Archive for College Football

Give Me Bad Numbers: Pac-10 Quarterback Analysis, Part II

The college quarterback rating formula is absurdly reductionist. It overvalues completions rather than completion percentage, it overvalues touchdowns rather than drives, it overvalues interceptions by placing them all at the same value, and it really really really overvalues yardage without analyzing yards after catch. Almost all of the things plugged into the formula represent outcomes […]

Posted by: Avinash on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

What’s Coming Up

As we’re now only weeks away from the season opener, we’ll be going to shorter posts every day. I’m setting up a rough schedule of what the next three months of Bears Necessity will look like, and hopefully I will adhere my best to it, with an occasional surprise here and there. I also will […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, August 4th, 2008

The Big Play

I hate this term. I hate this term more than Baby Boomers lamenting the thuggery of the NBA (and I really love basketball). I hate this term more than that dude from Florida with the billboards. I almost hate it more than that turdbox Skip Bayless. This term has dulled the minds of sports-loving Americans […]

Posted by: Avinash on Friday, August 1st, 2008

Ted Miller Really Loves the Pac-10 (But HATES Duck)

If you’ve been following this recent post-Washington columnist/now ESPN blogger, he finds some pretty good stuff around the Pac-10, which makes him a pretty good man for finding the various info that I need to know about the Pac-10. That being said, he’s been going a little nutty with his Pac-10 love the past few […]

Posted by: Avinash on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

What’s It Like Following A College Team?

There is always a deterministic sense of following hometown teams. I would guess that the majority of Cal fans are also Bay Area fans (or SoCal counterparts), and their emotions fall and rise with the As and the Giants, the 49ers and the Raiders, Warriors and Sharks. You associate with these teams earlier, it’ll always […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, July 21st, 2008

Pac-10 Podcast with In the Bleachers

I was on radio for the first time ever tonight. A podcast to be precise. The second biggest college football podcast behind the impeccable EDSBS Live. I give you warning before listening to the download–I was shaking like Charlie Brown meeting that red-headed girl. Unfortunately no one here to kiss on the cheek, except maybe […]

Posted by: Avinash on Thursday, July 17th, 2008

Dining in Hell: Cal-Michigan State Preview

Eight weeks to kickoff. A tantilizingly short eight weeks. Thankfully while we have a long and warm summer to bask in before we get there…oh wait, you mean this damned city is currently undergoing frigid fifty degree weather? That students are wearing sweaters instead of sundresses? That everyone is cold and implacable to one another […]

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

2008 Pac-10 Conference Odds

Doc Rivers as usual fouled up Game 3 by underusing Leon Powe (despite throttling Black Mamba here), so we’re not discussing the NBA today. Let’s move back to the pigskin. Thanks to VegasWatch, we now have our Pac-10 championship odds. USC -300 ASU +400 Oregon +600 Cal +800 UCLA +800 Arizona +2000 Washington +2000 Stanford […]

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

Juicing The Juice (or Putting the $ in U$C)

Hopefully you’ve been following the O.J. Mayo mess down at U$C, which has the potential to have a profound impact on the future of both Pac-10 basketball and football. The facts are still developing and it’s way too early to draw conclusions regarding the allegations. It’s also too early to try to figure out the […]

Posted by: Tony on Sunday, May 18th, 2008

Preliminary Cal Football TV Schedule

This is getting updated as the times come along. All times are PST. Saturday, August 30: Michigan State at Cal, 5 PM ABC Saturday, November 8: Cal at USC, 5 PM ABC Saturday, December 6: Washington at Cal, option for ESPN/ESPN2/FSN Interesting that we draw the ABC slot opening week, considering neither Michigan State or […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, May 5th, 2008