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Berkelium97: Another bad loss, another low turnout for report cards. The season isn't lost yet, so we haven't devolved into gallows humor. Instead it's just dreariness. Fortunately, next week should be a nice ray of sunshine for these report cards. And I'm not even tempting fate with the prediction. Oregon State is that bad.
Average | Standard Deviation | |
Pass Offense | .371 | .257 |
Rush Offense | .333 | .229 |
Pass Defense | .269 | .238 |
Rush Defense | .152 | .216 |
Special Teams | .583 | .318 |
Coaching | .249 | .234 |
Overall | .243 | .215 |
Win Chance vs. Oregon State | 59.73% (-15.22) | 29.28 |
Two blocked punts, a special teams player of the week, only 17 yards allowed per kickoff return, and special teams still can't break .6? Man, you all are harsh graders. To avoid putting you all in a severe state of depression, I'll skip over the rest of the scores.
Our predictions of success against the Beavers have dropped substantially, and I doubt that has anything to do with an intimidating Oregon State squad. Still, we favor the Bears to win. If we don't win, Oski help us all...
No Editor's Choice Awards this week.
Sonny Yikes!
Another loss, so we'll recognize the pessimists first.
Name | Grade |
1. ChairmanMeow | 0.00 (0.0%) |
1. good job sonny | 0.00 (0.0%) |
1. Rollonyoubears111 | 0.00 (0.0%) |
4. alpha1906 | 0.94 (13.4%) |
5. resbear | 1.00 (14.3%) |
Sonny Yikes mainstay ChairmanMeow finishes in a three-way tie for first with a whopping 0%. alpha1906 and resbear round out the top-five.
Sonny Delight
Bless you who can stay optimistic amid this four-game slide.
Name | Grade |
1. Anti-Reality bear | 7.00 (100.0%) |
2. Big Dog | 5.20 (74.3%) |
3. wilderthangene | 4.05 (57.9%) |
4. I married a Longhorn | 3.60 (51.4%) |
5. BlueAndGold8 | 3.33 (47.6%) |
Anti-Reality bear lives up to his/her name with a perfect score. Big Dog finished second with a surprisingly high score, followed by wilderthangene, I married a Longhorn, and BlueAndGold8.
Finally, we recognize those whose scores were closest to the community average.
The Voice of Reason
Name | Deviation |
1. Berkelium97 | .0938 |
2. FrmrG8r | .1075 |
3. hardtobecalfan | .1204 |
4. heyalumnigo | .1264 |
5. wiats78 | .1283 |
Have a look at that! Yours truly is the most reasonable grader this week! This is my first award all season and I will treasure it always. Let us all overlook the fact that my score was, by far, the worst score of the season to win the award. We've had several scores as low as .02 and .03 win in previous weeks. In fact, these scores are all terrible VoR scores. You all should be ashamed.
Speaking of shame, let's hear your thoughts on the team's performance this week.
Sam Fielder: A new record low for comments! See, this Cal football team is breaking ALL the records. Look, I get it, it's not you, it's them. We'll get through this together friends. Stay strong.
GameDay Experience
hardtobecalfan: i'm on the brink. i can't take it anymore.
MCW: Very disappointing. Lack of basics doomed the Bears.
sacman701: Fug the white pants. White is a Furd color.
FrmrG8r: Our Bears are now officially in free fall.
Can't block, catch, tackle, cover or kick.
Nearly 800 yards against a mediocre offense?
Can't score 30 against a dog's breakfast of a defense?
Big changes coming. Lots of pain.
Tom: This team is pathetic
Goldenlikethebear: Hi Gerald. Thanks for organizing our LA event.
FiatLux: We lucked out with almost no rain. Autzen is a great venue. It's a fun place. They have fun in quirky ways. I love Eugene, great college town. Had a great dinner fright night at Oregon Electric Company. I honestly thought when we went up 10-0 we were on our way. I was wrong. This is as disappointed as I've been in a long time. Utah, we played hard, almost one. UCLA was just a stinker. USC we played solid only lost by one score. After taking a 10-0 lead, everything, and I mean everything, about this game was abysmal. This one really tries my fandom, but ... we'll see.
ChairmanMeow: Garbage.
Mephistopheles: ESPN should be ashamed by the quality of the broadcast. I assume we got the lowest team on the totem pole, but that is absolutely no excuse for missing multiple plays due to not cutting back from replays or whatever fast enough or a criminally bad camera man.
heyalumnigo: Reser Stadium is comfy...sat in the club level under the overhang out of the rain. Beautiful view of the hills around the stadium. Annoying chainsaw sound on 3rd down though.
Oh you mean Autzen. Is a nice place to watch a game and a nice stadium. During almost every TO they honor someone. Passionate fans. Nice fans, sat around me, except for a couple of dick students. Rained or drizzled just about all game long.
Unfortunately I missed the first blocked punt and TD after hanging out with friends in Corvallis for longer than I should have. I should've just stayed there except the tickets were $90 through the ATO. And I sat like 3 rows above all the other Cal fans and among Oregon fans.
Anti-Reality Bear: Awesome!
San Diego Oski: Luckily I watched this game at home and was a short walk away from my bed. I made that walk in the third quarter.
I married a longhorn: I'm not a fan of games that start so late. It's tough for those of us not on the west coast.
ESPN's camera work was pretty bad during the game. There were numerous times where they went to the wrong camera or the camera missed the action of the play.
ABVidale: Ugh.
BTown85: I sat next to a guy who's been to 144 straight Cal games. All I could think to myself was, "Dude, I'm so sorry......"
Pass Offense
Beastmodusoperandi: Somethings off... Goff hurt?
hardtobecalfan: everyone has regressed.
sacman701: Occasionally worked, but mostly sputtered against Oregon's rickety secondary. The last TD pass made the stats look a lot better, but it should have been a pick or a breakup. The protection is shaky, the receivers struggle to get separation or catch the ball consistently, and Goff has become increasingly erratic.
coolingfan: OL is still not giving Goff the chance to throw good throws. Our receivers are catching the ball always with a yard or two behind the pole, which resulted in a lot of 3rd and short situations. I blame the coaches on this one, with perhaps the way they prepared the receivers and schemed things out.
Kmac: A screen door provides more protection than our line.
sf-gigantes: The O-line can't block, the receivers can't catch, and passes were off target. At least there was only one interception.
FiatLux: I think we need to take play calling out of Goff's hands. I think that has lead to the degradation in results. Tell him what to do and the dude does it. The receivers, catch the ball. Some not great passes but definitely some VERY catchable drops. Enough of the gadget plays that aren't fooling anyone.
#BearRaid: Goff had been wonderful to watch over the last 3 years. I will always be grateful for his heroic efforts in 2013 and 2014.
However, I will be happy to see him go to the NFL. (Where I hope he has a great career, or at least makes life changing money. ) He is not a very good College QB.
He's no run threat. He's been wildly inaccurate. And he wears gloves in the rain. BearRaid needs a Dual Threat QB.
Maybe his skills are better suited for the NFL.
Hopefully he'll have receivers who can catch the ball.
heyalumnigo: Goff was off all game long. Didn't see too many throws right a the numbers. Lots of high or low throws. Some of those were unpressured. He just missed. Not sure if it was due to the rain or not. Quite a few drops from Anderson and Lawler.
Anti-Reality Bear: Goff for Heisman!
Run Offense
sacman701: The run game wasn't the reason we lost, but it wasn't much of a factor.
coolingfan: Hardly existent, except Vic Enwere making some positive plays here and there. I hope we played him more, but for some reason our coaching staff seemed to believe in Goff's arm more than they should.
FrmrG8r: Laughable. Oregon rushed 3 all night and we couldn't generate squat.
resbear: comically miserable
#BearRaid: Looked ok a couple times, but we do not have an elite back. Freeman is an elite back. He breaks tackles and creates yards with his vision. Last few weeks have been painful watching our backs not see cutback lanes or hit the wrong hole. Lasco can see where he wants to go, but always gets tackled before he breaks free.
It would help if we had a dual threat QB... Or at least a passing offense that wasn't pedestrian.
mendogriz: The backs are OK. Too bad nobody blocks for them.
San Diego Oski: I don't understand the running back rotation and lack of commitment to the run. Run the ball well and the offense will open up.
I married a longhorn: If the run offense had been given a chance, I think it would have done okay. At this point, teams are daring us to run the ball so we need to step up and pound it down their throats.
BTown85: Did what they could. Enwere gave a yoeman's effort.
RECAP AND MORE: Bears Fall At Oregon, 44-28 https://t.co/C14kEfcuXl pic.twitter.com/DcH7oXLn1T
— Cal Football (@CalFootball) November 8, 2015
Pass Defense
hardtobecalfan: adams had an eternity to throw and wide open receivers. we also missed more INT opportunities on his bad throws.
sacman701: The two picks were good, although they were mostly on Adams. Everything else was awful. The DL usually got no pressure at all, and the secondary frequently left guys blindingly open.
KMac: No one told our line it wasn't 7-7s
Goldenlikethebear: Nope.
sf-gigantes: Awful. Guys wide open deep downfield with no one near them.
#BearRaid: Wow. We gave up more 3rd and Forevers than I can count. Zero pass rush didn't help... But still.
heyalumnigo: Hard to have a good pass defense when you can't get pressure. Did leave a wheel route open (again) I think. Had quite a few plays where we did cover well for about 4-5 seconds but Adams had like 7-10 seconds (or it seemed) and threw to an open receiver.
Dropped at least 2 picks
Anti-Reality Bear: Definition of "shut-down" defense!
mendogriz: Coverage was bad. Pass rushing was completely nonexistent.
ABVidale: Good teams can rush four players and cause havoc. Our coaches have stated that Cal's best pass defense is rushing three and having eight back in coverage. If the three can actually cause pressure, that's likely a good strategy.
Cal's defense has been exposed the last couple of weeks. Against good teams, a prevent defense (which is what I consider rushing three and dropping eight) prevents wins.
BTown85: Except for the 4-6 plays where there was a receiver with no one within 15 yards, did a decent job. (shakes head......)
Run Defense
MCW: Tackle. Use your arms, don't just push and grab.
coolingfan: Missed a lot of tackles -- seemingly missing a couple of tackles per play on average. Giving up 477 rushing yards is just unheard of.
FrmrG8r: Sub-par at best. Can't wrap up, bad angles, generally inept.
Tom: Terrible. Can't tackle
Mephistopheles: It seemed like every play had Cal recognize what Oregon was doing, be in position to make a play, then whiff on the tackle.
heyalumnigo: They should've just run the ball on every play.
mendogriz: Pathetic. Dismal. Shameful. Embarrassing.
San Diego Oski: Sorry, I didn't see a run defense this game.
Hudson Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week https://t.co/UxOezY1P9M #GoBears #CalFamily @rayhudson11 pic.twitter.com/cJevVag98E
— Cal Football (@CalFootball) November 9, 2015
Special Teams
hardtobecalfan: great job with punt blocking and anderson was solid. our kickoff return team still needs work.
sacman701: The special teams were excellent, and probably the main reason we were able to keep it within 2 scores despite being outgained by 345 yards. Two semi-blocked punts and 2/2 on field goals including a 48-yarder is a very good day.
coolingfan: I thought special teams did very well today. Kick returns were long enough. Punt block was great, and every extra kick + field goal was almost blocked. No big plays allowed when defending too.
FrmrG8r: The only consistency with this group are short kicks and blocks in the back. A meaningless long FG was a brief flicker in an otherwise inky night.
KMac: Two blocked punts!!!! Too bad our defense couldnt get them to punt more than twice.
sf-gigantes: Not awful. Had some decent returns and covered some kicks okay.
ABVidale: The lone bright spot: two blocked punts and field goals made.
BTown85: At least we didn't try a fake punt.......
#BryceTreggs hit 2,000 career receiving yards on his 80-yard touchdown.
— Cal Bears (@CalAthletics) November 8, 2015
Coaching
Beastmodusoporandi: Always flat after 2nd halfs and byes
hardtobecalfan: terrible. every position group is getting worse. playcalling sucks.
sacman701: I thought the playcalling was fine, but the intensity level was very poor and the coaches have to bear some responsibility for that.
resbear: fire dykes
Tom: Worst coaching staff in FBS. My 15 year old daughter could coach this team better than Dykes and the clown circus
Kmac: Sonny has proven he can't coach in games and he can't compete in the division. Three years without beating Oregon or a California pac12 team. He was given a first rounder at quarterback and has literally nothing to show for it. Maybe we get lucky and end 7-5 and play in a bowl game. Regardless, it looks pretty clear that Sonny isn't the guy to bring cal back.
Goldenlikethebear: 4 games in a row where we have the ability to score quickly, but cannot do so consistently...I'm starting to think it's a mental thing.
Alpha1906: I just... I don't know anymore. I was the biggest Dykes supporter coming into the season. I believed we'd #drop50 more often than not. And, well, more often than not we can't even #drop30. Unless we beat Furd it's time to clean house. Find a coach who knows what he's doing. Clearly Dykes is in way over his head.
FiatLux: Art Kauffman needs to reexamine what he's scheming, it's awful. Franklin needs to get the basics to work. Dykes, honestly, that punt kills me. After our last TD why not try and onside kick? Nothing to lose since Oregon would just march that distance anyway. Once again not using his TOs efficiently at the end of the 1st half.
#BearRaid: Everyone is gonna freak out and scream FIRE DYKES. Truth is, there were endless opportunities to control this game and our players blew it. Especially our offense, which has been horrible for weeks.
Defense getting lit up was depressing, but this should have been a shoot out. We jumped to a 10-0 lead. It was like our offense felt uncomfortable with the lead and quit playing till we were down by 21.
heyalumnigo: really? You punt down 20 on 4th and 1? We really need to get the OL to learn how to run block in those situations. And we have Goff under center and we run a jet sweep, or something like that (if I remember correctly).
And we put Rubby in for the pooch punt and he only punts it like 25 yards. Meanwhile, everytime Leininger goes back there he gets off a good, high punt.
Anti-Reality Bear: I'm convert to the Sonny side of life! All the comments by a handful of others stressing how great a job Sonny is doing, how fortunate we are to have him, and how anyone daring to criticize a coach without having first coached themselves have convinced me.
This game (like the last three) was just an aberration. We have FIVE WINS!!!! One more and we go bowling! Sonny is the savior we need, and nobody here truly understands how fortunate we are to have him or just what an incredible job he is doing.
And it's clear that anyone with a negative comment is just:
a) Stupid
b) Troll
c) Is ignorant because of lack of coaching skills
d) A bad Cal fan constantly focusing on the negatives
e) Has a personal dislike of Sonny
f) Some combination of the above
g) All of the above
mendogriz: Fire everybody. There was no plan, and no adjustments. Extra discredit for the play calling. When you have no defense and you're behind, you're not allowed to punt on fourth and short.
San Diego Oski: I thought the coaching staff put us in a decent position, but the execution was absolutely terrible.
I married a Longhorn: I didn't understand not going for it on 4th and short. Overall, it's probably a good bet that should almost always go for it on 4th and less than one, especially when your defense is gassed and can't stop anything.
ABVidale: The words I want to use would likely be replaced by asterisks.
BTown85: No
Overall Performance
hardtobecalfan: i'm on the brink. i just don't believe in the team or the coaches anymore.
rollonyoubears111: This was a sloshfest. What was worse is that it looked competitive for 2 minutes. Then the sh*t, the vomit, the septic tank hit the turbine into the place settings of a royal wedding. The chargers, the table cloths, aunt Bertha's vintage dress passed on from the colonial days, besmirched by a bilious load teaming with bacteria.
There's something wrong with the coaching, the players, everyone on offense when we could not produce more than 30 points against an fbs defense ranked so low with the number of possessions we had.
sacman701: We laid an egg for the second time in 3 weeks. One more performance like that, and we might be looking for a new coach.
BlueAndGold8: Cal has looked completely different since the heartbreaker vs Utah and unless they can beat OSU and ASU/The Bowl Opponent I'm not sure dykes gets past this year. Tonight's performance showed they still lack the top end athletes and players (save drew and maybe white) to compete with top programs like Oregon and while Dykes has done a lot to move the program academically and culture wise, he's probably not the coach u need to build this program into a winner. Tonight's game re affirmed that belief and on another note Jared Goff has got to be hurt cuz he sux rn.
coolingfan: We called this sequence of past 4 games a death row and it was right. Cal came out of the stretch with 4 losses and is en route to another mediocre (if not bad) season. This is very disappointing, and I feel bad for the players who seem to be playing their hearts out yet seem outcoached when playing major teams.
Even if Dykes is unhappy with his current position and is willing to move onto another path in his career as rumored, I hope he still has sympathy for his players and does his best to give these guys good experience that they deserve. He and the staff should coach/scheme the hell out and call the right plays in right circumstances, which I don't think is happening right now.
FrmrG8r: Vomit all over the floor. A win next week gets us to the garbage bowl with an interim coach, boatloads of uncertainty, another lost recruiting class and suicidal under classmen.
Expectations are terrible things.
Do I smell ennui?
sf-gigantes: Never have I seen such a hopelessly bad Cal team. The 2013 team was worse, yes, but there was hope in the form of various young players whose talents have all now been wasted.
FiatLux: Very, very disappointing. I hope the team looks in the mirror and decides whether or not they want to leave a legacy. It's in their hands. It's time to man up and prove what they're capable of.
#BearRaid: Jared Gloves is not the QB we thought he was.
Our receivers are some of the most inconsistent in the nation.
We do not have an elite running back.
Injuries to the front 7 on Defense is starting to take its toll.
God help us if we lose to Beeve St.
Best we can hope for is a bowl berth. At that point, start all the youngsters and get a jump on next year.
Go Bears
heyalumnigo: Looked good for the first 5 min. Unfortunately I missed the first blocked punt and TD after hanging out with friends in Corvallis for longer than I should have.
mendogriz: Basketball season can't get here soon enough.
San Diego Oski: Oregon's offense: Get the ball to a playmaker. Get hit by a Cal defender. Stay up and pick up an additional 15 yards.
If Cal executes on both sides of the ball, they would have had a chance.
I married a Longhorn: I'm glad the team kept fighting after getting torched in the 2nd quarter, but let's face it we never really got back in the game.
ABVidale: My friend, who is a successful sport bettor, put Cal as a 6-6 team (based on his power rankings) prior to the start of the season. Unfortunately, I suspect he'll be right. At least the Beavers will likely make Cal into world beaters on Saturday.
BTown85: It sucked to go and have Cal perform so poorly. If they had been competitive and lost, today wouldn't suck so bad........
Thanks to the few, the proud, the Sturdy Golden Bears that filled out their report cards. Next week we get bowl eligible. GO BEARS!