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Golden Nuggets: Bears Back in Bowl Projections, Cal/WSU Highlight Movie Published

Video interviews of Cal players, as always.

By Nik Jam
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl - Air Force v California Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Football

Videos

  • Justin Wilcox begins by talking about the very sad news about Devante Downs being out for the season and how the “next men up” will have to continue making plays. Afterwards, he talks about his relationship with Cal assistant/former Arizona coach Charlie Ragle.
  • Jordan Kunaszyk talks about how Devante Downs will still have an impact on the sidelines as he will mentor the younger defensive players that will take his place. He then talks about what he can do to help stop Arizona’s run offense.
  • Vic Enwere breaks down his touchdown run and the teammates that helped make it happen.
  • The highlight videos Cal has been making have been brilliant, and the new Wazzu movie is no different. Of course it ends with a Bear Territory chant. Worth your time.

Bowl Projections

  • Full disclosure, I forgot to check Bowl Projections after the last two losses, so I can’t say for sure Cal wasn’t in any of them... but come on, was anyone outside of Berkeley thinking that the Bears would get to 6 wins after the Oregon and UW disasters? I’m going to assume no. Feel free to correct me!

In any event, the Bears are in most of the projections that I’ve looked up today.

Jon Wilner: At-Large Bid, but none specified. Projects Cal will win 2 out of 3 vs. Arizona, Colorado and Oregon State.

ESPN: Kyle Bonagura has Cal in the Cactus Bowl vs. Texas Tech. David M. Hale has Cal in the Foster Farms Bowl against Purdue.

Yahoo: Sporting News has Cal in the Armed Forces Bowl against Army.

Sports Illustrated: No bowl bid.

CBS Sports: No bowl bid.

Articles

  • You usually can’t miss Nam Le’s novels, but you certainly have to check out his one for Washington State in its mostly Caps Lock glory.

I DON’T CLAIM TO HAVE SEEN MORE BAD FOOTBALL THAN ANYONE OLDER THAN ME, BUT I DEFINITELY CLAIM THE BEAR’S SHARE OF IT AMONG ANYONE IN MY AGE GROUP – FOR GOD’S SAKE I BOUGHT TWO PAIRS OF SEASON TICKETS TO THE 1-11 SEASON AND I HAVEN’T YET QUIT WRITING – AND IN ALL THAT TIME, I CAN COUNT THE TRULY, MEANINGFULLY HAPPY MEMORIES OF THAT TIMESPAN ON A SINGLE HAND: 2012 AGAINST UCLA, 2015 AND 2016 AGAINST TEXAS, 2015 AGAINST ARIZONA STATE, AND 2015 AGAINST AIR FORCE; EACH OF WHICH REQUIRED SOME CLOSE CALL, SOME COMEBACK, SOME ACT OF GOD, SOME VASTLY INFERIOR OPPONENT, OR A SLIGHTLY BETTER ONE PLAYING DOWN TO OUR LEVEL.

THIS WAS NOT THOSE.

IN WHAT IS QUICKLY BECOMING A JUSTIN WILCOX TRADITION, YESTERDAY WAS DEFINITELY NONE OF THOSE – OUR FEARLESS LEADER HAS MADE A HABIT OF COACHING OUT GAMES THAT BREAK OUR FRAMES OF REFERENCE, LEAVING NO APOLOGIES FOR THE WRECKAGE.

THIS WAS BEATING THE BLOOD, SNOT, PISS, TEARS, AND GODDAMN PLASMA OUT OF AN OPPONENT ALL REASON SUGGESTED WE HAD LITTLE CHANCE AGAINST, WHISTLE TO WHISTLE. WAZZU’S VAUNTED FRONT LINES WERE NEUTRALIZED BY ROLLOUT, THEIR STAR QUARTERBACK HUMBLED, THEIR NUMBER EIGHT RANKING SNATCHED BY UNPRECEDENTED DEFENSIVE DETERMINATION.

  • Jon Wilner’s grading of the Washington State game features less caps lock but still a good amount of positive opinions, even ending with a prediction of a win versus Arizona.
  • Cal is 7th in ESPN’s Power Rankings.
  • Vikram Muller says the Bears defense has exceeded expectations... though I hope he just forgot about Stanford (easy to do, tbh) and doesn’t think the Bears can’t beat them.
  • Five Things - Arizona edition from Nam.
  • Golden Blogs will have an in-depth look at the stats for Cal and Arizona soon, but for now Scout has made a pretty good chart comparing their stats.
  • San Francisco Chronicle keeps the debate alive about whether Friday’s game should have even happened at all.

Misc.

  • Current Bear Jazmyn Jackson and alum Valerie Arioto have been invited to the 2018 USA Softball Women’s National Selection Camp which will be held on New Years Day in Florida. Both players played for Team USA in the 2017 Japan Cup. There are 56 invitees and those who make the roster will participate in the 2018 World Cup of Softball among other tournaments. Congratulations and best of luck!
  • Luca Cupido was named MPSF Player of the Week after the Men’s Water Polo team defeated No. 6 UC Irvine and No. 16 San Jose State over the weekend. He scored 10 goals combined in the two games.

#NapaStrong

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