Archive for Coaches

What I Learned From The Bear Insider

There are so many things I learn from reading message boards. I get these deep, penetrating insights that I could never get from being in the locker room and can thus virtually coach the game based on what anonymous posters have discovered through the game. You just get the feeling that they should be watching […]

Posted by: Avinash on Friday, October 10th, 2008

Cal – Arizona State Report Card

Quarterback: Feels like we haven’t discussed this topic enough, eh? Longshore did enough to win the game, but he didn’t do enough to distinguish himself from Kevin Riley. On one hand, the Cal quarterback kept things simple with swing dumps and screens early. On the other, Nate floated a few passes that took some adjustment […]

Posted by: Avinash on Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Stake Your Place: Arizona State Preview

From a yardage standpoint, Cal looked on even terms with the Sun Devils last season (359 to 363). The Bears defense also came up big early, garnerng an early fumble return for a touchdown and two sacks and maintaining strong pressure on Carpenter through the first half. Even the running game was less than sparkling, […]

Posted by: Avinash on Friday, October 3rd, 2008

Mike Riley’s Special Visitor

MIKE RILEY: (after Oregon State scores the touchdown with under two minutes left) OOH, I LIKE OUR CHANCES. Proud of our bunch of boys. Two top ten teams down in a row. We just keep on crashing the party. Lyle Moveao: “We did it coach! 3-2 Baby, we rocking up the Pac-10!” Mike Riley: What […]

Posted by: Avinash on Friday, October 3rd, 2008

California – Colorado State Report Card

Quarterbacks: Kevin Riley is a work in progress. Although his pass protection isn’t quite as good as we’d like it to be, and his receivers have dropped some catchable balls (including one touchdown) he’s still underthrowing catchable balls or misreading routes by quite a bit. The rapport with his wideouts isn’t quite there yet. While […]

Posted by: Avinash on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

USC And The Nine Dwarves

Dramatis Personae Pete Carroll: The fairest in all the land. The most beautiful of all. Few can resist his inherent sweetness and ability to do good. Except the vain, black-hearted, wicked Les Miles. Jeff Tedford and Mike Riley: Not quite fair, but beloved in their own respective wildernesses. Would break the hearts of their fanbases […]

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

What Is The Purpose of A College Coach?

Watching Marshawn Lynch piledrive his way into the end zone on Sunday against the Raiders yesterday, I can’t help but look back upon his exciting tenure at California. There were times when he looked unstoppable in open field, not even six feet of power driving past tacklers and defenders. I remember him against the Huskies, […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, September 22nd, 2008

Let’s Speak of It One More Time: Cal-Maryland Report Card

(Check out Testudo Times for a report card of Maryland’s team) First of all, everyone’s looking for a scapegoat to blame Cal. The humidity, the weather, the turnovers, the coaching. Clearly, Maryland did nothing to win that game; this was all Cal playing below their level, right? Fine, if you’re going to blame someone, blame […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, September 15th, 2008

Cal – Washington State Report Card

Every week the Golden Bears play a game, I write up a report card. You can click to read the extensive Michigan State one from last week. Here are the final grades from that 66-3 smashing. Quarterbacks: Nate Longshore clearly inserted himself back into the quarterback competition with a strong second half performance, completing 7 […]

Posted by: Avinash on Sunday, September 7th, 2008

Thermopylae This Was Not: Cal-Michigan State Report Card

In homage to Tightwad Hill (who started these awesome post-game analyses), the grades have been released for every Golden Bear element of Cal’s victory last Saturday. Me: EPIC FAIL. First of all, I owe a huge apology to the people who woke up thinking they could watch the Cal game from Tokyo or Paris or […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, September 1st, 2008