Cal fake field goal hopefully a harbinger of things to come

Chris kinda already stole what I wanted to write about thisweek. But—seeing that Chris has been doing the heavy lifting as of late—I’ll continue the spirit here in this space, offering what might not be anything new, but at least gives our one loyal reader something else to waste his time at work with.

There are a few plays that have stuck with me in my time connected with Cal football (either as a student, a fan, or a “reporter”).

I—and probably other Cal fans—gleefully look back on most of these plays. Some still haunt us as we make that trek to the stadium or sit down to watch a game on TV. Others make is revel in the nostalgia of what was and what could have been. It’s the highlight reel of all the moments that have defined Cal football in the 21^st century.

There’s First and Goal from the Nine Yard Line. There’s DeSean’s Punt Return No. 1 and DeSean’s Punt Return No. 2. And The Hit. And DeSean Punt Return No. 3. Javid’s Run. And let’s not forget about Kevin Riley.

And yet for all the big plays that have happened over the past decade, only a few of them seemed to capture the imagination of Cal fans like the play Sonny Dykes drew up to end his team’s first drive Saturday.

It was the first drive of the Dykes Era. It was the first drive of the Bear Raid offense. And it stalled on Northwestern’s 11-yard line. 

Cal fans were content with what they saw in the Bear Raid’s first series under the direction of offensive coordinator Tony Franklin. The Bears played relatively conservative, running the ball mostly, and making sure that true frosh Jared Goff wasn’t thrown immediately into the fire.

The drive stalled and out trotted the field goal unit to pick up the three points. Cal fans clapped. “Good first drive,” I heard in the bar where I was watching the game. I looked at some fans and we all nodded in agreement. There couldn’t be a better way to start the game, given the circumstances.

But there was.

It’s two days later and I’m still thinking about that play, and the way that Cal fans reacted to it, from polite golf claps and the “I’ll take the three points here” comments, to the gasps when Vince D’Amato stood up, to the sheer explosion of joy when Jackson Bouza caught the ball and ran into the end zone.

#Chills. #Goosebumps. #HeCalledWhat?!

There was moxie and magic in that play calling. There was a cavalier attitude in a high-reward, high-risk situation, something that has been missing in the shadows of Strawberry Canyon for at least half a decade, maybe more.

It’s two days later and I still can’t get that moment out of my mind. There was hope in that calling that play. There was hope in the execution.

I’m going to go so far to say that it doesn’t matter that Cal didn’t win Saturday. It did matter how the Bears played. And if Dykes continues to lead Cal in the same fashion, then he certainly has my attention.

The last time I had that same visceral reaction to Cal football happened on Sept. 29, 2007, when the Bears went into Autzen Stadium and gutted out a 31-24 win over Oregon. The win catapulted Cal to No. 3 in the nation. The team went to No. 2 the following week. And the rest is the reason why Cal is in the position it finds itself today.

There was genuine joy on the field that rainy Saturday in Eugene, in the stands, and—most importantly—on the sidelines in the coach’s box, where Jeff Tedford—with a big grin on his face—pointed to the Cal section at Autzen Stadium and raised his fists in glory.

That same joy is back at Memorial Stadium. Joy and hope mixed with a little bit of moxie.

It’s time to add that fake field goal to the highlight reel.

It’s two days later and I know that I’ll be talking about that play for years to come.