(Written by kencraw)

I’m mentioned in the past both the shotgun nature of the protestors arguments and that they’re willing to be entirely disingenuous. Today’s article in the SF Chronicle about the hiccups in the injunction against the tree-sitters has a quote that makes it perfectly clear how much they’re willing to try any argument that might gain traction, whether or not they actually believe it:

“Maybe the university realized – don’t move these hippies, you’ll jinx the winning streak,” said the tree-sitters’ attorney, Dennis Cunningham. The Cal Bears football team is ranked No. 3 nationally and has not lost a game since the protesters climbed into the oaks on Dec. 2.

I mean how low can you go? Don’t move us… you’ll jinx the winning streak!?!

It’s one thing for a Cal fan to suggest something like that, like the one I referenced in the original injunction post comments, particularly considering those comments are often in jest, but it’s something entirely to actually promote it in an interview with a reporter.

What jerks. I didn’t think it was possible for me to lose any more respect for these guys, particularly considering I haven’t had any respect for these guys for a long time, but somehow they managed to go even lower.

(Written by kencraw)

Sorry for the delay. Despite recording it from outside my hotel room on Saturday night, today was the first opportunity I had to take the audio and the interviews to make a single podcast file. I also apologize for how heavy my breathing is in the podcast. I didn’t have my good microphone with me and I was outside in the drizzle and cold walking down the street at 12:30 in the middle of the night (my hotel mates wouldn’t have appreciated me recording it from the room and demanding silence from them). It made it so that I was both breathing more heavily than usual and made it so the recorder was picking up more of that breathing. Perhaps I was still also out of breath from such a big win too. 🙂

In any case, you can find it over on the podcast page and as promised it has interview clips from post game interviews, including Tedford, Longshore, Forsett, Hawkins and Williams.

(Written by kencraw)

Time for my regular post, reviewing the TV coverage. Here are my thoughts:

• One of the things I hate about TV coverage is that you can’t see the entire play. They zoom in WAY too much. Nothing more showed this than Cal’s first play of the game. From the stadium, DeSean streaking down the field fairly open was obvious to everyone, but it was not shown on TV until 2 plays later in review. So for those of you out there (that means you Dad) who think you get a better view of the game at home on the TV in your comfy lazyboy, you have no clue. You’re missing half the game.
• Although I liked the opening play call by Tedford, despite the wrong read by Longshore, the next two play calls were pretty weak. Slow developing out patterns, including screens, aren’t going to get the job done against a fast defense like Oregon. Overall a bad set of downs, but not on the field, mostly from the coaches box.
• I had forgotten that on Oregon’s first possession and first set of downs, they converted a critical 3rd and long when Cal lost contain on Dixon and he scrambled up the middle for 9 yards. This will be come more obvious throughout my notes, but I feel that the Cal defense did pretty darned well, forcing a lot of 3rd downs, but Oregon got lucky/scrambled well on a number of broken plays to keep drives alive.
• Of course just after I say that, the Cal defense blows their coverage in a huge way giving up what should have been an easy TD… if Dixon hadn’t over-thrown it. Thinking back now, it was Dixon, not Longshore who had accuracy problems, wasn’t it?
• As much as Tedford admitted to being stubburn about trying to establish the run early, Oregon was similarly as stubborn about loading the box and refusing to allow Tedford to establish the run. The passing lanes were surprisingly open early.
• Notice that on both of Cal’s first two offensive series, “noise fouls” were crucial to stalling the drive. On the first drive, a delay of game killed what was looking like a successful 3rd down conversion. On the 2nd series, on the final set of downs the 2nd down play would have been a 1st down had a 5 yard false start not given Cal a 2nd and 15 instead of a 2nd and 10. Luckily for Cal, the rest of the game, with one notable exception, was mostly penalty free.
• I don’t know why it bugs me so much, but I feel like the no huddle “cheats” the no substitution after breaking the huddle rule. Oregon ran a player onto the field after the other 10 had already lined up and set. How is that, conceptually anyway, not a substitution that breaks the spirit of the huddle/substitution rules? This is not a knock on Oregon, they’re just doing their best to take advantage of the current rules which is what every team tries to do, but in my opinion, some rule changes are needed to either remove the huddle/substitution rules or figure out how to make the no huddle subject to the conceptual rule that the offense has to select its personnel early (before the huddle breaks) to allow the defense to make adjustment substitutions.
• After the Bears did a pretty good job on the first possession of tackling well, the 2nd series was not so encouraging. It was if the defense got tired quickly. The big run by Stewart was what setup the field goal.
• On the other hand, Dixon continued in his weak performance by not seeing a wide open receiver in the endzone on 2nd down and then by throwing behind a receiver on third down. The more I see, the more I think Dixon stunk up this game, particularly knowing what is to come. Still, they were able to get a “free” field goal off of the bad tackling, Oregon up 3-0.
• I don’t know what these anouncers are smoking. Longshore was getting plenty of time to throw and the “pressure” wasn’t “getting to him”.
• I asked Forsett in a post-game interview if Jahvid Best coming into the game lit a fire under him. Forsett mis-understood my question and thought I was asking about competition or animosity. But after seeing Best come in and get the first meaningful rushing yards of the game and then Forsett come back in and get his game running, I’m confident that the both of them push each other to new heights.
• On Cal’s first trip to the red zone, Cal had the wrong receiver for that deep slant at the goal line. If you’re going to try a slant like that you want a big physical receiver like Hawkins who can shield the defender from the ball. Jordon, although good, isn’t the best guy for that, Hawkins is. Oh well, scored tied at 3-3.
• The more times I see Ezeff’s personal foul that kept alive the drive that resulted in Oregon’s first TD, the more I think Ezeff didn’t foul. Stewart was breaking his legs out of a tackle and was just inches out of bounds as he lunged forward into Ezeff who was diving at Stewart. There was no way Ezeff could have pulled up. Now, I’m not criticizing the refs. It’s OK that they call that penalty tight. I’m just saying that nobody should be upset with Ezeff because of that. That was just playing snap to whistle. In any case, two plays later Oregon was in the end zone. 10-3.
• Cal just didn’t seem to have the fire in their belly on that last drive of the 1st half, going 3 and out. That was probably the most disappointing moment of the game for me. With Oregon getting the ball back to start the 2nd half and Stewart starting to make in-roads on Cal, it seemed to me that Cal needed to match Oregon’s TD to end the half. Perhaps that weak effort was a useful tool for motivation at halftime.
• In the 2nd half, Oregon’s first possession was key. It was a chance for them to extend to a larger than one-score lead, but they really blew it with that conservative play call on 3rd and 1 that Cal was able to stuff. I don’t know if Cal would have been able to stop Oregon further down the field on that drive with how holes were opened up for Stewart on the preceeding plays.
• At the same time, man did the Cal offense come to play in the 2nd half! Forsett’s run mid-drive after nearly getting tackled 5 yards in the background, that he somehow managed to turn into a 7 yard gain despite 3 or 4 defenders having a shot at him, was a thing of beauty. In fact, Forsett was just on fire that first possesion on every carry.
• From the pressbox I didn’t have an angle to see how close Kay’s missed field goal was. On TV, they don’t have a good angle either because they’ve got no depth perception, but it was definitely a close one wasn’t it? One point on that, how can a field goal NOT be reviewable!?! Good going Pac-10. (Not that this one needed to be, but in general, it needs to be reviewable.)
• It was so great to see DeSean finally get some man coverage situations. He hasn’t done well with the extra attention he has got, but when he’s got man coverage, he’s SOOOO good at getting his cornerback turned around. His first TD of the season, the 3rd quarter easy pass from Longshore, was a thing of beauty. I’m glad the TV coverage showed the route because from the pressbox it was obvious and clear that it was a TD as soon as DeSean made his cut, assuming Longshore saw him. Cal ties it up 10-10.
• Oregon definitely got back a sense of urgency after that TD by Cal. They went from no-huddle to psuedo hurry-up and I think the tempo change more than anything was the reason the Cal defense was unable to hold Oregon yet again and left Colvin open to streak across the field for a TD. Ducks back on top 17-10.
• Cal really owned the 3rd quarter and early 4th quarter. Minus that one long TD pass for Oregon, Cal’s defense really stuck it to Oregon, forcing 3, 3 and out possessions. At the same time, the Cal offense was able to score 21 in 4 possessions, the 4th being a 70 yard drive with a missed field goal attempt. After the two scores separated by only a 3 and out from Oregon, Cal has gone from down 7 to up by a TD, 24-17.
• Speaking of that 2nd TD, wasn’t it just too sweet that DeSean was able to tip-toe down the sideline for a TD. Oregon had been using that sideline all game and it was nice to see Oregon have to swallow some of their own medicine.
• OK, DeSean had a great game, so I have a hard time saying this, but on the first play after the kickoff turnover (which by the way was bound to happen with how poorly Oregon had been fielding the chip-shot kickoff all game), Longshore threw a fade to DeSean in the corner of the endzone (and I thought this both in the pressbox and when I saw it on TV, even after re-watching it 3 times) DeSean gave up on that pass a step before the ball got there. I think DeSean thought it was coming harder than it was and so out of reach, but he should have caught that ball… and it would have been the dagger in the hearts of everyone in Oregon, going up by 14. Instead a holding penalty and a coverage sack later, Cal has to punt despite starting the possession in field-goal range.
• The Cal defense looked really sloppy/lazy on the next possession. I don’t know what the story was but after Cal got two back to back possessions there is no reason they should have been tired. Perhaps they thought the game was in the bag and expected to be up by 14 just like I did after that fumble. Whatever it was, this was the worst swing of the 2nd half. Cal went from being up 7 and ready to strike in the redzone after being unstoppable thus far in the 2nd half, to tied in the blink of a lazy defender’s eye. 24-24
• I thought it was a huge statement about the lack of confidence Tedford and staff have in backup QB Riley in that when he came in they refused to have him throw the ball even on the 2nd play when there was no way a rush up the middle by Forsett was going to convert a 3rd and 10 against an Oregon defense that knows a backup QB is in the game. Mark my words, unless Riley gains some confidence from the coaching staff, there’s going to be another backup QB competition next off-season when Brock is eligible.
• That INT by Dixon on the ensuing possession was a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE mistake. If you need a perfect play to say Dixon folds under pressure, that’s the one. They’ve battled back, they just forced Longshore out of the game, how can you throw a pick on first down? I call it “choking”.
• So I was just about to award Longshore the gritty performance award of the game and my vote for the game ball when I went to check what his throwing stats were after the injury. Who else knew he didn’t attempt a pass after the injury? I wonder if he pretty much couldn’t throw and having him out there was just a decoy/threat since Oregon didn’t respect Riley’s ability to throw? Maybe not as Forsett didn’t need any help on that TD drive and the next drive was run out the clock time… but nevertheless, it makes me wonder.
• Speaking of Forsett, what a great set of runs for that TD! After Cal had looked down right mediocre on their last short field possession, Forsett said, “not on this drive” to those who doubted Cal. Cal back on top 31-24.
• I had previously thought that the 2nd Dixon interception wasn’t his fault because those tipped balls at the line are a shot in the dark, but that one wasn’t a standard tip at the line. That was a DT getting deep penetration and Dixon not adjusting to throw a different pass. He threw that right into the tip and he should have seen it coming. Again, not bad luck, I call it “choking”.
• The most disappointing play of the final drive for the Cal defense was the Johnson dump off pass turned into a 30 yard gain where Cal had 5 defenders in the region to make the tackle, who should have kept him in bounds, but somehow they just didn’t contain him well and the two guys with a shot didn’t get their arms around him for the tackle. That had less to do with Johnson and more to do with a tired Cal defense.
• So Teford calls a timeout when Oregon got down to the 5 yard line? It seems to me he should have called that breather timeout after the Johnson run. It was clear they needed a breather then.
• Here’s your “official” time on the final play: 25 seconds for the refs to decide on the call of a touchback. 4:10 additional for the booth review for a total of 4:35 of indecision… good thing they got it right.
• For some speculative thinking, let’s pretend he fumbled outside the endzone, so they’d get the ball at the 1 yard line, there’s no reason to be confident Oregon would score. Oregon had no timeouts and it would have been 2nd down with 16 seconds left. There’s no way Oregon could afford an inside run play, because they’d only get one shot at it. They’d have to pass, or at a minimum do a run play that had a shot at getting out of bounds, something very difficult at the 1-yard line. If Oregon wasn’t careful from the 1, they could have watched the clock expire on a failed run play or Dixon could have pulled another Dixon choke by throwing an interception.
• Finally, what was with the wimper with which the TV coverage ended? I mean, we had just had a shocking end to the game after an epic battle for the ages and they just did the quick wrap and said “goodbye” so that we could go to some garbage show (i.e. no other game they were going to)!?! How about reviewing that last play/drive again? How about a little enthusiasm? What a stunted and disappointing ending.

Speaking globally, as much as I’m truly estatic about the win and want to make sure I give Oregon their due, Cal had a couple chances to really put this game away that they didn’t. Sure Dixon’s choking gave the game back to Cal, but being the perfectionist I am, I would have really liked to see Cal’s offense put this one away by either scoring on that kickoff fumble or by being able to run out the clock after the 2nd interception.

But let’s give the defense their due. They were exhausted after playing a LONG up-tempo game against a speedy and dangerous offense. Nevertheless they had the intensity to be hitting hard enough on the final play to force a fumble.

Way to go Bears!

(Written by jsnell)

Alameda County Superior Court judge Richard Keller has granted a preliminary injunction ordering the hippies to climb out of the trees or face jail time.

About 20 protesters attending the hearing and vowed afterward to continue the tree sit-in, despite the injunction.

“We’re committed to protecting our ground,” said a protester who goes by the name of Ayr. “Nothing changes for us. This ruling clarifies that the system is there to protect the powerful.”

This doesn’t mean anything for the other lawsuit, of course. But it does mean that the university can remove the hippies if they choose.

(Written by kencraw)

When I decided to move away from the personal Cal blog at my family URL to a dedicated Cal Bears blog, I had high hopes. Those hopes grew even higher when Jason and Phil agreed to come on board.

Those hopes have been more than realized in the first full calendar month (after going live about a week into August).

In September over 5000 unique people came to ExcuseMeForMyVoice.com in nearly 20,000 visits and over 200,000 total hits for the month. (As a comparison point, my peak month during the 2006 season back at the family URL had just over 700 visitors and 10,000 hits.) All I can say is WOW.

Thank you to everyone who has supported ExcuseMeForMyVoice.com by visiting and commenting.

As always, we love getting good/honest feedback about the site, both positive and negative. If you have some suggestions as to areas we can improve or have features you like that you’d like us to continue/emphasize, consider this post the best place to post those comments.

(Written by kencraw)

The announcement came out today that the Oregon State game will be at 4:00 PM (on 10/13), televised on Versus. Of course many will complain that Versus blew the last game they had, and I guess that’s fair enough. May I humbly suggest that the TV coverage will be much better this time. Give ’em a second chance.

Also, I promised a podcast and some follow up Oregon posts by Sunday night that you may have noticed never got posted. Unfortunately I was just exhausted after the trip home yesterday from Eugene and I had to get up early this morning so I opted for a good night sleep over buring the midnight oil.

I was able to review half of the game from the TV coverage last night before I crashed and I’ll review the second half tonight after a function at Church, so you can expect that post tonight. I recorded the podcast when I was in Eugene, it’s just a question now of editing in all of the player interviews I had, including Longshore’s thoughts on how his ankle is feeling. I can’t promise that tonight because I also owe an analysis article to Rivals by tonight. I’ll try to get the podcast done tonight as well, but if not, I promise it’ll get posted tomorrow (Tuesday) night. Finally, you can expect a trip-recap post about my trip up there later in the week with a number of pictures, perhaps as late as over the weekend.

(Written by kencraw)

My latest article, based on my post-game interview with Justin Forsett, is posted at cal.rivals.com: Forsett the Heart and Soul of Cal.

(Written by jsnell)

In a first for my lifetime, Cal is ranked #3 in the AP and USA Today polls.

In other news, is it just me or is it weird to watch the Buffalo Bills offense, with Trent Edwards at QB and Marshawn Lynch in the backfield? That’s just wrong, people.

(Written by kencraw)

My recap article at Rivals has been posted. Cal comes up nails in Eugene.

You can also expect a player highlight article and my analysis article over the next couple days. I’ll make a blog post when each goes up.

You can also expect a podcast either tonight or tomorrow night depending on how much energy I have after I finish my player highlight article.

(Written by jsnell)

Ken’s prediction: Cal 31, Oregon 24.

Final score: uh-huh.

(Written by jsnell)

11:50 AM: Ken has reported in from Eugene.

12:16 PM: Ken: “The teams have left the field and it’s time for the band performance! It’s a little stanford’esque…They ran out in random fashion, although then they dropped into a formation (spelling out Oregon).”

12:27 PM: Ken: “Weather is overcast and cool. 66 degrees. Looks like we’ll be rain free.”

12:32 PM: I can not believe ABC didn’t bother to broadcast this game in HD. Oh god, and it’s Dan Fouts.

12:35 PM: Man, it’s the ugly uniform shootout. Cal in the all-whites (which aren’t horrible, though I prefer colored pants), and Oregon in what is even ugly for them: green shirt with the black arms and white tire treads on the sleeves, and black pants.

12:40 PM: Ken: “Longshore just missed a fairly open DeSean, WAY downfield on first play of the game.”

12:41 PM: 3rd and long for Cal.They want the screen, and it’s an obvious call. Fourth and a zillion. Punt time.

12:44 PM: Oregon moving the ball with ease.

12:46 PM: Dennis Dixon misses a wide-open receiver down the slidelines. Jason Williams was wide open, blew past Ezef, and Dixon just overthrew it. Ken: “Corner released WR like it was cover 2 and the safety sure didn’t play like he thought it was.” Punt time.

12:51 PM: First down Bears! Longshore to Jordan on 3rd down. Nice. First good Cal play of the day.

12:52 PM: Forsett stuffed on a run again. Ken: “I hate that bunch formation, particularly for running. It puts too many defenders in the box. But Longshore is getting all the throwing time he needs.”

12:55 PM: Longshore making some good completions here. Great one to Jackson. Ken: “Wow, how did DeSean pull in that pass? I thought for sure he was going to drop it.”

12:59 PM: 47-yard, 11-play drive stalls, so Larson comes out to punt. Now Oregon will start from deep in its own territory.

1:04 PM: Ken: “Dixon is doing a much better job avoiding the tackle. That’s twice now he’s made positive yards on a broken play. In that case it was huge because the 2nd from inside the 5 would have been rough.”

1:06 PM: Ducks have moved downfield with some good runs by Dixon and Stewart. Now inside the 20.

1:09 PM: Dixon misses a wide-open receiver in the end zone on 2nd down, and throws it behind a receiver at the goal line on 3rd down. 32 yard field goal attempt… good! Oregon 3, Cal 0.

1:11 PM: 3-0! This is a barn-burner. Ken: “So much for those 24 points in the 1st quarter that ‘respectful’ Duck commentator was talking about.”

1:13 PM: Ken: “Bellotti still refuses to kick to Cal, even on kickoffs.”

1:14 PM: Ken: “Oregon is tackling much better than Cal right now.”

1:14 PM: End of First Quarter. Oregon 3, Cal 0. The first time Cal hasn’t scored in a quarter since the fourth quarter versus USC. Brr.

1:18 PM: Three and out. Oregon is playing really well. Punt. Oregon ball at the 23.

1:23 PM: Dixon escapes for another run. Ken: “AGAIN!?! Cal really needs to get him down one of these times.” Next play… they get Dixon in the backfield. Ken: “Like that!”

1:24 PM: Great punt for Oregon. Jackson has to retreat to catch it and can’t make much out of it. Ken: “Jackson blew another punt return opporunity by not getting back behind the punt. He just can’t accelerate when he’s backpeddling to catch the ball and doesn’t get away like he usually does.”

1:28 PM: A couple of hand-offs to Jahvid Best, including a first down run. He’s definitely a different sort of runner from Forsett, which is why I think using him can be effective. Montgomery seems to be much more like Forsett. Now in comes Forsett and has his best run of the day, to the left side with a good block by Jackson.

1:31 PM: Great play call — a fake handoff to Forsett, running left, then a turn back for a screen to the right for a first down. Ken: “Yup, now the Tedford damned if you stop the run, damned if you stop the pass play calling comes to life. Tedford loves that swingout in that situation.”

1:33 PM: Cal in the red zone, but now it’s 3rd and 8 after an incompletion and a short run. Big play. Ken: “And the crowd just got louder than it has been since the opening series.” And it’s right off of Jordan’s chest at the goal line…

1:34 PM: Jordan Kay’s first big kick of the year. 34 yards. Up… good! Cal 3, Oregon 3.

1:35 PM: Nice drive. 12 plays, 66 yards, 5:44 off the clock. Some signs of life in the running game.

1:45 PM: Good Oregon drive here, and some poor decisions by the Cal defense on a couple of 3rd downs. Cal’s playing fairly well, but not consistently enough to force a punt.

1:47 PM: Ken: “These outside rushes are just fast enough that Cal can’t seal the corner before Stewart gets there.”

1:49 PM: Ezeff hits a Duck when he was already out of bounds, 15 yard penalty. STUPID. Oregon would have had to punt. Instead, first down at the 22 yard line. About as bad as you can get. Ken: “ARG!?! They’d been stopped. Why, why, why!?! Admittedly it was a marginal call but JUST DON’T DO IT!”

1:50 PM: This is going to be a gift score for Oregon, and that’s how you lose football games. This one’s on Ezeff.

1:51 PM: Touchdown Ducks, Stewart walks in. Oregon 10, Cal 3.

1:56 PM: Ken: “Critical possession coming up here. If Cal can score, negates the bad situation, if they can’t Oregon gets the ball to start the 2nd half up 10-3. Cal wasted WAY too much time. 1:43 to 0:38 on two plays.”

1:57 PM: Cal fails on fourth down on a dropped pass. So let’s tally it: Bad tackling, dropped passes, and a stupid penalty. Not a good half. At least they’re just down 7.

1:59 PM: Halftime. Oregon 10, Cal 3.

2:21 PM: And we’re back. Telling halftime stat: Cal 2-7 on third downs, Oregon 6-10.

2:22 PM: Ken: “Halftime thoughts: This is a definite grudge match. We’re one stupid penalty from a 3-3 game. I suspect we’ll see a slight improvement for Cal’s offense in the 2nd half. Sadly I expect Stewart to continue breaking tackles. That’ll be the key to a Bear victory. If Cal can stop the missed tackles and get just a little bit more offense going, this game is very winnable.”

2:24 PM: Oregon is forced to punt after a lame play call. They had 3rd and short, but they called the deep hand-off up the middle. Why be forced to gain one yard when you can be forced to gain four? Punt goes out of bounds, Cal ball.

2:25 PM: Ken: “I can FEEL a fake punt coming from Bellotti, the question is when.”

2:29 PM: Good start to this Cal drive. Forsett had a great run with four missed/broken tackles.

2:30 PM: Huge Forsett run. First down Cal inside the 20. It’s like night and day versus the first half, right now. And another Forsett run to the 13.

2:32 PM: Longshore’s pass on third down batted away, but definitely some contact on DeSean that the ref didn’t call. A missed opportunity. 34-yard attmept by Kay, no good. Best drive of the game and nothing to show for it — not good.

2:37 PM: Ken: “The offense needs to hold its head high after that. The Bears are only down by 7 and if they keep up that kind of play, they’ll score more than enough points to make up the differential… asuming the defense can continue to slow the Ducks.”

2:37 PM: Ken is much more positive than I am. But we knew that. Great defensive stand and Cal gets the ball on a punt. 15-yard penalty on Oregon for failing to let DeSean catch the ball. I’ll say this for DeSean: he clouds men’s minds. Ken: “No joke. At least they didn’t pull an ASU and level DeSean.”

2:42 PM: Ken: “If there’s one thing Cal has been doing well all day it has been protecting Longshore. Has he been hurried or knocked down yet? Not that I can remember.” Once or twice, but not a lot.

2:43 PM: Touchdown DeSean Jackson! 25 yards from Longshore, wide open. Cal 10, Oregon 10. Ken: “YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It had to happen eventually. This is one of the few moments I hate being in the press box. I probably look like I’m having a seizure trying to keep my mouth shut.”

2:46 PM: Great drive. Two good drives in a row, and good defense on two Oregon possessions. Things are looking up right now.

2:49 PM: Cal has a tad of momentum right now. Ken: “Definitely. the crowd is doing some extra cheers to try and lift the Ducks spirit.” But two quick first downs here by Oregon get the Ducks into Cal territory, and off we go…

2:50 PM: 3rd and long for the Ducks, and Cal plays up to stop the first down. Deep pass, touchdown Ducks. Oregon 17, Cal 10. This hearkens back to an earlier play when Cal played deeper on third down, allowing the first. Here they seemed to play up and the result: someone broke deep, end of story.

2:54 PM: This game is starting to remind me a little bit of the Cal-USC game from last year. Slow, struggling play for a while, then a quick burst.

2:56 PM: Forset stuffed. The momentum, she is gone, as quickly as she came. Good third-down conversion to Hawkins into Oregon territory, though. Longshore well protected.

2:57 PM: Deep completion to Jackson downfield, first and goal Cal. Jackson was wide open, and he’s showing his skills as a receiver today.

2:58 PM: End of Third Quarter. Oregon 17, Cal 10.

2:59 PM: Jackson is showing a lot more as a receiver today than in previous weeks. Ken: “Yup. And Oregon seems to be playing him more balanced than our previous opponents.” That’s probably why.

3:03 PM: Ken: “QB sneak, watch.” Longshore tries to go to the left, stopped short. Third down.

3:04 PM: Touchdown Bears! Forsett over the right tackle. Cal 17, Oregon 17.

3:07 PM: Ken: “I’d better go on record with this in case my heart gets broken in the next hour: this has been a very enjoyable, good game.”

3:08 PM: Another terrible kick return by the Ducks, letting the ball bounce and almost losing the ball to Cal. For a team with scary returners, this has been a bad performance — or good kicking by Cal. Ken: “Cal almost got the mistake it was looking for.”

3:09 PM: Another Duck third down. They’ve been crazy on third down today. SQUAD HIT! Come on, Bears. Pressure. GET THAT GUY!!! No. GET THAT GUY!!! Thrown deep. Complete? No. Intercepted? No. To the ground. Wow.

3:13 PM: Cal starts at the 50 after a Jackson fair catch.

3:13 PM: Ken: “This is the moment Cal needs to take the reins and win this game… RIGHT HERE.”

3:14 PM: Third and long… time out. Ken: “That was a good time for the Bears to call a timeout.” And it allows ABC to show me some more ads. A new car you say? A cell phone you say? A drill that turns into a motorcycle? Oh, I don’t want that one. Away with you, ABC.

3:17 PM: After the time out, huge third down. COMPLETE to Hawkins! Ken: “Perfect call for that defense.” Hawkins is slow getting up, I think maybe he got banged on his leg. It looks all contusion-y.

3:19 PM: DeSean Jackson catches it for a new first down… and runs it all the way into the end zone! Ken: “He stayed in, he stayed in… I just know it.” Cal 24, Oregon 17.

3:21 PM: ANOTHER HUGE ERROR ON THE KICK RETURN. The two returners bump into each other and leave the ball on the ground. Jahvid Best wearing his nameless #14 jersey recovers! Gigantic. Gigantic play. Cal ball.

3:23 PM: First play, deep to Jackson in the end zone, just missed. But the perfect call. Get ’em when they’re stunned.

3:24 PM: Holding call makes it 2nd and 20. Ken: “I wouldn’t have taken that penalty.” I agree. Gives Cal two chances. Unfortunately, Longshore threw it wide and missed some open receivers on the other side. So now it’s 3rd and long. And Longshore is sacked for the first time. Fourth down. So the penalty-accepting strategy works.

3:26 PM: Well, it’s too bad that they didn’t score on that, and by getting penalized they moved out of field goal range. But I liked the first-down call, which almost put Cal up by two touchdowns. A lot of pressure on Longshore there, and after the holding penalty the run was taken away from them. Anyway, Oregon now gets the ball on their own 8 with 10 minutes to go, down a TD….

3:30 PM: Oregon advances out to the 50 yard line. And the Ducks are in business… Oregon passing with comfort right now. Another huge pass, and the Ducks are down to the 15.

3:32 PM: Momentum, she has shifted allegiances once again. Failing to capitalize on the failed kick return, and now the Ducks are about to tie it.

3:33 PM: Quick snap, line plunge, touchdown Ducks. Cal 24, Oregon 24.

3:36 PM: Ken: “Looking back. The inability of Cal to capitalize on that turnover was huge, particularly in a back and forth game like this.”

3:37 PM: Ken: “They let the crowd back into the game, it’s louder now than at any point in the game.”

3:40 PM: Longshore goes down, hit late in the knee. He’s limping slightly off the field. Kevin Riley has to come in.

3:42 PM: Two hand-offs with your backup QB, and the Bears have to punt. What a crushing turn of events. Larson must punt. Oregon gets the ball at the 10.

3:44 PM: FELDER WITH THE INTERCEPTION AT THE 20 YARD LINE!!!! Dixon with a terrible pass… First down Bears with 4:23 to go. Dixon’s first INT of the entire year.

3:45 PM: Forsett all the way to the one! Hold on to that ball, Mr. Forsett.

3:46 PM: Touchdown Bears! Forsett over left guard with 3:11 to go. Cal 31, Oregon 24.

3:48 PM: Okay, Oregon ball, 1st and 10. 3:06 to go. One pass, and they’re over the 50. This ain’t near over yet, my friends.

3:50 PM: Stewart plows down to the 20. Ken: “Cal should call a timeout.”

3:50 PM: AluAlu intercepts! He starts to run and Joe Starkey shouts, “Fall down, for pete’s sake!”

3:51 PM: Forsett runs. PROTECT THE BALL. Timeout Ducks. Cal really needs to get a first down here or they’ll have to give Dixon another chance.

3:53 PM: Forsett goes nowhere, timeout Ducks, 2:07 to go. Third and long.

3:54 PM: What to do on 3rd down with a hobbly QB? Handoff again, Montgomery gains some yardage but it’s 4th down.

3:55 PM: In the interests of un-jinxing I have removed a comment Ken made about a bag and a rosary. Ken didn’t realize they had all 3 timeouts. Good call, JoshieMac.

3:56 PM: Oregon gets the ball back… one more defensive stop is needed. They start from the 23. 1:45 to go, no Duck timeouts.

3:57 PM: 1:30 to go, Ducks first down at the 34. Dixon pressured, throws it away.

3:58 PM: Huge gain — Cal had Oregon stopped after 5 yards, in bounds, and instead it’s first down Oregon, Stewart. Clock ticking, ducks driving, under a minute, 34 yard line.

3:59 PM: Down to the 20 yard line. 30 seconds to go after an incomplete pass.

4:01 PM: Timeout Cal, maybe a play too late. Two picks on Dixon and yet, mostly owing to the Longshore injury, Cal can’t move the ball and now Oregon is trying to push this into overtime or even win it on a two-point conversion. Four shots for Oregon at the end zone…

4:03 PM: Oregon fumbles the ball out of the back of the end zone! Ezeff with the hit! Redemption? Ruling on the field: touchback! If the ruling stands, Cal wins.

4:06 PM: This is clearly the right call. No way it was a TD, no way he was out of bounds. It has to be a touchback. This will be a travesty of Oklahoman proportions if it’s reversed, when the visual evidence is clear that the call on the field was right.

4:07 PM: The ruling is affirmed! Cal ball, 16 seconds to go, on the 20.

4:08 PM: Final Score: Cal 31, Oregon 24. Great game. Unbelievable. Lived up to the hype.

(Written by kencraw)

Hello everybody! As you can see from the below pictures, I’m in business in Eugene:

Stadium from the press parking lot:

Field from the pressbox:

View of the pressbox:

I’ll be here and perhaps Jason and I will figure out how to co-live blog… although he’ll be doing most of the writing as I’ll be working my articles and analysis.

Some quick notes about Oregon and their facilities:

The stadium is a lot smaller than I expected. The old bowl was REALLY small. With the mid-90’s addition, it increases to just “smaller than I expected”. The entire stadium is bleacher seating with the exception of 3 donor sections on the 50 yard line. The press box is pretty high off the field, it make me appreciate just how well positioned Cal’s press box is. It’s a 3 row press box and I’m on the top row, as is to be expected for a Rivals reporter.

Despite things being on the smaller side, they are really, really, really nice facilities. I’ve not seen all the Pac-10 stadiums but it blows away the 3 I have (Memorial, LA Colliseum, old Stanford stadium). Admittedly those are probably the Pac-10’s worst. Nevertheless, if Cal’s facilities ever equal Oregon in quality, all Bear fans will feel like they’re in heaven.

The fans are over the top excited, and in a good way. They’ve been respectful of the Bears fans, of which there is a sizeable contingent, albeit a drop in the bucket next to Oregon’s. The student section is just about full at 11:30 AM, a full hour before game time. We just heard a loud round of boos as the Cal bears came out onto the field for their pregame warm-up. I’ll leave any further commentary for live-blogging comments.

(Written by jsnell)

Most of you will understand the mind set of long-time Cal fans. Those who have been riding this horse only since Tedford arrived, you won’t understand. Those of you who are Cubs fans (or, let’s face it, Giants fans like me) will understand it.

We are always waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the inevitable disappointment that comes with being a Cal fan. This is a mental illness that really can only be cured by one of two events occurring. First, a Cal appearance in the Rose Bowl. Or second, death.

This is why I don’t pick the results of Cal games beforehand.

Scenario #1: Cal is favored by a huge margin against an overmatched team.

Who I think will win: Cal.

Who I hope will win: Cal.

In this scenario, I can pick a Cal victory, but I’m just telling you things you already know. And I risk jinxing it for all those who are stitious, or even superstitious. (Little Office reference there.)

Scenario #2: Cal is favored by a little, or the underdog.

Who I think will win: Not Cal.

Who I hope will win: Cal.

In this scenario, which covers almost every game Cal plays, this is what I’m left with. I’m convinced that things are going to go wrong and that Cal is going to be handed a loss. At the same time, I’m desperately hopeful that nobody will wake me from this wonderful dream and Cal will actually continue winning.

Again, though, my pick-analysis is entirely meaningless, crippled as it is by my pathological belief that Cal is finding the cruelest, most horrible way to disappoint me. And trust me, you don’t want to see that, and I don’t want to do that in public.

Though blogging about Cal seems an odd choice for me to make, given all that, don’t you think?

CAL VERSUS OREGON: WHO WILL WIN?

The I’ve-been-here-since-the-days-of-Kapp pick: Oregon 37, Cal 35. (Tiny voice in my head says: Oregon 45, Cal 17. Shut up, tiny voice!)

The oh-god-oh-god-don’t-jinx-it pick: Cal 35, Oregon 34.

It’s late in the game. Cal leads by one. Oregon lines up for a field goal from a moderate distance. There’s the snap, the hold, the kick… it’s up, and…

Your guess is as good as mine.

(Written by kencraw)

My next article: Crunching the Numbers: Cal vs. Oregon is posted at cal.rivals.com.

I think it is one of my better preview articles with lots of fun and meaningful stats… and only one typo!

(Written by kencraw)

Obviously with the Cal vs Oregon game being so huge every commentator and their brother has had something to say. Some are saying that nothing has changed from last year. Some are saying Oregon is miles better than last year. Others think Cal just doesn’t have the consistency this year to put Oregon away like they did last year. Still others think it is all about home field advantage.

Put me in the “nothing has changed” group with one glaring exception: I think that last year’s game, had it been played multiple times, wouldn’t have been a blowout and wouldn’t necessarily have gone Cals way every time. That game turned on that first interception. Dixon never got his confidence back after that. While I still suspect that Dixon is easily rattled when he makes a mistake, I’m not so confident to suggest that he’s going to make a similarly high profile, confidence killing mistake this year. In fact, I’m confident that at home, without the crowd noise, I think it is a lot less likely he’ll make that kind of a mistake. Without that blow, I think the teams are more equally matched.

The other thing that most pundits are getting wrong in my humble opinion is the score. I don’t think Cal scored 45 points last year because it was a dominating offensive performace. No, while it was a good offensive performance, Oregon’s offensive mistakes gave Cal far more scoring opportunities than it deserved. The Oregon defense was on the field A LOT last year with too many short fields to defend. When facing a good offense, a defense just isn’t going to be able to hold up forever without some support on offense to give the defense some time to rest and a long field to defend.

At the same time, I think Cal’s defense is up to the challenge of Oregon, just like it was last year. People keep quoting Oregon’s offensive numbers… frankly, one of two things are true: Either Oregon has the most prolific offense in the history of college football or Oregon has played some very suspect defenses. Remember that Bellotti doesn’t have Tedford’s “let’s just grind out this easy win” mindset. He’s a “stick a dagger in them one more time” coach. I’m not being critical, I’m just pointing to the facts. Oregon will continue to put in their starters and be running aggressive plays long after Tedford has re-geared to a conservative offense. As a result of this different, forgive me for not being tremendously impressed with Oregon’s numbers. I think the Cal defense has what it takes to keep them to a sub 30 point score.

Finally, we need to remember that last year is the anomaly of the Tedford vs. Bellotti matchup. Here’s a question for everyone: What’s the highest score outside of last year’s 45? Try 28. That’s the HIGHEST score. For those who doubt me: 2003 -> 17-21, 2004: 28-27, 2005: 20-27 (tied 20-20 before overtime) and 2006: 45-24. This matchup traditionally has been a defensive struggle. Tedford and Bellotti know each other too well to be blown out by the other. Despite the fact that during that time both Cal and Oregon had some of the most potent offenses that the Pac-10 has seen in recent history, neither Tedford nor Bellotti have been able to outwit the other enough to blow out their old friend. That’s what made last years debacle so bad.

So, while nothing has changed since last year, I think last year’s game didn’t reflect the actual talent and Cal fans shouldn’t be too smug about the superiority of the 2006 Bears over the 2006 Ducks. What I will say is that Tedford is likely going to try his hardest to make sure that Dixon loses his confidence again. Expect to see large doses of blitzing and loaded defensive plays to induce Dixon into a confidence killing mistake.

Cal 31, Oregon 24.

(Written by kencraw)

Many have you may have been wondering if there has been much going on with the SAHPC hearing. The answer is of course yes, but nobody seems to be reporting on it. It seems that as soon as the bomb scare happened, which still hasn’t been specifically linked to this hearing, everyone decided not to report. Here’s what I do know:

1. The hearing has been significantly extended. After hearing arguments last Friday afternoon, there was also a full day of hearings on Tuesday. Because Judge Miller’s schedule only alloted until Tuesday for the hearing and there are more days left, they had to be spread out. The next day will be October 2nd and then final arguments will be October 11th.
2. The judge is going to visit Memorial Stadium on October 4th. Why she is doing this is somewhat of a question mark. Is it grandstanding as some have suggested? Or is she just trying to very extremely thorough since she doesn’t have a ton of CEQA and APZ experience and this is a very high profile case? Nobody knows for sure, but it is definitely outside the norm both for the judge to visit the site and for the trial to last much beyond a day (we’re at 3 1/2 of 5 1/2).
3. The last day and a half of hearings focused more on whether the EIR was complete. The city argued that the information about 3 trees for every 1 was not in the EIR as well as how it would handle any indian remains. The University countered that the information is part of a separate EIR, one that has the global plan for the UC renovations and it states how all of these things will be handled. Since the University is bound to both EIRs, they didn’t need to duplicate the information in this EIR.
4. As for analysis, there are those who say that the worst that can happen here is for there to be a delay. I think I agree. The difference is how bad a delay can be for the project. Costs continue to go up with every delay and there are risks regarding a certain head coach sticking around should the delays start to have a multi-year/perpetual nature to them.
5. As for whether the city will be able to force a delay, the opinions seem to be mixed. If I had to guess, and it’s a shot in the dark, the judge will require some minor changes to the EIR, ones that can be made in less than a month and are minor enough that it won’t require recirculation of the EIR (that’s the lengthy part of the re-do process) and then have it approved by the regents at their next meeting. It’s also my guess she’ll say the SAHPC and the Stadium are two separate buildings for the purpose of the APZ. All of this means that we should be ready to fire up the bulldozers not long after the season is over, should things go as I am guessing.

(Written by kencraw)

Well I wondered how long it would take for the new blog to get “found” by the comment spammers. They’re back in force, submitting about 5-10 comment spams a day. It’ll only get worse. I had been filtering them by number of links in the comment, but in addition to that having the side-effect of moderating a couple of valid comments who included more than one link, it also didn’t stop the spammers smart enough to only post one link.

The point of all of this is that I’m going to have to take more aggressive action. I’ve enabled a spam plugin called Akismet which is supposed to work pretty well without requiring any action by the commentors. It works the same way e-mail spam checkers work by comparing comments to known instances of spam. We’ll see how it works. I fear that it’ll either block too many valid comments or not block enough of the spam comments. If you find that your comments aren’t going through, please e-mail me at blog aT thecrawfordfamily d0t net.

If this spam plugin doesn’t work, I’ll step things up to the math based comment filter that requires you to answer a simply math question like “what’s the integral of X squared over the square-root of X where X is unbound?” OK, OK, OK, I’ll stick with whats 3 + 4 or something like that. That worked pretty well over at my old blog and didn’t seem to bother the commentors too much.

Let me know in the comment box if you have any suggestions for how to rid the earth of these digital scumbags.

(Written by kencraw)

My next article at Rivals has been published. Consistency for Cal is key.

As a bonus, this article doesn’t require a subscription to view.

(Written by kencraw)

I saw more “it’s official” posts and articles on GameDay coming to Oregon that I care to count and not one of them could reference a press-release or quote from either a University of Oregon or ESPN official. While the body of work of those articles definitely made it look official, I’m one to hold off until an actual press-release is made for the “it’s official” statement.

Well we finally have it:

The ESPN College GameDay website shows this week’s show being hosted from Eugene, OR.

Two notes:

1. There is a poll there of who people think is going to win. Oregon Duck fans are known for their quickness to inflate those types of polls and this is no exception. The Ducks are up 68-32 as of 4:45 PM PDT. Go vote if you care about that sort of thing.
2. I’m pretty excited about getting up at 6:00 AM to go get a good spot behind the camera and hold up my sign… now I just have to decide what it should say. Any ideas?

(Written by kencraw)

Not our Pac-10’s OSU, but the Big 12’s Oklahoma State University.

The controversy is over head coach Mike Gundy’s comments about a newspaper column at his post game interview. You can see those comments in this YouTube video. You can read the column that has him so upset at The Oklahoman, byline Jenni Carlson. This was all pretty much regional news until CBSSportsLine’s Dennis Dodd jumps in the fray with his column.

On the one hand, I like the fact that coach Gundy stood up for his players and refused to ignore what I believe to be a very childish column. Seriously, bringing up his mom feeding him after the game? That’s bad form. Write about his performance on the field. Reading a couple of Ms. Carlson’s other articles, she seems to be one of those writers who loves to act like she knows everything, has good insight and has no sense of integrity or what is appropriate to discuss about college football. I’m making a snap judgement based on 2 video articles and 3 written columns, but that’s the way it appears based on my limited exposure to her work. I suspect this was not the first column that upset coach Gundy for its crossing the line into personal attacks.

At the same time, it was childish to refuse to do a press-conference at all and spend his time berating a single writer, a slightly over-weight young woman, and tell her that “she obviously doesn’t have any children.” Does he know her well enough to know whether that may be a very painful subject for her? And if so, why is he calling her out in public instead of having a closed room meeting? If you’ve got a complaint about a writer, the right place to air those complaints is with the writer themselves or if they’re being completely unreasonable with their editor. In fact, it’s probably wise to raise the complaint to the athletic director and let them address the matter.

Nevertheless, Dodd steps into a situation he either knows too little about to speak with any authority or he is too close to the situation to speak objectively. He completely mis-characterizes the nature of the column just noting it as being critical of the team, which is a ridiculous understatement and entirely focuses on the excesses of coach Gundy’s statement.

To me this seems to be a situation where it is best for everyone’s bosses to call them into their offices and tell them to let the issue die, and by the way, don’t be so hot headed in the future. Stay away from the personal attacks next time, all of you.