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Football: Tedford says there will be improvement, not panic, after opening loss to Nevada
By Jeff Faraudo
Monday, September 3rd, 2012 at 1:15 am in Football.
The season-opening loss to Nevada wasn’t yet in the rear-view mirror for Cal coach Jeff Tedford on Sunday afternoon.
“I’ve been better,” he said after coming off the practice field. “Rough night, obviously. A lot of things to improve on in the tape. There’s things you can see there that have a lot of potential.
“We just didn’t make enough plays. Lost the third-down battle. Lost the turnover battle. Didn’t take advantage of good field position. Got to give them credit, they did.”
Asked if he felt better or worse when he watched the game tape, Tedford didn’t hestitate.
“I feel worse about things because . . . you have a lot of opportunity. You’ve just got to make a play here or there,” he said. “I feel the worse that the game ended like it did, but I’m encouraged to know it’s there and I know we make the plays.”
Senior running back C.J. Anderson said the word from Tedford was: Don’t panic.
“You have to understand that yesterday we played down. We didn’t play to the best of our ability,” Anderson said. “The game we played yesterday wasn’t Cal football. Cal football is all about being physical and disciplined and execution. Some of those things did flourish, but a lot of things did lack.”
“You don’t ever want to panic,” added linebacker Robert Mullins. “It’s a long season — that was the first game. There were a lot of bad things and a lot of good things. We need to focus on expanding the good things.
“There wasn’t anything we saw on the tape that was impossible to fix. And we will get it done.”
Tedford said that was another theme on Sunday.
“They got the pretty stern message from me that we need to get better. And we will and everybody’s committed to it,” he said. “They have a good attitude and we’re ready to work.”
The Bears try again Saturday at home against Southern Utah, which lost 34-3 to Utah State in Week 1.
Other Sunday notes . . .
– Right tackle Matt Summers-Gavin will undergo an MRI on his left knee Tuesday. Monday’s holiday will delay the procedure. Summers-Gavin injured the knee against the Wolf Pack, but Tedford would not speculate on whether the senior will be available for Southern Utah.
“I’m hoping for the best,” center Brian Schwenke said. “He’s a great player and one of the leaders on our team.”
– The no-huddle offense is here to stay. Tedford said the team has been practicing it since spring ball and it will be the Bears’ primary offense going forward.
He said the new approach was not the reason the Cal defense didn’t get more rest between appearances. “If you’re making first downs, the no-huddle is not the problem,” he said. “It’s not making first downs that doesn’t give the defense time to rest. We needed to keep the ball.”
– Tedford disputed the suggestion that the starting quarterback change impacted timing with Cal’s receivers. No. 1 Zach Maynard was held out the first three series because he missed an academic appointment during the summer, and his teammates were not informed until Friday that backup Allen Bridgford would start.
Bridgford was 1 for 8 passing in his three series.
“They’d been working with him all week,” Tedford said. “They found out on Friday, but he was taking reps with the 1s all week.”
Asked why he didn’t announce the switch earlier, Tedford said, “I didn’t want to get a bunch of distraction going on, and didn’t feel it was something our opponent needed to know.”
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September 3rd, 2012 at 2:34 am
Disappointed performance on Saturday, but you’re still our team Golden Bears. I know you can do better. Keep your head high and show them what you’re made of. Go Bears.
September 3rd, 2012 at 4:59 am
Every team improves from its first game, this is hardly a consolation. If it were an exhibition game -like the NFL plays it wouldn’t bother me.
GW Bush said things would improve too- big deal.
September 3rd, 2012 at 7:42 am
I’m not panicked. Panic implies surprise. This is just par for the course for Tedford since 2005.
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:04 am
Daddy just changed the license plate holder on his car. He told Van Housen dealership just to take off the Cal one and put on a generic one.
However he said if they had any left over Sac State ones he would reconsider.
When the guy said “but Mr. _________ as long as I have known you it has always been a Cal license plate holder. Why change now?”
Daddy said “It’s either this change or wearing a brown paper bad around town when I am driving.”
HAHAHAHAHA
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:26 am
Pawlawski’s pre-game comments about the offensive line seems to be right on the mark. More so, given Summers-Gavin potentially being out. Cal has to fix that or its going to be a long season. Hope it gets fixed.
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:36 am
Monday morning question –
Do you think your team will find its way onto Mark Schlabach’s Bottom 10 ranking of the worst 10 college football teams in D 1?
One of the running gags of the Bottom 10 is the “highly coveted Number 5 spot”. This spot is reserved for “the top BCS blunder of the week” – a normally strong football team which found itself on the wrong end of an upset the prior week; an example would be the September 7, 2011 Bottom 10, which featured Oregon State at the #5 ranking after its upset loss to Sacramento State, a Division I FCS program that had previously never beaten an FBS team in its history.
I say “Yes” to both.
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:53 am
Don’t think Cal will make the bottom 10. Nevada is a good football program and plays a decent schedule, though not at Cal’s level. Here’s a quote, before the game, from a respected football online football prognosticator, about the game. Shows the resllt was not a huge upset.
‘This seems like a lot of points for a game between a middling Pac 12 team, and one of the top teams from the best of the non-BCS conferences. I think Cal wins but by a touchdown or less.”
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:02 am
I don’t see anything wrong with the oline. They
Stacked the box. That’s why we couldn’t run. They gave us passes all day. And we didn’t covert.
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:10 am
Yawn… Déjà vu all over again. We heard this a few years ago after sh.tting the bed against someone (who can remember which atrocious loss it may have been, too many to keep track of these days) but as I recall it was followed by the team giving up on things and they mailed the rest of the season in.
First game of the year, and already we’re waving the “dont’t panic!!” flag. Going to be a long season this year it seems. God help all of us
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:14 am
Lile Stanfurd, we are a qb shy of a pac12 title. We have 4 of them on the bench. Any would be a better alternative. They make all the difference.
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:37 am
After the way our D played, I wouldn’t say we’re just a QB shy of the Pac12 title. I think they underperformed on Saturday, but a Pac-12 champ wouldn’t get lit up like that on their home field against a mediocre Nevada team.
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:41 am
Stanfurd almost didn’t get it done against San Jose St. At least Nevada is a legit team regardless of how bad we played.
September 3rd, 2012 at 10:02 am
Tedfords words … “blah blah blah”. Like an adult in a Peanuts cartoon. He has been talking like this for years now. Remember 2007 as the season spiraled out of control? Every week was ” we’ve got to not panic, we’ve got improve, and we will fix this”. Did they? We know the answer to that. And they never have since then.
You can’t fix what ails Cal in 1 week, or 2 weeks, or DURING any season. There is at least a 5 year, soon to be 6 year, period where Tedford’s mediocrity just seems to grow. Its gotten to the point where i can barely watch, where I am so negative watching a game waiting for the inevitable. And I end up seeing exactly what I expect every game against ant recently decent opponent.
His teams are undisciplined, inconsistent all aided by predictable, unimaginative, uninspiring game planning and play calling. Other teams must watch our beloved Golden Bears film and lick their chops- I would.
September 3rd, 2012 at 10:08 am
Suttree @ #12 – SJSU is a much improved team playing inspired football. I wouldn’t be so dismissive of them. You should be glad we don’t play them in the next few weeks. We would likely not be so fortunate to escape with a victory like the Cardinal did. And Stanford did get it done we didn’t. Why is what Stanford did in a victory relevant to the crap we exhibited?
My issue isn’t even losing. It’s 5 years of being uninspired, undisciplined, inconsistent underachievers. Is anyone proud of the product on the field for, oh I don’t know, 5-6 years now?
September 3rd, 2012 at 10:31 am
Concur with most of the above Bear aficionados. Not sure what was more disappointing, our performance on the field or all of the much hyped improvements of the stadium. At the concourse level and east rim, the most educated public school on the planet still cannot figure out how to move or station the lines of people wanting to buy Cal merchandise and / or food away from traffic that simply wants to get from one end of the stadium to the other. Unbelievable! Get rid of that useless chain link fence that separates the portable bathrooms from the vendors and open that space up to people walking by. What about those lines for food? I saw ZERO improvement. Enough of my spewing. Let us straighten the ship and beat the hell out of Southern Utah. GO BEARS!
September 3rd, 2012 at 1:44 pm
This guy said it all on Wilner’s blog and showed the kind of fire lacking in your team.
GriZz says:
September 3rd, 2012 at 1:34 pm
12..
Tedfraud has a losing record in conference the last five seasons 21-24 — with teams loaded with pro talent.
Did anyone get to see former Bear Mychal Kendricks play for the Eagles this preseason? The guy looks like a stud…All you have to do is watch the NFL every Sunday to see all the talent JT has WASTED during his time in Berkeley.
Every program has to have the faith that they can eventually win a conference title during their coaches tenure. It’s been a decade with Tedfraud and its blatantly obvious that he WILL NEVER win a conference title ever. Cal is simply wasting time with these 4-5, 6th place stink bomb seasons…
Its funny how I don’t hear anyone refer to him as a “Quarterback Guru” anymore. His QB play (his supposed specialty) has been horrendous for years now. Rightfully he also isn’t referred to a “good coach” anymore as well. Everyone sees that his program is stuck in the mud except for Sandy.
Tedfraud couldn’t beat U$C if Kiffin played his 3rd stringers. Oregon and Utah will slap us silly this season. Keith Price will shred us and make JT’s defense look stupid just like last year…just like the Pistol Offense…just like the Spread Offense…just like every sharp coach with a backbone JT gets habitually outcoached by.
Its not even a realistic hope whether we can upset a quality team anymore — just a hope that we don’t get embarrassed and upset by a less talented squad. When its to the point that your merely playing not to be embarrassed and toppled by a lousy team, IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON.
Mr. Underachievement is just going through the motions at this point. His post-game pressers are pathetic and are starting to be intelligence insulting. He should just say my program stinks and I have no clue how to fix it. Put him out of his misery already and inject some life and hope into a stale, lifeless program…
September 3rd, 2012 at 2:04 pm
$300m plus spent on the stadium upgrades.
I think the program can afford to buyout the contract of a few million to remove the INEPT coach. Then splash another 10-15m for a legit and PROVEN coach who will keep the seats filled and the recruits coming. Otherwise…
I hate to think about that beautiful stadium with a crowd of 15-20 thousand…but that is where its headed. How many will show for the uw or uo games in November if the Bears are sitting on 1 or 2 wins for the season with who knows how many blowout losses?? Not me…sorry…too frustrating, too maddening, self-flagellation almost.
At least with Holmoe we knew we were outgunned by most teams, I don’t believe that is the case anymore. The talent is there, check the NFL rosters.
The head coach has got to go (please resign JT) – keep EVERYONE ELSE ON THE STAFF AND I THINK THAT SOMEHOW THE BEARS IMPROVE, DRAMATICALLY EVEN! I am THAT cynical by now.
At least the Giants are rolling…
September 3rd, 2012 at 3:12 pm
Nevada is a good team and we were tied until the last 36 seconds even though we did not play our best. This is just one loss. The sky has not fallen. Fear is a useless emotion. Instead, fear no one. Go Bears!
September 3rd, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Sorry Boaltblue, sticking your head in the sand is a useless tactic. The game was not that close and I will not settle for mediocrity. All the other schools know its important to have a head coach that sparks energy. We are behind the times, becoming irrelvant and we have wasted a ton of good talent. My bet is that if we don’t get rid of Tedford and make a hc splash by the end of the year, we lose Gould, JM and other great coaches. That with budgetary issues could put the program at the low mark of its existence. We should absolutely have fear. But let’s have it motivate us to action.
September 3rd, 2012 at 3:44 pm
I think gould should get a shot at being our next head coach. If not mcintyre down at san jose state is working miracles with no budget. Imaine what he could do at cal.
After saturday im slightly underwhelmed with the new stadium. The lines to get out of your seats and go to the bathroom during halftime were unreal. Stadium looks like it did before inside except for the press boxes. The better foodnoptions were real good. Probably pessimistic bc of how bad the game was.
Coaching – worse than last year. Had all summer to prep for pistol. We got embarassed. Plus all the penalties where players didnt know if they were subbing out or not. Poorly prepared. Guys looked gassed too. A few guys looked out of shape. Maybe thosenfacilities are too nice.
Qb – same as last year.
Rb – looked worse than last year which ill blame on the line.
Wr – same as last year. With the potential to be much better in a few games than last year. Was surprised how keenan couldnt outrun his guy in man coverage. Though he was doubled most of the day. Harper and treggs are the real deal.
Te – what a bunch of nonsense that story about the patriots was. Looked same as last year. Irrelevant to our offense. Also dissapointed in rogers. He couldnt outrun the linebackers covering hi,. Not sure why there was so much hype here.
O line – worse than last year bc of injuries etc. No push for the runningbacks.
D line – same as last year. Non existent pass rush. Maybe its time to give up on the 3-4 defense. Maybe theres a reason why most teams in college have a 4 man front.
Linebackers – worse than last year. Probably bc of wilkerson and whiteside missing. Our inside backers looked way out of their league. Mccain gave a good effort. Probably the only defender that looked good.
Secondary – worse than last year. Maybe it was play calling and the cushion they were giving nevada but steve williams got picked on all game. Safeties including josh hill looked out classed. I liked the moxy hill showed late in the game getting on a few of his teammates. As a youth coach i know how important having a few guys like that on a team is, when the goimg gwts tough in a game its the players who either snap out of it or quit.
Punter – impressed with the freshman. Better than last year.
Kicker – worse than last year.
Returners – better than last year. Allen was dynamic so was bigelow.
September 3rd, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Boaltblue, you and I were some of the last JT supporters here but after nv, I’m most of the way off the bandwagon. If we split the osu, $c road trip and fight back to 8 and 4 then jt should keep his job. I do hope the season is salvaged. But. Based on the last 4 seasons, “it’s deja vu all over again.”
On both sides of the ball, there were big problems. The D getting suckered on the dive/qb keeper AGAIN for almost 2 quarters was infuriating and inexcusable.
AB going 1 for 8. ZM’s stupid fumble at their 30. I could be wrong but did jt ever use a 2 TE jumbo package a la the Pats when D had 8 in the box? Cram the ball down their throats between tackles with CJ that will then set up TE delayed patterns, motion into the slot and, most important, te receptions.
Finally, all the negative reports I’ve read the past few days about ZM’s selfishness and lack of maturity completely match what I saw Saturday.
ZM is not a leader.
Sounds like jt had proof/evidence of that in June. He should have gotten next qb ready. If not Zak Kline, then AB??? or Hinder. btw, true frosh qb’s who did well: rg3, m barkley, t pryor, m stafford and – I think – k moore. To state the obvious, the danger is screwing up the kid’s confidence.
Juancho, good to hear about J Hill. Seems like sebastian avery is a leader, too. But secondary really misses McClure.
J, what was your impression of ZM on the sideline?
Go Bears! Never give up.
September 3rd, 2012 at 4:52 pm
Maynard had awful body language on the sideline.
Wehofx when cal ran out of the tunnel the weirdest thing was that after all the team out at the very end was maynard and allen nearly walking. It was so noticeable that the whole team was one unit and those two guys were holding up the end. Especially maynard. Keenan dashed off and maynard was the last guy out of the tunnel.
Not good language.
After that me and the people in the section were trying to find him. He was hiding way in the back with the guys not in pads. You had kline hinder and boehm out front with great body lsnguage. And maynard was standing alone in the back like a squirrel.
Hes not a leader. Hes not a quarterback. Hes not a pac 12 player. But hes what we had to do to get keenan here. Otherwise keenan would be at alabama in title contention.
I have no doubt that had kline played saturday we win. Maynard made no great plays. He missed a lot of open receivers on easy throws. Kline wont do that.
Guys who i liked saturday were mccain and hill bc they showed some damn fire and emotion late in the game. The young receivers. The punter. And thays about it.
All the talk about todd howard being an upgrade over lupoi should be put to rest.
Also it hurt to watch shaq thompson start and play well fir washington. He wpuld have helped us saturday. Same with dj foster at arizona state.
September 3rd, 2012 at 6:32 pm
WOW! I think it was DareDevil who made similar observations on ZM. It bothered me when he pointed to his arm after the td throws instead of thanking the o line and the wr’s.
If JT puts up with that kind of diva behavior before and during the game, he is not the man or hc I thought he was.
JT, if J and DD saw the entitled diva. You saw it. Most importantly, the team saw it. It’s on tape. Coach, do something! X’s and O’s won’t do shit, if the O doesn’t have a leader.
djf and, esp, ellis McCrthy woulda been great gets but not too surprised when we lost them. Shaq and Arik A, on the other hand, shoulda been Bears. Were meant to be Bears. And man, could we use the help at safety and d line.
September 3rd, 2012 at 6:39 pm
I heard Maynard was last off the bus, too. If that’s true, just bench him. Let all the other qbs who give a hoot have a shot first. Then if they all fail, let zm back in. This attitude is unacceptable. What WILL happen, though, is what always happens. Zm will start and fail until we’re out of contention. THEN we’ll throw someone else in, unprepared. Just fire JT. I’m sick of watching this play out every year.
September 3rd, 2012 at 7:02 pm
As sick as we have grown of the way Tedford’s teams play in embarrassing fashion, imagine what must go on behind the scenes to have this much talent and play so cluelessly, in such an undisciplined and inconsistent fashion for so long, so many seasons.
Somewhere in all this mess lie the reasons Tosh Lupoi left and did so in the manner he did. He wanted to stick it to Tedford, he wanted to make Tedford look bad in the process of leaving. Everyone loved Lupoi and I, with some decent inside connections, had heard Lupoi was the real deal – and – no one bled Blue and Gold like Lupoi. I was with the masses in skewering the way he left, but we were in the off season and didn’t have the fresh stench of a Tedford-led stinker fresh in our minds and hearts. I would much rather still have Lupoi here than Tedford, but the fact that we don’t will be just one of the many things we look back at regret and frustration.
September 3rd, 2012 at 7:09 pm
Dan you bring up a good point.
This is something i told a friend earlier. If you measure tosh lupoi up to his job. He did great. He became an elite recruiter. If you measure up tdford to his job. Bad job. Lupoi was the rising star and tedford was the floating dud.
September 3rd, 2012 at 7:11 pm
ZM is gonna get exposed big time against Ohio State and USC, probably throwing a couple of picks in each game. But the problem is that none of the backups is ready to step-in and make a difference. Poor coaching permeates the whole team, witness what we saw with Bredgford during his short stint on Saturday.
The arm pointing thing with ZM is extremely disturbing, but I believe it points to a broader issue of JT’s inability to recruit high character guys and team leaders for several seasons running. It extends all the way back to the Desean Jackson era when he and his WR compatriots all took numbers in the single digits as if to scream, “Look at me, Look at me!”
September 3rd, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Steve w i disagree with you.
First off tedford doesnt really re ruit. Thats why tosh was so valuable. Kline is the first guy tedford personallybrecruited in years. Probably bc he was also from danville.
Second desean wasnt a bad character guy. He is identicwl to keenan. Good grades. But flashy and talks trash ON THE FIELD.
Desean to me is an example of tedfords failings. Hes more comfortable with middle of the pack recruits with no balls than stars who will show some doggone fire and swagger.
I hate that tedfords teams seem lifeless. We cant have it both ways. I want guys like desean who had no off field problems and good grades. Just like keenan. This high character thing is a nonsense talking point. And what scares me is that its going to waste klines potential. Because tedford has lost the ability to manage high expectations since that oregon state game.
Guys like lynch and desean and keenan who all had moxybon the field and good grades are not the probem. Guys like maynard are. I.e. Guys who arent good enough for their spot but tedford is too chicken shit to make a change.
Dont ruin kline bc of tedfords inability to deal with the pressure of elite talent.
September 3rd, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Post from just after signing day.
Juancho Says:
February 4th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
^ Son of a biscuit. I forgot to type in “3″ next to Chris Harper. Rest assured friends that those 3 are included in the 56 total I reference above.
There will never be full proof that these guys were for sure coming to Cal had Tosh-gate-2012 not happened. But for purposes of this comparative analysis I will accept they would have. Just my belief.
Arik Armstead – Defensive Line – 5 Roses
Shaq Thompson – Safety – 5
Aziz Shittu – Defensive Line – 4
Jordan Payton – Wide Receiver – 4
Zach Hoffpauir – Safety – 3
Kenny Walker – Wide Receiver – 3
DJ Foster – Running Back – 4
Ellis McCarthy – Defensive Line – 5
The 8 guys above reflect an additional 33 Rose points, as in Rose Bowl. That’s an average of 4.1 stars per recruit we lost. That’s a lot.
Again we have no proof they all would have stayed had Tosh gate not happened. But we do have proof that they did not stay when Tosh gate did happen. Correlation does not imply causation. But either way “it is what it is” as they say. And “we are where we are”.
Had the guys above stuck or chosen Cal the following guys, in my opinion would not have received offers:
Maurice Bennett – 3
Willie Fletcher – 0
Jeffrey Coprich – 2
Kenny Lawler – 4
So if we run the numbers of this theoretical parallel universe our class would have looked like this.
Offense (including K / P):
Zach Kline – Quarterback – 4 Roses
Christian Okafor – Offensive Lineman – 3
Matt Cochran – Offensive Lineman – 3
Freddie Tagaloa – Offensive Lineman – 3
Steven Moore – Offensive Lineman – 3
DJ Foster – Runningback – 4
Maximo Espitia – Fullback – 3
Chris Harper – Wide Receiver – 3
Jordan Payton – Wide Receiver – 4
Cedric Dozier – Wide Receiver – 4
Bryce Treggs – Wide Receiver – 5
Darius Powe – Wide Receiver – 3
Kenny Walker – Wide Receiver – 3
Cole Leininger – K / P – 2
Defense:
Arik Armstead – Defensive Line – 5
Aziz Shittu – Defensive Line – 4
Ellis McCarthy – Defensive Line – 5
Hardy Nickerson – Linebacker – 2
Mike Barton – Linebacker – 4
Damariay Drew – Safety – 2
Shaq Thompson – Safety – 5
Zach Hoffpauir – Safety – 3
Raymond Ford – Cornerback – 3
That would have been 23 recruits. Remember originally Tedford wanted to sign 25 or so total recruits this year. And the total rating would have been 80 Scout star ratings. Our average per recruit would have been 3.48 Scout ratings.
This is all speculative. But if nothing else there is the nerdy analysis in case anyone enjoys it. Jeff feel free to cite me in your next story. Just kidding.
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:06 pm
The discussion above about Desean and flashy players is just another sign of Tedford’s failings. Not only is he not getting his players to play as well as they can (as evidenced by their doing much better in NFL than CAL), he also sucks the life out of everyone and makes them very benign which takes away adrenaline and confidence. Not that we want a Miami type craziness, but the best teams let their stars pound their chest a bit and Tedford pushes everyone to be a zombie. It just screams of being out of touch with how college football works and succeeds right now. Unprepared, uninspired, unimpressive. Tedford tries to hire new coaches and reinvent things every year but we need to cure the disease and stop with the bandages.
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Agree daredevil. Thats what scares me. Kline is desean at quarterback. Elite talent and a borderline cocky air. Tedford better not water him down into riley.
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:15 pm
This is a thoughtful and fun – prolly not the best word – thread. So was most of the 130 plus nv game thread thread. To be a dick, to those of you few holdouts who are, for some F*cked Up reason, compelled to feed the troll, see what happens when you don’t.
Dan & Juancho, maybe, just maybe, you have a point about the ‘ho. The nv game and the way last season ended, this thread and Dan’s observation does make me think the root of the problem might be in the locker room. If jt doesn’t right the ship soon, I’ll be even more inclined to agree with you. jt lost control of the locker room a few years ago. (As much as it will kill me to admit it might not be completely the ho’s fault.)
SteveW & J, kinda agree and disagree but your observations got my few remaining brain cells working over time. The problems ZM is bringing into the locker room with his diva entitlement must have been there last year, too.
If I’m a true frosh like treggs, harper, kline and freddie t what do I think when I see zm get away with such bs on game day? I can only assume it’s worse on the practice field.
Re: Stars vs Character guys. A Rodgers was a cocky gun slinger from Day 1 but jt coached him up.
DeSean got good grades and he delivered big time. But he did pout on the field more than a few times. “I was open!” And he usually was. Star. Diva. Not a team guy. Like Marshawn. But jt coached them up. they delivered.
To state the obvious, to win bcs games you need bona fide stars. Then you have guys like Shane V, Jahvid, Justin and KA who are stars but also team guys. Then grinders who know their jobs.
Balancing act. Team guys. Stars whoare also tema guys. 1 or 2 divas. But divas who produce like DeSean or Cam Newton. They’re so gifted and make big plays all the time, you kinda have to put up with some of their bs. But hc still has to coach them up, too. There’s a reason successful hc’s make 3 to 4 mil.
Thing I don’t get about ZM is why he thinks and acts like he’s a rock star. He ain’t done shit. And it seems like he might be screwing up the locker room chemistry.
So, once upon a time, jt was able to manage that delicate balance between team and stars and divas. I hope he can find the magic again. Like tomorrow.
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:18 pm
WOW! This thread is blowing up. I started above post after reading #28.
Can’t read new ones now. Gotta go to dinner or my gf is gonna…
Go Bears!
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Heres my thought. Who is going to recruit now that lupoi is gone? Tedford will have less groceries to cook.
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Just to be fair, I’m not sure we can jump to conclusions too fast on GM. Yes, last off bus, last onto field, not acting like a leader. But if I were benched for a qtr I might act a bit glum too. Yes lots of academic issues, and yes not too humble on field after occassional success. but without knowing him, or how the teammates relate to him, we can’t be sure he is any sort of cancer. But we can comment on his stats and they aren’t going to knock anyone’s socks off. And when I finally saw him come off the bus (okay maybe not last but in final 5) and pointed him out to my co-worker, he couldn’t believe he was our quarterback. Not a real physical candidate to say the least. So while I might feel bad a bit about us jumping to some conclusions, I still feel our conclusion is right. Tedford is “playing it not to lose too bad” by going with the experience over the prodigy. That might be his last mistake. Pretty funny to hear all those around me at the stadium with lines like “here comes Tedford’s favorite play” whenever it was time to go for a field goal or punt. Not a lot of “icon” talk in the stands.
September 3rd, 2012 at 10:24 pm
Wow, some Cal fans are still delirious in believing Cal will somehow beat either Ohio St. (coached by Urban Meyer who is so much a better coach than Tedford it would blow the latter’s sunglasses off his head) or beat USC both on the road. Cal has been obliterated by Kiffin’s USC boys the last 2 years and I mean demolished. And this 2012 USC version is flat loaded and views Cal as roadkill.
I submit to you a realistic view of Cal football. It is coached by a guy who’s better years are gone 5 years ago. Cal has an at-best mediocre QB, no running game to speak of and a D that was shredded by the spread offense – an offense that Urban can easily run for 20-30 plays in a few weeks when he needs too.
Cal is headed for at most 4 wins this year and hopefully that stink-i-tude is enough for Sandy Barbour to can Tedford and get rid of his mediocre, pathetic in-game management brand of boring losing football.
September 3rd, 2012 at 10:28 pm
Why is anyone talking about recruiting? It is the 2nd game week of the season and Cal backers are mumbling about recruiting lol! Does recruiting really matter when the head coach sux as much as Tedford does? If Tedfraud ever reads my posts as I hope he does, he knows I speak to his inner most fears. That his best days are long gone, that he’s at best the 3rd worst coach in the conference now, that HE more than any player is the reason Cal gets it doors blown off 4 or so times a season. The head coach is the prime reason Cal has not had a good QB in nearly a decade and not held a national ranking in 3+ years. Tedford selling his mansion in Danville speaks volumes about what HE thinks of the job he is doing and his long term job security.
September 3rd, 2012 at 11:51 pm
Back from dinner at the “Foundry on Melrose” if ur ever in la, highly rec. pork belly ap, chicken terrine and hand rolled pasta. reasonable $.
got my pinot on. but couldn’t resist checking in. gotta feeling i will addy thoughtful posts from J #29 and dd #35. post that bugged me was…
WOJ. 2 things. 1) WOJ, I apologize if I’m wrong but you seem like ur another one of moron’s innumerable sn aliases. (anyone else recognize woj’s posts from previous threads???)
woj, on jf’s nv post mortem thread, u posted wilner’s may 07 article and said – paraphrasing, sandy b’s deal is incredibly bad, ur forewarned.” I posted on same thread that it seems to me that the buy out based on wilner’s article – $ due – is 3.6 mil if jt’s fired at end of this season (minus any fb income from fb jobs taken in 13 and 14.) Not chump change in today’s economy but a good deal considering how how hot jt was in07. Only contract escalator is 1 auto added year – deserved in my imo – for his 9 win season in 09.
NO one has said I’m wrong and sb trashing has pretty much stopped. Why? Because sb made a reasonable deal that in retrospect was not ideal but was understandable in 07 and is not crippling today if jt is fired.
SO “woj” did u read wilner’s article that u posted? Am I wrong about 3.6 mil owed? woj, are u amy the moron?
September 4th, 2012 at 1:18 am
Did it make any difference that Nevada didn’t know Maynard would sit the beginning of the game? It didn’t look like it made any difference to me!
September 4th, 2012 at 7:59 am
#39 – Larry
No it didn’t because Nevada is a better team and a better than program than Cal state.
Let’s talk about what it means to be “mediocre”. I have been amazed by the many posters who point to Tedford as the champion of the turnaround. That needs to be examined more closely.
When Tedford took over Cal state was a perennial “Bottom 10″ team in the nation. So any improvement at all put him as the second coming of Bruce Snyder (who by the way was a friend of mine and asked me to be the asstnt manager for the summer camps). Staying out of the Pac 10 cellar and not being the butt of so many jokes by the other team’s fans would be considered an improvement over the past.
Now when Teddy took over the Cal state program the Pac 10 was poor – very very poor. The only really great team was USC and it was just beginning with its run of championships under Pete Carroll. Let’s remember what these teams were like.
Stanford – pathetic especially under Buddy. Harbaugh came in with guns blazing.
UW – a shell of its former self and ready to go belly up under Gilby (what do you expect from an ex-UCB coach) and then Ty
WSU – arguably the worst team in America under Wolfe who was left an empty bucket under Dumbba
Arizona State – couldn’t win a game in California under Koetter followed Ericksen “Champion of the Most Penalized Teams” in America
Arizona – fired their coach (who beat you guys by the way) and hired Stupid
It was no big deal to beat these teams even if you were the laughingstock of college football under Holmoe and Gilby.
Here were the mediocre teams:
Oregon – mediocre and inconsistent under Bellotti
pucla – Radio was as laughable as the guy he was named after
Oregon State – Riley made them achieve more than their talent would allow
Teddy could always be counted on to beat the patsies of the conference – Stanford, ASU, UA, UW, WSU. Those are 5 easy wins right there.And then when you add the UC Davises, the Presbyterians and the Women’s Friday Night Knitting Circle 7-8 wins were guaranteed.
Teddy normally split games against the mediocre teams but sometimes teams like OSU put the hurt on his teams.Even against the mediocre Cal state usually split.
So right there, the “turnaround” had more to do with poor competition than it had anything to do with his coaching. The problem is – It raised up the expectations and hopes that maybe winning football had returned to Cal state. No sir!
Because if you really want to judge just how good your program was just put it up against the great USC teams under Carroll. Cal state won exactly one game and that was during a season when Carroll was just beginning his dominance and the team was rolling into shape. It never happened again.
UCB was mediocre even during their best years. Now the competition has stiffened with better coaching and they go back down to being a bottom feeder.
September 4th, 2012 at 8:07 am
Here we are 1 game into the season and not a word of BearTalk from Sherm, The Advising Bear.
I am sure he is sitting by his computer hitting pressf5 on his keyboard and wondering how will he explain his post on Bear Insider claiming that Maynard was a good student who works hard in the classroom.
Will this be another season like 2007 and 2008 when not a word could be heard from The Advising Bear after embarassing losses or will it be like 2009-2011 when an inability to manage one’s anger resulted in many blockings such as the internet world had never seen before.
So let’s shout out GOGoBears and raise that true bear from hibernation.
September 4th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
BTW,
Can we officialy retire those ugly assed white helmets? We wore them 3 times, 1) USC 2011, 2) UCLA 2011 and 3) Nevada 2012. Record 0-3!
September 4th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Can JF or someone else explain to me why our pass defense never goes after the ball, or tries to keep it from the receiver? What is the point of standing 5 feet away and watching the pass completion before responding to the play in some fashion? I keep seeing that happen and it appears to be how the secondary is coached, which I do not and will never understand.
September 4th, 2012 at 3:27 pm
#43 – BluenGold
It is because your cover guys are not good and your safeties are even worse. The coaches may have asked the CBs to give some cushion because if they missed tackles or coverage they would have been beaten over the top due to your horrendous safety play.
Also your DL gets zero pressure on the QB. he has all day back there to throw. That dynamic isn’t a CBs best friend.
September 4th, 2012 at 3:27 pm
Fire Jeff Tedford! Fire Jeff Tedford! It’s time. Sandy Barbour needs to come to her senses and dump JT. He’s lost it! How many more winnable games does Cal have to lose before she takes action? Reasons to fire him?
Check sportskaster.blogspot.com
September 4th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
HAHAHAHAHA…
Here is what one of the posters on Bear INsider said about Saturday’s game The Woman’s Friday Night Knitting Circle
“I for one will be bringing a paper bag. Just in case the unthinkable happens.”
LOL. Good one.
September 5th, 2012 at 4:17 am
All these comments! And most of them seem really right on. However I have an observation: maybe the talent is really not there. Historically Cal has always fielded less talented teams than their opposition. No Rose Bowl since 1959. No BCS bowls. One conference championship (tie) since who knows when. If Cal had beaten Nevada apparently it would have been an upset.
Things are not going to change until Cal-Powers-That-Be decide to make championship football a much higher priority.
September 5th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
I was hoping for an explanation from someone who is credible and knows what they are talking about. Moron is neither.
September 5th, 2012 at 11:07 pm
This guy and / or gal needs help.
September 6th, 2012 at 6:37 am
#48 – BnG
Well judging by the response to your question either it is too difficult and there are no football sophisticants on this board or it is too easy and no one wants to give the time of day.
A third alternative is that you took people by surprise for actually posting something with football related content.
Pressf5 for some more BearTalk and GoGoBears!
September 6th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Nine years and counting…
Have you demanded enough attention for yourself yet?
September 6th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
#51 – BnG
Nine years and stalking…
Have you tired of pressingf5 to see what is being said about you, the Social Welfare program and your lack of talking about anything football related.