the Golden Bears who are locked in a five-way tie for fifth in the conference and must endure the awful state of Washington to face UW and WSU
• Volleyball 101: Intro to Serving
  

Men's Golf

• In his first pro outing, Max Homa finished ninth at the Frys.com Open
• The Golden Bears take a 21-point lead at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational

Football

• ESPN has a midseason report and offensive and defensive MVPs for Cal
• The late kickoffs will continue until our performance improves:

— Hunter Hewitt (@HunterHewitt) October 14, 2013

• The Cal marching band serenaded a hospitalized alumna and 20-year employee of the California Alumni Association
• What did Hunter Hewitt learn from the loss to UCLA?
• After the week 7 games, we remain at the bottom of the Pac-12 Power Rankings
• Uncle Ted previews our game with the Beavers of Corvalis
• The Golden Bears--and our depleted secondary--now must face the nation's leader in passing yards
• For the second week in a row, opposing coaches are using us as a lesson that their teams don't take hapless losers lightly
• Some notes from Monday's practice, courtesy of Hunter Hewitt:

— Hunter Hewitt (@HunterHewitt) October 15, 2013

— Hunter Hewitt (@HunterHewitt) October 15, 2013

• And in case you were worried about us losing that lovely injury bug:

— Hunter Hewitt (@HunterHewitt) October 15, 2013

• The depth chart for the OSU game has Damariay Drew starting over Michael Lowe at FS
  

  Dykes liked the physicality safety Damariay Drew brought against UCLA. Drew is now listed as the starter over Lowe

  — Hunter Hewitt (@HunterHewitt) October 15, 2013

• Current Viking Desmond Bishop suffered an ACL tear
• Third-round pick Keenan Allen led the Chargers in receiving and caught a career-high nine balls for 107 yards and a TD in San Diego's win over the Colts (TD GIF here.)
• In mind-blowing news, DeSean Jackson made some confident/cocky statements about opposing CB Darrelle Revis, but backed it up by easily scoring a TD when matched up against him (video, GIF, and all around gloriousness within)