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.
Cynical (realistic?) fans might argue this has been happening for years, but I've always held out hope. It bums me out that I find myself struggling to do so now.
If we look at the season objectively, we had two games go pretty much exactly how we thought they would: We blew out Southern Utah and got blown out by USC. The other two games were the surprises. We all assumed we would whoop on Nevada; instead we lost in a close one. We figured we'd get humiliated on the road against Ohio State; we ended up giving the Buckeyes a huge scare in one of the best coached and played Cal games I've seen in years.
And so, here we are, 1-3, with a little good (the Ohio State moral victory), a little bad (Nevada? Really??) and a lot of the same (Southern Utah and USC). I wasn't feeling disenfranchised before the season, and it's gone roughly according to how we figured it would. What changed?
I touched on it four paragraphs above, but let me recap: The Bizarro Bears are not good. Mediocre (at best) QB, stubborn coach, atrocious offensive line, laughable secondary -- your 2012 California Golden Bears, everybody! The bright spots have been our young receivers and Bigelow (natch).
Going into the season, I knew we wouldn't be the 2004 Bears by any means, but I figured we'd be good enough to, with a break here or there, go 7-5 and make a decent bowl game. Now? Let's pull a Woody Paige and take a look at the schedule (I've tried to be as unbiased as possible in my assessments of each remaining game):
Vs. Arizona State -- toss up
Vs. UCLA -- loss
@ Washington State -- toss up
Vs. Stanford -- loss
@ Utah -- win
Vs. Washington -- loss
Vs. Oregon -- loss
@ Oregon State -- loss
So, that's one for-sure win and five certain losses left in our remaining eight games. Let's assume we play well in the two toss-up games, and they both go out way. That puts us at three wins and five losses. Add that to our 1-3 record, and you get a very much bowl-inelligible standing of 4-8.
I swear I'm not trying to be harsh. The Pac-12 has proved to be really good this year. Oregon State is 2-0 with both wins coming against teams ranked among the top 20! Oregon blanked No. 22 Arizona last weekend! Stanford knocks off a top-10 team, gets into the top-10 itself, then gets upset by Washington! UCLA and Arizona have both posted top-20 upsets! The Pac-12 is exciting and awesome this year!
Too bad we're the bug on the windshield.
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