Golden Nuggets: Reactions From Cal’s Big Win Over Ole Miss

Post-Game Reaction

• RECAPS: East Bay Times. (Jeff Faraudo) San Francisco Chronicle. (Rusty Simmons) Daily Cal. (Vikram Muller) Cal’s official website. (Unknown)
• Post-Game Notes from the official Cal website.
• Post-Game Quotes from the official Cal website. Some excerpts below as well as all videos (from Cal’s Youtube channel).

Justin Wilcox

"First and foremost, a really talented football team (Ole Miss), well coached, good schemes and just a heck of a challenge for us tonight. I think that I am more proud of our team on the grit that they showed, and it's not always pretty right now with us, but the guys find away and it's really the third week in a row that nobody flinched. We came back when things got tough and that's when we have been at our best when things got tough, and that is a great quality to have. We just got so many things that we can be better at. We could go through the list but I am just really proud of our team and our coaches and everybody in our program, proud for our fans that came out and supported us tonight, it was an awesome win.

(On the second half shutout)

"I thinks it's just execute consistently. They have good players and at each defensive call, your strengths and weaknesses. You can't double everybody. You can't overload the run every snap. They found some one on one's and they won a couple. We can continue to be better there in our technique and some of those things, but I keep going back to how the guys respond, and that's guts, grit and toughness. I am really proud of them for that and we'll be able to teach a lot off the tape, but that is the biggest thing that comes out. There aren't a lot of halftime adjustments. Somebody asked me there is a couple small things that we did coverage wise, but it wasn't like we were reinventing the wheel by any means. We needed to play it better and they did."

Patrick Laird

"I absolutely loved how the defense played tonight. I thought they held it together, and so many of them made big plays at clutch times. It was super fun to watch. I love playing with those guys on Saturday."

Ross Bowers

"They [The defense] gave us a chance to win the entire game. We were up a little bit and they decided to take it into their own hands and seal it. It's a great thing to have a really good defense. They played well tonight."

"I thought we controlled the line of scrimmage really well and did exactly what we planned on doing. We had some gash runs and some explosive plays in the running game. I thought this set us up for short second and third downs all night. They [running backs] have been doing a heck of a job, I get the best seat in the house to watch them."

Devante Downs

"I think as a whole unit we've improved and we are getting players in positions to make plays. Personally, I'm really excited. I expect to do great and everyone else expects themselves to do great, as well."

Cameron Goode

"I just dropped to the middle like coach has taught us and the ball was right there. I had to make the play for my team."

"I froze for a second and was surprised. Then I just had to go and make the play for my team."

• Trace Travers’ takeaways from the game.
• How did social media react to the game? Ryan Gorcey has compiled the best tweets from Cal alumni (football and non-football), Cal commits, and the national media. My favorite is from Kevin Riley, and he had way more where that came from inside the link.

• Jon Wilner’s “5 Things We Learned” from Week 3 of Pac-12 Play, with Cal being mentioned. (To paraphrase, Cal is not the worst team in the North... and they may not even be the second worst team)
• Highlights from Pac-12 Network. If the embedded video doesn’t work, click here.

Other Football News

Usually on Gameday the press will publish features that spotlight Cal players, and yesterday was no different. Even though the game has come and gone, the things you can learn about these players are still valuable, so here they are!

• Learn about Kanawai Noa and how he keeps his Hawaiian roots with him at Cal.
• Ross Bowers has let his faith guide him through his journey to Cal’s starting QB spot.

There’s no shortage of features on rising star Patrick Laird. I’ve counted three, and maybe there’s more on websites that aren’t on my regular checklist.

• San Francisco Chronicle: “Patrick Laird finally gets room to run.”
• Golden Bear Report: “Patrick Laird’s Ascent Not Surprising To Teammates.”
• Cal’s official website: “Running and Reading”
• Cal has a video feature on Demetris Robertson... but I can’t get it to play, nor can I find the video link in the source. Let me know in the comments if you’re able to watch it and perhaps embed it.
• Shea Patterson was just the first of a gauntlet of great QBs the Bears are going to face in the upcoming weeks.

Misc.

• Men’s Water Polo will host an alumni game, where the 1977 Champions will be honored, on October 14 following an actual match between the current Bears and Pacific.
• After missing two seasons with injury, Women’s Soccer player Guro Bergsvand (from the great country of Norway) is finally back, and looks to have a successful senior campaign.
• Cal Volleyball honored recently retired head coach Rich Feller at Friday’s home game against Saint Mary’s. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go and I can’t find video. If I do, I’ll post them in the next Nuggets. For now, here’s some tweets. Cal did win against the Gaels that night, but lost yesterday in Stockton to Pacific.

Gå Bjørne!