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).
You talked last week about leadership. What a complete absence of it exhibited in that play.
ReplyDeleteWhat did he lose, like 5 yards on this play? 11 points down with 12 minutes to go -- the game was far from over, and every yard counts. Give your punter a better chance to pin them back. This is really despicable.
ReplyDeleteMy only explanation is that since there are no sticks on that side, he got confused and thought the LOS was at the 15 instead of the 20 and thought he was making a small gain on the play. That is still pretty bad because it shows extremely poor situational awareness, but that's better than giving up.
ReplyDeleteNice point, Jeff. That's a logical explanation so can't really argue that (if that's really what Maynard was thinking).
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