SB Nation User Blog: royrules22

Is Tedford a good game-time coach?

royrules22 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:49:49 -0000

This posts already sounds sacriligeous. I mean how can one criticize God of all people! I mean he's not even a homo sapien, but rather the evolved and superior homo tedfordis.

But hear me out. I saw this post on BearInsider (which is about CGB's What worries you about Cal? post... holy circular links batman!). Naturally that post is a somewhat trollish post. But it does raise a valid question.

Is Tedford a good/excellent game-time coach?

And by game-time coach I don't mean his recruiting skills, his managerial skills, his motivational skills, or even his skills in improving players' skillsets. Rather I mean things such as correct usage of the game clock, time-outs, coach's challenges, half-time adjustments, etc.

Some examples are: Not telling Riley to throw the ball away during the OSU game in '07, not challenging the no-call on the Maryland safety, making adjustments during the Oregon '07 game during half-time leading to a comeback, etc.

Now I refuse to answer my own question because while I have turned into another die-hard Cal fan, I'm still a newbie when it comes to Cal and even football. I still don't understand all the Xs and Os of football. So that's why I'd like to hear some opinions from those here at CGB that do know their stuff.

Poll

How is Tedford as a game-time coach?

He's excellent

8 votes

He's good

21 votes

He's needs some improvement

11 votes

He's terrible

2 votes

42 votes | Poll has closed

What classes and professors did you like and dislike at Cal?

royrules22 — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:08:43 -0000

Some of my friends and I were having this discussion last week as we reflected upon our time here at Cal and I thought it would be great to ask here as well.

The question is simply, what professor(s) and/or class(es) at Cal did you really like or was inspired or motivated by? And the opposite, which professor(s) and/or class(es) did you dislike. And by professor I mean actual professors, lecturers, GSIs, TAs, advisors, etc. Anyone who could've "taught" you something.

For me I'd have to say I really the class CS61C (it's a computer science class) taught by Dan Garcia. Now I'm controversial in this because many people I know HATED this class and really do not like Dan. But I believe otherwise. First of all I took this during my second semester at Cal and my first semester was an unmitigated disaster. I royally effed up my classes, had a low GPA, didn't have fun and definitely did not enjoy my classes. My only major related class I took was CS61A which for those who are not computer nerds like myself, is a very pure theory class. Now-a-days I happen to love CS theory, but back then I was so close to changing my major from EECS to something else (possibly History). And then I took 61C and the class just got me to love the major, love what I could learn (and did learn!), and most importantly saved my GPA from death. And it helped that Dan just oozed enthusiasm.

For best professor it has to be Professor David Wagner for CS170 that I took just this semester. The only time I actually saw a standing ovation by most of the class lasting for more than a few minutes! Not only was he pretty easy (at least his midterms were... damn me for getting too cocky with finals), and gave us some really nice homeworks and projects, he was just enthusiastic, had lame "oh my god why am I laughing" jokes and more. And most importantly he really cared (or at least that was what it looked like) that all of us learned. Whenever we asked him a question he'd go really in depth and make sure we understood. And when we asked a question in the newsgroup (sort of a message board that most of EECS folks use) he'd write an essay with diagrams and everything explaining until all of us understood. He'd even do this at 1AM, whereas most of my other professors barely answered or not at all. Honorable mention goes to Professor James O'Brien for rickrolling the class by pretending he had footage from Portal 2.

As for worst class and professor it would be Math 53 taught by Professor Givental. This class is the one that killed my freshman 1st semester's GPA. I guess I wasn't ready for the class as I had skipped your basic Calculus classes using AP stuff but still it shouldn't have been this bad. And it wouldn't have been if it weren't for Givental. Givental is a russian professor who had a really thick accent and terrible handwriting. That by itself isn't so bad, but he lectured every day about the THEORY of multivariable calculus and then expected us to write MATH ESSAYS (about the theory) for midterms and finals. These accounted for a large percentage of the grade unfortunately. To make matters worse he forgot that he was lecturing lower division kids and undergrads and would really just not help us understand anything. And for the final and midterms he'd give us math problems (after the essays) that we had never learned to solve!

Well that's my story.

Poll

Did you like the classes and professors at Cal?

This is a bit early but... travelling to Eugene for the Cal game

royrules22 — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:18:07 -0000

Hallo UC Eugene fans,

I'm most likely going to be travelling to Eugene on September to watch the Cal-Oregon game and while I know this is really early I'm trying to plan some stuff out so a few answers would be greatly appreciated!

- I'm coming from Seattle. Is my best bet to drive down or fly down?

- Where's a good (and cheap I guess) place to stay that's close to campus/Autzen? I don't want to be in a bad area or in a god damn forest.

- What's there to do (after the game naturally) for someone who's not yet 21 (but looks 21)? Do they card?

- I hate asking this question but: racism. I'm Indian (the asian kind) and I'm usually pretty nervous when travelling to foriegn places (especially outside of California). Will I be fine?

- Your bets on Gameday being there?

Thanks!

LB David Wilkerson from Danville, CA commits!

royrules22 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:04:28 -0000

LB David Wilkerson from Danville, CA commits!

Yet another recruit!

From ESPN:

From Monte Vista (Danville, Calif.), David Wilkerson has pledged to California's 2010 recruiting class.

The 6-foot-2, 225-pound inside linebacker chose the Bears over Michigan, Nebraska and Oregon. He is the 4th commitment for California.

Rivals has him unrated (and only shows his commitment to Cal)

Scout has him as a 4*

Statistics and Records for Cal under Tedford

royrules22 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:30:21 -0000

Some of you may remember that I made a fanpost back in June 2008 regarding Cal's successes and failures in the Tedford era. That post was pretty crude as it only contained our W/L records against other teams and in different locations. So when I decided to update it to include information from the 2008 season I expanded it to take a look at a lot more statistics.

Keep in mind throughout the post that correlation does not imply causation.

Key:

Blue - GOOD
Red - BAD

Records By Team

Team	W	L
New Mexico St	3	0
Michigan St	2	0
Southern Miss	2	0
Illinois	2	0
Miami	1	0
Portland State	1	0
Texas A&M	1	0
BYU	1	0
Baylor	1	0
Louisiana Tech	1	0
Virginia Tech	1	0
Minnesota	1	0
Sacramento St	1	0
Stanford	6	1
Washington	6	1
Arizona St	5	1
Washington St	4	1
Air Force	2	1
Colorado St	2	1
Oregon	4	2
Arizona	4	3
UCLA	4	3
Tennessee	1	1
Oregon St	2	5
USC	1	6
Maryland	0	1
Utah	0	1
Texas Tech	0	1
Kansas St	0	1

Teams played more than once:

Team	W	L
New Mexico St	3	0
Michigan St	2	0
Southern Miss	2	0
Illinois	2	0
Stanford	6	1
Washington	6	1
Arizona St	5	1
Washington St	4	1
Air Force	2	1
Colorado St	2	1
Oregon	4	2
Arizona	4	3
UCLA	4	3
Tennessee	1	1
Oregon St	2	5
USC	1	6

Analysis:

I'm going to ignore the teams that we played once because they were either bowl games, the tail end of a home and home agreement from the Holmoe era or series that are still to be completed.

Still we seem to own New Mexico St, Michigan St, Stanford, Arizona St, and the Washington schools. Unfortunately however the Oregon St and (unsurprisingly) USC owns us. I'm a bit surprised at our record against Arizona because I was always under the impression that Arizona is just an annoying little gnat. But other than the two times Cal shut out Arizona it's been a tight game with them owning us thrice. And I'm glad to see that despite the two losses we are pretty much owning Oregon. Take that JOregonFan!

Records by Location

Location	W	L
Pullman, WA	2	0
San Francisco, CA	1	0
Fort Collins, CO	1	0
Phoenix, AZ	1	0
Hattiesburg, MS	1	0
Fort Worth, TX	1	0
East Lansing, MI	1	0
Las Vegas, NV	1	0
Champaign, IL	1	0
Las Cruces, NM	1	0
Colorado Springs, CO	1	0
Berkeley, CA	35	9
Seattle, WA	3	1
Palo Alto, CA	2	1
Tempe, AZ	2	1
Corvallis, OR	2	2
San Diego, CA	1	1
Eugene, OR	1	2
Tucson, AZ	1	2
Los Angeles, CA	0	4
Knoxville, TN	0	1
Pasadena, CA	0	3
Kansas City, MO	0	1
Salt Lake City, UT	0	1
College Park, MD	0	1

Places played at more than once

Location	W	L
Pullman, WA	2	0
Berkeley, CA	35	9
Seattle, WA	3	1
Palo Alto, CA	2	1
Tempe, AZ	2	1
Corvallis, OR	2	2
San Diego, CA	1	1
Eugene, OR	1	2
Tucson, AZ	1	2
Los Angeles, CA	0	4
Pasadena, CA	0	3

A map displaying the same info as above (click to see a larger version)

Analysis:

There are two things that jump out at me when I see this. Firstly why the f*** haven't we won at Los Angeles yet! Our SoCal record is atrocious (the one victory coming against a Texas A&M team in the Holiday Bowl). Secondly we've been nearly unstoppable at Berkeley. For the past three years no one but Oregon St and USC have been able to stop us there. It has become a true 12th man for Cal. And I like to think that I made a difference these past three seasons!

I honestly don't know what to make of the map. We do pretty good on the west coast (barring SoCal) and the Midwest but we have trouble in the east coast and SEC territory. But then again it's hard to draw conclusion because we haven't played much there.

Record By Month

Month	W	L
December	8	2
September	21	6
August	3	1
November	12	9
October	15	12

Analysis

There's only one conclusion I can draw from this: If you want to beat Cal, play us in November or at worst October. This makes it look like Cal starts out strong, runs out of steam midway through the season and then dominates in December (which is usually against Stanford and bowl games). If you consider the fact that USC is at its strongest in November and that we tend to play them in November, then our record against USC makes sense. I'm glad that we play them in September next year.

Record By Conference

Conference	W	L
Big-10	5	0
Sun Belt	2	0
WAC	2	0
FCS	2	0
CUSA	2	0
ACC	2	1
MWC	5	3
Pac-10	36	23
SEC	1	1
Big-12	2	2

Analysis

We own the Big-10 (11). And our three losses to the Mountain West came early in Tedford's era (Air Force, Colorado State and Alex Smith led Utah). Recently we've also dominated the MWC. Glad to see no losing records here. We're .610 against the Pac-10 which is pretty damn good considering our record in Tucson and Los Angeles.

Records for Starting QB

Note: Longshore started Air Force Bowl 07 and Riley started UDub 08

Conference	W	L
Steve Levy	2	0
Aaron Rodgers	17	6
Kevin Riley	7	3
Nate Longshore	20	10
Kyle Boller	7	5
Joe Ayoob	5	4
Reggie Robertson	1	2

Winngest Starting QBs

Conference	W	L
Nate Longshore	20	10
Aaron Rodgers	17	6
Kyle Boller	7	5
Kevin Riley	7	3
Joe Ayoob	5	4
Steve Levy	2	0
Reggie Robertson	1	2

Analysis

When it comes to winning percentages it's clear that Aaron Rodgers was the best starting QB that Cal had (Steve Levy is just an abberation). But neither Nate Longshore nor Kevin Riley are too bad. HOWEVER keep in mind that this only says who started. It could be that the games were won (or lost) because of our running game, our D, etc.

That said it doesn't surprise me that Nate Longshore is our winningest QB in the Tedford era followed by Rodgers.

Poor Reggie Robertson. Only played three games and lost two of them. Whatever happened to him?

Also when I was compliling the data I noticed that outside of the second half of his season Ayoob wasn't THAT bad. Sure he had turnovers but he did compile some decent stats in some of his early games. What the hell happened?

Records by Turfs

Turf	W	L
Artificial	48	15
Grass	11	15

Analysis

Dear god we suck on grass. Is this because we face our worst enemies on grass or do we really just suck on grass? Our stats on Artificial turf is exaggerated due to the fact that we play on Artificial turf at Memorial.

Records at Different Timezones

Timezone	W	L
Central	3	1
Pacific	48	23
Mountain	7	4
Eastern	1	2

Analysis

East Coast has Cal's number. That's all I can deduce here.

Record By Starting Time

Time	W	L
Before Noon	8	1
Noon to 3PM	27	15
3PM to 5PM	18	8
After 5PM	6	6

Average Starting Time: 2:36PM

Analysis

I was surprised to see that we've only lost one game in which Cal played earlier than noon (and that game was Maryland). I honestly thought that it would be worse. But guess not. And Cal seems to do great during prime time games (3PM-5PM) though most of it's games tend to be in the afternoon (thus the average starting time of 2:30PM). Not sure what the problem is with night games.

Record Against Ranked Teams

Ranking	W	L
#1 - #5	1	4
#6 - #10	0	2
#11 - #15	5	2
#16 - #20	1	3
#21 - #25	4	3
Unranked	48	16

Number of Ranked Teams faced: 25
Average Opponent Ranking (when opponent is ranked): 14

Analysis

So unsurprisingly Cal has trouble with top-10 teams (and the only victory coming against USC in 2003). It doesn't help that most of the top-10 teams Cal faces is coached by Pete Caroll. We seem to do ok with the other ranked teams (not sure what's up with 16-20 though) and we usually beat unranked teams.

Of the 25 ranked teams cal faced (out of 89) they were on averaged ranked #14. That's pretty good.

Record When Ranked

Ranking	W	L
#1 - #5	4	2
#6 - #10	10	5
#11 - #15	7	0
#16 - #20	6	3
#21 - #25	4	6
Unranked	28	14

Number of Times Ranked: 47
Average Ranking (when Cal is ranked): 13

Analysis

Cal's successes when ranked in the top-10 is almost all from the 2004 era. But what I'm most curious about is Cal's record when ranked between 11-15. Out of 7 games when Cal is ranked in that spot in the past 7 years, Cal has never lost.

Cal has been ranked (not including post-season) a total of 47 times out of 89 (53%!) and during these 47 times Cal was ranked on average 13. That's pretty damn good.

Records...

Stat	W	L
...when Turnover Margin < 0	13	19
...when Turnover Margin >= 0	46	11
...when Outrushed by Opponent	7	21
...when Outrushing Opponent	52	9
...when Outpassed by Opponent	31	13
...when Outpassing Opponent	28	17
...when Outgained by Opponent	14	19
...when Outgaining Opponent	45	11
...when Scoring < 10	0	3
...when Scoring between 10-20	2	11
...when Scoring between 20-30	12	12
...when Scoring between 30-40	14	3
...when Scoring more than 40	31	1
...when Opp Scores < 10	15	0
...when Opp Scores between 10-20	22	2
...when Opp Scores between 20-30	16	13
...when Opp Scores between 30-40	5	9
...when Opp Scores more than 40	1	6

Analysis

I can't see anything surprising here. If an opponent turns it over less than you, rushes more than you or simply plays better than you then you'll lose. And vice versa. Although it's funny to note that when an opponent has outpassed Cal, Cal has won a higher percentage of times then when Cal has outpassed the opponent. This is probably because the losing team tends to pass a lot.

Also the fact that we do terrible when our running game gets shut down seems to show me that Cal is pretty much a rushing team rather than a stereotypical West Coast passing team.

Yearly Stats

Click to see fully

Analysis

I had to make this into an image because I couldn't fit the table into this fanpost.

What I can take away is that Cal averages around 180yds rushing per game which is quite a bit (and look at the rushing numbers in 2004 and 2005 - holy crap!). Unsurprisingly the 2008 team's passing was the worst in the past 7 seasons and the offense was the statistically the second worst even though the running game was the third best. But our defense was damn good (only the 2004 edition comes close). And another surprising thing I noticed is that our turnover margin is a whopping +37! That's mainly due to the insane +18 in 2002 (!) and the +15 of the last season. And is it any surprise that the two worst seasons Cal had under Tedford, 2005 and 2007 had a negative turnover margin?

So that's that. I wanted to find out where Tedford recruited from and then overlay that with the map that showed Cal's successes but I got too lazy so that's a project for someone else or for later.

This pic was taken in the Doe mainstacks during this (finals) week.

royrules22 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:58:57 -0000

This pic was taken in the Doe mainstacks during this (finals) week.

DBD 12.10.08 As a birthday gift I'm going to make a DBD!

royrules22 — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:18:38 -0000

Yes I know either Rishi or Twist or Hydro was supposed to do it. But seeing that it is my birthday (and I'm officially not a teen anymore!) and that I'm pulling an all nighter to finish two projects I decided I'll reward myself with my first ever DBD!

Pointless Twist-style discussion:

Who will Cal play for that open slot we have in 2009? Many folks on BI seem to think it might be UC Davis. Chances are thought it might be some directional State school.

What jerseys should Cal wear for the bowl? I want the original mustard top jersies (the one we wore against Oregon 06 or Tennessee 07). I do think that the yellow jerseys are going to be there.

We need a CGB tailgate

Jahvid Best is a man among children (a.k.a. Jacquizz)

Syd'Quan Thompson will be our starting QB in 2009

Nude Sushi is the best Cal invention ever

Implementing rag dolls are a pain in the ass

Now the links:

Alex Mack wins the Draddy Award (Academic Heisman)

California center Alex Mack won the Draddy Trophy on Tuesday night, given to the top senior scholar-athlete in college football.

He beat out 14 other players from all levels of college football, including Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel and Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell, and received the award at the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame awards banquet.

Official Emerald Bowl page

Ken Goe (The Oregonian) thinks Cal has a good chance against Miami

I like Cal's chances in the Emerald Bowl against Miami, a poor imitation of the Hurricanes' powerhouse teams of yesteryear. The Bears have been solid defensively all season. Tailback Jahvid Best's return to health gives them a game-breaking dimension in what amounts to a home game.

I don't know much about basketball but here's A Conversation with Assistant Coach Jennifer Hoover of the Cal's womens basketball team

Being from the East, can you comment on the "East Coast" bias that seems to exist in women's college basketball?

From my point of view I think it's just purely a lack of exposure. I rarely saw anybody but Stanford on TV, and that was back when I was a player growing up, when (Jennifer) Azzi was there ... The East Coast people are asleep when most of the (west coast) games are occurring and you think 'TIVO'. Well the college basketball world will TIVO it, but just the average fan that's looking for a game?

Cal v. Clemson 1991 Citrus Bowl Part 1

royrules22 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:32:31 -0000

Cal v. Clemson 1991 Citrus Bowl Part 1

Cal v. Clemson 1991 Citrus Bowl Part 2

royrules22 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:32:27 -0000

Cal v. Clemson 1991 Citrus Bowl Part 2

USC Tickets on sale for Student Season ticket holders!

royrules22 — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:14:07 -0000

USC Tickets on sale for Student Season ticket holders!

Get it now! Let's make the Collesium Bear Territory!