SB Nation - Bryan Anger

Cal v. Washington Report Card

TwistNHook — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:16 -0000

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score	1.406	2.188	1.969	0.677	0.531	1.469	0.896	0.302	0.875	0.708	0.490
Grade	D+	C+	C	D-	D-	D+	D	D-	D	D-	D-

There are so many times I want to quit this blog. I ask myself is it worth it? Are risking many Hydrotech Face Punchings worth it? But the amazing community we have here usually inspires me to the do all the work. And working on the Report Card post is usually one of my most favorite posts to put together. Seeing what all you people have written is always a lot of fun.

Fun was not the word that came to mind doing the Report Card post this time. You guys certainly know how to express your opinion and, well, given how the game went, I'm sure you can imagine what went on. If you like positive, optimistic things like daisies riding unicorns and ponies snuggling with rainbows, I suggest you read NO further. But if you like pessimistic things and are full of self-loathing, well, then you are a Cal fan and probably added something to this Report Card. You may read on.

I think PolarBear91 hits the right note here in his "overall" thought:

Worst. Episode. Ever.

Tough to disagree, Mr. Bear91. Tough to disagree.

Gameday Experience

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFF - I watched in front of my laptop and had to contain my anger from smashing my keyboard. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. MY LAPTOP COST ME GOOD MONEY. I DON'T WANT TO BREAK ITTTTTTTTT.

OhioBear - I promped by daughter to do another "Go Bears." It's not "Goo Bay" anymore. It came out "Go Bars." After watching the game, that's what I wanted to do.

Kodiak - Well, the baby was squirrelly and just wouldn't settled down to let me watch the game in peace. Little did I know that the little angel had my best interests in mind and was only fussing in an attempt to preserve my sanity. I did sample our Xmas limoncello to make sure that it was fit to give out as gifts...and sort of briefly lost all feeling in my teeth. Unlike our team, it's more potent than it looks. I might be rambling now...Still can't feel my teeth. Damn. This would be the time to see if I could chew through a 2x4. Life is tough sometimes as a Cal fan.

Blackandoldgold - If you like hearing foghorn, this was your game. In other words, terrible.

Swamphunter - Why the fuck did we have to slouch on the job NOW? I'm so pissed that we had to lose to the fucking puppy dogs that I'm going against what I said earlier and doing a report card for this loss. We should have killed these mother fuckers and instead they run all over us.

c98 - sucked.

grinandbearit - Unfortunately, I go to UW for grad school now and made it to this game thinking "hey, it can't be worse than 2007, right?" The crowd was pumped. The whole UW team was pumped. It was the last home game for the seniors (and possibly Jake Locker), and it was probably a bit colder than most Cal players were accustomed to, but man ... what was that?

I guess I had seen this before against Oregon and USC. In fact, this was really just a blend of those two games. The saddest thing about this game was that, unlike 2007, I never got the feeling (whatever that's worth) that the players quit, and still, 42-10. What a beatdown.

Oh, and since we're talking about the gameday experience. A small minority of fans were woofing/barking when UW did something good. I mean, I get it, the Huskies, but really, you see Cal fans growling like a bear every time we get a first down or score?

Last thing, they kept on chanting "one more year" for Jake Locker. I think this was a good send-off for him since they're not playing in a bowl game. My guess is he's gone, but what do I know?

beson - We went over to a friend's house to watch the game and barbeque. Our usual MO is to take shots after every Cal touchdown. Last year, I got obliterated. This year, my friend made blue jello shots. I was anticipating another rough Sunday morning. Unfortunately it was rough in other more horrible ways. The jello shots made for celebrating became jello shots of sadness and frustration.

ososdeoro - Auspiciously tweaked my back playing tennis in the morning.

Golden Rationality Award

Commenter/alias name	Standard Deviation
osodeoro	1.417
polarbear91	1.722
grinandbearit	1.927
Haas8388	2.007
sec119	2.016

Old Blue Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
c98	0
prd74	0.364
blackandoldgold	0.485
WTFFFFFFFFFFFF	0.545
polarbear91	0.652

Golden Sunglasses Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
Kodiak	1.758
Manwich	1.667
socalbears	1.500
beson	1.470
grinandbearit	1.348

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - A few flickers, but mostly bad Riley. In his defense, the protection had something to do with that. And once the game got out of hand, the D could just tee off on him. Even so, it's really disappointing to see him regress and be inconsistent with his accuracy, decision-making, and ball security.

Swamphunter - Short-hops and wide throws. The only bright spots were when Riley was throwing the ball, though.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

grinandbearit - I don't like to put too much blame on him since our OL sucks, but his throws were definitely off and sometimes he threw some scary passes to well-covered WRs. He did have a couple of nice runs, and I think he should continue to pull it down and run with it rather than sitting back in a collapsing pocket while loosely holding onto the ball.

That is one thing I really dislike about Riley is that he doesn't have a very good sense for ball security. Maybe he needs to sit down with Coach Gould and get a lesson or two on what the RBs do.

Haas8338 - Riley seems like a good guy and has improved from last year, but, and this is a BIG BUT, he is not good enough to lead a top Pac10 team. I won't use the term "inconsistent" anymore, he just is not very good.

beson - Riley definitely had some pretty terrible throws but I think most of the blame has to go to the O line which just sucked. Sure Riley should have made the throws when he wasn't pressured, but I can't really blame him for having lack of confidence in his line.

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - Vereen ran for 92 yards on 16 carries, but it was a fairly quiet 92 given the avalanche that poured over us. Vereen did a nice job, basically the only bright spot in an otherwise pathetic night.
Haas8338 - Vereen did what he could do in the circumstances. Pass blocking needs work that is for sure.

grinandberait - The effort is consistently there, and I just feel bad when I see Vereen run towards the line and hesitate because he knows he has nowhere to run because of our ____ty OL.

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - It's nice to have a former QB providing commentary. Apparently, some of Riley's struggles weren't just inaccuracy, but the receivers running sloppy routes. Which is pretty sad considering we really can't use the "young" excuse at this point in the season.

c98 - sucked.

grinandbearit - Marvin Jones is clearly our go-to guy. I was disappointed "they" didn't get Miller more involved. Everyone else is just a clone of a mediocre WR. Marvin is our #1 WR, and he gets open and makes catches more often ... I wonder what all the other WRs are doing differently. Running bad routes? I can't really say because I've never really sat down and followed the WRs on their routes during games, especially not on TV because you usually can't see this happening.

Good thing is that I didn't see too many huge drops except for one possible TD catch that looked to be fairly well defended.

Run blocking

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFF - I walked past a Chinese restaurant that prominently displayed the sign "NO MSG". You speak truth Chinese restaurant - so much painful truth.

Kodiak - Inconsistent push. In fairness, UW rolled the dice and bet that Bad Riley wouldn't be able to beat them if they crowded the line and run blitzed frequently. Sadly enough, that's been a pretty safe bet all year.

Blackandoldgold - The only thing worse was the Great Stink of 1858.

Swamphunter - Fire Marshall. He's a virus that needs to be eradicated.

Haas8338 - Even with MSG this line is only mediocre. Schwartz can dominate at times, but Tepper is up and down and the center and two guards were aweful. The Mutts' 340 lb DT (Taamu?) just abused our 260 lb center (shocking) and the guards didn't help much. Cheadle looks pretty darn stout, but man does he get manhandled at times...WTF?

Pass protection

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - Up and down. Riley was under pressure a lot, but UW was blitzing multiple guys on obvious passing downs. Chess match win for the UW coaches because we never seemed to have the right call or protection.

Swamphunter - Fire Marshall. He's a virus that needs to be eradicated. I believe in this so much right now that it deserves to be said twice.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

stevy - 5 sacks... much more pressures and knockdowns. And it wasn't like it was close. The D-line was coming straight through. Marshall needs to go, I think.

grinandbearit - This was softer than a baby's bottom and smelled like one, too. I really don't know if this was a matter of coaching or scheme or just a lack of talent (though I like Syd'Quan and Cattouse), but we always seemed out of position. Always chasing some guy down who slipped behind coverage, chasing some guy from behind on a slant. Just too many holes in the pass coverage that they exploited.

If I think about all the games this year, our pass defense only had one good game against a reasonably good offense and that was against Arizona at home. They were just good enough against Stanford, but I think we were mainly just fortunate to have our running game clicking and keeping our mediocre defense off the field.

Haas8338 - Tepper better start working out at guard because the NFL just wrote him off at tackle. Guarnero is just overmatched physically, simple as that.

Horrible preformance.

ososdeoro - sack, sack, sack. 3-step drop anyone. Oh yeah, that goes under coaching.

Run defense

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - Meh. We held Polk under a hundy but it seemed like we let him get away too much. We didn't have an answer for Locker's running, really.

Blackandoldgold - I can't do this anymore. Too depressing...

stevy - Washington never ran it that much. Defending locker on broken plays is tough, but they need to wrap up and not arm tackle.

Haas8338 - Take away Locker's running and it was a decent performance.

sec119 - I'm not sure if run defense counts the same as Locker scrambling for 15 yards at a time, but either way it was bad.

Pass rush

via calbearsonline.com

c98 - sucked.

beson - The pass rush seemed decent but Locker's escapability killed us. Everytime we got a good rush, it seemed like it was at the expense of containment and Locker made us pay.

sec119 - From snap to whistle, Locker had time to re-tie his shoes, drink some gatorade, and bake a souffle before the pass rush got within five yards of him.

Kodiak - Well, haven't really had one all year, so can't expect it to miraculously appear now. Even when we blitzed, they picked it up pretty easily. We could really use some playmakers who know how to put the QB in the grass.

stevy - Horrid. With this D-line, the 3-4 is ineffective in getting pressure. The outside linebackers almost never got pressure on Locker making it easy for him to dominate the game.

Pass Defense

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - Tough game for Nbufie. For all that people have been screaming all year for more aggressive D...More blitzing + man coverage = DB's getting burned for long gains/TD's. Maybe the coaches know that besides Syd, our coverage is a bit questionable and that's why they usually play zone. It'll be addition by subtraction when Johnson and Ezeff leave. It's really disappointing for two seniors to be non-factors, much less liabilities.

c98 - sucked.

ososdeoro - Good God. It seemed like the linebackers were told to: a) pick a receiver to cover; b) cover said receiver for five yards; c) stop and turn around to see if Locker is going to run while receiver goes on his merry way; d) "protect" the astroturf five yards downfield from any Huskies who might bother to venture in his general direction. The first TD pass coverage really wasn't that bad. That said, you give a guy a permanent 10-yard cushion and you're letting him receive the ball anywhere he wants to.

Haas8338 - Locker was on target, to his credit, but he was not pressured and our coverage seemed confused at times.

grinandbearit - This was softer than a baby's bottom and smelled like one, too. I really don't know if this was a matter of coaching or scheme or just a lack of talent (though I like Syd'Quan and Cattouse), but we always seemed out of position. Always chasing some guy down who slipped behind coverage, chasing some guy from behind on a slant. Just too many holes in the pass coverage that they exploited.

If I think about all the games this year, our pass defense only had one good game against a reasonably good offense and that was against Arizona at home. They were just good enough against Stanford, but I think we were mainly just fortunate to have our running game clicking and keeping our mediocre defense off the field.

Special Teams

via calbearsonline.com

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

c98 - sucked.

stevy - Goal for next year: GET A CONSISTENT KICKER. And Sofele was ineffective on returns. Once, he got a whole 5 yards on a short kick. Not good.

grinandbearit - Kick coverage is still pretty weak, and we missed a not-that-long FG in the first half. I wonder if Tedford will ever consider having someone else coach special teams.

Also, is it standard for college teams to send one guy to loop behind all the other kick coverage personnel acting as a trailer just in case everyone else fails to tackle the returner? I don't remember seeing any team play prevent on kickoffs.

Anger is still decent. Whew.

Haas8338 - Alamar may be the worst coach in college football.

ososdeoro - Just Gawd-fucking-awful. Nice to see Anger finally get off some good punts when we didn't need them anymore. Kickoff coverage sucks(tm) and now punt coverage does too. Nice FG try by D'Amato, er, not.

Coaching

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - We were not ready to play. Credit to Washington, obvi, because they played well. But we had no answer. We seemingly had few, if any, adjustments to the offensive onslaught. And we had no answer to getting hit in the mouth by Washington. A lackluster performance from a team that didn't seem ready to play - coaches have to take some blame for that.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

stevy - Ludwig is still undecided about what type of offense he wants for Cal. Will they do short pases? will they run the ball? will they do long every down? Cal's offense has no identity and that's a huge problem. If Ludwig is back next year, he MUST decide what type of offense he wants to run. This flip flopping from game to game is hurting offensive production.

grinandbearit - I don't know what to say here because I can't tell what the root causes are of the problems we have. So I guess I'll just list some questions:

1) Our run blocking is piss poor, so is it the coach's fault or the talent?
2) When in the WildBear formation, why do we fake the sweep with Sofele 95% of the time and then have Vereen pause for a few seconds and then run forward into our crappy OL?
3) Playcalling: we ran the ball on 3rd and 23 ... it must have taken UW off guard because who in his right mind would've thought we would make anywhere near 23 yards on a run play with our OL?

ososodeoro - Not a one of them earned their pay in this one. Every other team seemed to have answers for U-Dub (even the Dawg wins were close), why didn't ours?

sec119 - I never would have thought there'd be a game I give the special teams the highest grade. Talk about damning by faint praise! At this point, 50/50 on field goals is on-par for field goals.

Overall

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf - Time to start drinking.

OhioBear - I haven't been this angry since Washington 2007. Giving up 42 points and getting blown out by the Pac-10 champion on the road is one thing. Giving up 42 points and getting blown out by a team that was 3-5 in the Pac-10 and 4-7 overall coming into the game is quite another. No excuse for a performance like this.

Maybe we left our heart at stanfurd stadium 2 weeks ago.

Kodiak - Well, it stunk, but I can live with it if the game serves as a wake-up call. As nice as it would have been to finish tied for 2nd with a chance at a 10-win season, could we honestly have said that we've been happy with the team this year? Instead, there's no question that Tedford will have to take a long look at his coaching staff, player evaluations, and what's been done from spring through winter to get the guys ready to play.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

c98 - sucked hard.

stevy - Horrid game. Where did the Cal team that played so well against Stanford go? The team needs some to do serious soul searching in the off season.

grinandbearit - Keys to winning given our current set of problems:
- recruit some good defensive players this coming offseason
- get our OL mad before games so that they spark our running game so that we can keep our defense off the field and control the clock.
- start kicking all kickoffs out of bounds until we find someone who can consistently kick it past the 15.
- perfect the fake FG, especially when the FG is longer than 35 yards
- maybe our OL is just 2-3 good guys away from being good ... wouldn't that be great?

beson - Oh juju. Of course we lost after I celebrated USC and their all but assured poinsetta bowl berth.

Manwich - We can't get pumped up for big games other than the Big Game. I take back everything I said before, the optimism I had for containing Luck/Gerhart evaporated in a second. I'm beginning to think the PAC-10 has passed Tedford and Carroll by in terms of philosophy.

Before it was run the pro-style and the bend don't break and it worked. Now we're seeing our opponents run more option based attacks with mobile quarterbacks. It's time to change philosophies, otherwise, Tedford will become a Bobby Bowden, stuck with loyal assistants and doomed to middle of the PAC-10.

sec119 - I have very little to say that might be positive about this stinker of a game. That it occurred at the end of the season tells me that maybe we didn't learn much from our prior losses, nor am I hopeful about next year.

Golden Nuggets: Awards Season

Berkelium97 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:30:14 -0000

Put your CGB tax dollars to work and vote in royrules22's top-25 ballot.

Last night was the annual Cal football banquet, where a variety of awards were handed out to members of the football team. Go here for the complete list of winners. Here are some of the highlights:

Most Improved Player
Skylar Curran

Lifter of the Year Freshman - Mark Brazinski
Senior - Tyson Alualu

Bob Simmons Award - Most Valuable Freshman
Offense - Matt Summers-Gavin
Defense - Aaron Tipoti

J. Scott Duncan Award - Most Valuable Special Teams Player
Bryan Anger

Joe Roth Award - Player best exemplifying courage, attitude and sportsmanship
Tyson Alualu

Everett Merriman Award - Demonstrating commitment to community service
Kevin Parker [AKA Rope Coach]

Bear Backers MVP Awards (voted on by team)
Offense - Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen
Defense - Mike Mohamed

Scout Team Players of the Year

Offense - T.J. Emery and Ryan Wertenberger
Defense - Steven Fanua and Keni Kaufusi
Special Teams - Tyre Ellison and Spencer Hagan

The scout team PotY awards caught me by surprise, as I didn't know Wertenberger was a QB until just a couple weeks ago. Remember the name Steve Fanua in the coming years, as he is certain to become a vocal leader on defense.

After the jump we have more awards as the All-Pac-10 team was announced, reactions from to the Poinsettia bowl from Cal/Utah players and coaches, a lolwut quote of the week as Wilner calls the BCS "fair and open," post-game quotes from women's bball's loss to Texas A&M, and more.

Cal Football

The All-Pac-10 team was announced this morning. Tepper, Alualu, Syd, Mohamed, and Anger all made the first team. Jahvid Best was the lone Cal player on the second team.
Ted Miller provides a brief preview of the Poinsettia Bowl. With its struggles at quarterback, Utah sounds like it won't have an easy time lighting up the Bears' defense like Locker did.
Utah looks forward to playing Cal in the Poinsettia Bowl. Utah's coach Kyle Wittingham says it will be an interesting matchup, as Ludwig knows Utah's defense very well while Wittingham is very familiar with Ludwig's. JO has quotes from Tedford, Wittingham, Vereen, and Tepper, as they react to the bowl announcement.
After getting blown out in their last game, many players want to redeem the season with a win over Utah.
Cal drops to seventh in Ted Miller's Pac-10 power rankings.
In the lolwut statement of the week, Wilner says "Texas’ game-winning field goal was the most important kick in BCS history because of what it did to the BCS: It made the flawed, oft-criticized but incredibly successful system appear fair and open."

Cal Basketball

Boyle was pleased with the effort, aggressiveness, and rebounding in the loss against Texas A & M, but she was disappointed with all the missed free throws.
Monty's team fell out of both rankings after splitting last week's games. They received 5 points in the AP poll and 10 in the coaches' poll.

112th Big Game Photo Essay III: Post Game Commotion!

TwistNHook — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:12:19 -0000

Photo Essay I: Pregame

Photo Essay II: Game Action

I've always said to myself, "Twist, you don't declare enough places Bear Territory! I mean yeah, sure you've got Haas Pavilion, Memorial Stadium, and Doe Library. But you need to declare something new Bear Territory." I mulled it over for a while, considering my options. What should I declare Bear Territory? Albany Bowl? The entire town of Newark, California? Zoonews Jr?

Then, EUREKA! Stanford Stadium. But how? And when? And could I be surrounded by 2,000 of my closest blue and gold wearing friends? YES! I just needed to wait. Until what?

THIS:

Just a few of these to finish off the game:

IMG_0131 (via Monica's Dad)

Rinse. Lather. Repeat!

Notice how Tedford managed NOT to throw a 80 yard bomb there.

And then it was off to the races. I was in Section A Billion Row Beleventy Five. It took me like 40 minutes to get to the field, I swear. I even got stuck behind some Stanford fan EVER.SO.SLOWLY making her way down the stairs. Our harassment only caused her to walk even slower.

But I finally made it down, just in time to see Rope Coach from just a few feet away! I literally chased after him for like 10 seconds trying to snap a shot of him waving his rope. He was running around all crazzy, waving the rope (what else??) in excitement. But alas by the time he stopped, I could only snap this shot of him hugging Robert Calonico, Band Director and Respected Person:

It was an absolute madhouse in there:

IMG_0206 (via Monica's Dad)

The first player I ran into was Bryan Anger, who had a great game:

Dudes got a stache:

Anger was so DELIGHTFULLY happy! And who wouldn't be?

We feared that some people might have forgotten who, in specific, retained control of The Axe. As such, we made sure to inform all nearby of the current owner of said hardware:

I saw Syd'Quan off in the distance and started to force my way through the crowd towards him. Unfortunately, by the time I got there he was down. But Monica's Dad was apparently there before me.

IMG_0220 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_0225 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_0231 (via Monica's Dad)

I couldn't get a great shot of SydQuan, but I did find Chris "The OTHER #4" Little:

I remember clear as day standing out there in August waiting for the FanFest to start. I had snuck in early and the players were finishing up practice. Chris Little with his fauxhawk came over and was chatting to a female friend of his near me. Now, months later, he was back and, most assuredly, happier than ever!

He was signing autographs and taking photos. Really nice guy:

Will Kapp was there too. I really hope he plays a key role in a future Big Game victory, for history's sake.

Up to now, I had had success with some players, but felt as if I hadn't quite seen some of the bigger name stars on the team. Sure, it's great to see Bryan Anger and Chris Little, but I had missed Syd'Quan. Then, I bumped into The Prophet!

He was as nice as Chris Little, hamming it up with the fans! Soaking in the limelight!

Monica's Dad was right with me, finding defensive stars in the throng:

IMG_0254 (via Monica's Dad)

I don't know why we were running into the D guys, but I found myself near the Bishop family soon enough:

Based solely on the Green Bay hat (where older brother Desmond plays), I am going to assume that the gentleman there is Big Papa Bishop. Perhaps that is Devin's son? If so, that had to be a really sweet moment for Devin and the entire Bishop family.

That is a cute kid.

Oddly enough, Stanford had split its field in half. Kind of. They had a huge line of security people make a wall in the middle of the field.

But it didn't go all the way from sideline to sideline. You could easily walk around:

On the other side of this odd Maginot line, I raw into Jerome Meadows and Isi Sofele:

They were also making nice nice with the fans. I guess the players who still stayed on the field were the ones who wanted to show a great time to the fans instead of going back to the locker room to celebrate with the team. Nonetheless, all the players I ran across seemed so unbelievably nice. None of them seemed like the kind of guys who would call 60 yard long bombs with 55 seconds left up by 2 Touchdowns over your cross town rivals.

To my right, Alex Laggeman came off the field. Oddly enough, there was a child chasing behind him with a thumbs down booing him the entire time. WTF???

Elsewhere Keith Browner was sharing a moment with his family:

And Jerome Meadows was celebrating with Mike Mohamed:

Mike Mohamed was very popular:

Just then, Justin Cheadle came flying by.

And we got some hot Mark Boskovich action:

Monica's Dad has some more great shots of the Reveling:

IMG_0316 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_0318 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_0324 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_0326 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_0328 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_0333 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_0338 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_0339 (via Monica's Dad)

I saw this on the way out. I can only assume this is Harbaugh's $70,000 bathroom:

Let's leave the Reveling and turn out attention towards the Washington game with this lasting, iconic image. Be At Cal, indeed.

GO BEARS!

Was Jeff Tedford Too Passive? Was Jim Harbaugh Too Aggressive?

Avinash — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:47:35 -0000

Who's a better head coach, Jim Harbaugh or this 5th grader?

There've been a lot of hand-wringing about the playcalling by the coaches by Cal fans, about how Jeff Tedford nearly gagged away the Big Game with ultra-conservative playcalls that would've made Pat Robertson shudder. It could certainly be argued that taking one or two extra risks would've ended the game instead of leaving the door at open for the Furd to climb back into it

What was lost in the shuffle though was the absolute badness of Jim Harbaugh's aggressive calls. Unlike Tedford's calls, where there's some debate as to whether they were prudent or imprudent, there's not much debate about Harbaugh's playcalls.

Twist and I discuss the following calls after the jump.

1) Tedford choosing to punt on 4th and short rather than going for it--next drive led to a quick Furd TD to cut the lead to 3; we both agree it was an ok call, although we wish

2) Harbaugh going for it on 4th and 8 deep in his own territory--led to a Cal FG that made it a touchdown game; we both agree the call was stupid.

3) Tedford choosing to kneel and center the ball on 3rd and goal--prevented a chance for a Cal TD, settled for the FG; we both agree the call was a little conservative, but again had merit and did make the Furd's chances of winning much longer.

4) Harbaugh passing the ball on 1st and 2nd down with Gerhart available--led to the game-clinching interception. As this 5th grader above us says, very questionable.

Twist: These calls were certainly controversial. To fully understand the situation, let's try to look at them in context at the time they were made. I wanted to take a closer look at the 4th and 1 call.

Here's the thing. If it was up to me, I probably woulda gone for it. But I'm also the person who does fake punts in Madden on 2nd down and has a "No Kicking" policy, too. I'm an imbecile. I realize that here in the blogosphere, we are supposed to have extreme opinions that create a lively, if oftimes redick discussion and, most importantly, hits galore. That's never really been my style, per se. Like I said, with my limited knowledge, I probably would have gone for it, but instead of talking about what I would have done or even what one *should* have done, what I want to do was take a closer and clearer look at the situation that Tedford faced. Try to get a better understanding at the decision that Tedford faced at that time, instead of after the game or days later.

I fear that there has been a lot of miscommunication based on faulty remembrances about Tedford's decision. Personally, I have seen people say things like:

"Tedford shoulda gone for it to ice the game."
"Tedford shoulda gone for it, because we couldn't be stopped."
"Tedford shoulda gone for it, because after they punted, Stanford was right back there just a few plays later."

via calbearsonline.com

Based on the ESPN Play By Play, here is the drive.

California at 12:47		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at CAL 27	Shane Vereen rush for 4 yards to the Cal 31.	31	21
2nd and 6 at CAL 31	Shane Vereen rush for 5 yards to the Cal 36.
3rd and 1 at CAL 36	Timeout CALIFORNIA, clock 11:07.
3rd and 1 at CAL 36	Kevin Riley rush for 1 yard to the Cal 37 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 37	Shane Vereen rush for 3 yards to the Cal 40.
2nd and 7 at CAL 40	Shane Vereen rush for 6 yards to the Cal 46.
3rd and 1 at CAL 46	Kevin Riley rush for no gain to the Cal 46.
4th and 1 at CAL 46	Bryan Anger punt for 41 yards, fair catch by Michael Spanos at the Stanf 13.
DRIVE TOTALS: Cal drive: 6 plays 19 yards, 03:34 Cal PUNT

The first misconception that I've seen is that this play happened much later in the game. However, this drive starts with nearly 13 minutes left in the 4th quarter. It ends with a little over 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter. The play, in specific, took place with probably about 10 minutes left in the 4th, although it is slightly unclear to me exactly when from this play by play. So, to me, the concept that Tedford could have "iced" the game here seems laughable. You can't ice a game with 9-10 minutes left. Period.

I realize that the counter argument is that if Cal successfully continues the drive, they can a)take more time off the clock and b)go up either 34-21 or even 39-21! Certainly, 39-21 with 9 or fewer minutes left in the 4th does seem unbeatable, no matter how much Cal Cal is. And Cal is fairly Cal, let's not forget that.

But that seems to assume a lot. If Cal converts here, they are at their own 47 yard line. Not Stanford's 22 or something like that. They still have 53 more yards to go to hit pay dirt. So, to me, attempting and perhaps even successfully converting the 4th down conversion does not an iced game make. So, hopefully, looking at the play by play can clear up that conception.

The second thought I've seen out there is that Cal shoulda gone for it, because they've been doing really well in the running game and could probably have just pounded it home there. That is a fair point to me. We had been performing really well in the running game.

But we had also been performing really well on defense. After Stanford jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead in the early part of the 1st quarter, Cal's D had held Stanford to merely 1 Touchdown since. If my math is accurate, Stanford had gained 110 total yards between scoring their 2nd TD with about 5 minutes left in the 1st quarter and the play call in question here. 69 of those yards came on their sole TD drive in the 3rd quarter. Basically, that's roughly 38 minutes of game time, 2+ quarters, with a grand total of 110 yards given up by the Cal D.

Any way you cut that, that is incredibly impressive. Luck goes 4-14, which is......not good. Just the drive before, Stanford had showed wild desperation, throwing long on its first 2 passes and going 3 and out quickly and quietly. So, the concept of forcing them to drive 80 yards to pay dirt after holding them down for so long doesn't seem so bad to me. Tedford was banking on his defense being able to hold Stanford down at that point.

via calbearsonline.com

Avi: CBKWit mentioned in the podcast he disagreed with this decision more than the 3rd down kneeldown one (which we're building up to). I'd say this call was very similar to the Belichick playcall (2 minutes, up a score at your own 30 seems about the equivalent as being up 10 points at midfield). Unlike the Patriots coach, Tedford chose not to take the risky decision and trust his defense, which up to this point had shut them down.

Now as Smart Football and Advanced NFL stats pointed out, going for it on 4th down at this range isn't that bad a call. The stats seem to favor going for it--at that range, the success rate is around 75-80%. However, there's still a 20-25% chance that it fails, and given how hard we've been pushing Vereen, and the fact that we couldn't pick up 1 yard on a 3rd and short on a quarterback sneak (which is usually a sure thing), I can see that Tedford would be heistant to go for it and hand the Cardinal any momentum. As Bill Simmons said, statistics can only tell you so much; you have to assess the situation too.

The referees had been handing out questionable spots throughout that drive, and the possibility you get screwed again always factors in.
You're on the road (yeah I know, the least intimidating road stadium in the world, but it's still the road) trying to protect an upset bid.
The crowd had been dead most of the game, but give them the first down and there's a chance you rev them up for the remainder of the 4th quarter.
You've been holding Furd's offense in check the entire game.
You don't want to hand the Cardinal a short field and give them a quick chance to cut the lead to a one score game.

Twist: Of course, I would be remiss if I did not point out that the Cal D was not able to hold Stanford down at that point. I have seen many people claim that Stanford was right back at the 50 just a few plays later. It wasn't actually even just a few plays later. It was merely one, the big 37 yard play where Luck hit Owusu. Certainly, I'm MUCH happier that Stanford hit this 37 yard pass from their own 13 as compared to Cal's 46.

Stanford at 9:03		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at STAN 13	Andrew Luck pass complete to Chris Owusu for 37 yards to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down.	31	21
1st and 10 at STAN 50	Andrew Luck pass complete to Chris Owusu for 12 yards to the Cal 38 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 38	Andrew Luck pass complete to Ryan Whalen for 12 yards to the Cal 26 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 26	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Ryan Whalen.
2nd and 10 at CAL 26	Toby Gerhart rush for 21 yards to the Cal 5 for a 1ST down.
1st and Goal at CAL 5	Toby Gerhart rush for 5 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.	31	27
	Nate Whitaker extra point GOOD.	31	28
	Nate Whitaker kickoff for 66 yards returned by Jeremy Ross for 24 yards to the Cal 28.
DRIVE TOTALS: Stanf drive: 6 plays 87 yards, 01:44 Stanf TD

In 1:44, they travel nearly the length of the field, gaining over 2/3rds of the yards they have gained in the last 38 minutes of the game. Andrew Luck is 3-4 and Gerhart averages 13 yards a carry (kind of a skewed stat there). Certainly frustrating after it looked like Cal might gone for it on 4th and taken more time off the clock and even gotten up by 18 points!

Was the Stanford O hyped by the Stanford D stopping Cal on 3rd down? I don't know. But they woulda been, it follows, even more inspired if Stanford stopped Cal on 4th down. And only had 47 yards to go instead of 87.

Yes, it is a lot of fun to imagine Cal performing the best case scenarios. And it is frustrating to compare the reality of the situation with what could have been. It's also important to look at the worst case scenarios that Tedford was attempting to avoid and compare those to what might have been. Here, my frustrations lie less with the call, although I am not sure I necessarily agree with it, and more with the fact that the Cal D allowed the Stanford O to go 87 yards in 6 plays and 1:44.

I think people are viewing the call as a negative call, because of the negative result (the following Stanford TD) that did not have much to do with that call per se. And if the Cal D had stopped the Stanford O on the next drive, nobody would have much discussed the 4th down punt. Although, certainly if the 4th down attempt had failed and Stanford had quickly scored and gone on to win, people would have lambasted Tedford for that odd 4th down call, claiming the D was playing great and it woulda been better to just trap Stanford deep in their own territory.

Hopefully, this has cleared up the situation and will allow us to look at the decision making process with the facts that existed AT THE TIME OF THE CALL as compared to the 20/20 hindsight and misconceptions that I think many are currently laboring under. Again, the idiot that I am, I probably woulda gone for it there, but, being the risk adverse person that I am, think I have a grasp of how Tedford's decision making process went.

via calbearsonline.com

Avi: Indeed, that's the outcome bias working--we're judging Tedford for decisions made based on what happened afterwards as opposed to the value of the decision at the time it was made. It's human, but it's erroneous to blame Tedford for this decision because the Furd happened to score.

Twist: Let's go one drive before that:

Stanford at 4:27		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at STAN 21	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Coby Fleener.	31	28
2nd and 10 at STAN 21	Toby Gerhart rush for 2 yards to the Stanf 23.
3rd and 8 at STAN 23	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Chris Owusu.
4th and 8 at STAN 23	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Jim Dray.
DRIVE TOTALS: Stanf drive: 4 plays 2 yards, 00:50 Stanf DOWNS

This is the drive preceding. Luck not looking so good on there. But the key portion here is the 4th down play. Stanford is on its own 23. Roughly 4 minutes and change left. All 3 time outs. In the previous two Cal drives, we had gone 12 plays for a total of 35 yards. Most of which came on one 18 yard pass completion. Two punts. Clearly, the momentum had shifted back to Stanford at this point. So, if you punt and can hold Cal, you got another great shot. Certainly, if Tedford was in this situation, he would have punted. But Harbaugh decided to go for it. On 4th and 8. On his own 23. With 3 time outs and 4 minutes left in a 3 point game.

Avi: Unlike the 4th and inches, which you could consider either good or bad, this was a truly atrocious call. There's a small chance Luck succeeds here and scrambles for the first down, but only the remotest possibility that he throws for one (9 for 26 on the game up to this throw). It's 4th and long too, so the odds of a run are totally minimal, leaving the defense likely to play mainly the pass, and maybe a Luck scramble.

More importantly, YOU ARE HANDING CAL POINTS IF YOU FAIL. A field goal means you now need to drive down the field, likely without the majority of your timeouts. A touchdown ends the game. If Tedford had made a decision like this I'd be tearing my hair out. You punt the football and trust your defense, which has stopped the Bears from scoring the last two times (with some home town reffing helping them out, but whatever). Get the ball back and all you need to do is drive for a field goal, which given Furd's quick strike offense is totally feasible.

Imagine if the Furd had gotten to the red zone down 3 instead of down 6--think that the playcalling changes bigtime for Harbaugh? I feel that way.

Some Cal fans out there might prefer Harbaugh's aggressiveness because it's manly. It's ballsy. It sticks it to other opponents, it makes you feel awesome if it succeeds, it reinforces all the cliches of a football coach. It's just more social biases at work--we feel better because he played to win rather than playing not to lose. It doesn't excuse the fact that it's a bad decision the same way Les Miles's decision to dial up a throw to the end zone with 7 seconds left in field goal range. Ballsy, but literally fucking stupid.

Twist: And his ultra-aggressiveness does not pay off. Of course, when Stanford turned the ball over on downs, Cal fans in my section and, assuredly, other sections started to believe that the game was done. Cal would punch it in, make it a 2 score game with a minute or so left and we all go home happy.

Then, this happened:

via calbearsonline.com

California at 3:32		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at STAN 23	Shane Vereen rush for 12 yards to the Stanf 11 for a 1ST down.	31	28
1st and 10 at STAN 11	Shane Vereen rush for no gain to the Stanf 11.
2nd and 10 at STAN 11	Timeout STANFORD, clock 02:55.
2nd and 10 at STAN 11	Shane Vereen rush for 2 yards to the Stanf 9.
3rd and 8 at STAN 9	Timeout STANFORD, clock 02:48.
3rd and 8 at STAN 9	Kevin Riley rush for a loss of 2 yards to the Stanf 11.
4th and 10 at STAN 11	Timeout STANFORD, clock 02:46.
4th and 10 at STAN 11	Vince D'Amato 28 yard field goal GOOD.	34	28
	Giorgio Tavecchio kickoff for 42 yards returned by Josh Catron for 14 yards to the Stanf 42.
DRIVE TOTALS: Cal drive: 5 plays 12 yards, 00:46 Cal FG

Let's take a deeper look here. Vereen starts off with a killer rush. However, his next two attempts net 2 total yards. Cal does not in any way attempt anything close to a pass in this situation.

Many people were greatly concerned about this lack of killer instinct. Maybe it is a lack of killer instinct, I don't know. But, in my belief, the downside of a pass attempt is FAR greater than the downside of any rush attempt. Forcing Stanford to use all 3 time outs limits Stanford's offensive playcalling on their next drive.

I know what you are saying here. But if we score, their next drive don't matter. A salient point. Here, Tedford is going for the least risky plan. Especially considering that they IN NO WAY trust Riley in the red zone. We saw it in the Arizona game and we saw it again in the Stanford game. After Riley throwing 3 picks in the red zone and fumbling once there also, once they get near the goal line, they would rather take 3 then risk a pick. Considering that Vereen had had an amazing day to that point, they put it into the hands of the man they trust the most. I believe they even used a WildBear or two, to try to mix it up. This is a point lost in all the "TAKE A SHOT AT THE END ZONE!" lines. The upsides of the plays called seem limited not because they have low upsides, but, because they just plain didn't work.

So, Cal decides to drain Stanford of time outs, force them to have to go the length of the field in roughly 2 minutes with no time outs. To ensure that, he decides to center the ball. At the close range, centering the ball becomes epically more important. The angles are much harsher the closer in you go. And Cal has certainly had its fair share of kicking troubles this year. So, I see no problem with this play.

IMG_9968 (via Monica's Dad)

Avi: There's also the matter of Riley's red zone struggles. This season, he's only completed 45% of his passes in the red zone. Worse, he's thrown three interceptions, one of which destroyed early momentum against USC, another which could've cost us the Arizona upset (the other was earlier in the Big Game and was not Riley's fault). Although he threw a TD early in the 4th quarter, it wasn't an easy throw. Plus with a 3rd and goal at the 8, Furd's defense will probably play hard to guard the end zone on a pass.

Imagine if the Bears had thrown an incompletion that stopped the clock and left the Cardinal with one timeout, or worse, thrown a pick with the Cardinal likely playing the run. You'd probably feel much worse waking up Sunday morning.

No, the only decision here is to run the football a la Arizona, preferrably up the middle to center the ball and hope that you find the crease to the end zone. I find it quizzical that in this situation (like on 4th and inches) you don't trust Vereen to secure the ball, considering he's not fumbled all game long. I would've liked to see a run, but I guess when they got nothing on the first two runs they figured Vereen was spent and decided not to get too fancy at the end and do something totally mind-blowing (and there've been plenty of mind-blowing finishes in college football before).

Leave the Cardinal with no timeouts and they have no choice now; score a touchdown or lose the game. You're limiting Harbaugh's options, and that might've helped force the last questionable decision of the game.

Twist: Of course, after hitting the field goal and kicking off, Stanford then proceeds to march the length of the field VERY quickly.

Stanford at 2:42		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at STAN 42	Andrew Luck rush for 12 yards to the Cal 46 for a 1ST down.	34	28
1st and 10 at CAL 46	Andrew Luck rush for 4 yards to the Cal 42.
2nd and 6 at CAL 42	Andrew Luck pass complete to Toby Gerhart for 29 yards to the Cal 13 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 13	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Coby Fleener.
2nd and 10 at CAL 13	Andrew Luck pass intercepted by Michael Mohamed at the Cal 3, returned for 6 yards to the Cal 9.
DRIVE TOTALS: Stanf drive: 5 plays 45 yards, 01:06 Stanf INT

The bulk of the drive is the one pass to Gerhart for about 30 yards. A frightening moment for any Cal fan. But one that we might have seen more of if Cal had attempted a pass and failed. Luck had looked terrible all day, going 10-30. Gerhart had certainly killed us, but Tedford's plan to drain Stanford of all 3 of its timeouts had limited Stanford's ability to use Gerhart. When you have the ball at Cal's 13, you want to go to your stud RB first, right? He averaged 6.8 yards on the day per carry. Give it to him twice and bam, you score the potential game-winning TD. But with no time outs, Stanford could NOT do that. They had to throw throw throw. And when you throw throw throw, what happens? Well, just the series before, you have 3 incompletes and fail. Here, Luck threw another incomplete and then a pick to the Prophet.

As a final thought, I know Cal fans love ballsy aggressiveness. I get that. They want to see stirring sacks and long bombs (although once you start at the 23, you can't really long bomb). But there are considerations other than proximity to goal line that come into effect here when choosing a play.

Tedford didn't necessarily see it as a difference between a 38-28 game and a 34-28 game, like many fans do. He saw it as a difference between a 34 (maybe)-28 game where Stanford had 1-3 time outs and roughly 3:30 left and a 34 (for sure)-28 game where Stanford had 2:42 and 0 time outs left. When viewed from that prism, I, the risk adverse person that I am, have to agree with the game management here. Sure, the otherworldy talent of Toby Gerhart nearly gave us all heart attacks. But when you have a limited playbook and have to rush your plays because of no time outs, bad things happen.

And a bad thing did happen. To Stanford! Especially compared to if Stanford had punted on the 23, stopped Cal, driven 30+ yards and hit a field goal to tie the game. This may be controversial, but I fully support Tedford's calls here.

Avi: I was baffled by Harbaugh's playcalling on 1st and 2nd down in the red zone. You have two minutes on the clock, and probably five-six plays to go. At this point, all you can do is score (turning the ball over ends the game), so why not run the football? If you score a touchdown immediately, you leave TWO MINUTES on the clock for Riley and the Bears to march downfield on a pass defense he's torched all game long.

More importantly, Andrew Luck is even worse with his accuracy in the red zone than Riley (after the Big Game, he's barely at 40%). Whether it's due to his receivers dropping passes or him making bad decisions. Although Cal held him down for much of the game, it was clear to almost any Cal fans we were more terrified of Gerhart running it up on us than Luck throwing it on us.

To be honest, I'm not sure Harbaugh should've even called that final timeout. You let Cal run the clock down to two minutes, keep that timeout in your back pocket, and in case you get to the goal-line (Furd's been a quick-hitting team all year, and their last drive only took 90 seconds), you have it ready so you can still factor Gerhart's running ability into the equation.

I hate to say it, but I feel the perfect college football coach choked a little under the spotlight. Just a little. (Actually, what the hell am I saying, I LOVE to say it.)

via calbearsonline.com

Who cares about us though, what were your thoughts on these calls?

Poll

How many of the playcalling decisions above do you agree with?

All four of them

22 votes

Three of them

27 votes

Two of them

60 votes

One of them

52 votes

None of them

22 votes

183 votes | Poll has closed

Cal-Oregon State 2009 Report Card

TwistNHook — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:00:32 -0000

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score	2.140	2.281	2.167	0.658	0.633	3.267	0.975	1.000	1.883	1.350	1.079
Grade	C	C+	C+	D-	D-	B+	D	D	C	D+	D

A new week. And a new drunk commenter trying to tell the world his thoughts. Last week it was Goldblooded. This week? USAFGoldenBear. Even American heroes aren't immune to the emotional disaster that was Jahvid Best's injury. I've highlighted the best part:

USAFGoldenBear

QB - Just whn i was goin to sau riley doesnt suck...he does.   Unfortunately there was a lackj on the oline as well...

RB - I hape jvid is ok....dude is oo aweme to go downre like that

whhhy cnat we get a runn gng? wttf is up?

WR - Can the not dropp good passe plz? give marvin the balll

Run Blocking - well for th lorve of god......quit suckling...

Pass Protection - ummmm, makkeres me so mad. reley needs the time to throw

Run D - quioss got stopp...nice, bestn jobr\.

Pass Rush - i saw som blitzx...but osu got tu much time. sackls to muccch to ask fr

Pass D - haaaaaaa...cent gert protrec whenn qb get al day

Special Teams - angr did k but to mnyy punts    cnt beart beavres? whyy?

Coaching -    iu thouygt gregoy coulkd stop canfilllesd ....wryoung...my bad

Gameday - i got to watghc the gamre on ZTV...no mare internetz....javid got hert....drank by my sedf...i dtn have a problam

After the fold, see more of your comments on the Cal-OSU football game! GO BEARS!

Golden Rationality Award, which I think is for being rational, a rare occurrence for internet college football fans.

Commenter/alias name	Standard Deviation
Kodiak	1.348
yorzepol	1.527
rickruss	1.764
Berkelium97	1.869
Ohio Bear	1.872

Old Blue Award, for I guess being really really really really really old.

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
rurata	0.515
ososdeoro	0.758
bluehenbear	0.818
iVinshe	1.100
Oaklandishbear	1.364

Golden Sunglasses Award, for spending way too much money on a pair of sunglasses that is going to bend too easily. I mean gold is one of the most malleable substances on earth. Just an imprudent purchase in my view.

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
BTown85	2.333
ajay	2.273
USAFGoldenBear	2.212
Manwich	2.152
MadBum	2.037

And now onto the report cards!

IMG_6971 (via Monica's Dad)

rurata - Riley back to his overthrowing self. What was his final completion percentage, like 35%? This has convinced me that we should be giving the backups more playing time. At least he didn't fumble the ball today.

MadBum - Riley did an okay job. Was I overly impressed? No. Was I incredibly dissapointed? No. Riley was shaken up by a cheap shot, and I think that hurt us. Kevin did what we could hope for: not too many mistakes, an occasional shot down the field keeping the D honest, and giving the run game a chance. He did make a INT throw in the redzone that was called back. But let's address one thing: Riley isn't a quarterback that can lead a team back into games. He's a guy that'll give you occasional shots downfield, and he'll do a nice job mid-range game. But he's not a guy you want attempting 30+ passes per game. He doesn't possess the ability to single handedly bring a team back into the game, and when asked to he'll dissapoint. Riley was passing tonight, and you can't blame him for the loss.

ajay - It's the same problem he has been having all year long. Whether it's a screen pass or a short pass, his passes just aren't on target, and that's what is killing us game in and game out. One thing that I noticed this game compared to others was that he would hesitate on throwing some of his deep balls, and after that slight hesitation, throw it anyways. When doing that, I remember him only completing one pass. It's something I never saw before, and I definitely don't think it's a good thing . . .

oaklandishbear - Why, oh why, can't Riley hit a screen pass? Such a power weapon for the Bears eliminated by the utter failure of Riley to hit Best or Vereen in stride. Absolutely inexcusable. Riley not terribly "on" tonight, and I know the O-line bears most of the responsibility for Riley being constantly hurried, but I'm not seeing Riley step up on a consistent basis.

Ohio Bear - Riley was inaccurate. Being pressured constantly prolly didn't help. It would be nice if he had opportunity to plant has back foot on the last step of his drop and not have someone already there whom he has to elude.

via www.calbearsonline.com

MadBum - Our runningbacks touched the ball 14 times all night. And we weren't falling behind huge early. Play-calling takes the blame. Obviously, Best's situation hampered the team completely. He's the team's biggest play-maker, and without him the running game is severly hurt. Vereen didn't have a chance, 5 carries isn't enough. Poor blocking crushed any hopes of a passable run game.

ajay - Jahvid had a relatively quiet night until the first touch down drive, which was great until he went down (sadly with that second concussion this week). From that point on, we just struggled running the ball, so I can't say anything positive. One thing I do remember us not doing is making a run of 15 yards or more. I'm guessing they just played us well.

BlueHenBear - Jahvid's concussive run was the only highlight of the game (except for the injury). I hope he's OK for his sake...and for his sake I hope he takes the rest of the season off, cuz there appears to be no daylight for him to run to anymore. The beavs forced us into a passing game, so there's no reason to fault the running game, except maybe in the first quarter, but all the holes were plugged.

BTown85 - Unimpressive running, but what can you do without run blocking? Best flew through the air and I was holding my breath for him. I was SO glad to see him move his hand while they put the c-collar on him.

OhioBear - Losing Jahvid didn't help the running game, and certainly not the psyche of the team. Not a film guru, but near as I could tell, we got everything we could out of what the O-line gave us. The fateful play that hurt Jahvid was a testament to Jahvid's courage and tenacity.

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - Too many drops, again. I'm really losing confidence in Ross. Lagemann had some great catches. He has a great presence in the middle. Nyan had a few nice catches too. Sparks made his presence felt a couple times.

MadBum - Pretty meh performance here. Tucker impressed me with his pass-catching ability, and he did make some big plays. He needs to cut down the trash-talking. Verran was our lone star, and I'd say he was very good. Everybody else didn't carry the load. Sorry, Marvin isn't a star quite yet. It was obvious to me that Anthony Miller is one of the keys to this club's success, and he was out.

ososdereo - This receiving corps clearly suffers from separation anxiety.

oaklandishbear - Probably the brightest unit on the field Saturday. Tucker was active and Lagemann had a couple of nice grabs. Only one catch by a TE, though. What's up with that?

kodiak - Generally did okay...Not sure if Riley was missing open guys (again), if the WR's weren't getting open, or if there just wasn't enough time. Disappointing not to dominate an inexperienced secondary. Losing Miller hurt here a lot. Ross had his one crucial drop...He must have a quota or something.

Run blocking

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - I thought OSU was supposed to have a weak front seven, but you'd never be able to tell against the Maginot line of OSU. I don't know why we didn't at least try more outside runs to go around the Maginot line. Even if the O-line isn't athletic enough to block like that out of standard I-formations, we've had success running outside out of the wildcat. I was hoping to see more wildcat.

yorzepol - Once again our O-line was owned by the opposing D-line. I don't know enough to know if it is guys losing their individual battles or our run blocking philosophy in general but something is rotten in Berkeley. We can not run against any team with a decent run defense. No running game makes baby Jesus cry. :(

BlueHenBear - Rodgers brothers got their yards and their TDs. Not spectacular running and we did get some tackles for loss, but OSU was able to execute their methodical clock eating drives that were not quite as painful as getting my fingernails ripped out. Maybe danzig can make a highlight film for the beavs showing our linebacker whiffs.

Pass Protection

via www.calbearsonline.com

rickruss - It's as though we were we missing a lineman tonight during the game, i.e., we were missing a down lineman (4 instead of 5)

yorzepol - Riley was not sacked much but he was hurried. OSU's pass rush got in his head for most of the game and he was in a funk almost all night. I was encouraged by our last drive but sad that we couldn't do it earlier in the game when it might have made a difference.

OhioBear - It was a "huzzah" moment every time Riley could plant his foot on the last step of his drop and actually have a moment to look downfield before throwing. Those moments were too few. OSU was in our kitchen all freaking night.

Run D

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - Except for the one TD run, it was the best performance of the year. No one has been able to shut down Quizz and James like that. I was very impressed. Holding them under 2.5ypc is an incredible feat. Syd had an especially strong presence in the run D.

yorzepol - I thought we did as good as could be expected under the circumstances. The circumstances being that we got owned in just about every facet of the game. With the passing game able to convert first downs at will, it makes it very difficult to stop the times when they do run.

DrBeeper - Very credible job containing Rodgers. The bend-don't-break strategy is pretty consistently undermined by the pass D breakdowns

OhioBear - Excellent. We basically held Quizz down the entire game until he finally broke the 24-yard TD and we had effective defense against the fly sweep. Syd is an awesome DB in run support - best I've ever seen at Cal.

Pass Rush

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - Canfield had all day to throw and unlike recent QBs we've face, he's deadly when he had time. He torched us all night. Gregory tried a few stunts and blitzes, but nothing was getting through.

MadBum - What pass rush?

yorzepol - What pass rush? I think we got one sack. Canfield had time to pick our secondary apart and like most other quarterbacks we've faced, we made him look like a Heisman candidate (of course he was leading the Pac-10 in yards/game before this game but still, he was above his average today.)

JrBear- FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
We should really be in a 4-3 this season.

Pass D

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - As usual, a TE had his draft stock boosted tremendously. Without the pass rush, there's not much to do against a QB like that. Syd had a great day, but everyone else was mediocre to poor, particularly with tackling.

MadBum - What pass defense?

secret Asian man - It was disappointing to see them contain the run and to see them convert on long third down situations again and again. Canfield picked apart the defense like it was a video game today.

BlueHenBear - What was OSUs third down conversion percentage? Seemed like ~75%. 3rd and 6, 3rd and 9, even 3rd and 12, 3rd and 16, etc. Rinse, lather, repeat. I think our opposition has scouted our zones and yet we continue to camp out where the WR/TEs are not. :banghead Oh, and tackling :banghead whiff!

kodiak - Cattouse is getting better and it's good that they're giving him more time. Ezeff should stick to special teams. He gave up another TD and this one can't be blamed on Conte. Johnson blew so many tackles that they should check him for concussion symptoms...maybe he forgot which team he wanted to win. Syd is a flat-out stud that we're really going to miss.

Special Teams

via www.calbearsonline.com

BTown85 - Kickoffs were worse than ever. To the 30??? In warm-ups I thought Tavecchio was trying some sort of pooch/onside thing. Little did I know this was his full leg for the evening. Brian anger continues to impress.

Coaching

DrBeeper - The good news? We only kicked off twice so how bad could our coverage be. Anger was typically great punting.

BlueHenBear - Hey, they didn't lose the game for us! woo hoo. OSU seemed to always have good field position though to go along with their steady consistent drives.

Coaching

via www.calbearsonline.com

rurata - O-line has sucked all year. Right now I'm not sure if this is on Marshall, or the athletes. Maybe both. Very depressed about the state of our o-line.
Alamar's ST killing us again. We can't hope to keep a team like OSU contained if they're consistently starting at their own 45.
I was a little annoyed to see Riley in on the last drive. Sure we scored a TD, but it didn't make a difference. Why didn't Tedford put Sweeney in?

Berkelium97 - I don't know what's going on with the O-line, but Marshall's unit is the worst line we've had during the Tedford era. I understand that we were playing from behind for much of the game, but the play calling was uninspiring after Best was out. No wildcat, little running. I understand the running game wasn't going well, but neither was the pass. I was hoping we'd mix it up a little more.

MadBum - I can't give an honest grade here. The Best injury completely changed the game, and I don't think any coach could've recovered from that. Before that, he did a medicore job. We still abandoned the run game way too often, and I don't know what happened to our pass defense. Liked implementing the WildBear, and it worked pretty well. Our gameplan was to stop Quizz, and it worked to perfection. After Best's injury, there was nothing Tedford could do.

JrBear - Ludwig, I don't know. I can't even see how the play is going to develop if the O-line doesn't do its job. I think the O-line needs another year of growing up to truly judge Marshall. Coach Simmons (DB) had that monster season last year for Syd and Hagan. Thompson (LB) was stolen from San Jose St., so maybe we can do better? Daft (WR) has got the receivers improving slightly, but they're still dropping good balls and having trouble getting open. Of course Gould and Lupoi are absolute keepers. Gregory isn't perfect, but has shown he can run a good defense.

Tedford is Tedford. When it works, it works. When it doesn't, hold on to your seats.

BlueHenBear - Did anyone watch tape of OSU vs $C? anyone? Bueller? They have this position called tight end and they tend to throw to it after clearing out the zone over the middle, but maybe you were busy thinking (not doing something) about a pass rush. The coaches have installed their systems and that is that it seems. Our weaknesses are exposed and it appears we have neither the horses nor the imagination to do anything about them.

OhioBear - We got outcoached, it seemed. Oregon State appeared to have a much better game plan than we did and we did not respond. I suspect that the coaches had a difficult job to do after the Best injury to keep the players focused on the game at hand, and it appeared that they did an okay job with that. But all in all, the game took a back seat to what happened to Jahvid.

Overall

via www.calbearsonline.com

rurata - Another year, another loss to Oregon State. I had hoped to see the team step it up when Jahvid left, but nope. They seemed as let down as me.
Why is it that every time Cal does well enough to just get my hopes up, they find a way to crush them in the worst way possible?

MadBum - Best's injury crippled the team. It took out our biggest decoy, our biggest threat, and our biggest source of yardage. We also simply seemed shell-shocked from his injury, and the intensity and execution reflected that.

secret Asian man -In the end both teams took the field to contain the opponents running game and put points through the air. Cal lacked a functional O-line and there were probably some physical mismatches in the secondary and that made all the difference. If there were fewer false starts in the first half and an actual pocket for Riley, things might have been different.

yorzepol - I honestly thought we could go 10-2. Boy was I wrong! I hope that Jahvid gets well regardless of whether he can play again this season or not, but that could be a season crushing injury for the team. Let's see how they react. I hope they bounce back but, I would not be surprised if we finished 7-5 or even 6-6. Without a running game or a passing game, it will be hard to win many more games. At first I thought that every team we played kept having their best games against us and that it was just luck, but now I wonder if maybe, just maybe, it's us.

ajay - Two things: open field tackling and our passing game.

I don't have the stats on this, but I'd venture to guess that due to missed open field tackles, we gave up an extra 150 yards, and most importantly, let them complete third downs and get into scoring position off of those plays. This happened again and again, and not only ate up time (w/ the new set of downs), but hurt the crowd noise, and caused the D to be on the field longer, which isn't anything you'd want.

The other is the passing game, and again, Kevin Riley overthrowing or throwing passes that don't catch our receivers in stride. On our screen passes, the receivers have to adjust to the football, and can't get their first positive step until the defender is relatively close. On OSU's screen pass, the pass led the receiver perfectly, and the receiver's first step literally his first step with the ball, which is how it should be. Riley's deep balls were okay, but a good repertoire of short range passes leads to drives, which leads to touchdowns and keeping defenses honest. Long passes are only good a few times because you have to catch the D sleeping.

JrBear - All that matters is that Best is okay.

2008 spoiled me. That was a fun season, with sackmaster Follett&Friends and the zany hijinx of our receivers. Every game in Memorial I felt this sense of invincibility that Cal was going to win, and I just loved that team. Now we're in 2009, and I'm very split over how to approach this team. Do I love them for the az st and ucla games, or do I hate them for the sc and or st games? This definitely isn't 2007 though, not nearly as bad.

BlueHenBear - Every time OSU comes to Memorial (under Tedford) we lose the same way. OSU puts together drive after drive, get enough of them into the endzone or between the uprights while our offense sputters after a few (nice, but ultimately meaningless) completions. Rinse, lather, repeat. It's been a long time since I dreaded the Big Game and I'm feeling a little queasy.

kodiak - Tedford loves X's and O's, but Riley has his number and has for years. It's no coincidence that Aaron Rogers had the worst game of his career against the Beavs.

Pawlawski made an interesting observation during the telecast. He said that the Beavers don't run a lot of plays, but do so out of several different looks. This focus on execution and simplicity lets them play fast. I'm wondering if we're over-coaching our guys on both offense and defense. Too many things for young o-lineman to think about. Too many keys and checks for young linebackers. We're certainly not maximizing the use of our talent. Either that, or we're way off base with our recruiting and talent projections.

Gameday

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - Awful. Just awful. I haven't been that disconnected from a game since...I don't know, Tennessee 2006? Once Best was out, I couldn't enjoy it anymore. This was a dark day for Cal fans. I just pray Best will be able to recover fully.

MadBum - I spent 15 minutes in horror watching the same replay over and over again. One of the saddest days in Cal history.

secret Asian man - What gameday experience? I was cleaning parts of my house in preparation for Mad Men party tomorrow so the game was background. Listened to Starkey during the fourth on the way to Fremont to have dinner with the secret ASian dad.

iVinshe - I fell in love with Cal football last year as a freshman. Games were actually fun (it helped that we never lost at home). Now...

ajay - Played bball before the game, so didn't experience the tailgating, but the fans definitely showed up and were behind the team at the beginning. We pulled together and cheered loudly, almost as loudly as for USC. But after incompetence, people started leaving, and our fourth quarter mic man even started to get us to cheer for booze to keep us in the game.

JrBear - -Some alumni definitely ought to be supporters of the other teams if they're going to talk shit about us the whole game.
-Did we really need a hurt Jahvid to get the volume up?
-Hail to California, home of the best armchair QBs!

ososdereo - The result against OSU is exhibit A in why football games are to be used as an excuse to have parties with your friends outside on beautiful Fall afternoons, and that a victory by the team, should it happen, is merely icing on the cake.

BlueHenBear - Stadium attendance is beginning to dwindle. QQ, usually a somewhat rowdy place, was sitting on their hands. Can we stop the card stunts please, cuz they look lame if the students don't bother to show up. And who is Oskette and where has she been all my life? A transfer from ucla perhaps?

oaklandishbear - I couldn't attend the game as I was in DC. Spent the afternoon in Northern Virginia doing some sight-seeing, and then found a sports bar to watch the game. Got them to turn a TV to the Cal game, and proceeded to drink my Newcastle and have some food. By the 4th quarter, I had seen enough and left. I was so sick to my stomach at the Bears performance that I couldn't even bring myself to keep drinking...

BTown85 - Flew down from Portland and took my son and Dad to the game (three generations of BTown85). Walked to Sproul for a rousing drumline performance, which was awesome. Lunch at the faculty club (yummy). Sat in the Alumni section and tried to represent, but boy are they a bunch of lumps on a log. Made as much noise as I could and sometimes a few others came to life. I was impressed by how much noise the student section made. Props to you. I'm tired of the color orange.

OhoiBear - I nearly cried when Jahvid went down. Seeing it on the screen, I was scared. He just didn't move, at least not what I could see. I feared the worst and was ecstatic to hear it was "only" a concussion.

kodiak - I got food poisoning, so instead of quaffing cold beverages from my giant Cal mug, I lay curled in a fetal position while watching the game. It was oddly appropriate.

CGB Report Card: Grading Cal's Performance Against Arizona State

Avinash — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:26:53 -0000

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score	3.520	2.697	3.081	1.470	2.354	2.889	1.970	2.424	2.225	2.828	2.838
Grade	A-	B-	B	D+	C+	B	C	C+	C+	B-	B

Thanks to the 34 people who submitted grades this week, and again thanks to Twist for gathering these.

goldblooded, perfectstrat, MadBum, slaphancock, USAFGoldenBear, GoldenBear 77, JrBear, coolingfan, BTown85, TKE Prytanis 79, BatmanSF, minesweeper, rocksanddirt, CaliforniaCMB, Jake, totallyawesome, jsnell,
Kodiak, California Pete, Berkelium97, BeastMode, yorzepol, beson, bluehenbear, Ohio Bear, oldBear, CALumbus Bear, solarise, HOUSE66, omnizzle, rurata, GBB4188, ikoolykedat, Prd74

Your gameday experience winner goes to inebriated goldblooded, who got bonus points for writing this post drunk.

i drNK LIKE 7 beers in 100 mnutes plus a shotgun fter we won i am heppy also alex gots beers for us hen they were empty and chrius is doing homeworjk and i am pissing him off, ps geeeeeogeeo kicked a fild for ONCE wow

Quarterback--kevin riley for the seahg geneiss is the best quarter back ever/

Running backs--kahvi sstill rules, and shane is tight cause he didnt throw an inT

Receivers--ummm mrvin made me cry once but then he won the game so i hd a beer

Run blocking--i hope that we got bettercause hahivid needs to run feree as a birrd now

Pass protection--jebin riley threwew a shovel pass like tim jesus and he was good, even thoguh the other guys culdnt really helpo him and he got sacked a few trims

Run defense-- that fat guy 26 i hate him a lot i think that mikey mo needs to be better

Pass rush--it was ok, especailly on the last play where we broke the ASU quartererbacks arm haha two penakties

Pass defense--syd uan is so good at everything syd quan, sometiems si se him on the glkf cart, i think i wqill give him a ug nect time i see him he is so good

Special teams--gireeeegeeeo kicked q filed goal over 50 years sthen another one and won it was cool

Coaching--well jeffy bear didnt lose dso he is still kinda tight and alomar was a poop

Overall--we require more vespene beer

The lesson as always? Alcohol is a beautiful thing.

Here's the best of the gameday experiences:

coolingfan - Nothing much, just watched the game at home in my "graduate student" costume.

GoldenBear77 - I missed a couple of minutes of the first quarter -- shopping with my wife. After being gone three days this week on a business trip, didn't think I could just blow it off. She is gone to see her sister next week, so you know where I will be at 4 at when the Oregon State game starts.

totallyawesome - Picked up some KFC and b/c of some unfortunate circumstances (Bay Bridge being closed, GF doing halloween-related errands, friends out of town) I plopped down on my couch to watch the game by myself. Lurched back during Ross's dropped pass and hit my head on the wall. I was shaken up but the wall was ok.

yorzepol - In Hawaii watching in a sports bar with an incredibly drunk and obnoxious bunch of UF fans. They have some pretty lame cheers BTW. As Cal kept making me more and more nervous, those Gator fans kept getting louder and more obnoxious. Fortunately, Riley drove us drown the field and Taveccio redeemed himself and then those Gator fans weren't as annoying (don't get me wrong, they were stil annoying, just not as much.) BTW be very afraid of the Loco Mocos at Giovanni Pastrami's (you Hawaiians know what I mean; they are ginormous!)

rocksndirt - guy in the bar i watched the second half at had a little radio and was listening to starkey....the feed for that was a bit a head of the ABC feed. That and Norrie's kill'n me.

House66 - Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up, and almost throwing up at the end of the game.

JRBear - Watched the game on ESPN 360. Then I went to Chipotle on Telegraph with a Zack Follett jersey and a tin foil hat with a spike on my head for a free burrito. My costume was "The Space Rhinoceros."

OhioBear - I watched this bad boy on espn360. Unfortunately, I was late getting logged on and missed the first 3 plays of the game. In my zeal to hurry to get the game on, I totes forgot to open a separate window for the first quarter thread on CGB. I was so engrossed in our fine start, that I didn't think about joining the in-game threads until late in the 1st quarter when we were up 14-0. After I opened a window for the threads (and even posted a couple of comments), bad stuff piled up one by one: the Riley fumble at the 3, the ensuing TD, the missed Tavecchio FG, the brutal 80-yard TD pass. So I decided my logging into the in game threads was a reason that we had lost control of the game. So I left CGB and didn't come back until the post game thread, after we'd won. Clearly, I was instrumental in the victory.

BTown85 - Tape-delay viewing of Cal game with a beer. Riley fumbles three times in the first quarter......more beer. Vereen tries to give the game to ASU with 24 seconds left......bourbon !!!!! Line-up for game-winning field goal - knock at the door. Pause DVR to greet guests for Halloween Party. Back to the TV with a beer. 21 seconds of hell after the Field Goal; Party Begins.

minesweeper - My gameday experience began Friday night with some early Halloween partying. To make a long story short, lots of Indian food for lunch followed by an open bar at night does a number on one's stomach. After leaving most of its contents on the streets of San Francisco, my companion (who's smaller than me but can somehow handle much more liquor) helped me stumble home where I promptly passed out.

The main benefit of evacuating ones stomach before passing out is no hangover Saturday morning, and I was up early enough to take in a full 10 hours of college football.

TKE Pryantis 79 - Watched it in a sports bar in Fort Worth TX, with no audio, joined by my wife and colleagues from Scotland and New Zealand, so was put in the interesting role of explaining the rules, strategy and meaning of American College Football...not sure how I did, but the Bears effing won so that's all I cared about

CALumbusBear - I watched it on lo-def. BOOO Time Warner Cable. Why the F did I pay 160 bucks for ESPN Game Plan (aka fleece plan) to watch shit in lo-def? Because I HAD NO CHOICE. Lo-def sux donkeys f'realz

Kodiak - Mother in law came over to babysit, so I got to go fishing for the first time in months. After nailing some nice smallmouth, spotted bass, largemouth, and one really mean trout, I zipped home in time to take the 3 year-old trick or treating for the first time. With the kid safely geeked on sugar, I passed her off to grandma, got the wife to bring me my big mug 'o beer, and watched the game on dvr. Managed not to stroke out while watching it...but holy crap, it's tough being a Cal fan, sometimes.

Golden Rationality Award

Postponed for a week. Data is all screwed up. I'll try and figure out and have the actual answers in next week's report card. So I declare you all winners!

Old Blue Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
prd74	1.939
ikoolykedat	2.000
GBB4188	2.030
rurata	2.091
omnizzle	2.152

Man, the guy who took photos last week seemed the most distressed about our team, and now it's our video guy. Is it going to be danzig next week? NOOOOOOOOOO...

Golden Sunglasses Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
perfectstrat	3.182
MadBum	3.121
slaphancock	3.030
USAFGoldenBear	3.000
GoldenBear 77	2.939

Quarterback

GBB4188 - Some great deep balls once again from Riley. However, he once again through some funky thing into the flat while he was rolling out of the pocket which was fortunately not a pick 6. Combine that with 3 fumbles and you get, despite the nice passes, a pretty sloppy overall game.

That beard is what champions are made of, though.

bluehenbear - Well, Riley didn't make any mistakes and his mediocre completion percentage is on the WRs to had several drops (Ross and Tucker especially). Managed the game and got us in position for the winning FG. Wanted to give + but just couldn't do it with the fumbles.

Jake - When he's good, he looks like Aaron Rodgers, and makes the crowd hold their breath. When he's bad, he looks like Nate Longshore, and makes the crowd hold their breath for reasons. He looked good today, but the offense went nowhere for 2 1/2 quarters. Also: seriously, dude, three fumbles in the first half?

Only reason it's a B is that he came alive that last drive.

jsnell - Riley played pretty well, other than a couple of bad decisions and the fumbling. But really, that last drive... pretty much erases the rest of it, doesn't it?

Running back

ikoolydekat - Both RBs were contained today, but I believe most of the blame should be placed on the OL.

Berkelium97 - There wasn't much they could have done with the lack of holes being opened up. The wildcat wasn't too bad against the stout ASU D (especially that Vereen run called back due to penalty).

totallyawesome - Meow! Moar Wildcat pleez!

No, but seriously, aside from some great catches, our running back couldn't do much against this ASU run defense. Thankfully, the ASU D Coordinator dared us to beat him thru the air and we did (mostly).

yorzepol - Javid had an ineffective running game. Shane was not much better. I saw Jahvid completely whiff on a block and then come back to prevent the sack. The problem was by that time Riley was so out of position he had to throw it away. Then I saw him make some great blocks. Blocking continues to be a problem for him. Maybe if he stayed another year he could work on it? Anybody?

MadBum - Vereen never had a shot. Wasn't given the ball enough, only seeing one rushing attempt. This is unacceptable, as against UCLA he was key in freeing up Best for his big plays. Best did okay with what he had. I'm not thrilled with 3 yards per carry, but Mr. Best came up big in the passing game as well. This linebacking corp is tops in the Pac-10, and Best did what he could. His average relies mainly on big plays, and he didn't get one. ASU refused to let Best beat them, and he freed up Riley.

BatmanSF - I thought the backs played well, given the limited holes available. Jahvid actually showed more toughness and grit and willingness to grind out tough yards than he has earlier. Shane Vereen is just a QUALITY player, all the way around...OK, maybe he can work on his passing! And, BTW, a very nice Brian Holley contribution!

BTown85- Uninspiring at running the ball. Best and Holley catching passes were awesome; let's do more of that. I KNEW Vereen was going to throw the ball at the goal line 'cause he came up there in the WildBear and I thought "Everyone KNOWS you're running....wait, unless THIS is the first time you EVER decide to pass it....against the MAN-CHILD who is Burfict!!!!" I put the call on the coaches ($%##$) and the crap pass on Vereen, who should have tucked the ball and taken a knee and 18 more seconds off the clock. ANOTHER thing the coaches should have prepped him for!!!!!

Receivers

GoldenBear77 - Verran, you made a great catch on the low throw on the final drive, but you owed Riley one. The one you dropped down the sideline hit you in a bad place -- your hands -- and that had six written all over it. Ross, you can't drop the screen when it is third down. We appear to be feast or famine here. Thankfully, there was enough to eat at this banquet.

Berkelium97 - Drops, drops, drops, drops, drops (mostly from Tucker and Ross). Everyone was getting chances, though. Marv made some great catches. Everyone really stepped up (Marv, Miller, Lage(r)mann, and Tucker) for some huge catches on that final drive. I can forgive the drops if they're willing to play like that in the clutch. Miller is really establishing himself as a consistent target. He made big catches today (just like he did in his lone catch against Miami last year).

bluehenbear - Great first half, lousy second half...another case of the dropsies. Way to hang in there on the last drive, though. Wanted to give a B, but but just couldn't do it with the drops.

MadBum - Great job done right here. Mistakes were made, like drops by Ross and Tucker that hurt us. That facemask hurt us as well, and that holding hurt us big by Miller. But Miller made up for that mistake with his catch on the next play, Ross came up with big play after big play, and Tucker had that huge diving catch. Lagermann proved that his studliness on NCAA 09 wasn't just restricted to the video game, and made some catches that we haven't seen in his career. If these guys play the same way they did today minus those mistakes, then we'll be tough to stop.

slaphancock - Two drops nearly cost us the game. But then they caught everything on the last drive. Still, those two drops (the over the shoulder td one and the screen pass on third down) were inexcusable. It looked like both bounced off the receiver's chest protection. Maybe they should find new pads?

beeson - I think Marvin Jones sweats super glue. The ball just sticks to him.

Run blocking

ikoolydekat - No hole, no glory, no fun.

GoldenBear77 - Almost a non-issue in the game. When is the last time you said this at a CAL game?

Berkelium97 - It was mostly non-existent. Matt Summers-Gavin wasn't playing, but I don't think he alone would have made a tremendous difference.

yorzepol - The line was dominated today. Jahvid and Shane had no room to juke. Fortunately we had a passing game to overcome the terrible blocking, but we might not always. Or it could be that their run D really is scary good.

CaliforniaPete - It looked like there were some nice holes created in the line, but the Bears had a hard time carrying it through the second level. In other words, a lot of 3 yard gains. Don't know if this was a scheme issue or guys failing to make plays, but it sure would have been nice to established more of a rushing attack after jumping out to a 14-point lead.

Beastmode - What run blocking? I know teams are stacking the box, but teams do so against Stanfurd and Oregon too. I know, different schemes, but that just means we need to scheme better, even if we have a young line, so does Oregon by the way.

OhioBear - The most frustrating part of the game, by far, was the inability to open holes for Best. ASU was all over our running game and our O-line didn't seem to rise up to the occasion. Credit to ASU, for sure. But I can't believe we're not better than that. Fewer than 100 yards rushing? We're lucky to win a game with that number.

Pass protection

coolingfan - Riley's running ability saved the game -- pass protection was awful, but this was the case pretty much for the whole season so far.

totallyawesome - Pass protection was circumspect, but thankfully, Riley and his happy feet bailed them out on a few plays. They held the line when it mattered, thankfully, especially on that last drive.

yorzepol - I don't remember thinking that they got owned very much. There were sometimes they allowed too many defenders through but mostly they gave Riley the time he needed. Oh yeah, except for the two sacks which led to two fumbles from Riley and made it a much closer game than it should have been. But besides that they didn't get owned much.

MadBum - I was impressed these guys. False starts and holdings derailed some drives but overall very well done. The last 2 drives were executed to perfection, as the only time they got a rush was when Riley took his time. They even held on plays when Riley scrambled around, not holding and letting him keep the play alive. Tepper seems to be a weakspot for us though. He commits too many penalties, but I can't complain too much.

OhioBear - Gave up 3 sacks, and pressure seemed consistently there from the ASU pass rush. I was holding my breath every time a guy got close to Riley, praying to Oski he wouldn't fumble again.

USAF Golden Bear - This seemed like a two faced o-line. Sometimes they were giving Riley a perfect pocket, and then other times it seemed like a minimal rush they were just getting straight beat.

solarise - Riley was running for his life like Neve Campbell in Scream 1 through infinity. It'd be nice to see what Riley could really do if he gets protection a la Matt Barkley.

CALumbus Bear - Dear O-line: Let's talk about that sucking thing. You know, that thing you've been doing a LOT of recently. Please stop doing it. Really. Stop. Like now. Holes are your friends. Please open them. Just push that big fat guy to the side you're supposed to push him. You've been doing it for years. Vacation over, get back to F-ing work.

Rush defense

Berkelium97 - The run D was generally good, but they could still move the chains on us (see ASU's last TD drive). I was surprised ASU's ypc (adjusted for sacks) was only 3.5. I thought it would have been closer to the mid-4s.

totallyawesome - Very solid. Saw Cattouse get in on a few plays. ASU is much improved running-wise from last year but still couldn't manage much against our defense.

JRBear - Defense is so hard to grade for this game. It's hard to give them credit for their first two lucky TDs. I think the Run D did a good job holding back Bass, not so much Marshall.

OhioBear - Statistically, pretty good. But it seemed like Cam Marshall gave ASU a spark in the 2nd half, getting good gains. I would've graded the run D higher had it not been for ASU's run game awakening in the 4th quarter. Props to the D, however, for stopping them when we had to in order to get the ball back.

Kodiak - Did a nice job in the 1st half, seemed to wear down in the 2nd. No question we're more stout with Derrick Hill. I hope he's back soon. For the 1st time in...a month(?) we didn't give up a bone-headed long run from someone being woefully out of position.

Pass rush

ikoolydekat - what pass rush?

GoldenBear77 - CAL was stronger as the day progressed, and that was a good thing. I thought we did not get enough pressure in the first half, but, particularly in the first drive of the second half stepped it up. However, no one is going to mistake Sullivan for Aaron Rodgers.

Berkelium97 - Sullivan generally had a lot of time to pass. Alualu was abusing their O-line in the early third quarter, though. The 4:3 helped get more pressure, but Sullivan still had some time.

totallyawesome - Very pedestrian. Our D-lineman need to get better at shedding blocks and we need to dial up a few more blitz plays. They need enough, however, to force Sullivan into some bad decision making.

Beastmode - No sacks. Not many TFL. Teams obviously know to get rid of the ball quickly against Cal, but it isn't just a matter of that. it's that our guys do not get enough of a push, particularly on the interior.

slaphancock - When we got the QB under pressure, he looked like a normal college QB, not like the hyper-accurate heisman contenders the rest of the QBs we've played have looked like against us.

USAF Golden Bear - This was the most abysmal part of the team, IMO. Play after play, I saw no pressure being put on Sullivan, who was playing poorly in the 1st half all by himself. Unless ASU's o-line suddenly became not-horrible in the last couple of days, Cal's pass rushers need to figure what the deal is and fix it.

Kodiak - Sullivan is a statue with happy feet who makes bad decisions when pressured. Yet, he had enough time to stand there and utilize his scud-arm to some effect. It's becoming pretty apparent that our 3-4 is more than a little gimped without a legitimate pass-rushing threat from the LB's.

Pass defense

GoldenBear77 - What happened on the 80 yard reception in the first half? That simply should not happen, the way we play pass defense. Other than that, OK with two interceptions, one of which led to the half-time lead.

Jake- Syd is a beast. 'Nuff said. The picks were works of art.

BTown85 - There were some SPECTACULAR plays that often will bring a PI call, but didn't 'cause Cattouse and Thompson played 'em PERFECTLY (no hand on receiver's back, etc.). We got lucky that we were able to jar the ball loose a couple of times from receivers who should have held on. Whew.

Totally blown coverage on that deep TD.

solarise - Syd & Josh Hill made some big plays. Cattouse deserved the start. The man produces big hits and provides coverage in the middle. I'd like to see Cattouse w/ even more playing time.

Kodiak - On the one hand, we finally got a couple of ints. The CB's seemed closer to receivers than previous weeks. Cattouse is such an obvious upgrade over Ezeff, it makes you wonder what took the coaches so damn long to make that call. On the other, I can't shake the feeling that the only reason we didn't give up another career day of 300+ passing yards is that Sullivan is really, really bad.

Special Teams

ikoolydekat - NO.

Berkelium97 - Anger quietly had a big day (53.0 average!) Giorgio missed some easy field goals, but also managed to kick a 51(!) yarder and --HOLY CANOLI--kicked the game-winning field goal! Return coverage was serviceable, but I still get nervous every time we kick off.

yorsepol - ALLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAMMMMMMAAAAA

AAAAAAR!

but also:

ALLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAR!

Some decent plays (finally a kickoff in the endzone,) but too few to merit a higher grade. Taveccio would not have had to make the game winning filed goal in the last seconds if he had made either of the other two field goal attempts or better yet, if he had made both. But at least he redeemed himself. Those kick offs and kick off coverage WILL cost us a game though, mark my words.

BTown85 -We squeaked this out. Only one kickoff from the 30 got within the five, two makeable FGs missed, Tavecchio jumping OVER a would-be kick-rougher then falling down to ensure he didn't the call......and then squeaking out the last FG. Dang, I gave up the wrong week to quit doing tequila shots.

Anger was stellar as usual (to the point I'm disappointed if he doesn't get some punts in the 60-70 yard range....now THAT'S not fair), but our kick-off coverage was weak, weak, weak.

CALumbus Bear - Punting was good. KO coverage was mediocre to very poor. Salami's FG grades were as follows: F-, then a most shocking A+, then another fat F, then "why the frig are we sending him out there this is a coaching phail just go for it Tedford O MY OSKI HE ACTUALLY MADE IT WHEN WE REALLY NEEDED IT TAVECCHIO FOR THE GROZA AWARD GIVE IT TO HIM NOW!" So they get a nice + on the end of that medicre C.

Kodiak - Anger punted pretty well. I don't remember screaming while watching our kickoffs or kick coverage in general. You can go half-empty/half-full with Tavecchio. Yeah, he blew a couple of gimmes...But he also nailed on from 51, and had the stones to come through at the end. It does worry me when Tedford waits until gametime to name a starting kicker...and does it by asking Alamar who looks better in warm-ups. We're officially flogging the horse's fossilized skeleton at this point, but we need to do better than our current Mickey Mouse approach to special teams.

Coaching

coolingfan - Didn't get much out of Wildcat formations, but otherwise showed a variety of plays and formations, which we missed early in the season against 'SC and Oregon.

GoldenBear77 - Great confidence in Riley on the final drive. I am torn on the Vereen wildcat toss into the end zone. On the one hand, if it had succeeded we would have all thought the coaches incredible. On the other hand, if it was intercepted, idiots. Was it a lack of confidence in the kicking game? In any event, someone once told me "you can't argue with results", and the result is that we are 6-2, and 3-1 on the road.

Berkelium97 - There were a lot of smart play calls today. From the first play, that took great advantage of ASU biting on the run to the calls on the last drive. I was really surprised that we threw for the first down so often on that last drive (even on 1st and 25). Then that WildVereen pass, I loved that call even though Miller barely missed the pass. They did a great job of moving the ball (on that last drive and others) through the air. The offense still looked competent without Best or Vereen running for chunks of yardage. Gregory's unit made a huge mistake, but was otherwise good enough to keep us in the game. It's too bad we can't find a way to get more pass rush, but our unit just doesn't seem to have the personnel for it. Alamar lives to see another day...by the narrowest of margins.

CaliforniaPete - From a season-wide perspective, I'm happy. This team has really responded well to the adversity of two brutal losses. And for the second time this year, the Bears have won a game, on the road, in the fourth quarter. That's all good.

I'm a big Bob Gregory fan, and with the exception of the debacle in Eugene, I'm generally with the defense. As for Tedford/Ludwig's offense, I'm of two minds. For much of the year, this team has been fun to watch, and the Bears have often jumped out early to sizable leads. Such was the case again today. But when the offense stalls, it really struggles to get going again--or at all in the case of the two losses. All of this leads me to question the coaches' in-game adjustments; what's their response when Plan A is no longer working. Given today's performance, I wonder if we'll see some no-huddle series in the future, even when the clock isn't an issue. The change of tempo really appeared to help.

MadBum - This is where I question. That throw with Vereen on 2nd down and goal was completely unneccesary; he hasn't thrown a pass all year, is inaccurate, and there isn't alot of room for him to work with. Also, ASU knows Vereen is the back in the WildBear that throws. Didn't like some defensive calls, but can't think of specific ones. JAHVID BEST IS OUR BEST PLAYER. GIVE HIM THE BALL. VEREEN IS ALSO GOOD TOO. Both still need touches. Best could use 20 carries, but I guess I'm okay with that. Vereen really needs the ball more. He completely opens the offense up for Best and Riley. Without him, our rushing game is completely onedimensional and ASU keyed completely on Best.

JrBear - I like the WildVereen pass. Were you expecting that? I bet you weren't.
Overall, alright. Coaches aren't responsible for momentum changes, and that's what happened in the 2nd quarter.

jsnell - I wonder if they called for that halfback pass at the end of the game just to make people stop talking about how conservative the play-calling is, and instead let us talk about how reckless the play-calling is.

USAF Golden Bear - Whatever Tedford and Ludwig have done with Riley, its amazing. Keep it up. Gregory on the other hand, needs to get this D on track, and not make inept offenses look servicible. OSU is going to pile up huge numbers if this continues, and I'm not sure Cal's offense will be able to keep up.

solarise - I liked Ludwig's playcalling in the 1st. Aggressive & revealed some plays I haven't seen before. Some adjustments were made in the 2nd half to give Riley more protection. I thought the coaches showed a lot of faith in the players, especially for giving Vereen the freedom to pass out of that Wildbear at such a critical junction of the game.

Cut down those penalties.

Kodiak - 1) I still hate our special teams.
2) I'm skeptical of our defensive playcalling...but at least appreciate that we seem to be trying different schemes and players to get better.
3) I like the diversity and innovation displayed on offense. I hope there's some continuity. I get the feeling that the execution and range of plays will only get better as the players become more comfortable.

Overall

rurata - An ugly game overall, but we won on the road, and are bowl eligible now. Hooray for that.

Berkelium97 - Too many penalties, too many dropped passes, inadequate holes for the running game, but--Bak Bak Almighty--that last drive was incredible. I am as confident in Riley as I have ever been. He puts the ball where it needs to be (just outside of where the defense can get it) and can make huge plays when necessary. I am now confident--and more importantly, so is the team after today--that this team can run the table. It won't be easy, but they can do it.

totallyawesome - This was an emotional rollercoaster, to be sure. A very sloppy performance by both teams (penalty-o-rama). But I like how our team kept their heads in the game, overcame some huge letdowns and managed to escape with a win. Riley's last drive will definitely go in some kind of highlight reel from Danzig. Also, great to see Tavecchio make the game winner. He should have made at least one of the other two field goals, but he's our FG kicker and hopefully will learn and get better from this experience.

yorzepol - Let's face it, we were lucky to come out of there with a win. The worst thing is that IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN THAT CLOSE! I couldn't believe all the lost opportunities I saw. We need to execute better. Still, we didn't play well and still won against what I think is a decent ASU team so that's got to mean something right? (Right?) If we keep playing like this we will be unlucky sometime and lose a game we really should have won. I hope this doesn't happen and we finish 10-2 but only time will tell.

rocksndirt - Just win, baby.

Beastmode - A road win is great no matter how it happens. First win in Arizona since 2004. And, makes Tedford 6-1 against ASU. This win also makes Cal bowl eligible and sets us up for the opportunity at a very good season. That said, the weak running game is troublesome and the passing defense only got slightly better. Both better improve with OSU, Arizona, and Stanfurd in consecutive weeks.

BatmanSF - The team had not been in a close game all season. Therefore, I can't be too disappointed that they rallied when necessary to pull it out. I still have the nagging feeling that coaching is holding this team back as much as anything, but I admit I don't have the answers....its a bit of an odd season, so far, isn't it?

OhioBear - There is no such thing as a bad win, especially on the road against a team that is far from terrible. This is the type of game we would have lost during the Holmoe, Mariucci, and Gilbertson years. Hell, we hadn't won a game on a last minute win or lose FG since Coach Snyder's Citrus Bowl season in 1991 (if memory serves). So we should characterize this one as "good" for grading purposes. But we need to play better. Much better.

minesweeper - Generally an ugly game with lots of penalties, turnovers, and missed FGs, but not every game's going to be pretty, and to win an ugly one is almost more satisfying than a scrimmage win against the likes of EWU or WSU. Riley, Tavecchio, and the rest of the team showed a lot of guts and maturity regrouping after some early miscues and pulling out the victory.

Earlier in the season, when our expectations were much higher, I'd be focusing on everything the team didn't do right in this game. Now that our expectations are more modest, we can focus on what went right, and after all a win is a win is a win, and I'll take 'em any way we can get 'em.

And hey, we have the same record, overall and in conference, as USC now? Say what???

Kodiak - I'm sure there are plenty of fans screaming about how bad we are. Geez. Shut up already. We're Cal fans. Our teams are supposed to give us coronaries every now and then. This is the winnable/favored game that we blow every year...but somehow didn't. I'm happy with the resolve that the team, and in particular, that Riley showed. The ball doesn't always bounce your way, but good teams find a way. We're not a great team, but we're learning to be good. I also absolutely loved the call to pass out of the Wildbear at the end of the game. That's the call Tedford makes in his first year when he was bold, dynamic, and played to win. There's been too much of playing not-to-lose, and playing scared the last few years. As a program, we need to get that mean, hungry, no-nonsense-I'm-going-to-beat-

you-down-and-step-on-your-throat edge back.

Cal v. WSU 10.24.09 Photo Essay II

TwistNHook — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:30:28 -0000

Photo Essay I

Photos from Monica's Dad Photostream and from friend of the blog Matt Chan. Thanks to them for great photography at the game!

We start up with the beginning of the game, which was all-Cal all the time. And a whole lot of this:

via Matt Chan

Of course, when you factor in people like this:

via Matt Chan

With people like this:

via Matt Chan

You get optimum results such as this:

via Matt Chan

IMG_4674 (via Monica's Dad)

And, of course, when you get a lot of that, you get a lot of this:

That wasn't the only Cal success early. We had Jeremy Ross, killing it:

IMG_4571 (via Monica's Dad)

And on D, we were pretty stout:

IMG_4577 (via Monica's Dad)

Which led to this:

IMG_4657 HDR (via Monica's Dad)

Some more shots of Best killing it:

IMG_4589 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4602 (via Monica's Dad)

We even did more WildBear formation:

IMG_4628 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4631 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4633 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4634 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4635 (via Monica's Dad)

Marvin Jones is a really good downfield blocker:

IMG_4641 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4642 (via Monica's Dad)

The Souffle was getting some great action:

IMG_4592 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4593 (via Monica's Dad)

Note from Monica's Dad: This was a fake handoff that Riley ended up throwing deep, but looking at the pics, it's clear Vereen could have run for a big gainer, too. The WSU D wasn't geared to stop the run or the pass.

IMG_4608 (via Monica's Dad)

That damnable red crane was still there, mocking up with its inevitable redness:

TAKE OFF THAT RED PAINT! TAKE OFF THAT RED PAINT!

For those who were concerned as to whether the student section filled up, here is an answer:

via Matt Chan

Ok, firstly, there was a painfully large amount of media time outs. WTF!??! What media?????????? Ai! And they STILL barely let the Cal band play. Instead we were subjected to like 10 minutes of Simon Says in the end zone. NO JOKE! They did Simon Said.

It took forever. I started booing. I mean c'mon! What purpose does that serve?

Of course, we got to learn more about Bryan Anger. Like he could use a good Ambulance Chasing Attorney.

He couldn't even get attacked by a real mean dog, either. A dalmation? Up next, a chihuahua takes a bite out of Alualu.

Plus, he showed his TD dance, which consisted of a reverse jam:

And, thus, we were good on that whole first half. And what a first half. Although Cal had given up many yards, we were up 35-17 and had had some amazing plays. The offense was working on all cylinders and Jahvid was in Best-mode. Riley looked great and even our special teams had its moments. Then, off to the second half! GO BEARS!

Our punter is better than your punter

Nuss — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:00:22 -0000

More photos » by Dean Hare - AP

We never get tired of using this photo. Can your team's punter do this? Didn't think so!

Browse more photos »

The battle within the battle (if you can call a 49-17 whipping a "battle") yesterday was between the assumed best punter in the Pac-10 -- Cal's Bryan Anger was second team all-conference a year ago behind a senior on the first team -- and the actual best punter in the conference, our very own Reid Forrest.

Forrest clearly won that showdown yesterday, with seven punts for a 42.9 average with three of them downed inside the 20, a long of 53 yards, and no touchbacks. Anger, by contrast, had four punts for an average of 39.2, a long of 47 with none inside the 20 and no touchbacks.

However, a Cal commenter had to come over and try to throw a wet blanket over the festivities by saying that the best punter he'd seen this year was not Anger or Forrest, but UCLA's Jeff Locke. We haven't seen UCLA yet this year, so I initially scoffed at the notion that anyone could be a better give-the-ball-back-to-the-other-team kicker than our own champion of punting.

Here's what the numbers say:

PUNTING	No.	Yards	Avg	Long	TB	FC	I20	50+	Rushing average
Reid Forrest	49	2145	43.8	65	2	11	14	8	15.0
Jeff Locke	35	1626	46.5	81	5	8	12	n/a	0.0
Bryan Anger	36	1499	41.6	72	3	11	11	n/a	0.0

To quickly summarize: Forrest has punted way more than these other two, yet has fewer touchbacks; he's tied for the lead in punts inside the 20, despite an offense that rarely approaches midfield; has eight more punts of 50+ yards than Locke and Anger -- hey, it's not Reid's fault their team's sites don't track that; and he's got a greater rushing average.

Yes, Locke is good. But the conclusion is simple.

Our teams punter is better than your team's punter.

CGB Report Card: Grading Cal's Performance Against UCLA

Avinash — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:00:23 -0000

via farm3.static.flickr.com (original image link)

Thanks to Monica's Dad and Cal Bears Online for the images!

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score (out of 4)	3.431	3.711	3.47	2.745	3.059	2.902	2.25	2.490	2.245	3.441	3.412
Grade	B+	A-	B+	B-	B	B	C+	C+	C+	B+	B+

Thanks to the 34 submitters!

C98, Oaktown123, VandyImport, Dingosean, GoldenBear 77, TKE Prytanis 79, Thoroughbred, GBB4188, omnizzle, Jr. Bear, Yleexotee, GBMarin, California Pete, Yorzepol, rurata, Swamphunter, Trisweb, iVinshe, CALumbus Bear, mig, CaliforniaCMB, Kodiak, beson, sec119, Ohio Bear, Haas8388, Berkelium97, BTown85, ososdeoro, primo, coolingfan, stochastic, SoCal Oski, katster

And big ups to Twist for getting the best comments together; it made this post way easier to complete.

Let's start with the best gameday experience of our graders, which goes to...dingosean, with an epic drunken tale (and totally unedited).

Woke up. Trew on my Cal football 2006 shirt (good luck shirt) and started driking lottss of beer.

Watched the texas-oklahomer game while drinking A LOT.

By the tme the cal game started i was visibly inebriated, and i decided to stp drinking when the game started, and only start drinking if Cal started messing up. (it wrked against oregon last year, so why not bring back this strateggy).

Game started well. We were ahead by ten. Even though UCLA came back and DID scor a TD in the 1st.. we had the lead going into Q2. Where we came out and scored 3 TD's. Going into the haftime with a 3 score lead... and having sobered up a little, i decided to start drinking more beer.

2nd half went by... we kept the lead.. i was continuing go drink more.. and thena i stardted blogging. We gota the eainerception and woo hoo! we won. Now i'm very drunk agan and itsawesome! WE BEAT LA IN LA

GO BEARS!

Lesson kids: If you post a drunk report card, you're likely to win best gameday experience. CGB, where we encourage drinking at all ages.

Gameday experiences, commenting awards, and best of the report cards after the jump.

via calbearsonline.com

Runnerup gameday experience went to poor iVinshe. This has happened to me before for some game I can't remember--all I do recall is the furious anger I felt afterward.

I actually couldn't watch live today, so I insulated myself from any scores the entire day, so that I could watch the reply on espn360. I did so well.....and right before I begin watching, I see in my inbox:

    from    CalBearsShop.com <info@calbearsshop.com>
reply-to    info@calbearsshop.com
to    <redacted>
date    Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 4:12 PM
subject    Free Ground Shipping to Celebrate Cal's Win at CalBearsShop.com

Thanks guys.

Third places goes to VandyImport. Hey man, give us a sign if you're alright!

I kept shoveling chips in my mouth the entire 4th quarter to keep Cal's defense going. Unfortunately it turns out they all contained olestra. It's been good knowing you. Tell my wife I love her and bury me in Nashville.

And here are the rest!

C98: Good to see my Bears winning again. Good to break the LA loos streak.

Oaktown123: My cable stopped working in the second quarter which was frustrating, but then it started working again.

TKE Prytanis 79: Great...watching at home...talking to the kids by phone after major plays and my wife made killer red enchilladas with red Hatch chiles...and we won...gonna sleep well tonight

GBB4188: As my game of torn allegiances this game is always a little awkward as I like both teams to perform well (and Cal to win). That's what we got so I'm very happy and can be excited about both teams going forward.

Jr. Bear: Amazing. Cal section was good, team was good. I'm content.

Yorzepol: Hot day at the Rose Bowl. I lost my voice before the game and missed the band's pregame. Then we scored on out first possesion and all was right with the world.

Swamphunter: I've had an upper respiratory tract infection since Tuesday, and I probably won't be healthy until this upcoming Tuesday. However, the game and the win were probably what made me clear the hump of this illness.

CALumbus Bear: I was so F-ing, F-ING happy after that game. Or maybe it was relief. Maybe I was exalting in relief. Or reveling in pent-up frustration release. Either way I felt good, and Mrs. CALumbus Bear and I popped open a $50 bottle of wine we had aged for 4 years, and I swear it had the yummy taste of vanquished Bruin.

mig: After being mocked and ridiculed for three weeks, it was nice to chant in the Rose Bowl "this is Bear Territory!" Pasadena, and the rest of Los Angeles, by extension, also became part of Bear Territory. I flew out from Boston on Thursday and was able to meet up with friends I haven't seen for nearly a year. Needless to say, coming into the game I was worried that it might put a damper on my otherwise relaxing, peaceful and enjoyable weekend. But yesterday's game only made it better!

Kodiak: Because her team (yeah, I married a bruin) lost, my wife had to go out and bring back tribute. I enjoyed beer and a fried chicken dinner. Ha ha!

beson: Great game. We were so pumped to be at the game and finally breaking the socal losing streak. Loved the cheers at the end of the game. I'm sure some of the people will wake up with sore hands this morning due to all my emphatic high fives.

However, I wish I hadn't forgotten to record the game on my DVR. I always have a hard time giving grades when I go to the games.

Ohio Bear: First, we won the game. Then, tried to use Panera Bread gift card for post game celebratory meal. The gift card reader was broken, so the friendly cashier gave us our meal for free. Score! Finally, stanfurd blew a 9-point 4th quarter lead to lose. It was a win, win, win gameday for me.

Berkelium97: This was a great game to attend in person. By the end, it was clear that this was more than a win against a team who was winless in the conference. This was about getting Cal back on the right track after USC and Oregon and finally getting a win after several years of heartbreaking losses at the Rose Bowl. From Tedford's ice bath to the way the players excitedly came over to dance and sing with the Cal band when the clock hit 0:00, it was clear this was a special win for the fans, the players, and Tedford. Thank you to all the other Cal fans who withstood nearly four hours of the 100 degree heat and gave our team a long-lasting standing ovation when the game finished.

ososdeoro: Almost upset a seeded team in tennis doubles, then got in the car and turned the game on. Starkey called the score three times before providing enough information for me to tell who was actually winning. Saw the second half doldrums while REALLY wanting to go back to the beginning and see those 35 points, but had to wait until the game was in the bag.

coolingfan: Best: Watching the Bruins exodus with 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Worst: The heat in Pasadena. I got my right chick and the right side of my neck burned even with sunblocks on, and I bet this is the case for many people who sit in Cal section...
Most memorable: The whole experience of being with loyal Cal fans, all of whom stayed after the game to celebrate the win! Go Bears!

stochastic: Cal cheers with the thousands of Cal fans in the north end zone of the Rose Bowl.
Gimme a C! (Author's note: C!)
Gimme an A! (Author's note: A!)
Gimme an L! (Author's note: L!)
What's that spell? (Author's note: CAL!)
Who are we? (Author's note: CAL!)
Who kicked the shit out of the bruins? (Author's note: CAL!)
GOOOOOOOO BEARS!

IMG_4059 (via Monica's Dad)

SoCal Oski: It was, perhaps, the single most perfect October day I've ever had in my entire life in LA - and I was born and raised there. Ideal weather (at least in Santa Monica); a riotous good time before, during, and after the game; and the joy of thumping Ucla and seeing the Rose Bowl empty as their sniveling fans left early to sulk and pout. The cherry on top is how there is starting to be dissent in the ranks among Ucla fans over whether CRN is actually the messiah, or just another false prophet.

katster: CURSE YOU MACK BROWN.

(Yeah, I was one of those people affected by the Texas-Oklahoma game gone long.)

Other that that, hung out over on Ken and Jason's site while cleaning my room and watching the game. A winning game really helped in that task, let me tell you...

Onto the commenting awards!

The Steven Chu Award (Golden Rationality)

Commenter/alias	Total Standard Deviation
GoldenBear 77	0.9182
ososdeoro	0.9908
katster	1.3360
Ohio Bear	1.3767
dingosean	1.408

Golden Bear 77 takes the cake this week. Here is his full report card, concise and full of modest rationality.

QB (B+): Riley still makes me nervous, but I love that he was leading Best's long touchdown run. Nice escapes on some of the pass rushes.

RB (A-): Vereen was amazing, and Best was more valuable than the statistics show. He forced UCLA to use a different defense when he was in -- that is the definition of a presence.

WR (B): Still, a few drops. The Jones touchdown was one for the ages.

Run blocking (B-): I don't care what defense they use, the blocking for Best has to improve.

Pass protection (B): Some breakdowns, but Riley helped them out.

Run defense (B-): What happened on the long run? But, CAL did force them into a passing game.

Pass rush (B-): Need more pressure.

Pass defense (B): Not so good early, but improved as the game progressed. What happened to SydGod? (Author's note: He should be fine.)

Special Teams (C): Too may yards on kick returns. Punting was the best of the season. We have our Groza kicker back!

Coaching (A-): We won in LA!

Overall (B+)

via farm3.static.flickr.com (Image link)

The Old Blue Award (Most Pessimistic Voters)

Commenter/alias	Average score (out of 4)
GBMarin	2.417
iVinshe	2.455
Haas8388 (T-3)	2.545
SoCalOski (T-3)	2.545
omnizzle	2.606

GBMarin had plenty of criticisms for a 22 point victory, but as you can see from above there was plenty of things to nitpick at. Here are the most biting things.

Receivers (Incomplete): Did a receiver except Jones even catch one?

Run blocking (D): Price came through like the Colorado River

Pass rush (D-): Only rushed 3 most of the time for heck sakes.

Coaching (B-): No Killer instinct in Berkeley. Hey maybe that is why. (Author's note: didn't understand this comment, can you clarify?)

I'm guessing 72-6 is going to linger throughout this season for some fans. It is hard to shake even now two weeks removed...

via farm3.static.flickr.com (original link)

Golden Sunglasses Award (GO! BEARS! GO! BEARS!)

Commenter/alias	Average score (out of 4)
Trisweb (T-1)	3.576
CaliforniaCMB (T-1)	3.576
mig	3.485
Oaktown123	3.394
coolingfan	3.364

Trisweb, by contrast, was downright beaming. His gameday experience is just too funny to not share (he was at a joint Boston viewing for Bruins and Bears alike).

Getting my car spit on in Boston, I can only assume because of the script-Cal decal. Those silly baby bears and their harmless pranks...

Coaching (A): Sappy - but I was impressed by Tedford's interaction with the players. He seemed somehow less cold, even drenched in ice cold gatorade.

Overall (A-): I was impressed and happy with the outcome obviously; I think our team played well, but I think maybe there was a small lack of challenge.

Special teams (A+): 69 yard punt? Pick six? Hell yeah. (Author's note: Defense is special teams now?)

Running backs (A): I think our backs have a lot of potential when the O-line blocks for them, and I was very impressed with Vereen's out-yarding Best this game, as well as Best's big plays. That's great versatility and will keep them guessing - who's the lead and who's the backup?

via farm3.static.flickr.com (original image link)

CaliforniaCMB had similar optimism.

Overall: Offense played well, threw the ball and ran the ball well (Vereen) and the defense did great (they turned into Field Goal U at the end) and the pick 6 sealed the deal.

Gameday experiences: Great! 9 AM drinking, BBQ, leading some nice Go! Bears! chants, and getting the middle finger from a fUCLA fan, can't beat that! oh and it was HOT!

Now onto the best of the report card. If there's anything you think I missed from your cards that was noteworthy, let me know in the comments. Thanks!

Quarterback

via calbearsonline.com

Oaktown123: Riley outperformed Colt McCoy. During the second half he had rough spots.

dingosean: Riley played well, and definitely made some good throws. Moved well in the pocket, and he didnt allow anything bad to happen the other way (I.E. no ints). He was 14-23, and 3 touchdowns for 300+ yards. Cant ask for better than that. Sure, he could have thrown a few ints on some bad throws, hence the A-. But he didnt do anything of the sort so its all good.

Jr. Bear: BEST 4 HEISMAN? MAYBE.

RILEY 13 HEISMAN!!

I creamed my pants seeing that 60% completion in the box score.
The best throw of the game? The quick out to Boateng before the half. That is the moment I regained trust in Riley.

California Pete: Big improvement. Made a number of big throws, and while he struggled to keep the sticks moving with his arm, he did pick up some nice first downs with his legs. Avoided the interception (again!), and navigated the pocket well. Above all else, he looked poised and confident.

Kodiak: Whatever the heck Ludwig and Tedford did to Riley during the bye week, whether it was drugs, Robot-Chicken-style brainwashing, or just an old-fashioned cattleprod up the *ss, keep doing it.

He was poised, pretty accurate, made good decisions...there was even a sequence in the 2nd half where he completed two straight slant passes.

I still have my reservations about how he'll handle adversity, but this was definitely a step in the right direction.

SoCal Oski: I get it now - Riley intentionally played like crap in the last two games so he'd look even better in this one!

Riley definitely looked better and more comfortable in the pocket. The 1st TD to Jones and the throw to Best were both perfect. I guess that's what happens when the OL gives him some protection. But that could speak more to a very over-hyped Ucla defense than a very improved Cal OL. Still, some passes sailed a bit.

Running back

via calbearsonline.com

VandyImport: Mixed bag. A for Vereen, who was everything you could ask, and a B for Best, who was ill-served by some of the play calling - but you can't have that many TFLs on run plays and expect to do anything.

California Pete: Vereen was an "A", and I also some some good things from the fullbacks, including Will Kapp on special teams. Best had two highlight-reel touchdowns, but he otherwise was shut down. It's tough to run when the D-line keeps getting that much penetration, but I'd still like to see Best turn more of those losses into at least modest gains.

Swamphunter: Let me quote myself from the in-game discussions:
Jahvid is God
Vereen is Jesus.

Both had over 100 yards, with Vereen having 153 and Best with 103. Best had one of the prettiest 93 yard runs you'll ever see in a Cal football game.

sec119: Running - Thunder and lightning = NATURAL DISASTER.

primo: JAvid did his Thang one time, but kept getting 1st Down off tackle minus-yard plays called, like 9 in a row!!! C'mon, Ludwig! Pass to him on a screen, or short passes to anyone!! And, don't open the play series with the same non-productive play 9x!!!

stochastic: Best had a signature SportsCenter run, but it was Vereen's consistent jabs that really impressed. I'm not convinced that Jahvid can carry the team like some people think he can, but the future is brighter than I thought.

Receivers

(via Monica's Dad)

VandyImport: Marvin Jones really earned his scholarship today, which is critical - somebody is going to have to step up as a go-to target for Riley if teams are going to dare Cal to throw.

yorzepol: Although they dropped a couple of passes that they should have caught, these guys really stepped up their game! They bailed out Riley several times and made some pretty difficult plays. Much improved with room for still more improvement.

stochastic: It's tough to say what happened here. Yes, there was an extraordinary catch in the end zone, but I didn't really see amazing routes or YAC.

Berkelium97: I don't remember too many drops, for the first time in a few weeks. Also, everyone from WRs to FBs to TEs to RBs were catching passes today. Jones emerged after disappearing since the Maryland game. He complements Riley very well because he will catch any ball that is thrown near him. He has a great ability to catch and hold on to passes that are slightly off the mark. I was very happy to see Boateng back and making a couple plays. Best and Vereen were also solid as receivers.

katster: Much, much, much better. I think we've found our WR for the future, and it was nice seeing Boetang in there again. (Hmm, how much of 72-6 was not having Boetang?)

Run blocking

via farm3.static.flickr.com (Image link)

GBB4188: There were a few problems, but I think those were mostly Brian Price being Brian Price.

Jr. Bear: Price who? Nice blocking overall, but offense still stalled in the 3rd quarter like usual. We need to get more sustained drives instead of just big plays, which will be essential later on against ASU and Washington. One of the reasons in my opinion why there were only 3 offensive points in the second half.

Swamphunter: Reason it's a B+ and not an A: Jahvid got stopped on several first down rushes. The line needs to be tighter on the obvious rushing downs. Reason it's a B+ and not a B-: 288 total yards rushing.

CALumbus Bear: Shame on the O-line for getting handily handled. "Dear fucla defensive line, I apologize if I am disturbing your pass rush, please let me get out of the way so you can get to the important business of tackling Best 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage."

Haas8388: The aggregate yardage was quite impressive, but there are far too many negative yardage plays in the running game. I rewatched much of the Bears' offensive possessions and, to my eye, UCLA did not stack the box all that often. There were occasions where they put 8 in the box and/ or run blitzed right into the play, as if they knew what was coming, but there other plays where they lined up only 6 or 7 in the box and still stuffed the play behind the LOS. That has to be on the run blocking or scheme or both.

Pass protection

via calbearsonline.com

CALumbus Bear: The way Riley was dancing around you'd think he was trying out to be Natalie Coughlin's partner. Luckily he's a damn fine dancer.

BTown85: Got it done, but there was WAY too much pressure on KR. UCLA's line consistently kept our d-line at bay, but it seemed like our O-line got pushed back every play.

stochastic: From what I could gather (the view from end zone seats at the Rose Bowl is awful), UCLA was able to get some decent pressure on Riley. However, since Riley isn't getting sacked five times a game like Aaron Rodgers, I'll take it.

katster: Better. Riley had time to make some long throws, whcih means he wasn't SCRAMBLING FOR HIS LIFE.

Yleexotee: Seemed like Riley had to run a lot in Pass plays. However, its possible this is actually A+ blocking since they didn't actually get to him.

Run defense

via calbearsonline.com

GBB4188: Run D- Gave up 2 TDs and a 5.3 ypc. That's not good at all against a UCLA OL that has been having trouble setting the tone.

Haas8388: Considering how inexperienced and supposedly weak their running game was coming into the game, I can not feel too good about the Bears' run-D giving up 100 yards to their tailback in the first half. The linebackers get blocked far too often. The sad fact is, the Bears really don't have any inside linebackers and it shows.

Berkelium97: The 74 yard run was due to some great blocking which created congestion among the D-line and LBs, but I was surprised to see the defense give up a play like that. Besides that one run, they mostly held the UCLA run game in check (about 3 ypc) and made stops in the end zone.

Kodiak: The big run by Franklin is the obvious downgrade here. Our linebackers' inexperience still shows from time to time. But, at least they have potential. Considering our starting safeties are seniors, it's really disappointing how often they're out of position or take bad angles.

Ohio Bear: To use one of my most dreaded lines, "if you take away Franklin's 74 yard TD run, Ucla didn't do much at all on the ground." Well, ok, but it happened. And it sucked. But other than that and a big gain on a QB draw by Prince, we were okay. We weren't facing a marquee back, but still nice to TCB against the run like we (mostly) did.

Pass rush

via calbearsonline.com

dingosean: Hurried Prince time and time and time again. He kept having to get out of the pocket and make throws on his own. He did, but they at least didnt make it easy for him. They got some good sacks, and stifled drives. They DID allow for some big plays and some Uckluh offense, but they didnt make it easy. They did allow some runs up the middle, and Prince was able to scramble out for yards from time to time though, so I'm only able to give them a solid game...

ososdeoro: Meh. A couple nice sacks. I give a plus for lifting up Prince and then throwing him onto the ground.

CALumbus Bear: Need moar sax lol
But we did get a couple big ones so here's a plus on that C, and we'll go ahead and draw a smiley face because they need encouragement

sec119: It's hard to sustain a pass rush with three linemen, which Cal seemed to do a lot. And then if the blanket coverage left no one open, Kevin Prince ran downfield a fair number of times too. Props for the forced fumble.

BTown85: Needed MUCH more pressure on the QB. We had a few hurries, but the rush did NOT figure into the game enough. Should have really made the QB sweat, which we'll need to do to beat better teams in conference.

Pass defense

via calbearsonline.com

TKE Prytanis 79: Seriously, we cannot give a weak/ bottom third in the pac 10 QB that much time...watching Luck light it up right now, and if that is the shape of things to come, we gotta make some serious changes...come on

Jr. Bear: Good all game. However, much of it has to do with some of Prince's poor throws. In the drive leading to Kendricks' INT, he had three legitimate chances to make it a one score game.

California Pete: Best game played by the corners perhaps all year. Very sure tackling in the open field. Hagan should start the rest of his career. Nice pick-six, even if it came on a badly thrown ball.

Swamphunter: Okay, giving up 446 yards of passing is abysmal. We only had 47 more yards than that. However, Kendricks was the ultimate hero of the game as he was able to get a pick six and seal the deal, so I'll give this a +.

Haas8388: Except for Hagan who I thought played very well, the pass D was horrid. Everyone was open and only the QB's limitations and several drops kept the Bruins from putting up real serious numbers. What exactly is the strategy here? Hmmmm, let's play way off the receivers, give the QB all day to throw, and hope for the best. Oh, and, can someone explain how we can run two straight plays with only 10 defenders on the field. Did our defensive coaches not notice how wide open the TE was on the first play? If not for Kendrick's leaping interception the outcome of the game could have been very different. Seriously, TWO STRAIGHT plays with 10 on the field. I don't think I've ever seen that before, not even in highschool.

Special Teams

via calbearsonline.com

dingosean: We had a solid game in the kicking department at least. Anger was kicking well. We made our field goal, and all of our XP attempts, and yeah... we still werent kicking the ball into high heaven on kickoffs, but at least they got the ball within the 10 and mostly inside the 5 all game on kickoffs. They didnt have the best coverage on punts and kickoffs, and allowed some big plays and never really stopped them all game on anything. This is annoying and I hope they pick it up. But the lack of good play by the coverage teams, does at least get helped by the solid kicking day.

Solid game. Nothing amazing, but solid.

Jr. Bear: Is this madness? No this is AAALLLAAAAMMMAAAARRRRRRRR, which is heartbreaking.

rurata: What is wrong with special teams? They were playing okay for a couple weeks, but went right back to sucking this week. Although I guess if I had to choose between sucky ST and winning, or decent ST and absolutely no offense, I'd choose the former. At least Anger had a few great punts.

ososdeoro: C is a huge improvement over what I've been giving. Have to give kudos to Starkey for wondering whether Tavecchio's line drive kickoff that skidded through the right side of the end zone was by accident or by design, though. Nice to see Anger back instead of that imposter. Vereen knows the rule where if the momentum of the ball carries it into the end zone after hitting your hands, you can go back and kneel in the end zone. Yay!

mig: They get the higher grade since we won. Anger, after his first shanked punt, was really on top of his game, forcing the receiver back on every kick. The return coverage, however, was dismal. Every time they returned one of our kicks I was in fear of a repeat of what happened two weeks ago. Without fail at least two men would behave like Fenimore Cooper Indians and dive 5 feet behind the guy with the ball, completely missing him.

Coaching

(via Monica's Dad)

VandyImport: Looks like they made the adjustments to contain the Bruins in the second half - but given that the offense scored NOTHING in the second half, you have to wonder whether they failed to adjust to the defense or just took their foot off the throttle. Either way, they coached them up to a win they should have gotten, so well done.

California Pete: Very impressed how genuinely confident and poised the Bears played today. And when these Bears are executing, I really like how Ludwig is mixing things up. The problem remains that this offense continues to rely too heavily on the big play. As we saw in the two losses, those big plays don't always come, and this team needs to figure out how to grind out yards--and points--in smaller chunks.

Swamphunter: Ludwig seemed to have fixed some of the more key things that were broken on Offense. Gregory... I don't know. I think he has some stuff to work on, specifically linebackers that can pass rush.

ALAMAAAAAAR was better, but still really needs to work on kickoff coverage.

Tedford was able to keep it all glued together and have the Bears bounce back, on the road in the Rose Bowl none-the-less.

Haas8388: I think Tedford deserves praise for having the team ready to go after the last two disasterous games. I also think Ludwig called a very nice first half. The defensive coaches, however, really drag down the overall grade. The two straight plays with 10 on the field at a crucial point in the game is as inept a demonstration of coaching as I have ever seen. The soft pass defense and lack of pressure on the QB drives me nuts. I may well be overly generous with the B-, but Tedford does deserve some credit for getting his first win in LA and putting up 45 on a good UCLA defense.

ososdeoro: Tedford gets an A for getting the teams' heads together, and for appearing to really be in the game. No real clock mismanagement, no game delay penalties out of time outs, good offensive game plan, including the advent of the pitchout --- while most of them went for losses (I think those ones could have been snappier), Best's 93 yarder was one. Gregory's mushy defense still perturbs. UCLA got 26 points? Ick.

Overall

(via Monica's Dad)

Jr. Bear: YEAH BABY. Love that Kendricks INT to end the game. So symbolic with his prediction of victory, so sweet to taste Bruin tears to repay that Alterraun Verner pick in 2007.
We have the "BEST" running back, Thor for a tight end, and GOD for a cornerback. If you do not love this team, there's no hope for you.

Yleexotee: Very mixed feelings. The defense let us down after a good week at USC, but the offense is back in business after falling off a cliff. WTF 45 pts a game, except for the biggest games Ore and USC.Argggh

CALumbus Bear: We FINALLY break the curse of Dorrell's mustache in El Lay, and for that the team gets a B+ and JT gets a gatorade bath.

Kodiak: It was a win on the road where our questionable offense carried the day against a defense known for its ball-hawking, lock-down secondary and legitimate NFL player in Brian Price. Nice to see Tedford finally break-through down in the Rose Bowl. We can complain about our defense and special teams...but we have to remember that Neuweasel and Chow are pretty good offensive coaches and have recruited some decent talent. Our defense was unquestionably overrated at the beginning of the year, so we need to accept that we have limitations at some positions (safety) and growing pains at others (linebacker). In the overall scheme of things, absolutely a huge must-win game that saved our season...until next week.

Ohio Bear: A 19 point win on the road in a place where we hadn't won since 1999. Oh happy glorious day. We shouldn't have given up 26 points, but I'm pleasantly stunned that we scored 45.

Berkelium97: Even if we had won 2-0 on a safety because UCLA ran the ball 95 yards into the wrong endzone, I would give this win an A+. Finally breaking the LA curse was a tremendous weight lifted off this team's shoulders. Also, scoring five offensive touchdowns against a highly praised UCLA defense was a great way to get our offense back in gear after the last two disasters.

Cal v. UCLA 10.17.09 Fourth Quarter Thread

TwistNHook — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:00:27 -0000

Use this thread to discuss all the Cal-UCLA Fourth Quarter action. Are we winning? Are we losing? Anybody melted out there on the field yet? Keep an eye on Bryan Anger, I'm reasonably certain he's made out of wax. Very high risk, people. And don't forget to vote in the CGB Insta-poll. You almost forgot, didn't you. Man, you never remember anything. My birthday. Our anniversary. The Insta-poll. I FEEL LIKE I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU ANYMORE.

PS GO BEARS!

PPS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BEARS!

Poll

How is Cal playing against UCLA?

Cal is playing very well

1 votes

Cal is playing moderately well

26 votes

Cal is playing moderately poorly

0 votes

Cal is playing very poorly

0 votes

27 votes | Poll has closed