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Football: Post-game notes
By Jeff Faraudo
Saturday, September 22nd, 2012 at 10:16 pm in Football, Gameday.
A few post-game updates and statistical notes:
– Sophomore Jacob Wark joins a growing list of Cal tight ends with lower-body injuries. He hurt a foot in the fourth quarter and did not return. No immediate report on his status. Would-be starter Richard Rodgers (foot) did not play at all . . . until Wark left the game. Then he was out there for one series.
– As expected, the news on TE Spencer Hagan is not good. The junior sustained what is apparently a serious right knee injury at Ohio State. ”Hagan won’t be back,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “His knee is shot. He won’t be back this year.”
– Redshirt freshman Daniel Lasco, blasted up around the head on a second-quarter punt coverage play, did not return. Tedford did not know whether the running back sustained a concussion.
– Without senior tackle Matt Summers-Gavin (knee) for a third straight game, Cal’s offensive line was badly outplayed. The Bears netted just 77 rushing yards (a week after gaining 224 on the ground at Ohio State) and QB Zach Maynard was sacked seven times. That’s 13 sacks in two games.
– No miracles from sophomore TB Brendan Bigelow, who included TD runs of 81 and 59 yards in his 160-yard performance at Ohio State. Of course, Bigelow got just four carries (none in the first half) and gained 31 yards — 7.8 per attempt. Tedford was vague on why Bigelow wasn’t a bigger part of the game plan after suggesting earlier in the week he had earned it.
– The Bears were no match for the Trojans at the line of scrimmage on the other side of the ball, either. USC, which was averaging 130 rushing yards per game, had 296, including 158 by Penn State transfer Silas Redd and 115 from Curtis McNeal.
– Cal PK Vincenzo D’Amato, after missing three field goals wide left at Ohio State, was wide right on his first try at the Coliseum. Then he made three short ones to account for all of Cal’s points.
– WR Keenan Allen had nine catches for 93 yards and moved to No. 4 on the Bears’ career receptions list with 173. He passed Na’il Benjamin (165) and Brian Treggs (167), the father of freshman teammate Bryce Treggs.
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September 22nd, 2012 at 10:38 pm
Jeff ask tedfired how soon he will start getting a quarterback prepared for next season with a little game action please.
September 22nd, 2012 at 11:04 pm
3rd on the depth chart. That’s why.
September 22nd, 2012 at 11:30 pm
Just back to San Diego after going up to the game with my son. We were trying to remember on the drive back down, when was the last time we went to a game where they won. Must have been E. Washington or Presby. So tired of all the effort and cost to get to Berkeley or LA or pay for the Holiday Bowl just to watch this crap. Maynard back to his normal self after last week. He looked very scared and no accuracy. He has never learned to throw the ball away and he also doesn’t know that when you are down big late, then you might as well try to make something happen. His run out of bounds with no one chasing him was just a total embarrassment and the SC fans appropriately mocked us. As was the 3rd and 1 late in the game when there was no DB on their receiver. Bigelow looked great when he was in, and the whole offense had a different energy and swagger it seemed. But JT too stupid or stubborn or both to play him. I swear I kept seeing Isi run right to the defenders instead of the holes. The whole gameplan was a step backwards from last week. Very cowardly. When we did get in the red zone, we tightened up and tried QB runs, seemingly to set up for a fg so that we could get our kicker’s confidence back. Thats the only reason I could come up with. Horrible game, horrible coaching. I can only hope for change.
September 22nd, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Well… Just finished watching Oregon game- which I quite enjoyed- not because I like Oregon- but because they’re so darn good and so darn fun to watch. What a contrast to the absolute mess of a football team Tedford trots out year after year. For all the SPEED and talent the Ducks have, I still think they’re overachievers. Cal is one of the biggest underachieving team in the country – AGAIN.
Some Oregon thoughts related Cal:
I see DeAnthony Thomas (true Sophomore), Colt Lyerla and Valley Christian-San Jose’s Byron Marshall (true Freshmen) all not only playing and contributing early in their careers, but being used as weapons but utilized to their abilities, being put in positions to be successful, but also as new layers of the Oregon offense. None of them would play a lot if at all under Tedford because they wouldn’t yet know the playbook well enough.
Lyerla is a beast, a freak of nature, plays TE, WR, and, yes, RB. Heck, he may play some D to boot. It was a hoot to watch Kelly move him all over and set up plays for him that created either mismatches or just flat utilized his athletic/football gifts. I swear to you he wouldn’t play for Tedford, or he would be wasted at Cal on 15 offensive or maybe defensive plays a game. Oh, and was strongly considering Cal, getting caught up in the whirlwind recruiting class to beat all Cal recruiting classes- he chose to stay home and become a Duck when Toshgate happened.
As far as Cal goes, not much else to say that either hasn’t already been said on the game thread post or haven’t said over the past, oh, I don’t know … SIX YEARS!
I have to say that I am still waiting for all the people on here over the years that attacked me, criticized me, called me names, questioned my knowledge of football- some said I knew nothing about football- all for daring to point out questionable, confusing, obvious issues in Cal football over the past 6 years or so under Jeff Tedford, the “greatest coach in Cal Football history” … To apologize. Or at least admit I was right.
And I will say that I was not calling for his head 6 years ago, I was pointing out flaws and changes in his game mindset, play calling, offensive strategy/philosophy. But I had serious concerns… And now here we are- stuck. I’m thinking either 3-9 or 4-8 this season.
Re: today, I mean what did anybody expect? Expecting anything better than what we saw? The definition of insanity. Squared. Today would have much worse- but SC is just not that good, AND, they made a LOT of mistakes today. Maynard ain’t the guy and ain’t never gonna be. And as I pointed out last week, tOSU is not good this season- proven today- and we are even less not very good by not beating them last week. The absolute bummer is that we have the talent to have beaten both teams- but we don’t have the coaching. Broken record.
To wrap up, I’ll circle back around to an Oregon comparison and, oh, let’s use young Mr. Bigelow. Bigelow
September 22nd, 2012 at 11:58 pm
Accidentally hit the submit comment button before concluding-
Re: Bigelow- if he was a Duck, he’d have been out there last season in spot action, doing what he was capable of doing at that point, learning a bit and going off here and there. This season it wouldnt matter if Barner and/or Thomas and/or Lyerla and/or anyone else was playing. Bigelow is really good and really fast and Chip Kelly would be using him … A LOT. I won’t rehash what everyone else pointed out here earlier- but only 4 carries after last week? SERIOUSLY? And he looked GOOD when he was in there. Why can’t he be out there more? He could be in there with other back, in a slot, split wide, put in motion- the possibilities are endless. But no. I dont know what else we can all say about it.
It all seems so hopeless and we are all helpless. I guess we can try to make an impact with our wallets. Sandy Barbour and Tedford have the Cal faithful painted in a corner thanks to Barbours brilliance in contract negotiation with Tedford. She did as good a job there as the Giants did on the Barry Zito contract. Actually, the Tedford contract situation is infinitely worse. The Giants won it all while Zito was worthless, while Cal is just plain worthless under Tedford.
September 23rd, 2012 at 12:10 am
Out of context here, but forgot I wanted to make one more point about Kelly/Oregon as it relates to Cal- so when Mariota beat out the elder Bennett as starting QB, what does Kelly do? He still gives Bennett meaningful reps throughout each game- and he plays well too. Now Mariota is special, but Bennett is darn good too- but Mariota is better. This could get sticky many other places, but not at Oregon and not with Kelly at the helm. Could you ever in a million years ever see Tedford handling it like this? NO WAY. One of the many beauties of Kelly and his O… They run plays so fast and so often, there are more snaps for more guys. More guys involved, more guys get meaningful game experience, more guys are successful, they win big, success breeds success. It’s a frikkin avalanche effect of great success. Compare that to Cal, compare Kelly to Tedford, compare Oregon football to Cal football. You can’t, and the gap just gets wider and wider. It’s a chasm now.
September 23rd, 2012 at 12:39 am
Dan, how about this example as well. Brian kelly sat notre dames qb because he wasnt getting it done.
Tedford has never sat maynard for poor performance.
September 23rd, 2012 at 1:48 am
Dan the Man, you are spot on. First of all, how can you lose to ANY team 9 times in a row??? I mean, seriously…if I was a coach and if I lost the same team two years in a row…I would be looking at different ways to beat that team. But no no no…Tedfurd keeps playing the same way over and over and over again like a tape recording. I mean, if the other team’s defense says that Cal’s offense is predictable…doesnt that tell you something Mr Tedfurd??? But let’s not accuse the defense this time around because they are sort of young and inexperienced but still…what i’m saying is that Cal’s offense is so pathetic and scared particularly during tight situations, that it leads to the defense eventually making miscues because they are on the field constantly. Pendergast can only do so much w/ these kids. Tedfurd, please quit after this season. Or the AD should just fire him. Does he really deserve 2.9MM for such lackluster performance??? I mean if anyone owns a business for instance and your company is reporting negative earnings for quite some time, wouldnt that person get fired? Seriously, it’s time for a change because the fan base is shrinking considerably thanks to your really boring, predictable play calling and decision making. So sad.
September 23rd, 2012 at 1:50 am
Madden 2012 has better play calling schemes as Tedfurds.
September 23rd, 2012 at 5:42 am
“Tedford was vague on why Bigelow wasn’t a bigger part of the game plan after suggesting earlier in the week he had earned it.”
Because what Tedford says and what Tedford does rarely intersect.
September 23rd, 2012 at 7:11 am
Some play calls weren’t the best, but give a bit of credit to SC’s defense. That said Maynard had a really bad game. There were several instances in which there were WIDE open WRs, some more painful than others, and Maynard either didn’t see them at which point the WR jumped up and down screaming “I’m freaking wide open” or Maynard simply didn’t have the arm strength or the natural ability to get them the ball…
I really hate to say it, but Maynard isn’t really that talented. It takes him a while to read through he’s options and his arm strength is not that good.
REALLY want a QB with a quick release, strong arm and quick judgement, we may have one on the roster (Kline) but we’ll not know until next year.
The positives: For as much as the defense was on the field, they did a really good job most of the time. They did make some boneheaded missed assigments, but I love their front 7 and I’m standing by MY belief that they are the best defense in the Pac 12. They’re just on the field WAY TOO MUCH!!!
September 23rd, 2012 at 7:16 am
@Dan – A+ post.
You probably won’t get the apologies, even though you deserve it. Because in the eyes of these kool aid drinkers, unless we go 1-11, Tedford isn’t Holmoe, and that’s the test.
And at this point, we can predict the f-ups that will occur, whether the game is close loss or is a blowout loss. One way or another, the coaching decisions will cause us to lose. Broken record is right.
I’ve been calling for Tedford to be let go since 2008, because you could easily see this coming, and the 2005-2007 seasons could have been so much beetter but for coaching. But in many ways, it started with the 2004 Holiday Bowl, which remains one of the top 5 worst college coaching performances I have ever seen.
September 23rd, 2012 at 7:34 am
Dan as a long time Tedford defender let me say…I’m sorry and you were right. Thanks for the good memories Jeff but it’s time to part ways. I look at Oregon, USC, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and Stanford and I wonder, what do they know that Coach Tedford doesn’t?
September 23rd, 2012 at 8:13 am
Sandy should be spending every waking minute raising buyout $ and making a short list. Get there first with potential candidates, announce during Big Game Week that its Tedford’s last game or season, give away blue towels saying “Thank You Coach Tedford”.
September 23rd, 2012 at 8:37 am
Thanks Dan for your thoughtful comments. I’m willing to apologize for not waking up sooner to what is in retrospect now apparent about Jeff Tedford’s shortcomings. But I also think that Sandy Barbour has had a big hand in JT’s descent. I won’t waste time trying to catalog the evidence, but I really think that she redirected him in ways that hastened his fall. (E.g,, Jim Harbaugh said he stopped Tweeting in 2010 after he realized it was a waste of time and a fad–he obviously could never have gotten raises and contract extensions if he were working for Sandy Barbour. I’m sure that Sandy will sooner welcome another losing season than suffer JT to fall short of his Tweet quota.)
Strangely, over the years Tedford has seemed to abandon the strengths and principles that were responsible for his initial success as the the Bears’ coach. Does anyone else but me remember when we used to get stories about the importance of winning the turnover battle, the turnover-inducing-and-ball-retention drills in practice, the unwillingness to suffer Bear turnovers in games, and press releases about the Bears’ turnover margin and its correlation to our success? Now we’ve had a turnover machine at QB for almost two years–who lately has cut down his turnovers by getting a glazed look in his eyes and taking a sack–while Tedford tells us each week that Maynard’s our man, he just needs another week, or month, or season, to work on his consistency.
But of course, it’s not Zach Maynard’s fault, it’s Jeff Tedford’s. He knows that ZM does not have the ability to succeed at this level, but JT just keeps pretending while he watches ZM and the team fail as a result. I can’t help but believe that Josh Lupoi’s departure was in some way related to watching JT disappoint and waste the talents of so many young men that have come to play football at Cal in recent years. Somehow, JT came to be what he came to replace in 2002. Go figure.
I’m too discouraged to continue writing this, but I can’t imagine how discouraged the team must feel, or how ZM must feel as JT parades him out before thousands of people and his teammates each week to try again to accomplish what he’s incapable of accomplishing (and trying to manage that bizarre offensive scheme that JT’s is now running that confuses ZM and our team more than our opponents). Andy Smith would be turning over in his grave if he had one, so perhaps he’s glad to have had his cremains removed from Sandy Barbour’s new stadium. (Er, Sandy, could you repeat again how many hundred million dollars that the University now owes thanks to your stewardship of the athletic department.)
September 23rd, 2012 at 10:26 am
Dan, Eric and any other of you who started criticizing jt in ’09. Sorry. Mea culpa. jt is a bad hc. The only thing I will say is I was never insulting. I thought you were misguided and wrong – turns out it was me – but I never called you names.
As has been pointed out, Cal is a good job. Memorial and hpc are great selling points. The cupboard is stocked with kline, treggs, harper, powe, lasco, bigelow and young o line that is getting on the job training. The d has a lot of young guns who played well against osu and $c. I hope sb makes the move unless we go on a run and make it to a bowl. But it sure seems like just getting to 5-7/4-8 will be damn hard.
707, Covinared and anyone else who went to the game, any observations on how the wr’s interacted w zm? On tv I saw ka, treggs and harper all show zm up on the field for missed passes/passes not thrown. A lot of wr’s from hs to nfl do the sulk but I didn’t like it esp from the frosh. Another indication zm never had the team and jt has lost the locker room.
September 23rd, 2012 at 10:39 am
I have a theory of what happened to Tedford. He was moving the team forward in 2002-2004. For the 2005 season (Rodgers left after his JR season) Longshore/Ayoob (rememeber that weird/creepy shirtless photo shoot?) Longshore got injured in that Sac St game. Ayoob was not prepared to play, but Levy was. Didn’t happen. 2006 was a solid season, remember Dunbar bringing in elements of the ‘Spread’, Dunbar & Tedford part ways after a 10 win season and a PAC-10 Co-Championship.
2007 is when we took the first major dump all over ourselves. I think the players realized that Tedford
was getting stale as a coach for going away from the ‘spread’ type offense, which at that time was the new shiny toy. He was determined to stay old-school ‘Pro-style’. 2008-2009 really stalled the program with those tree folks stalling out the renovations. It is about this time that Tedford really got stale. I think he was expecting to never get the stadium renovation started, so he was just on auto-pilot waiting to be fired. Instead, he was rewarded with a huge contract, sons attending CAL(until this year), huge house in Blackhawk, all for minimum effort. Now that he has the stadium renovated, he is finally being exposed as not keeping up with the constant evolution of the game.
Also, keep in mind that our athletic program at CAL was on probation for 10 years for the BBall & football issues. Well 2002-2012 is TEN YEARS! 2013 we are no longer on ‘athletic program’ probation, meaning we can hire somebody like Pete Carroll and cheat our way to the Rose Bowl without getting the death penalty. That was the purpose for Braun, Montgomery, & Tedford being coaches. To keep the program clean. Now that we are good to go, we can hire the sleeze bags to get us to the next level.
September 23rd, 2012 at 10:43 am
Last thing. Don’t expect Kline to play next year. He will be ‘Bigalowed’ because Bridgeford has more seniority and ‘game experience’ than Kline.
September 23rd, 2012 at 10:46 am
Hey losers
Sorry to interrupt your love fest on this thread but I got deal for you. I will leave this blog until next year if you can put down the correct answers to all of these questions. They need to be put onto this thread so that everyone can see them.
Here we go.All of these questions have to do with the UCB state vs USC football games.
1. From 2004-2012 USC vs UCB games what does the number 9 represent?
2. “You can’t beat a good football team like SC when you turn the football over _______ times, especially down deep in their territory,” Tedford said. “There’s no question there is some good things, but there are some things that absolutely need to be improved.”
What game was Tedford referring to and how many turnovers?
3. “I tried to force the ball on a couple plays,” _____________ said. “There’s a lot of mental errors. We’ve got to get better on our check downs and make a better play.”
Who said this and what game was he referring to?
4. On SFGate there is an article “Cal loses to USC 27-9″. If you go to the comments section there is a UCB state fan who posts under “IHeartDaddy”. He posted today at 5:29AM. What is the real birth name of this lonely person posting this early in the morning and what does he do for a living? Rumor is that he is an Advisor to the Social Welfare Department at UCB (but I could be wrong
PS He also posted at 12:55AM on Sunday morning the 16th, 5:59AM on the 17th, and 6:14AM on the 21st. I hope this helps you to identify this no life loner.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
September 23rd, 2012 at 10:55 am
We need to start identifying young and hungry coaches now. I don’t care if they are D-I or elsewhere; Kelly proved you don’t need to be a big name to be successful. The Mora, Leach, and ASU guys needed redemption, but I’m not sure that is what we are looking for (though admittedly it worked with Monty on the b-ball side, Steventexas’s important recruiting comments notwithstanding).
I doubt we have a shot at Charlie Strong at Louisville, but we should make a run at him. Or really be mercenary and go after Justin Wilcox. Anyone else? We don’t need to pay him big bucks if he is young.
@Larry – I don’t think the spread is always the answer; look at Furd. They run a power-run heavy, semi NFL style offense that epmhasizes TEs and using all sorts of run scheme. Given that Luck rarely had WR speed (Owusu reminded me of Featherstone from Unnecessary Roughness, so being fast doesn’t mean much if you can’t catch) you often did’t see him launch 40-50 yard bombs but instead picked apart defenses in the 10-25 yard range.
September 23rd, 2012 at 11:26 am
Good reading. Well done.
http://www.bearinsider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63456
September 23rd, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Eric it needs to be coach macintyre from san jose state or justin wilcox/ tosh lupoi.
Thats if we dont give gould a shot.
September 23rd, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Going back to post #19, I have some more information which may help you to identify “IHeartDaddy”. This was question #4.
He must be quite a loner. Notice the times and dates when he posts.
8/30 – 5:19AM
8/31 – 2:20AM
8/31 – 2:28AM
9/1/ – 5:00 AM (That’s Labor Day weekend on a Saturday)
9/5 – 4:37AM
9/7 – 9:48AM (Hmmm would that have been done on taxpayer time)
9/12 – 11:21AM (Hmmmm more taxpayer time)
9/21 – 2:21PM (No it couldn’t be done on more taxpayer time. No one would be that stupid).
This new info hopefully helps you to identify this loner clown.
September 23rd, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Charlie Strong? He was a finalist in Dec. 2001 when Tedford was hired.
September 23rd, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Every year since I have been on this blog, I have posed the question whether any other Pac-12 school would hire Tedford at his salary, and then asked the same question at half his salary. The usual response from the kool aid drinkers was to engage in ad hominem attacks without addressing the merits.
So I ask what has become the most rhetorical question of the college football universe. Would any Pac-12 school hire Tedford now. Name your price, because I think it makes no difference.
September 23rd, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Colorado might.
This is a red flag i was thinking of. If you notice tedford has never developed any top assistants into coordinators.
Thats a red flag for any organization. If you cant identify young talent and develop them your organization loses out on new ideas and fresh perspectives.
Tosh is the only one that had potential for it but instead he stagnated at d line coach and left.
Everyone else has been a constant revolving door of rehashed and often nepotism based hires.
How did gould never get a shot at o coordinator? Why was marcus arroyo brought in to have a nebulous role.
How the hell do you michalzik an o line coach as your coordinator but arroyo is your play caller.
September 23rd, 2012 at 12:22 pm
I like Grunden, Petersen (BSU), or Riley from OSU. I would hope we would be able to pry those guys away.
I do not want Petrino at CAL. That guy would NOT fit in well at CAL
September 23rd, 2012 at 12:32 pm
We’ll never get Riley out of OSU. He is comfortable there, and wouldn’t jump to another Pac-12 school (remember, U$C wanted him but couldn’t get him).
We all love Peterson, but the AD blew that chance in 2008. Now, if Peterson were to leave Boise, it would be for megabucks in the Big 10/12 or SEC, or NFL.
Gruden would be interesting, but the cost would be prohibitive.
That’s why I’m thinking a young, aggressive guy with lots to prove is what we are looking for.
Juancho – while Embree has no doubt struggled this year, Colorado is super young. And his team has pulled off wins that show they can fight – last year versus Utah and this year versus WSU already show more fight than any Cal team in the last two years. I doubt the AD trades Embree for Tedford.
September 23rd, 2012 at 1:06 pm
two young oc’s who are fiery and failed in nfl:
todd haley and josh mcDaniels
Based on their flame outs as hc’s I don’t think they get another nfl hc shot regardless how well the steelers and pats do this year.
they’re going to expensive but not prohibitive. I think we should have a reasonable shot at getting either. their reps/cv’s should be a big plus in recruiting like mora this year.
September 23rd, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Here is the scenario I fear:
Tedford will be given the rest of this year in the new stadium.
He will be given next year with our alleged savior Zach Kline.
No matter the outcome of next year’s campaign he will be given the following year as well because Kline will need a year of seasoning before he truly performs.
So that’s this year plus two before there is any chance of Tedford’s departure. With Barbour appearing to be nothing more than grinning, coiffed mute I really have no reason to foresee anything other than what I just outlined.
Can’t wait for 2015!
September 23rd, 2012 at 2:01 pm
Claw, kline isnt playing next year. Bridgeford is.
2014 is klines first shot. Unless hinder or boehm get it.
September 23rd, 2012 at 2:07 pm
Are we past the tipping point for JT? If Cal had beaten Nevada, would there be so many “new” calls for JT’s head? Most figured we would be 2-2 at this point.
These should be two very interesting home games. The end of the UCLA game will mark the halfway point.
Will Cal be 3-3, 2-4, 1-5?
1PM on a fall afternoon in Berkeley, ASU vs Cal. Be there. If nothing else, it should be interesting.
September 23rd, 2012 at 2:16 pm
707 Bear- Isn’t that bit like saying “If John Holmes didn’t shoot those people and enjoyed his graduate school more – would we still be condemning him?”
JT has shown us nothing so far this year.
September 23rd, 2012 at 3:06 pm
Rest of the yr., maybe 2 more wins (Utah & Cougs) so…@ 3 & 9 will Sandy can him ? Unlikely since she’s tied her own so-called career to him. Only justification for keeping him-if he wins 5 of last 8 & makes a bowl – ain’t happenin’. Chancellor will have to step in and do the job. At the beginning of this season in the NFL, SC had 44 on rosters; more than all schools. Cal had 25 and ranked 9th; the only 2 Pac-12 schools in the top 10. Tedford has grossly under-achieved w/ this kind of talent.
September 23rd, 2012 at 3:36 pm
I stand corrected Juancho. A sobering, startling correction. I guess my overall point is that he will get two years with Kline no matter what. At least that’s tortured logic residing in the AD’s quarters I suspect.
I really think that only a total meltdown would adjust this scenario.
September 23rd, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Also curious where everyone is from. I live in Brooklyn, 98 grad, Berkeley native. Lots of Bear fans around these parts believe it or not.
September 23rd, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Claw i reside in the fair city of san francisco. Raiders and A’s fan though.
September 23rd, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Sandy B is on the clock, it’s her #1 JOB to make sure the Bears are in the best position to win every fall Saturday.
There is so much to be done, much more than just a new head coach. Every year we see very little actual improvements made administratively. I do not have faith Barbour is up to the task of fixing what is wrong with our football program.
It takes smart, bold, passionate people to be great, we need way more of all those and at least one person in our AD (other than Monty, who is great) to articulate and lead the Golden Bears!
Lot of work to do on and off the field.
September 23rd, 2012 at 4:40 pm
SteveNTexas
Just thinking about the role that expectations play in assessing a team, corporation, products, etc.
How have expectations changed after the loss to Nevada? I think a lot.
Cal is a 2 point favorite against ASU this weekend.
These next two home games are the two most important games in JT’s career. If they lose both, I can’t see how he survives the season.
September 23rd, 2012 at 7:06 pm
707 Understood! Except I would set the bar higher.
To answer Calbearclaw as to where everyone lives – I live in -can you guess? LOL My current town is Rockport and I live on Ocean Drive which is on the ocean. I graduated from Cal in 73 and traveled around the country for grad and law school.
I’m on Facebook Steve Fischer Rockport
September 23rd, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Nice – NYC, SF, and TX all represented thus far.
I’m A’s and Niners Juancho – I’m an East Bay guy to the core but the Raiders walked out on me when I was eight and the Niners emerged as my team growing up. It’s sort of like having your pop walk out on the family and having a lovable, successful new father figure on the scene and then having the old man creep back into the picture. I just can’t forgive. It didn’t hurt that my adoptive team was piling championships while the scoundrel was doing his thing in LA either.
Another digression: So there’s a bar called Pacific Standard right in the heart of Brooklyn that was opened by a couple of alums a few years ago that packs out for Cal games. The walls are covered with Golden Bear paraphernalia and they even import Top Dogs and It’s its for big games. It’s a godsend, a home away from home. A total anti-meathead Cal type crowd too.
So anyway, I’m still hoping someone can convince me that Tedford does not have until after Kline’s sophomore campaign to really fret about his job security. Please divest me of this fear.
September 23rd, 2012 at 7:44 pm
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Cal bounces back in the next two weeks at home and beats both ASU and UCLA. Tedford has shown some resilency in this regard and seems to have a sixth sense for saving his job. Remember 2009, when Oregon and USC humiliated Cal, yet the team bounced back and beat ranked Arizona and Stanford teams in back-to-back weeks?
There is no doubt that he saves his job with a 500 record and a minor bowl game. No doubt. I don’t know where those wins are going to come from, but what I do know is that Maynard cannot peform against elite teams with good defenses. We get interceptions and poorly thrown passes every time in pressure situations. There will be picks a plenty when Oregon comes to town.
I applaud Eric and Dan for recognizing earlier than most that Tedford had to go. For me, it became crystal clear when I realized that I walked out of the stadiums at halftime in all four Cal-USC games from 2008-2011. I live in So Cal, and wisely decided to play golf yestereday. I have no more plans to attend any games as long as Tedford is the coach and stubbornly clings to a quarterback who does not have Pac 12 skills.
September 23rd, 2012 at 9:31 pm
I’m a Los Angeles guy, but escaped to Berkeley for college and to this day it remains my Mecca, even though I moved back to LA. Giants and 49er fan to boot (albeit NY Rangers hockey fan – family connection).
September 23rd, 2012 at 11:59 pm
Can any of you guys see the Bears winning 6 and getting to a bowl game? Check the schedule and all you can see is loss after loss. It may take a sub-.500 season for Sandy B to get some gumption and can Ol’ Sourpuss.
Look at all the new coaches in the Pac12. There’s a bunch of good ones now. On that list, Ol’ Sourpuss is scraping the bottom, down there with that idiot at Washington State.
Remember when Ol’ Sourpuss was the hot new kid on the block, when the Chicago Bears came sniffing around him? Remember how happy we were that he ignored the Bears? My God, if we knew then what we know now…
September 24th, 2012 at 5:21 am
Damn alot of experts on here. Maybe you losers should apply when Tedford is gone…..I mean you guys know it all. Go Bears!
September 24th, 2012 at 6:03 am
I’m just a checker at Stipes (7-11) here in Texas. I do read about football online and see Juancho and others postings.
Hence I am fully qualified to be Cals’ next coach although I would settle for Tony Gonzalez.
September 24th, 2012 at 7:28 am
Kyle
It’s Monday and the armchair QB’s are out: me included.
Let’s face it, Cal football is not Syria or the fiscal cliff; it’s entertainment. A welcome fall diversion.
But……..JT is grown man making more money in one year than most folks will make in a lifetime.
I think the posts here are fair; more importantly, I don’t see personal insults directed at the players.
I enjoy watching this unscripted drama unfold. I’ll be there on Saturday cheering and hoping for the best.
But if the program implodes, well, I’ll keep watching because it’s interesting. Hope you will too.
Go Bears!
September 24th, 2012 at 7:50 am
Thanks Kyle, for demonstrating the point I was making. Those who blindly support Tedford lash out with ad hominem attacks. Yes, everyone who thinks Tedford is not sufficient to be the coach our beloved university’s football team are just losers.
September 24th, 2012 at 8:32 am
707: I agree with what you seem to be saying. The bottomline is that Cal football playaers and Jeff Tedford are not responsible for the personal happiness of the posters here. Its just football. If you are unhappy because we don’t have good team this year, its on you. The posters here are also not responsible for the money it will require to buy Tedford out, yet they seem to feel entiltled to make that decision. I was there at USC. It was clear we lost primarily because we had a substantially inferior offensive line. Four starters from last year’s good line did not play: two graduated and two were hurt. SC lost to Stanford because they were missing two offensive lineman last week. At the end in crunch time, we had no tight ends due to injuries. Oregon State looks like they have good team after sticking with their coach after 2 bad seasons. We have alot of good young players coming back next year. I believe there is better coach than Tedford out there, but its easy for you all to spend someone else’s $8-10 mil in order to find your persoanl happiness.
September 24th, 2012 at 8:32 am
Hey Kyle- Please refrain from calling other Cal fan posters ‘losers’. It puts you on the same level of discourse as moron, and I would think you would not want to be in that company. However, you are free to use the term to describe moron all that you want, since by any definition, moron is every bit a loser.
September 24th, 2012 at 9:16 am
All Cal needs is good QB play and to get a bit healthier. Receivers were open but Maynard couldn’t deliver the ball to them, especially in the red zone. That is why Cal couldn’t complete their comeback against USC, which they were on the verge of doing. The good running/erratic passing play of Maynard reminds me of Ayoob.
Cal is on hold till next year, when we get a new QB to play. If there is no disaster this year (which, if it occurs, Tedford should go for sure)), I’m not sure that Tedford should keep his job and we should hire a hungry young assistant coach (just like Tedford when we hired him — any BTW, I have heard that Tedford has lost his desire to do a great job, probably a function of how much Cal is paying him).
I favor Kline and Boehm (if he can prove he is an accurate passer), as both are run. You need the running threat to stretch the defense.
September 24th, 2012 at 9:47 am
Covina –
So since I am not personally paying Jeff Tedford’s salary I don’t have a right to lobby for a change at my alma mater? That’s some wobbly logic.
September 24th, 2012 at 9:57 am
On behalf of the long term success of Cal football, Go ASU Sun Devils. I hope they thrash Cal this Saturday. If/when they do, please make sure Sandy the AD has a seat in the front row. The only way Cal becomes elite in the modern Pac12 is under a different head coach.
September 24th, 2012 at 10:43 am
This is going to sound nit-picky to Nth degree, but here goes: I have noticed that our head coach has taken to wearing long, flowing jackets to hide the considerable girth he has gained on his mid-torso over the last several years.
I believe that the appearance of the head coach speaks volumes about what he expects from the team; namely to be disciplined, focused and fully conditioned to withstand the rigors of a 60-minute game. I still maintain that Cal lost the Nevada game due to poor conditioning. I want my head coach to be one of the fittest guys on the field. If he demands it from his players, he should demand it from himself, dammit. You are the head coach of a sporting team, and you were an athlete yourself, once.
So take some of that $2.7 million annual salary to buy yourself a 24-hour gym membership,Jeff, and use it. (I pay $39 a month for mine). Otherwise we are going to think that you have become careless and slovenly and don’t really care about how you look anymore. A far cry from that guy who bunked out in his office on a cot when he started.
September 24th, 2012 at 11:10 am
what about that fat slob coach of that really good Kansas team a few years back?
September 24th, 2012 at 11:12 am
ucla’s last success was with the big gutted Toledo, and Dorrell and Neuheisal were trim and fit.
September 24th, 2012 at 11:19 am
Not just 40 lb.s more than when he was hired, but so much less animated. He really is a bad example from the bulging belly perspective. And what is with those f’in sunglasses? Tedford stands there as if he is a scout or spectator. No emotion or expression. Players feed off that, and JT gives none. My take is he finally has several millions in the bank and he has lot that hunger he brought 10 years ago.
What pray tell makes Tedford think he can win in this new Pac 12 with the game plan and personnel he trots out these days? Even the TV announcers second guess him. No balls whasoever. No more wasted Saturday afternoons getting emotionally involved then emotionally drained watching. And hell with this new Pac 12 network. What a scam!
September 24th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
John Madden big gut good coach.
September 24th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Why does this happen every season? The first or second string players get injured, and there is no one to step up and pick up the slack. Is there a reason Cal seems to have a perennial lack of depth problem that bites them badly?
September 24th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Ayoob or Maynard…which one was worse?
By the way do you think that being a JC and Fresno State graduate limits Tedford in anyway? Harbaugh went to Michigan (which some publications say is the #1 public university in the country).
September 24th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Covinard,
Those guys you mentioned were always girthy guys. Madden was an O-lineman in his college days. Tedford came in as a fit and trim ex quarterback with a work ethic that was not matched by anyone. When you let yourself go to that extent, the message he is sending me is that he just doesn’t much care anymore.
I am not saying any of this if the guy is pulling down 600K a year. With his salary, he deserves this kind of scrutiny. BTW, both Toledo and the Kansas guy were fired, one for improprieties and the other for not getting it done on the field. Tom Holmoe once beat a Toledo coached team 17-0.
September 24th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Stick a fork in him, Tedford is done…
September 24th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
If the Bears end up going 4-8, I wonder if Cal fans could use Kickstarter.com to collect funds to buy out the last three years of Tedford’s contract.
September 24th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Chip Kelly ain’t exactly Mr. Olympia. Let’s not get silly, whatever is going on, Tedford’s weight isn’t the issue. Heck for all we know, the guy may be at the facility 24/7 eating junk food and not getting out to live much (although the level of preparedness of this team does not suggest that scenario).
September 25th, 2012 at 12:08 am
This season while still early, is over in my opinion. It is sad that our expectations have gone so low. It was not too long ago that our goal was to one day make it to the Rose Bowl. Well, here we are trying to see if we can even make it to a bowl game and this guessing game has been going on for the past few years. Please Santa Claus, give me a good xmas gift by letting go Tedfurd and surprising us Cal fans w/ an inspirational, young, smart, energetic coach from a D-1 school or NFL. Look what UCLA has done? Look what Stanfurd has done w/ Harbaugh a few yrs ago? WE Cal fans can slice and dice every game on why/how our team lost but it all comes to preparation, discipline, and most important the drive from the players and who else provides all these intangibles? It aint Tedfurd. He’s got none and the players show it on the field.
September 27th, 2012 at 8:59 am
Y’all need to chill out. No apologies for anyone, Dan – Let’s review the season *after* the season is over. Lots of football still to be played, and I still see lots to like about this team.
Maybe we’re a 4 win team and Tedford gets fired, maybe not. Let them play the games.