Berkelium97: Look at that, a win! And, in typical Cal fashion, it was a win that was not without plenty of stress and anxiety. When Oregon State rallied to take the 31-27 lead, I thought we were on our way to another Oregon State nightmare (and I wasn't the only one to feel this way). Fortunately we battled back and kept our bowl hopes alive. It was an ugly win but a win nonetheless. Let's see how you graded the Bears' performance.
Average | Standard Deviation | |
Pass Offense | .599 | .149 |
Rush Offense | .917 | .078 |
Pass Defense | .607 | .155 |
Rush Defense | .677 | .150 |
Special Teams | .623 | .163 |
Coaching | .733 | .139 |
Overall | .788 | .103 |
Win Chance vs. USC | 40.9% (+18.4%) | 19.3 |
Jared Goff and the passing game earned the lowest score of the week--this may be the first and last time I say that. Daniel Lasco helped the running game earn its highest score in years. Defense even earned passing marks in both aspects of the game while special teams bounced back from some questionable performances the past week weeks. May we never speak of the squib kicks again. Coaching and overall were both the highest in many weeks. It's amazing what a win will do for these numbers.
Finally, our win likelihood against the Trojans has nearly doubled to just under 41%. I think we have much, much lower odds, but it's nice to see some optimism heading into LA. We'll see if you all feel the same way after next week's preview of USC's offense...
And now let's hand out some awards. First we have an editor's choice for alpha1906. alpha earns the President of the Daniel Lasco Fan Club for submitting...well, this:
Pass offense | Lascodelphia |
Run offense | Lascosity |
Pass defense | Lasco World |
Run defense | Lascotricity |
Special teams | Lascorific |
Coaching | Lasconormous |
Overall | Lascofunky |
Win chance vs. USC | Lascomistic |
If our run game keeps playing like this, I get the feeling Webster is going to have a slew of new words to add to the next edition of the dictionary.
The Bears won which means we'll first recognize the optimists in our regular series of awards.
Sonny Delight
Name | Grade |
1. YOUR MOM'S BEAVER | 7.00 (100.0%) |
2. Rocksanddirt | 6.60 (94.3%) |
3. PRD74 | 6.50 (92.9%) |
4. Yleexotee | 6.32 (90.3%) |
5. Old Bear 71 | 6.05 (86.4%) |
The oh-so-cleverly named YOUR MOM'S BEAVER leads the way with a perfect score. Rocksanddirt, PRD74, and Old Bear 71 each earn their third Sonny Delights of the year. The sole new award winner among our regular voters is Yleexotee. I've always wondered what that name means...
Next we recognize those who found no pleasure in a rare road victory over the Beavers.
Sonny Yikes
Name | Grade |
1. Mitchgobears | 3.60 (51.4%) |
2. I feel bad for Connor Halliday | 3.80 (54.3%) |
2. Jonohdoh | 3.80 (54.3%) |
4. Berkelium97 | 3.85 (55.0%) |
5. lebron | 4.00 (57.14%) |
Mitchgobears leads the way with his third Sonny Yikes of the year. In second place we have I feel bad for Connor Halliday. You know what? I do too. I was really hoping he'd break Mannion's new Pac-12 record. What a shame.
Jonohdoh is third followed by yours truly in fourth. I'm surprised I finished that low in the grades. I gave Goff a pretty low mark because I'm used to such brilliance from him. I also was unkind to special teams for that idiotic dual-number penalty, which partly reflected a low-ish coaching score. But I absolutely agree with the average score for Lasco! Finally we have lebron in fifth, who is still bitter for losing to Knicks in his first game since returning to the Cavs.
Our final set of awards goes to those whose grades were closest to the community average.
The Voice of Reason
Name | Deviation |
1. minical | .049 |
2. CoBears | .055 |
3. koalaballa | .063 |
4. wilderthangene | .067 |
5. lithium | .067 |
We have a new face among the Voices of Reason this week, minical. CoBears earns a second Voice of Reason while koalaballa earns a third VoR of the year. wilderthangene and lithium round out the top five. These deviations are substantially lower than the ones we've been seeing in recent weeks. Good job.
And now let's turn it over to Sam and your carefully constructed prose.
Sam Fielder: Almost every single person that left a comment on the passing offense commented about how off Goff looked, which really, tells us how far we've come in our expectations for the QB position at Cal. So there's that, and then there was a TON of Lasco love going on, and rightly so. But enough about all of that, let's take a look at what you all had to say.
GameDay Experience
crystallogrobear: Pac-12 Network has the worst announcers and producers. If I'm going to stay up until ridiculous hours watching the game, I at least want to see what's happening on the field and what the calls are. There were a couple plays where the play had already started before the it was shown, and there were how many plays where either the outcome was questionable or there was a penalty which they didn't replay. Not to mention the mindless and often wrong commentary from the announcers. Other than that, I'm appreciating the extra hour
hardtobecalfan: this team is teaching me to believe and have faith. and i'm thankful for daylight savings because these games are way too late for east coasters.
You know it, you tell the story, you tell the whole damn world THIS IS BEAR TERRITORY!: You know it, you tell the story, you tell the whole damn world THIS IS BEAR TERRITORY!
koalaballa: Corvallis is bear territory! and cold.
Jacobs.: Apparently there was a correlation between drinking whiskey and Cal doing well. I took a couple for the team!
Vincent S.: I watch every game from inside of a Stanford dorm room. No shame.
TKE Prytanis 79: My son speculated that one good thing about Pac 12 network is fewer or at least shorter commercial breaks...also, when we won, he didn't hurt me with his bear hug lifting me off the ground...
Glue and Bold: This is Dishonor on your Cow's mild-mannered alter ego speaking, because there is no dishonor to be had in a solid victory like this one. Thanks for the shoutout last week; it kind of made my day!
Cal wins and moves within one game of bowl eligibility. What's not to love?
Btown85: GOT TO MEET FIATLUX!
Beers with OSU friends, bike to game, more beer at game, sitting in OSU section with nice people, largely empty stadium, Cal falls behind, wander to Cal section, Cal looks good, High-Fiving every Cal fan in attendance, sharing flask with demoralized OSU fans, celebrating like a small child at Christmas, when I GOT TO MEET FIATLUX!!!!!!!! Awesome!
Rose Bowl Oski: Another late game leading to another fitful night of sleep. With all day to play 6 Pac-12 games, why did three of those games kick off at 7:30pm or later?
CoBears: Am I the only one who wonders if this win @ Oregon State may be the jumping off point for success for the future in the same way that our loss to OSU was the cliff off which we fell in 2007? Coming storming back after we gave up the lead gave me a lot of hope for the future.
Jonohdoh: Missed it live due to a concert, but didn't do any social media so i could watch it @ 4:30am. Memory is a little hazy, but will try my best. It was good to get a win IN OREGON.
Pass Offense
#BearRaid: Goff was off again. Could have put the game away in first half.
Really missed Lawler and Davis.
Andersen and Lasco came up HUGE!!!
osodero: Jared isn't a cold weather guy, is he? Despite that, he really did well. No INTs, a sweet TD pass, killer accuracy on passes to the flat.
EchoOfSilence: Goff seemed shaky for 3 quarters, you could tell we kind of missed Lawler and Davis. Treggs seemed bottled up, and Anderson was a MAN. O-line was challenged, I like how Goff stepped up in the pocket most of the game.
TKE Prytanis 79: Puzzled why Goff started so cold...some bad routes? Cold? Combination?
RhetoriCal: As much as I'd like to blame the o-line for its porous pass protection, Goff just had a bad day. That said, it says a lot about Goff that even on a bad day he can be deliver when he needs to, like on that go ahead TD throw to Harper.
MaroonBearinChiTown: Not what we were used to seeing. Is Goff getting tired and banged up? How much should we chalk up to a good Oregon State secondary?
Camster: Really glad that Goff did not have to be his usual self. Sorry that he wasn't but the Bears won "without him".
Run Offense
sacman701: The reason we won, and easily the most improved aspect of the team since the beginning of the season. Lasco is turning into a force.
napabear: Great timing for the breakout game. Love Lasco. 30 carries- memories of Shane Vereen
heyalumnigo: Nothing other than LASCO and our OL!!!!!!!!!
WillisChong: Lasco's performance was very Vereenesque. Enwere has potential-- I like his speed.
fuzzywuzzy: LET LASCO's WILD RUMPUS BEGIN
Lasco is a no-brainer for the Game ball so don't even bother asking. Gave us our first win over a group of tree-people since 2007.
NO FUMBLES, YAY
1988goldenbear: LASCO is a beast. So great to see him come into his own. Love that we get him another season! Pretty good movement of the O-line to pull and create gaps - I'm hoping that we have similar success against the bigger boys at USC and Furd.
ta49ers: I am very happily surprise that we do have a running game ,Lasco what a beast .......
sup_daniel_lasco:
D is for domination
A is for athletic
N is for nonplussed
I is for intimidating
E is for every down
L is for leg churning
And,
W is for winning
A is for aggressive
R is for redemption
P is for pancake
I is for insurmountable
G is for gamers
S is for sons of California
FireArtHowe!: You know how i feel about Page, Plant, Bonham, and Jones? Yeah, kinda like that -- the run offense rocked!
Old Bear 71: Definition of Strong: Lasco
Definition of powerful: Lasco
Definition of rugged: Lasco
Definition of durable: Lasco
Definition of bowl-bound: Lasco!
Sturdy Golden Bear: LASCO !!!
Player to lead the ground attack vs u$c: LASCO !!!!
minical: Lasco's running was biblical; more so we were getting blocking reminiscent of Moses parting the sea.
Pass Defense
sacman701: Allowed the Beavs to throw the ball better than they usually do, but also came up with some big stops. Oregon St was just 3 of 11 on 3rd down conversions.
crystallogrobear: Pretty bad, actually, but Mannion made enough mistakes. And that pick was awesome.
koalaballa: Caleb Coleman for Heisman. Starting to get more of a pass rush, but we could use some Zach Follett here. And we are getting crushed by tall and strong opposing receivers. And then when we cover the big receivers, the smaller speedy receivers get wide open.
mrjpark: Not perfect, but did just well enough. I'm really tired of dropping 8 on 3rd and longs. Our corners are not capable of defending receivers for that long, we need pressure on the QB. Attacking with 3 on 3rd and longs is essentially giving up first downs for free at this point in time.
heyalumnigo: I missed the 3 quick OSU TDs so I can't comment on those drives, but the ones I did see I don't really any blown coverages. For the most part we kept them in front of us and tackled. Also covered the WR screens pretty well.
coachbear: Just terrible!!
Defensive line is a joke. There is no stunts or looping by the linemen. They just rush straight up field and make it easy for the offensive lines. This is just bad coaching. You must try to confuse the offensive pass blocking assignments.
How much can the DB's do when a QB has hours to throw the ball.
Tackling really needs to be addressed. Way too many missed tackles the last three games.
lebron: mannion is a great quaterback but had few weapons. 1st half played great on defense but couldn't stop anyone in the 3rd quater. Caleb Coleman came up HUGE in the 4th!!
Rose Bowl Oski: That 10-minute stretch at the end of the 3rd quarter/beginning of the 4th quarter was ugly, but to their credit the Cal defense regrouped, forced an interception and a sack, and gave the offense the opportunity to win.
Run Defense
alpha1906: Three man rush? Put in Johnson.
WillisChong: They did their work and they didn't gash us that much.
fuzzywuzzy: Good thing Rodgers didn't suit up, but considering no Scarlett or C-bass, they did pretty well for being so young.
JaredWillBreakSeansRecord: Oregon State completely gave up on the run in the second half to feast on the pass defense. In a way, that's the run defense doing its job.
PRD74: This is not the 2013 Cal run defense. Nuff said.
This is the only place where I felt that I can make this comment:
The appearance of a team's uniform means nothing as proved by the fucla victory over the UofA.
OddOski: Outside of a few explosive plays the defense really stuffed the run I thought. This defense has shown the ability to stop the run and they did it again tonight.
I feel bad for Connor Halliday: If our pass defense was even just a smidge better, things would be different because our run d is fabulous, and if teams had to TRY to run, we'd be able to slow them down. But now they just throw and throw and throw all over us. Why the Furd game could be really fun.
Special Teams
osodero: I appreciate the heart this team shows, I appreciate how prepared the team is each week (generally speaking), but fergawdsake can we please not have something monumentally stupid happen each week? Or any week?
But still, good job.
nedbear: Two guys with the same number? Dude! When are these kinds of stupid mistakes going to stop?
BrooklynBear: Baffling in the field goal game. Against UCLA, Dykes said they needed to get to the 25 for a Langford field goal. Yet he tried Langford from beyond that today. Did 45's leg get stronger? Is it easier to kick in Corvallis than Berkeley?
KMac: How does Langford keep kicking the ball out of bounds on kick offs?
Old Bear 71: "Why do you say 'special' all the time?"
"Because Mom won't let me say words that are 'not nice'."
Jonohdoh: i wasn't as nervous as the last few games when we kicked off. We made our stops ok this game. Can't blame them for missed 50 yd field goals either. What the hell happened on the delay of game though?
Coaching
#BearRaid: Fantastic. People love to sh*t on this staff, but if Goff was sharp or had his key WRs this game would not have been close.
Defense played great in 1st, 2nd, and 4th Quarter.
First Victory in Oregon since 2007!!! First at Beeve St since 2006.
GO DYKES!!!
#BearRaid
hardtobecalfan: some of the play calling was baffling, especially all the throwing to start the game and in our rough patch in the 3rd Q. at least we managed the play clock better to end the game.
EchoOfSilence: Coaching was baffling at times. In the first quarter, Stephen Anderson clearly had a foot in on the replay of his catch, but Coach Dykes decided to spend so much time waiting for the refs to review that he got a Delay of Game penalty. CHALLENGE THE PLAY, SONNY.
And Coach Tommerdahl cost us a special teams penalty after having two players with the same number. That's a gross oversight.
Coach Franklin had a few weird play calls, but others that were brilliant. Can't fault that there.
Coach Kaufman was faking a BBDB defense in the 3rd quarter and got scored on, after which he remembered that Jonathan Johnson had some pass rushing ability and started using him.
Jacobs.: First quarter and third quarter was odd on offense. The experiment continues!
mrjpark: A lot of people were pissed about Dykes not challenging that first down catch in the first quarter, but I honestly think it's fine? With one challenge available for the entire game, it's a decision of whether or not it's worth the risk. If he uses it for this catch and loses it, then he doesn't have a challenge later in the case that there was a close TD catch/drop. I can almost guarantee it was a cost/benefit analysis of risking that challenge that early in the game, when it was still 0-0 and nobody had momentum.
Minus Tommerdahl, I think the coaches did a pretty good job today. The defense adjusted and made the stops it needed to. The offense adjusted and made the plays they needed to.
nedbear: I like how the run game helped the pass game settle down.
stanfurd troll: Re-hire Buh
rftd: Some questionable decisions. However, as long as we're winning, I can live with it.
BTown85: A couple times I thought we were in 4-down territory and would like to have seen us go for it on 4th and short. But overall good. I liked the playcalling; when the run works, run! I DID expect to see LRub more after his Oregon success, but maybe not knowing is part of the strategy......
dancruz: TF did the right thing and stayed patient, stuck with the run game and didn't attempt to throw deep.
That won the game.
CoBears: Getting the team ready to come into Reser and succeed deserves props. Getting them to buck up and win the game late deserves props. Getting them within a game of bowl eligibility with three to play deserves props. Five wins and two more near wins (AZ and ucla) is high achieving for this team with a marginal defense (due primarily to lack of depth). Count this Bear impressed.
Overall Performance
Yleexotee: Moo LasCow
alpha1906: We won, and escaped without injury.
rocksanddirt: only one stat matters. W
napabear: A decisive win on the road with Goff and the pass game struggling. Looking forward to the next three. There's at least one W in there.
mitchgobears: Good variety on offense and generosity on defense.
harmonpreservationsociety: Very good. This is a game we had to win, not only to keep our bowl hopes alive, but also to show to recruits, fans, media, etc. that we've made great progress and are indeed to be taken seriously. The team showed a lot of poise and heart to not fold when they fell behind in the 4th quarter.
Glue and Bold: This was probably one of the more complete games that Cal has played. The run game was phenomenal, special teams were passable, and the defense played brilliant football for 80% of the game, but the pass offense struggled and couldn't fully capitalize on opportunities. Still, the Bears showed great mental fortitude to pull it back together and finish strong after blowing a three score lead.
Nor-Cal Scott: Very pleased. The fact that this team came back to win the game after giving up 21 straight points to OSU, in less than 10 min in 3&4Q, is HUGE. This team believes in themselves, and each other. The last few years the Cal teams would have rolled over and lost the game.
This team epitomises Joe Kapp's saying, "The BEAR will not quit, the BEAR will not die!"
Thanks to everyone that took the time to fill out a report card this week. Enjoy the bye week and we'll be back at it on a Thursday night for SC. GO BEARS!