Archive for Analysis
California 88, Washington 85 (3OT)
(Torrent is here; highlights of the final minutes of regulation and overtime are here, here, here & here; video tribute by danzig is here) Only watched the game on my Blackberry last Saturday, so didn’t get time to see it until an hour or so ago. Here are the notes I typed up while watching. […]
And Now We Wait Again: Cal Football Resurgent
Twelve games, fifteen weeks. How quickly the time goes. Football is one of those sports where you can ride the highs but escape the lows without feeling like you’re wasting an epic proportion of your time. If you sense a down year coming, if the season goes south, you can quit it easily and not […]
If Only There Were Trees To Cut: The Big Game Experience
So I attended my first Big Game on Saturday, and it was quite pleasant. Figures that I’d go four years of undergrad without attending one Big Game. I even passed on the 2004 one when we all thought we were chomping on roses–probably for the best, since I’d probably have been in a coma after […]
California-Oregon State Report Card
Quarterback: 11-25 for 117 yards isn’t good. But then again, Riley was getting battered around like a pinball for much of the final three quarters. Getting rushed not only from the edges, but in between the tackles, at the gaps, from the sidelines, whatever. Nevertheless, other than the early Tucker touchdown, Riley only had flashes […]
Pac-10 Scoring Trends, 2004-2008
(Scoring offense is points scored by the team, scoring defense refers to points given up, just to avoid any confusion. This is not a competition between how many touchdowns Jahvid Best or Syd’Quan Thompson would score, although that would be sick.) WOOOOOOOOO! Graphs baby graphs! There are some immediate trends you can notice. The powerful […]
California-USC Report Card
Nate Longshore: Another strange performance. It wasn’t like Nate was bad, even though he had those two interceptions called back on bizarro penalties. Interestingly enough he seemingly replicated his 2006 USC performance with three nice rollouts. But the offense moved like it was playing in a mudstorm (three timeouts had to be called to avoid […]
Initial Post-U$C Thoughts
1. My first thought is SCREW YOU ‘SC. I’m really tired of this program and its fanbase treating “knocking players out of the game” as its animating principal. For an example, see Conquest Chronical’s Q&A with CGB the other day. If you need another example, try having a conversation with a U$C fan without them making some reference to the hit Desean Jackson took against […]
Will Cal’s Offense Finally Break Through Against USC?
Continuing where Tony left off, it’s not hard to envision a scenario where USC goes down, and it starts on the defensive end. For all the complaints about Bob Gregory that have been voiced, there’s no doubt the defense has been the strongest part of the 2008 California Golden Bears. Currently the Bears defense are […]
Nine Reasons Why Cal Might Beat U$C
In a week where the political sphere saw a decisive underdog perform exactly like an underdog, allow me to caution that these are reasons why Cal might beat U$C, not a declaration that Cal will beat U$C. In truth I only restrain myself for fear of jinxing the team. Since way back in 1996, I’ve consistently believed Cal would beat […]
California-Oregon Report Card
More postgame thoughts: Hydrotech at the Golden Blogs, The Bear Will Not Quit, Bears With Fangs, Oski Talk, Ken’s podcast from Excuse Me For My Voice. Quarterback: To his credit, Riley was looking good out of the blocks after that “whaaa?” interception. Kevin converted all of his remaining third down opportunities into first down, first down, […]
