Golden Nuggets: Laird Nominated As Burlsworth Trophy Semifinalist (Help Him Win!)

Football Videos

Justin talks about how the scout team gets to practice the Cal scheme rather than the opponent’s schemes during the bye week. How is the team practicing during the bye week is answered as well.

Tim discusses the Stanford offense and how the Cal defense has progressed in Year One.

Both coaches sung the praises of Jordan Kunaszyk filling in the role of Devante Downs.

Football

• On Tuesday, Patrick Laird was nominated as a Semi-Finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy, given to the best college player who began his career as a walk-on. He is going up against stiff competition like Luke Falk. Once a day, until Sunday, you can cast your vote for him and the public vote will be factored in with the committee’s picks. November 14 we will find out who makes the next round!
• Trace Travers on the outlook of the football and basketball teams during the (FB) bye week.
• Trace also analyzed the Cal offense using game film from the OSU game.
• Andrew Wild looks at how the Bears will be tested in their final two road games.

Basketball

• SF Chronicle previews the completely overhauled men’s basketball team.

The official Twitter account of the Cal men’s basketball team posted a playful social media message Tuesday night that might just become a theme for its 2017-18 season: “New squad, who dis?”

New phone or not, fans are going to have trouble identifying this season’s version of the Bears — a group led by new head coach Wyking Jones that returns only two major contributors and includes seven freshmen.

“We’re very young, you know, but every day, they’re giving us the effort and giving us the energy,” Jones said. “I feel like they’re picking up what we’re teaching them at a rapid pace. We’re putting a lot in and throwing a lot at them, but I feel good about their progress and how well they’re picking things up.”

Much of the learning will have to come amid live action as Cal deals with an almost complete overhaul of a roster that went 21-13 last season and bowed out in the first round of the NIT.

• East Bay Times looks at the difficulties the Cal and Stanford women’s basketball teams will face earlier in the season.

The Bay Area elite women’s basketball programs will launch headfirst into the 2017-18 season with early showdowns that look more like the NCAA tournament than a cushy non-conference schedule.

Tenth-ranked Stanford opens Friday at No. 5 Ohio State and plays Sunday against top-ranked Connecticut. UConn then plays host to No. 20 Cal on Nov. 17.

“There is not going to be any fluff,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said at the Pac-12 media day. “We’re going to cut right to the chase.”

Misc.

• Congrats to Emily Boyd who was named Pac-12 Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year!

• Dominic Pipkin signed with the Cal Baseball team yesterday, but he is getting attention from MLB scouts...
• SIX Cal teams - men’s and women’s gymnastics, women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball received a 100 Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and overall the entire Cal Athletics did very well. Congrats!
• A bunch of Cal student athletes took field trips to the Pac-12 Networks and Google HQ. Here’s a recap.

Go Bears. Can this one also get 50 comments??