Terrible to lose to ASU at home

At the beginning of the year I predicted a pedestrian 7-5 record. That means that at this point in the year, I had pegged our record to be at 3-2. Instead it's a pathetic 1-4. And looking ahead at my picks, it'll be hard for Cal to flip two additional games on top of what I over-optimistically at the time had them winning.

For example, I had Cal winning the following games from here: UCLA, @Wazzu, Stanford, and Washington.

I had them losing to: @Utah, Oregon, @Oregon State.

I like to think of myself as a pretty fair-minded Cal fan. I picked us to lose in the Daily Cal to USC back in 2006 and almost got jumped by Cal fans in the bathroom of an In 'n Out on the way down I-5 for "being a sellout". But it's clear now that while predicting how this year would go in August, I was seeing things through blue-and-gold goggles, or rather, the perspective of a Cal fan/student who attended the school during a truly different era of Cal football. For example, playing ASU at home would have never been a worry 5-6 years ago. Beating Nevada at home would be a gimmie too. The thing that has stood out to me in the Nevada and ASU losses has been the lack of anything too concrete to point to. It's more a general feel of malaise and an overall lack of talent at pretty much every position on the field except for WR1 (Allen) and LB (McCain).

Zach Maynard makes Kevin Riley look like Drew Brees.

Tedford can't recruit good players because this program is stale. It's too bad the university owes Tedford so much money making it very unlikely barring a 1-11 finish that any changes will be made. But I hope Sandy Barbour is starting to think of viable alternatives. She can be applauded for the job she did replacing Braun with Monty. For the football team, Steve Mariucci comes to mind. Pete Carroll would be everyone's dream, seeing as though he's a Bay Area native, but it looks like his Seahawk team is pretty good so any hope of him getting canned is probably wishful thinking.

Looking at our body of work through five games, I'll say Cal wins 1 or 2 of the 4 games above I had them winning, and losing all three of the ones I had them losing. That puts us at 3-9 or 2-10 -- truly embarrassing.

We suck, and it's not getting better anytime soon

I was spelunking through the depths of my English major vocabulary trying to unearth the best word to encapsulate my feelings about Cal football at this, the one-third mark of the 2012 season.

Apoplectic? This is undeniably the worst start we've had in the 11 years of the Tedford Era -- we're 1-3 with the win coming against a FCS (I miss calling it I-AA) team. I feel like I should feel enraged. My boy Brendan Bigelow got only four carries against USC, despite the fact that he averaged almost eight yards on each of them. I feel like I should be pissed about this. But I don't.

Apathetic, then? Maybe I've reached a point with this season where I'm just done giving a shit. But that doesn't ring true for me either. I have the same nervous excitement for the Arizona State game tomorrow that I feel leading up to every Cal game. I still care.

And then it hit me: Disenfranchised. I feel cut off from my team for the first time in years. My quarterback might well be a total pansy, as my esteemed colleague Chris pointed out a few days ago. My coach is selling his house in Danville. Our designated star player has a whopping one receiving touchdown. My team has become the Bizarro Bears.

Defining Moment?

There has been a tremendous amount of noise around the interwebs regarding Coach Tedford's job status. X's and O's aside, this video below is the stuff that ultimately might do it.

It is one thing to get beat by a better team. It is another to just pack it in and call it a day. I don't know what Zach Maynard was thinking here and I don't care to know. I just thought for sure that he would be yanked after pulling some nonsense like this.

Worst of all, however, is that Tedford allowed Maynard to trot back out there to finish the game.

These two guys are the leaders of the program?

No wonder Cal is on the downswing.

Down only 11 points midway through the 4th quarter against a team like USC ... every down counts. And for the nuts out there who say what else could Maynard do there? Take a look at where CJ Anderson is for a second at the tail end of the play. Could that have been a pick? Sure. But an interception is 100 times better than just quitting on a play.

It's one thing for someone sitting at a computer like me to criticize (as if anyone actually cares what I think) but when your own teammates are wondering, that's when you know you have a problem.

Notice young Rigsbee's reaction (which pretty much says it all).

Staggering By the Numbers

Seems like most of us were down in L.A. so I'm sure we'll have plenty to write about Cal's 27-9 loss to USC but these little tidbits pretty much sums it up for now:

Coach Tedford overall record vs. USC:

1-10

Number of consecutive losses to USC:

9

Number of touchdowns scored in L.A. Coliseum after 2004 epic that was so long ago it shouldn't even be mentioned anymore:

2 (in four games/16 quarters)

* And those two scores came in true garbage time in 2010

Scoring average between USC & Cal in L.A. since 2006:

USC 29, Cal 9
USC 115 points total, Cal 35 points total


Holy. Cow.

When it comes to USC, the past is all Cal has (and it's time to get over it)

What do these three games have in common?

• Game 1: The luster of this game wore off as September and October turned into November. At one point, it seemed destined for this game to be THE game of the year. Both teams at one point were ranked in the top 5. One started as the preseason No. 1 in the country. The other rose all the way to No. 2. But losses to inferior teams at home (one to Stanford; the other to Oregon State) sent the teams tumbling. But both were ranked when the two met on a Saturday night in November. It was a cold and rainy Saturday night, with a constant and steady stream of light rain and with the darkest clouds making the scene even more dramatic. The home team hadn’t beat the away team in four years. It wore special throwback uniforms that year to honor a former great. It was looking to redeem a season against a huge rival. It got close. With three minutes left, the home team was down by a touchdown, and had the ball in enemy territory. But the quarterback—who struggled all season—could not hit his receiver and threw an interception to end the upset bid. The crowd of 72,000 was stunned, but not surprised. Remember, it was only a month ago that they were the No. 2 team in the country and saw their national title hopes crushed on a decision by a quarterback.

• Game 2: Revenge was on the mind of the home team here. Revenge and protecting what it believed to be theirs. It was a year ago that the visiting team ended the home team’s run for an outright national championship. And now they meet this year, this time in front of their 90,000 fans in a historic venue. The game was between two top 10 teams, as the visiting team slowly rose in the rankings, due to the play by its understated running back and its Quarterback who would become an NFL superstar. The game itself was amazing, especially for that said Quarterback. He completed his first 23 passes, tying a NCAA record and breaking a school record. But he couldn’t complete the passes that counted. The visiting team had 1^st-and-goal on its opponent’s 9-yard line. There were less than two minutes left and it was down six points. First down: the Quarterback is flushed out of the pocket and throws an incompletion. Second down: the Quarterback is sacked. Third down: another incomplete pass. Fourth down: an open a receiver in the end zone, a slip, and another incomplete pass. The visiting team outgained the home team 424-205 in total yards. It wasn’t enough. The home team avenged its loss from the year before and went on to win the outright national championship.

• Game 3: Both teams are facing resurgences. The visiting team is ranked No. 3 in the country for the first time since 1988. The home team finally has a heart beat after winning just one game two seasons before. The game is an epic one, so epic that the words written here would fail to do it justice. You might as well watch the whole thing (via Youtube), or at least watch the highlights. Just know that there were three overtimes. There was a turnover, three missed field goals, two touchdowns, and a nervous home kicker to win the game in overtime. The home team won, 34-31. The visiting team would have to settle for a share of the national championship this year. The win would be a program-maker for the home team.

So, what do these games have in common?

Brendan Bigelow is iPhone 5

Did I get my iPhone 5 today? Yes. Do I love it? Yes. Am I going to stretch the boundaries of acceptable sportswriting similes to incorporate my iPhone 5 into a post about Cal football? Yes, yes I am. Let's get to it!

Brendan Bigelow is iPhone 5. There, I said it. That felt fantastic.

iPhone 5 is small, one of the thinnest, lightest phones on the market; so is Brendan Bigelow. He is listed at 5' 10", 190 lbs, and if there's anything I learned in my days as a for-realzies sportswriter, it's that sports information directors inflate specs like Galaxy S3 owners.

iPhone 5 is powerful, with the new A6 processor; so is Brendan Bigelow. He was a top-rated running back recruit despite missing his entire senior year with a blown-out knee.

Lastly -- and most importantly -- iPhone 5 is fast, and holy shit so is Brendan Bigelow. Anyone watching last Saturday's nationally televised game against Ohio State got crazy proof of that.

(Quick tangent: Anyone who took my not-so-amazing gambling advice last week definitely knows about Bigelow's speed. His two TD runs helped Cal cover the 16.5 point spread I insisted was uncover-able. For those who may have wagered every penny of their net worth on that game after my impassioned plea to do so, um ... my bad?)

More thoughts on USC week

One of my biggest pleasures watching football since I've been watching football was the confidence I had in Jeff Tedford and his staff. There was a period of time (maybe somewhere between 2003-2007) when I just knew going into a game that Cal had the advantage in the coaching department (both in terms of preparation and in-game management).

For obvious reasons, that confidence has dissipated over the years so all could imagine the joy of watching the Bears perform like they did last week against Ohio State. Was it partly luck? Maybe. Sometimes things just "click" on the field for no apparent reason only to go back towards the norm the following week.

Let's all hope that's not the case this time around.

Coaches often talk about football as a chess match and Cal vs. USC (from 2002-2008) really defined that mantra. The amount of preparation, attention to detail and overall effectiveness and crispness of the play on the field when the two programs butted heads was obvious as each game came to a close. Players played hard, knew their assignments, knew their opponents and generally exuded a confidence that all winning programs have deep in their gut. You could just tell the stress that Tedford put on Carroll and vice versa.

What changed in 2009, 2010, and 2011? We can and have speculated ad nauseum, but only Tedford can truly answer that question.

Over the last year three seasons, instead of playing like an equal to USC, the Bears crumbled at the first sign of adversity, never showing a hint of desperation or will to fight back. That's why last week's contest against tOSU was so encouraging. Not saying Cal is going to win, because it's going to be damn tough to do so for more reasons than one, but I'll feel better about how the rest of the season is going to play out for the Bears if they hang on strong against a USC team itching to erase the nasty taste of the Stanford loss off their collective psyches.

Having said all that (and even though I don't think the Bears are going to pull this one out), I honestly feel that Cal walks into the Coliseum on Saturday with a coaching advantage for the first time in a while. Tedford needs to show more consistency before anyone is ready to say the old Tedford is back but for one week the Tedford against tOSU did indeed look like the Tedford of old. On that same front, I've never been a huge fan of Lane Kiffin (I'm a Raiders fan) and after watching him in the college ranks for three years now I'm still not entirely sold.

Thank goodness Cal doesn't have this guy leading its program

Since his failed days in Oakland, Kiffin has showed time and time again that he is incredibly stubborn when coaching a game. Against Stanford last week, I felt that a truly great coach would've come up with a strategy to protect his AA quarterback as the second half rolled along. Instead, Kiffin stuck to his guns and it hurt USC tremendously. 

Is it a big advantage? We'll see. In years past, the x's and o's between these two teams were a mirror image of each other: two pro-style offenses looking to establish the run in an attempt to be balanced. This time though, with Cal going all-in with its spread principles, we'll see what happens after one team throws the first punch.

OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS

-- I can't emphasize enough how great the game-plan was against tOSU. That was vintage 2003 Jeff Tedford.

-- Forget the call to kick the FG late in the fourth quarter last week. Tedford has always and will always make that call. Why people were shocked by that was beyond comprehension for me.

-- Coming into the season teams were going to key on Keenan and that obviously hasn't changed. So imagine my pleasant surprise when the Bears started to move Keenan around a little bit on Saturday (especially in the slot). Beautiful execution by the coaching staff.

-- Zack Maynard played the best game of his career last week against tOSU. In all honestly, he probably won't put together another game like that the rest of his life.

--Also on Maynard, it'll be nice if a Cal center could give him a string of waist high snaps for once.

-- Major (and I do mean major) props to Wes Chandler. He has gotten his unit to play tremendously. The wide receivers as a whole have been the biggest surprise so far this early season. Treggs, Harper, and Powe have all been contributors way sooner than expected. I've been most impressed with the blocking of these three and the rest of the receivers to be honest. Just take a look at the blocking on Bigelow's big run below. Treggs literally held his block for four seconds. Outstanding.



-- On Bigelow ... let's not get too carried away with the Jahvid comparisons. Is Brendon explosive? Absolutely. A ton of potential? Sure. Jahvid? I don't think so. Let's wait till the end of the season before making any assumptions.

-- Chris McCain is an absolute stud. When it's all said and done and their pro careers are over, don't be surprised if McCain ends up being the best of the North Carolina crew.

--  Leadership: something Cal has been lacking lately. Could that tOSU game be a turning point? We'll see.

USC week

There must be a mandatory viewing of this video, seeing as though our opponent this week is USC.

My two favorite things from this video are:
1. Tedford's "total lack of respect" bit, which has become a running joke among my friends and me whenever anything happens that remotely resembles a lack of respect. (Example: Bouncer lets everyone in the club except for Chris)
2. Whoever is yelling, "Wooooooowwwahhah" in the background. My educated guess is that it was this guy.

Nobody ever questioned Joe Maningo's heart or balls.

Tedford's lose-lose/win-win situation

Tedford was always going to be criticized for
 his fourth down decision.
(AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

Let’s agree on this first: if Cal coach Jeff Tedford had gotten that 4^th-and-1 call “right,” there would be no debate and no outrage.

Getting it “right” in this case would have been Tedford making a decision and his team successfully executing it. At the same time, getting it “wrong” was Tedford making a decision and his team failing at execution.

Tedford, after seeing his team tie Ohio State 28-28 and his defense forcing a turnover, let the play clock run down, called time out (we’ll talk about this later) and sent Vince D’Amato out for the 42-yard field goal attempt.

We all know what happened. Tedford—in the eyes of many—was emphatically “wrong.” As the distraught fan in the row in front of me at Ohio Stadium expressed as the Buckeyes celebrated a 35-28 victory over Cal: “Fire Tedford! Fire Tedford! Fire Tedford!”

Decision was more a toss up than people make it seem

I left Ohio Stadium the least upset I have ever been after a Cal loss. Disappointed, yes, but proud of Cal’s effort and far more optimistic about the Bears future than a week ago. When I expressed this sentiment to a Cal fan at the airport this morning, he shook his head and said this is why the Bears are stuck in mediocrity. He immediately brought up the 4th-and-1. “You need to pound the ball and demoralize them there. That’s when we lost all the momentum.”

First, as a side note, I think people often weigh terms like “momentum” and “confidence” far too greatly. The double-lateral, Keenan Allen-to-Zach Maynard pass two minutes into the fourth quarter clearly fired up the team, and C.J. Anderson’s run into the end zone on the very next play brought everyone in Blue and Gold to a complete frenzy. What happened next? Ohio State had their most methodical drive of the day: 11 plays, 75 yards in less than four minutes (plus a two-point conversion). Momentum stopped just like that.

But back to the decision. If I were coach, I would have gone for it on fourth down. In the second half, Cal backs carried the ball 14 times and gained positive yardage in 12 of the attempts, looking especially good in short yardage situations. Meanwhile, Vince D’Amato will be lucky to hover between 50 to 60 percent on kicks over 40 yards this season. But even though I disagree with Tedford’s decision, it was really a toss up there. Tedford wanted the lead. He had two nines against an eight at the blackjack table and decided not to split the cards.

Converting the fourth down and scoring a touchdown compared to just getting a field goal would not have guaranteed victory by any means. Braxton Miller showed he became more dangerous as the field shortened (5 TDs, 0 FGs). If the Buckeyes were going to score again, chances are it was going to be another touchdown. Even if Cal had a seven-point lead, an Ohio State score would have probably meant overtime. I don’t know about you, but the vision of the Buckeyes starting at the 25 every procession and D’Amato having five times more pressure than any of his previous kicks is rather unappealing to me.

For me, the decision really came down to what gave Cal the best chance to score—either field goal or touchdown. Assuming you get a first down, you’re still risking turnovers and penalties, not to mention the potential reward only being a 35-yard attempt rather than a 42. For me, it was still worth the gamble, but I don’t the percentages were as clear-cut as many fans make it seem.

Quick note about my Ohio experience: I agree with Brian’s assessment below, and I was surprised how many people did not know the Buckeyes were coming to Berkeley to complete the home-and-home next season when I asked if we would be seeing them in 2013. But everyone was more than welcoming and genuinely hoping we were had a good time in Columbus.

Jeff Tedford outcoached Urban Meyer on Saturday

My last post was intended to draw attention to the rising tides in the Pac-12 conference in terms of coaching quality. The obvious point was to underline how stagnant Jeff Tedford has been as the leader of the Cal football program and explain how the game is flying past us as we stay treading water with Tedford. However, I'll unequivocally say it: Tedford had a superior game plan to Urban Meyer and it almost led the Bears to what would have been one of their top three road wins in the entire Tedford era (the other two being the 2007 win at Autzen and the 2002 win in East Lansing).

Zach Maynard found a nice rhythm against Ohio State.

Tedford's game plan was to keep things short and simple for Zach Maynard and the Cal offense. The premise (a simple one, really, but executed well) was that Cal's offense could compete with the OSU defense in 3rd-and-5 or less situations, and take short chunks to make it down the field. This worked well, along with a nice running game that frankly surprised me. The offensive line, which has been pretty bad this year, continued to not protect Maynard very well in instances where his first read wasn't available in the passing game. However, they got a nice push in the running game and created some problems for the Buckeyes. Tedford seemed to mix run and pass very well in this game, and this conservative "ball possession" offense served the Bears well.

Cal vs. Ohio State: Easy money

According to ESPN.com, Cal is currently anywhere from a 16- to 17-point underdog against Ohio State in Saturday's game in Columbus. This is utterly shocking to me.

Despite the fact that I recently posted about the inevitability of the end of Cal football, I have been since 2002 (when I began my freshman year in Berkeley) and remain a true blue Cal fan. As such, I have never bet against the Bears. But a line like this seems like such tantalizingly easy money, it's hard for me to not hop in my Kia, drive as fast as possible (which is to say, not very -- I drive a freaking KIA) to the Nevada state line and bet every penny I have on the Buckeyes.

Seriously, can you envision any scenario in which Cal loses by less than three touchdowns that doesn't involve the earth beneath the Horseshoe suddenly opening up and this happening:

Hell, even if Liam Neeson did summon a mythological behemoth to devour half the Ohio State players and coaches (and the refs conferred and decided, "Yeah, we really should let this one play out"), I would still find it hard to believe the Bears managed to trim the gap to 15 points.

My point is: This is probably the best financial opportunity our generation has seen since the Google IPO.

So, flip your Cal hats backwards, pull a sweater over your "Who's Domicile?" shirt and get to Vegas/Atlantic City/legalized gambling locale before 9AM PST on Saturday.

You can thank me later.

(I'd like to sign off with a rousing "Go Bears," but if we're wise there will be a lot of money at stake here.... So, um, go ... Kraken?)

Will Cal football be "Done in 21?"

Cal Athletics has been running this promotion wherein they're offering $21 tickets to tomorrow's Southern Utah game, ostensibly to celebrate that Memorial Stadium renovations were completed in 21 months. (In reality, it's just a thinly veiled excuse to beg fans to come see a crappy team beat up on an even crappier team.)

Given the endless stream of media coverage concerning concussions, sub-concussions and their longterm impact on the brain (I read this particularly captivating/mega-depressing article on the subject recently on Grantland), is it fair to postulate the following:

Will Memorial Stadium, in its current capacity as a football venue, be "Done in 21?"

Let me rephrase the question: Using 21 years as a convenient over/under, when will Memorial Stadium cease hosting football games?

Let me rephrase again: When will Cal football no longer exist?

I want to make clear that I am targeting Berkeley specifically. I have heard the talking heads blabber about how no amount of neuroscience will ever scare away Southerners from their football -- at least, not in significant numbers. But isn't it fair to argue that, if any institution were to get rid of football due to health concerns legitimated ad nauseum by freaking science, it would be UC Berkeley?

Two decades sounds about right to me. Will the school abandon ship anytime soon after sinking $321 million into the renovation project? No, probably not, unless a player dies on the field.

(Could you imagine the fallout if this injury

hadn't ended as miraculously well as it did? I was in the stands when that happened and was prepared to never watch another down of football for the rest of my life if Jahvid had died -- and I was not alone among my fellow patrons in those terrifying moments in wondering whether that had actually happened.)

But two decades from now? I could see it happening.

I'm not sure how I'd feel about it either. Over the last couple seasons, I've noticed that the NBA has supplanted college football as my favorite sport. I like that I don't feel the same pangs of guilt when I watch LeBron drive to the hoop as I do when watching a DB crush a defenseless receiver over the middle. It was fine when we all thought the worst that could happen is he would have a bad back when he got older. But now we know the worst is SO. MUCH. WORSE! We're talking depression, loss of motor control, dementia, suicide. I'll miss football when it goes away, but I think it is for the best.

(Yes, when. This is a not an "if" question. The only way football survives is if it literally becomes flag football. And I don't imagine the NFL will continue to bring in billions of dollars in annual revenue if the players are wearing shorts with bright flags hanging off their waists.)

I'm getting married in roughly nine months. I look forward to starting a life with my fiancé and one day having a kid. If he's a boy, would I let him play football, knowing what we all know now? Absolutely, unequivocally no effing way. While we're on the subject of parenting, I also wouldn't give him a gift basket filled with syringes of heroin on his 12th birthday. Shocking, I know.

Someday, in the next 10 to 20 years, I'll take my kid to Memorial Stadium. We'll sit in the stands and cheer for the Golden Bears until we're hoarse. The sun will set over the San Francisco Bay, and we'll take in every minute of it.

But we will be watching a college soccer match.

Done in 21? Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I'm taking the under. The alternative just seems barbaric.

Evolution of Pac-12 coaching 2002-present

The following is a list of Pac-12 football coaches in 2002 when Jeff Tedford was hired at Cal, and below the current crop of coaches. Analyzing the two lists may shed some light on the recent performance of the Cal football program.

2002
Washington: Rick Neuheisel (final year, replaced in '03 by Keith Gilbertson)
Washington State: Mike Price (final year, replaced in '03 by Bill Doba)
Oregon: Mike Bellotti
Oregon State: Dennis Erickson (final year, replaced in '03 by Mike Riley)
Stanford: Buddy Teevans
UCLA: Bob Toledo (final year, replaced in '03 by Karl Dorrell)
USC: Pete Carroll
Arizona: John Mackovic
Arizona State: Dirk Koetter
Utah: Ron McBride (final year, replaced in '03 by Urban Meyer)
Colorado: Gary Barnett

2012
Washington: Steve Sarkisian
Washington State: Mike Leach
Oregon: Chip Kelly
Oregon State: Mike Riley
Stanford: David Shaw
UCLA: Jim Mora
USC: Lane Kiffin
Arizona: Rich Rodriguez
Arizona State: Todd Graham
Utah: Kyle Whittingham
Colorado: Jon Embree

The good ol' days were when this guy was our rivals coach.

Going through the list one-by-one, I'll rank them as I see the coaches now as an upgrade, a downgrade, or neutral.

Washington -- Upgrade. As much as it pains Cal fans given his recent comments, I think anyone would agree Sarkisian has injected more life in that program than it had when Neuheisel's scandal-ridden era was coming to an end, and Gilby was about to take over.

Wazzu -- Upgrade. Mike Price, the guy who was fired before he coached one game in Alabama, and then Bill Doba, who was a very nice man but didn't get results on the field, are not in Mike Leach's league, though it may take Leach a little time to get some players up there.

Oregon -- Slight upgrade. Bellotti got pretty good results year in and year out with the Ducks, but his teams were never quite on the level of Kelly's, who are now seemingly always 1 or 2 in the conference and in the Top 10 conversation on a yearly basis.

Oregon State -- Neutral. I say neutral because Mike Riley was about to come and he is still the coach. Dennis Erickson has coached about half of the conference at one point or another it seems.

Stanford -- Major upgrade. Buddy Teevans vs. anyone else would be a major upgrade. Except maybe Walt Harris.

UCLA -- Neutral. Toledo had his successes in the 90's at various times, but by 2002 his tenure had soured. Dorrell, as we know, was a less than capable replacement, food for thought for those who want Tedford out regardless of who replaces him.

USC -- Slight downgrade. I've never been more impressed with a college coach than I was with Pete Carroll during his time at USC. Kept his players loose, they had fun, and they dominated with a few notable exceptions. Though he has a No. 1 ranked team at present, Lane Kiffin needs to show me he can actually win something meaningful, which he hasn't done so far in his career.

Arizona -- Upgrade. John Mackovic was about to give way to Mike Stoops, both of whom an impartial observer would easily label as failures in the desert. Rich Rod's coaching style should suit the warmer climate much better than it did the Big 10.

Arizona State -- Slight upgrade. Nothing meant easy win more than a date on the schedule with Koetter's Sun Devils. Todd Graham is fairly untested, but it's hard to say he could be worse than Koetter.

Utah -- Upgrade. McBride, like Toledo, had had some success in the 90s but when he gave way to Meyer in 2003, Utah football turned a corner for the better and after two years when Meyer left, Whittingham has done a solid job of keeping Utah pretty competitive.

Colorado -- Slight upgrade. I have to go with a former Redskins tight ends coach here over a guy (Barnett) who is best known for this incident.

That's five schools who definitely have superior coaches now and another three where I think it is an upgrade, but you could make a case that I might be wrong. Still, even if only one of the three I deemed a "slight upgrade" is in fact an upgrade, that still makes over half of the schools with better coaches. There are two neutrals (UCLA and Oregon State) and the only downgrade in my opinion is of the school in USC that is nonetheless still the top team in the country.

This begs the question, has the Cal program regressed under Tedford since Riley's scramble ran out the clock against OSU in '07? Or is it that the Pac-12 has upgrade significantly in the coaching department since 2002 and Tedford has simply stayed more or less the same?

Quick Nevada bits

There's so much stuff about the program that we probably should write about, some of which I'll get to later in the week, but for now, some quick observations after Cal's painful 31-24 loss to Nevada:

-- First of all, give Nevada some credit. The Wolf Pack came in with a chip on their shoulder and they didn't play scared. Folks, there is a reason Chris Ault is in the Hall of Fame. The guy is simply one of the better coaches that's ever graced the sidelines and the way his team played on Saturday proved that.

-- I was thoroughly surprised and impressed at how accurate Cody Fajardo was. Regardless of what defense Cal was or was not playing, it's very difficult for a college quarterback to consistently hit his spots but Fajardo did that over and over again. Props to him.

-- I also enjoyed the tweaks Ault made to his Pistol offense. Ault hired an orchestrator of the Hawaii offense onto his staff this year and that influence really showed. In comparison to years' past, I didn't see a whole lot of wide receiver motions and misdirections to open up running lanes. What I saw was more straight forward one-move-go type schemes. Very impressive.

I'll be happy if I never have to see this guy against Cal again

  -- It must be fun to be Matthew Galas today. The younger brother of Cal's Dominic Galas, Matthew consistently opened up holes for the guys playing behind him. The younger Galas, making his first career start at center, was considered too small to play at the top BCS level by numerous schools (including Cal) yet looked better than all six linemen the Bears put on the field Saturday.

--On that note, the most disappointing aspect of the game was the play in the trenches. Cal was simply beaten up front by a team that was better coached, better prepared, and better conditioned. Spooky stuff considering the talent disparity between the two programs.

-- Before the season began, I thought Cal's offensive line was a huge question mark, but I didn't think they would look this bad. Getting beat off the ball by USC or the like is one thing, but playing to a stalemate by a small Nevada defensive line is atrocious. Now with the news that right tackle Matt Summers-Gavin is scheduled for a MRI on his knee, things are only going to get worse.

-- Five carries for Isi Sofele? Really!?

-- The most alarming stat of the day: FIVE TACKLES by the Bears' defensive line. Coleman (2), Tipoti (1), Kaufusi (1), Payne (1). For a team that ran the ball FIFTY SEVEN TIMES, that is scary bad.

-- There is a reason Coach Howard was available two days before signing day. Just saying.

-- Chris McCain and Brennan Scarlett are both eventual NFL players. Still raw, but the physical talent is obvious.

-- Don't know why people are bagging on Zack Maynard. He is who he is. If he couldn't complete 60 percent of his passes at Buffalo, why would anyone expect he could tear up the Pac-12? It's really not his fault he's forced to start.

-- And as for this whole deal about Maynard's "suspension" and academics being a big issue at Cal in comparison to other schools? Please. 

-- Though I picked Cal to finish 4-8 this year, even I was surprised that the Bears dropped this one. On a day of celebration and reverie, there was no way in the world I thought Cal would find a way to lose this game.

Not. This. Game.

But on that same note, I knew coming into the season that the Bears simply weren't going to be that good. And when a team isn't that good, crap like Saturday tends to happen.

GO BEARS!