Cal Football vs. UCLA Report Card - Flawless victory by the Pac-12 refs

Berkelium97: I think we're going to have to start including a "referees" category in future report cards.

	Average	Standard Deviation
Pass Offense	.625	.179
Rush Offense	.273	.202
Pass Defense	.408	.230
Rush Defense	.399	.256
Special Teams	.476	.281
Coaching	.301	.265
Overall	.483	.185
Win Chance vs. Oregon	16.3% (+3.2%)	18.8

As usual, Goff and the passing game earned the highest scores of the game (despite that fateful final pass).  Run offense earned the lowest grade of the week.  Surprisingly, the grades on defense weren't too bad.  A strong second half by the defense offset a first half that some of us thought was prelude to a blowout.

Special teams had the highest standard deviation of the week, likely due to a great game by Leininger and some bizarre kickoff strategy.  That strategy likely hurt the coaching grades, which were the second-lowest grades of the week.

The chance of a win against Oregon has climbed slightly.  It likely would have been much higher if this game were earlier in the season when Jake Fisher was still out with injury. We probably also would have a better chance if we played the game as a home game.  Yes, I'm still bitter that we willingly sacrificed a home game against Oregon.

Speaking of bitter, let's start handing out some awards.  Cal lost, so we'll start with the pessimists.

Sonny Yikes

Name	Grade
1. jordanpaytonsverbal	0.10 (1.4%)
2. the townie	0.60 (8.6%)
3. butthurt	1.00 (14.3%)
4. Mitchgobears	1.12 (16.0%)
5. OldSoCalBear	1.34 (19.1%)

jordanpaytonsverbal...that's cold.  the townie finishes second followed by butthurt.  Mitchgobears earns his third Sonny Yikes grade of the year and OldSoCalBear rounds out the bottom five.

Sonny Delight

Name	Grade
1. MothershedATear	7.00 (100.0%)
2. PRD74	5.55 (79.3%)
3. mrjpark	5.00 (71.4%)
3. I hate Matt Millen.	5.00 (71.4%)
5. Rose Bowl Oski	4.60 (65.7%)

I'm not sure what the deal is with these lone perfect scores.  We had the Kabam Intern last week and this week we have MothershedATear.  In second we have PRD74 who earns a third Sonny Delight award on the heels of last week's Sonny Yikes award.  mrjpark and I hate Matt Millen tied for third.  I didn't watch the broadcast of the game, but it sounds like Millen really rustled some jimmies on Saturday.  Was he that bad?  Finally, Rose Bowl Oski finally earns a Sonny Delight award after narrowly missing the cut on two previous occasions.

The Voice of Reason

Lastly we have those whose report cards were closest to the community average.

Name	Deviation
1. sacman701	.082
2. KillingmeSofele	.102
3. bigdruid	.107
4. Seriously, I really do miss glasses ref.	.119
5. @stevebrathe	.121

After finishing 2nd last week, sacman701 climbs to the top of the podium this week.  In fact, sacman was the only one whose standard deviation was below .100.  These are some of the highest scores we've ever had qualify for the Voice of Reason.  You all should be ashamed.

On that cheery note, let's turn things over to Sam and the comments.

Sam Fielder: Many words were written about the coaching decisions made by Sonny & Co.  And it's understandable.  I was a little surprised that there wasn't a ton of stuff about the refs abysmal performance but I think maybe we're all just immune to Pac-12 officiating at this point. We also had a season low on comments this game, which I attribute to the fact that many people attended the game and didn't care to relive it later.  Or something else entirely. So onto the comments and remember, if you want your comments to be included be sure and use a handle so I can attribute it to someone.

GameDay Experience

RhetoriCal: Two of my favorite bears are down with at least concussions and possibly spine damage, one of my favorite bears threw a game losing pick that was dialed up for no discernible reason, and we managed to refuse the gift of victory that UCLA kept trying to turnover to us. It was a no good very bad gameday experience.

GoldenBear88: Fantastic! Except for the end when Cal managed to produce another heart-breaking loss. What was Dykes/Franklin thinking throwing deep like that? Wasn't it first or second down? Pound the ball inside for some extra yards and burn the clock. I guess they don't trust the kicker.

Jacobs.: Incredibly warm day in the student section. Getting worried that someone will actually suffer serious injury (heat stroke, severe dehydration) if this continues. Also wondering how smart it is to have our dark blue team under the noon sun, while the visiting white clad team gets to hang out in the shade. Doubting if any amount of shouting can make up for that kind of disadvantage.

PRD74: If just winning football games were the main reason for following a team, then I should have stopped watching Cal in 1972. Today's game is why I love watching this college football team. The Bears were playing shorthanded against a vastly higher rated team and came with an eyelash of winning. This is not the lackluster, don't give a sh*t teams of the past couple of year. This is a team that has heart and plays hard. What a fun game, we just lost. Big deal.

DR.CAL18: I was heartbroken wearing a pug shirt(losing bet) down Shattuck.

iwastherefortheplay: I got tickets to the University Club. Pretty nice but FULL of fucla douchebags doing their stupid fucla cheer.

BTown85: I wish all my friends realized that I watch my Cal games ON TAPE DELAY!!!!! Don't FREAKIN' TEXT ME ABOUT THE OUTCOME UNTIL THE NEXT DAY, DAMMIT!!!!!!

jordanpaytonsverbal: pffffffffffffffffffffffffffft

GoldenBear77: Beautiful day, good crowd and nice spirit. I watched a different game than you covered in your introduction -- yes some problems, but I was in the Rose Bowl (by the way UCLA, even my daughter who is a UCLA grad thinks "the Rose Bowl" cheer is lame) last year, and we have grown so much. I am proud of that. With less than 1 minute to go, we had a chance to win. You did not feel that at any time last year.

sacman701: I was there, in the front row of section UU. I liked being able to see the Cal sideline fairly well, but I didn't like the heat and always having to crane my neck around fans, vendors, and ushers. The non-interception that ended the game happened right in front of me. It was not an interception.

Rose Bowl Oski: Another beautiful day in Strawberry Canyon. Exciting game, disappointing ending. I've decided that I really don't like the new stadium announcer -- he sounds way too "Furdy" at times. What happened to Ed Kleinhans(sp)?

jonahdoh: Mistakenly invited a Bruin to my house to watch the game. Beers + Bruin + Bruins win = bad time. It was a heart-breaker of a game because we could have won it. Still not nearly has hurtful as the UW game, where we got dominated and almost had nothing to cheer for. Much improved compared to last years 10 pt performance against LA.

Pass Offense

calfootballaddict: About the last play- yes it was a interesting play call and Goff made a bad read/throw, but I'm not super angry about it. Understandable considering that throw to Lawler tends to yield a touchdown it seems at least once a game (it did on Cal's last touchdown) and because Cal was riding a wave a momentum and UCLA might have been gearing up for the run/short pass. Obviously, in retrospect they weren't and Jared ends up overthrowing and double-covered receiver. Honestly would rather lose on a shot down the field than a missed 45-50 yard field goal. Also, Captain Obvious noticed that Steven Moore is not a good left tackle.

hardtobecalfan: o-line gives goff no protection. both rubenzer and goff's TD's were great. i still don't believe that was an INT to end the game. worried about davis and harper. don't they play the same position?

Nor-Cal Scott: Goff had no time to pass the ball down field. The OL did not have their best game, and LT Moore had his hands full all day long.  Goff did air it out a few times but he did the best he could under a steady rush.

BrooklynBear: Big kudos for having Rubenzer throw a 7-yard touchdown. That was an exceptional call and big play.

Loved the passing game that included Anderson + Powe lined up as TE or very close to the tackle.

Still waiting for the return of offensive patience shown during the first half of the NU game.

mrjpark: Goff still isn't looking back in form, but that's most likely just because we're playing better defenses now. He's still sharp. Once we have a good offensive line in front of him, he looks to be unstoppable.

sup_doe_library: Spotty. Good that they took advantage of short fields, but not nearly the juggernaut we've built up in our expectations? Pass blocking continues to be a serious issue, as UCLA disrupted/hurried/hit Goff all game oftentimes with no extra rushers coming on blitzes. Moore struggled again to contain the edge rush from LT, Borrayo was certainly missed.

And then there's the final offensive play, which has been discussed ad nauseum--not necessarily sure if i can blame the coaches, Goff should've realized it wasn't there instead of forcing it--even though it wasn't actually a pick--like Nam says, why put ourselves in a position where P12Ref can f*ck us with their incompetence?!?

Run Offense

Tired of this: Why so many reverses and tricky run plays on 3rd down? We don't have the O-line to make them work…

Dishonor on your cow: Complete domination by UCLA in the trenches meant the running backs had virtually no blocking throughout the game. Pitiful.

@stevebrathe: The Ucla front controlled the line of scrimmage all game; therefore the running game severely struggled.

Btown85: Ok, DLas has to NOT JUMP IN THE AIR!!!! Every time he was a sitting duck for some LB to drill him. Keep your feet on the ground, son.

sup_doe_library: A for effort, D for effect. Another area where Borrayo was sorely missed. All things considered, UCLA's very good LB corps probably deserves some credit, and Lasco continues to run very strong, but the #warpigs aren't quite ready to go tete a tete with the more athletic defenses in the league on run plays (or pass plays.)

jonahdoh: They had us stuffed in almost every run. I think this caused the forced throw, because there was a serious lack of trust on our run game. Lasco looks good still, but if he keeps leaving his feet for that extra yard, he's gonna hurt himself eventually.

Pass Defense

OldSoCalBears: McClure must have made a difference because there were no huge plays. But it's maddening to see our corners still can't get off blocks. And we think that the best approach to tackling is by diving at the ball carrier's ankles.

Kmac: We were happy to give up everything short, I guess we executed the game plan…

DrProfessorLaureate MCB PhD: Jared Goff and receiver core doing an amazing job considering the circumstances. O-line is swiss cheese. UCLA should not be getting to Goff in 0.4765 seconds on 2PC plays to go up 3.

sacman701: The coverage was soft especially on screens, but there weren't any real meltdowns and they did come up with the pick and the fumble after Hundley was forced to scramble. We allowed UCLA nearly 8 yards per attempt which isn't good, but they average 8.6 per attempt. Tackling in the secondary was not good.

Run Defense

RhetoriCal: I guess we finally know the answer to whether teams have just been attacking our porous secondary or if our run defense is stout. A colander should be the D's mascot until they prove they aren't full of holes. And I say that with love in my heart and fire in my belly.

Dishonor on your cow: Bullied and pushed around all day. 237 yards on the ground allowed. Causes ranged from missed tackles to outmatched linemen.

osodero: Let's be brutal here, UCLA was extremely predictable. The basically ran three plays all game: a run up the middle, a wide receiver screen, or a pass in the flat to the running back. And based on down and distance, they were even MORE predictable about which of those three plays they'd run. Our silly Bears never figured it out, except maybe once. Of course, wide receiver screens are more successful when the blocking WRs are allowed to hold, blatantly, all the time, except once.

Why not a field goal try and win by just one point? At least that is what I thought the coach was calling for.What happened ? Just poor coaching or calling the wrong ones at the last few minutes.: Couldn't stop their screen most of the time.

Special Teams

sf-gigantes: Solid. Good returns. I'm not sure I like all the little squib kicks, since they tend to result in bad field position more often than not.

Nor-Cal Scott: Cole once again was stellar. Langford 4/4 on XPs. And Matt Anderson did what he was told to do.... squib those kickoffs. The strategy was flawed. FLAWED.  KO/P returns were fine.  Hope Davis is ok.

thetownie: THERE WAS NO PROTECTIO FOR RHE PUNT RECEIVER ERGO, NO RUNBACKS! AT LEAST THE DRIBBLED KICKS HELPRD PREVENT WILD RUN BACKS. BUT SUCH KICKS ARE AN INDICATION OF THE FEARS OF NOT BEING ABLE TO DEAL WITH A GOOD RUNNER. HECK, WE CAN'T TACKLE ANYHOW.

@stevebrathe: The squib kicks all afternoon were terrible, Ucla was gifted the ball on the 40 yard line now u cut the field to s 60 yard game, really? How are u going to win s game like that! Punter played well!

Rose Bowl Oski: Great punting. I liked the idea of keeping the ball away from Ish Adams.

Coaching

#BearRaid: Doing what they can with what they have

KillingMeSofele: Bad late play call. Run the f*cking ball. We have a good kicker. Just get in field goal range and burn clock. Blerg!

Kmac: Lots of miscues. Sending the kicking team out after taking the lead and having to call a time out to go for 2? Throwing a deep ball when the slant/cross patterns have been there all game long and you're trailing by 2?

puresilence: Odd. Not adjusting to stop the short passing game when they really didn't go deep was infuriating. The last play that resulted in a pick was also baffling as we only needed to get in FG range for the win.

Jacobs.: So I think I've figured this out. Coaching staff has taken one long look at the inexperienced and thin roster and gone: "Time for an experimental season". Sometimes this works well, sometimes it doesnt work at all. Either that, or the offensive coaching staff has all suffered some crazy mental disability that prevents them from preparing against teams. What the heck has happened to first half offense? Without defense we score nothing in the first half. First quarter has been scoreless for the last four matches - what gives?!?

butthurt: oooouuuuuuuccccchhhhh

Old Bear: Real bad day. Continue to have doubts about Sonny and his staff. Squanering timeouts all game long, and it finally cost us the game ... If UCLA has to punt from its 1-yard-line with 45 seconds left, we win.

No sideline adjustment. Love his openness and honesty, but clearly over his head.

PRD74: OMG, I love our coaches. We have endured a decade of overly conservative play calling and always playing scared. This group made adjustments at halftime that were working. Haven't seen that in the past few years. AND, at the end of the game, instead of rushing for three straight plays to line up for a ridiculously long game losing field goal attempt, Sonny "Mr. Giant Cajones" Dykes tries to go for the win with one of the ballsiest plays in Cal football history. If it had worked we would still be screaming. Since it did not, I feel bad that we lost, but damn, we got ourselves a coaching staff that goes for it and has confidence in their players.

I hate Matt Millen: I don't think it was as bad as people are making it out to be. I like that we're aggressive. It's such a welcome change from Tedford and you dance with who brought ya.

BigDruid: 1) We gave up way too many short fields with those 20-yard squib kicks. I would've liked to have seen us at least try to do normal coverage before flying the white flag.

2) We were woefully unprepared for our 2-point conversion. We sent the wrong team on the field - did we not already figure out what we wanted to do?

3) Not gonna second-guess that last throw - in fact, I'll put it on Goff for throwing it into double coverage. But it sure felt like the only way we were gonna lose that game was either to turn the ball over, or score with too much time on the clock.

On the plus side, seems like we made good defensive adjustments in the second half. And we managed to get the ball down the field, despite the fact that our OL couldn't give Goff any time.

iwastherefortheplay: Don't they have coaching points regarding the score on the ginormous playcard so they know exactly what to do? TO called because he realized he should go for 2. He should also have plays ready for that situation as well. I also don't get TF at the end there, but I don't have my own system so I'll keep quiet and leave it to the professionals.

GoldenBear77: Not as negative as you are. We had the chance in the last minute to beat a good football team that knew it had to win to preserve its season, and we are improving. The halftime adjustments were generally effective, and we made a good comeback. The decision of who to throw to on the final pass was Goff's, and he thought he had the matchup he wanted. All in all, the team was prepared, and showed no quit.

Overall Performance

slaphancock: Gritty loss. This may be a tough one to get over, but this team has resilience. All in all, it was a fun game until the horrific final minutes. We showed up and played exciting football.

Seriously Worried: Sometimes I am worried that we've been cursed ever since we started booing injuries last year. Ever since then, our best players have all been going down. I will admit that I booed some injuries from opposing sides last year (because they deserved it for being fakers) but man, look at what's happened since.

MitchGoBears: Poor coaching and poor officiating.

Feeling Pain Means That You Care: The players fought their hearts out and sacrificed their bodies for this game. This Cal team has all the intangibles: guts, luck, perseverance. The rest will have to come in time.

Big Druid: UCLA was bigger, stronger, and meaner than us, so we're lucky to have been in this game at all. Shows me how far we have to go on both lines to really compete in this league.

MothershedATear: Lousy. I missed an obvious helmet to helmet, my microphone ran out of batteries, and I mispronounced "reversed" as "confirmed". FML.

BrooklynBear: Great great play by the kids! They work hard. They play hard and are in the right positions. I'm highly concerned with seeing how much Darius White and Patrick Worstell play. Seem like very hard-working and highly over-matched players. Still great effort and play overall. Exciting team. Easy to root for. GO BEARS!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out a report card this week.  Keep up the good work and GO BEARS!