Golden Nuggets: Yes, We Beat USC, It Happened.

Football

• Nam’s novel notes the magnitude this USC win has for the Cal fanbase.

In a way, it’s all that accumulated suffering that made Saturday mean so, so much more than upsetting #11 Texas or #8 WSU ever will. Those wins were moments to be savored, celebrated.

This, though, was a small offering to the ghosts of Yesteryear and Never Was, the What Could Have Beens we’ve chased together each fall since, the ones that have stayed with us as we graduated into the working world, and parenthood, and old age.

They are not gone. Probably never will be.

But for the first time in a long time, they can rest.

• See the perspective on the streak’s end from a newer generation. Current student Sophie Goethals says even the students can feel the collective pain from 14 years of futility.

Though it may sound oxymoronic, losing streaks are cultivated over time. In a strange way, the longer they last, the more valuable they are when broken. They become a testament to years and years of mediocrity and when broken, emblematize the beginning of a new era.

Yes, they are painful. But, there’s also nothing more satisfying than breaking one.

This past weekend, Cal snapped a 14-year losing streak to USC. Most students at Cal probably have no memory of that last victory back in September 2003, but what has permeated throughout the years for all Cal fans was that feeling of mediocrity. For 14 years, no matter how good a Bears’ squad was, their Southern California foes were better. And that’s a feeling that remains embedded in a collective psyche.

It was certainly embedded in Cal’s. Until now.

• Now on to the Big Game, here are the “Five Things” Cal needs to do to win, including respective the (albeit injured) Bryce Love.
• Find out how Moe Ways does charitable work to help kids in his hometown.
• Cal was named the “National Team of the Week” by the Football Writers Association of America. The last time they were named that? When they beat USC in 2003.

Women’s Basketball

• Kristine Anigwe is the ESPNW Player of the Week plus the Pac-12 Player of the Week. Pretty cool! The Bears are 2-0 and play at BYU about an hour from publication.
• The Bears just got a pretty cool recruit in Cailyn Crocker from Mater Dei. Find out more about her.

Volleyball

The two seniors had their last home game on Saturday, here’s their videos expressing their love for Cal and volleyball.

Men’s Soccer

• Former Bear Jonathan Klinsmann has made the U.S. National Team! He’ll be on the roster for the USMNT’s next match against England on Thursday.

Beat the Cougars!