Comments on: Football: Holiday Bowl words and photos

By: covinared

covinared — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:55:43 +0000

I also live in Pasadena, but went to the game. I was amongst a few others wearing a Cal cap. One thing that stood out was the enthusiasm of the Wisconsin fans. They travel much more than ours, and seem to accept the bad better. Its a big advantage.

By: Easy Ed

Easy Ed — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:19:44 +0000

Here in Pasadena (I live here), another Rose Bowl without my beloved Golden Bears. 53 years and counting, OMG I feel like a Chicago Cubs fan.

By: jabes

jabes — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:15:27 +0000

Regarding the fumbles by Sofele and Jones. Yes, I definitely saw Cal attempting the same move, it’s called tackling the ball and it works best when the runner is stalled but still struggling for yards, in other words gang tackling. Texas was gang tackling more then Cal. The one or two times I saw Cal trying to tackle the ball, without a gang tackle, the play went for more yards.

I actually put these fumbles, and Maynard’s, as much on the coaching for not putting players in good position and having the team in a “we’re in a hole” mentality where the struggle for that extra yard seems necessary at the risk of losing the ball.

This game was one big coaching fail. From the pep rally the team seemed flat, the offense was both too complicated and too predictable, and there were no visible adjustments to what Texas was doing well.

By: covinared

covinared — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:15:31 +0000

I am not to judge the worth of a coaches’ salary, because the price seems to be escalating quickly. I noticed early on that Sofeole was not part of the passing game like backs in previous years. My feeling all year has been that Maynard has a limited skill set. He can run, but is not built to take the punishment that a running qb needs, like Prince or Tebow. One hard hit and he’s out. That’s why the run plays are selective. My view is that we went with our game plan that had succeded in the previous four games. The problem was that it had not been run against superior athletes like Texas. Once the run was taken away, and texas started crashing the left, all that was left was the pocket. Sofele should be regarded now as a fumbler. He got away with several this year that were recovered by our guys. He is quick and tough but not fast.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:31:21 +0000

@covinared – for you, that appears to be a concession that the game was poorly coached, because Cal never adjusted to deal with the Texas pressure (even though certain easy plays arguably would have stopped it) and Cal never had a way to deal with Maynard’s inability to roll right and throw (rolling right and running of course is something he can do).

That’s worth over $2 million a year, I guess.

By: gobears49

gobears49 — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:46:17 +0000

Regarding Covinared’s comment, I only watched about half the games, but I NEVER ONCE SAW MAYNARD ROLL RIGHT. I don’t think he can do it (Kline passes well on the run rolling both right, his natural side, as well as left).

Also, and I had actually been thinking about this recently, two of Cal’s fumbles were a direct result of a Texas player obviously trying to knock the ball out of the Cal runner’s arms. I think the Sofele (from the side) and Marvin Jones (from behind) were direct results of a deliberate move to knock the ball out of their hands. I don’t see Cal ever doing that. Seems like a great technique to me, especially when somebody else is involved at the same time in making the tackle. Wonder how successful Texas was at doing that throughout the year. It certainly cost us, particularly the Sofele fumble.

By: covinared

covinared — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:08:18 +0000

When texas started crashing on the left flank, it took away the roll out left. Cal had to pocket pass because Maynard can’t roll right effectively. what we needed to counter the outside rush was check off swing passes to a rb something absent from the playbook this year. texas knew how to counter cal. still, if we did not turn it over so many times and commit the other mistakes we would have won. that was the difference.

By: H8sRed

H8sRed — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:51:51 +0000

It’s too bad this blog has been overtaken by a bunch of whining trolls.

By: bobsac

bobsac — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:42:55 +0000

I just saw, & agree with BlakeStreetBear in Response # 1 above that the offense plan this year should have been to have Maynard run a lot, & should have produced about 500 yards for him on the ground. I don’t understand why Maynard would be chosen because of his mobility over Bridgford who is a more accurate passer, but then there would be few running plays called for Maynard.

By: RandyBear

RandyBear — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:32:53 +0000

Too bad that slide show didn’t get a shot of Maynard shhitgiggling and knee-slapping after he and his offense just coughed up 5 turnovers. They apparently thought it was hilarious!