Keys to the Game: Southern Utah

"We're in no position to overlook anyone after losing last week," -Coach Tedford.

This isn't going to be your typical Keys to the Game feature for all the obvious reasons. I don't presume to know much about the Thunderbirds from Southern Utah. I know they're an FCS team from the Big Sky conference that went 6-5 last year with losses to teams such as Cal Poly. I know they lost last week to Utah State 34-3. And I know they're located in the southern region of Utah. Actually I don't know that. I'm make a short-reaching assumption there.

But frankly none of that really matters. Last week's loss to Nevada has radically changed our expectations for the team and has tempered optimism. I for one, went from thinking 8 wins were a minimum, to genuinely wondering whether the Bears might be bowl eligible this year based on how they performed. Last Saturday's game had that type of impact on the psyche of most Cal fans.

And the Bears' game against Southern Utah this Saturday will do very little, if anything, to change current perception of the Bears.

But here's what they can do. They can hope to use this game to at least point themselves in the right direction of finding themselves. This isn't about taking out one's frustration on a hapless FCS school. This is getting back to focusing on the little things, to seeing a week of motivated, determined practice fulfilled in flawless execution on the field.

It's not about dominating Southern Utah. It's about getting back to not beating themselves.
After the jump, a few thoughts on what I'd like to see.

Flawless Execution
I could care less if we run up 60 plus points against the Thunderbirds. I do care however about how we're doing that. While it'd be nice to see our star players juke a poor Southern Utah player out of their shoes, we're not looking for a display of raw athleticism here. We know this team is gifted athletically. Instead, I'm looking for physicality and polish, areas that were sorely lacking last Saturday.

Some of the penalties last week were just absurd. Look, I understand there's going to be an occasional and inadvertent face mask or an illegal block in the back if a pursuing player suddenly turns a certain way. But those weren't the types of flags the Bears were seeing last week. The flags thrown in the Bears' direction were the direct result of lack of execution and preparation.

Keenan Allen had what would have been a long reception wiped out because of an ineligible receiver downfield. I believe that penalty was on Jacob Wark which means either he, or another player was not set properly on/off the line of scrimmage. That can't happen. The Bears aren't a team that can afford to have such positive yardage plays wiped out. Again, that's a lack of preparation and execution.

I don't want to see any more substitution infractions anymore either, because that would indicate that either players are still unfamiliar with the playbook and personnel packages, and/or that coaches have yet to find an effective means for communicating what play is happening and who's supposed to be in.

Dominate in the Trenches
I thought Cal's pass protection last weekend was fairly decent. One the Bears sacks was tight end Richard Rodgers simply getting beat off the line, while the other was Zach Maynard reading his hot read off the edge. But the run game was unabashedly out of sorts. I do believe a lot of it had to do with playcalling, but there really isn't an excuse for the Bears' oline failing to push around an extremely young Nevada defensive line.

The Bears have to get back to grinding in the trenches. I know it's just Southern Utah, but there's still something to be said about an offensive line squad that makes it their mission to maul defenders. It's a mentality combined with flawless technique. The Bears have got to get their swagger back and although they aren't going to do that by running over Southern Utah, they can at least begin believing they can. I'll be paying strong attention to the the type of push the Bears get against an overmatched Southern Utah defensive line. It will be particularly interesting to watch the depth at tackle, as the Bears suffered one of their worst possible nightmares with Matt Summers-Gavin out with injury.

Overall
I don't think it's far reaching to say that the fanbase isn't expecting much out of this team right now. They're hoping for the best, but expectations have been tempered. Severely.

But the good news for the Bears team, is that it shouldn't matter. At least not to them. For the players in the locker room and the coaches who spend nights poring over film, it should be about their own execution, their own preparation, and their own belief in one another. It's always been about that, but for some reason last Saturday, that escaped them.

Let's hope Saturday's contest is a step towards making sure they remember.
Prediction
Cal 52 Southern Utah 17
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Pac-12 Week 2 Predictions

Went 8-3 next week, and though I probably went out on the limb boarding Mike Leach's pirate ship, I honestly didn't see the Bears and Buffaloes dropping their games. Doh!

Looking to rebound this week.

Utah 31 Utah State 17
Utah travels to face a decent Utah State squad. Utah State went 7-6 last year with wins over teams like Nevada (gasp) and losing close ones to Auburn and BYU. This team is capable of putting up points, particularly on the ground. But they're facing one of the best defenses they'll see all year in Utah and they should have a hard time slowing down John White IV. Utah State will keep it competitive for a while, but the Utes run game puts them away.

Colorado 35 Sacramento State 13
It's an absolute must win for Jon Embree's Buffs, and they'll get it done against the FCS squad that lost to New Mexico State 49-19. Don't be surprised to see the score a little closer than CU fans would like, but the more likely scenario is having new QB Jordan Webb find his mojo and dice up Sac State's secondary.

Washington State 38 Eastern Washington 20
Eastern Washington is no gimme. The Big Sky team just trounced FBS Idaho 20-3. Granted, it was Idaho, but still, this team knows what they're doing. With that said, I don't think Washington State is nearly as bad as they looked against BYU. Last Thursday's game was more of an instance of the Cougs getting punched in the mouth early on and being unsure as to how to respond. I do think we're going to see some points and major yardage through the air in this game however. Mike Leach's Cougars begin the slow path to clicking on Saturday.

USC 42 Syracuse 20
Yawn. The Trojans will continue to roll, and I honestly think I'm being generous in thinking Syracuse puts up 20. But with the questions in USC's secondary, I think it's certainly possible they give up some yardage through the air on some drives. But really, this isn't going to be close and Marquise Lee and Matt Barkley continue to put up video game numbers. Unless, of course, Lane Kiffin decides they want to focus on a running game that managed just 81 yards against Hawaii last week.

Oregon State 17 Wisconsin 34
With the Beavers' season opener against Nichols State postponed last week, OSU has the much tougher task of starting their season against 13th ranked Wisconsin. Though the Beavers might be a bit more hopeful after Wisconsin struggled in a 26-21 win over Northern Iowa, the Badgers are too physical in the running game to make me think anything but a loss is coming for Mike Riley's squad. Quarterback Sean Mannion is a good one though, and he'll put up solid numbers.

Oregon 45 Fresno State 24
Although this is an improved Bulldogs team, they're nowhere near offering a real challenge to the Ducks just yet. I'm taking the over on having DeAnthony Thomas score 2 TDs in this game. Oh, and expect Kenjon Barner to go over the century mark after having a quiet game last week against Arkansas State.

Washington 17 LSU 31
I fully expect and hope for the Tigers to beat the Huskies here. I don't think it will be an outright throttling, just because Keith Price is just that good of a quarterback. But despite some big plays, LSU will live in Washington's backfield, causing Price to scramble and throw it away enough to keep the Huskies out of an offensive rhythm. Defensive coordinate Justin Wilcox has Washington's defense heading in the right direction, but they won't be able to keep LSU under 20.

UCLA 23 Nebraska 34
UCLA fans are likely feeling pretty good about Brett Hundley (Heisman!) and new coach Jim Mora (Pac-12 Coach of the Year!). But Nebraska is a completely different beast. Expect Nebraska's defense to disrupt UCLA offensive flow, but I'm starting to think that the bigger concern is UCLA's defense. After giving up 384 yards to Rice last week, you have to wonder how they'll do against a Nebraska offense 632 yards against Southern Miss last week. Oh, and apparently Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez finally got the memo about being a quarterback now, throwing for 354 yards and 5 TDs in the rout. Woof.

Arizona State 35 Illinois 28
I had this pencilled in as a loss heading into this season, but after watching ASU, I'm liking the Sun Devils here. Their offense is looking polished and that defense is play much smarter ball in the post-Erickson era. Give them the home field, and I'm thinking ASU pulls the upset.

Stanford 31 Duke 17
Stanford's attempting to have a "Seriously, we don't suck that bad," type of game. Duke's the perfect opponent to do it against. I still don't think this offense is going to be close to what it's been the past few years, but they will be better than they looked against San Jose State. Stepfan Taylor scores 3 TDs as the Cardinal continue to suck the life out of his future NFL career.

Arizona 30 Oklahoma State 44
This is going to be a barn burner. I doubt the Wildcats win, but I expect them to make much more of a game out of it this year. Oklahoma State will score, but I think the Wildcats aren't going to be much of a slouch in this area either. Still, Oklahoma State will be too physical on defense and the Wildcats aren't polished enough on their end to keep the Cowboys off the scoreboard for extended periods of time.

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Pac-12 Week 1 Roundup

Up and down week for the Pac-12. I actually predicted the conference to go 11-0 last week, only to go 8-3 with Bears falling in the last minute to Nevada (single tear), and watching Colorado fall to Colorado State. Colorado State. Eesh.

Here's a breakdown of the weekend's games and a look forward.

Utah 41 Northern Colorado 0
Lowdown: I could swear I heard the Utah coaching staff assuring Utah fans that they wouldn't force John White IV to carry the ball 300+ times this season. So much for that. John White carried the ball 25 times for 122 yards and a TD against a Big Sky opponent. Still, the biggest question for the Utes was how well Jordan Wynn's shoulder would fare after his multiple surgeries. Wynn looked...ok. Showed some nice zip on some balls, didn't seem to hesitate too much, but didn't do enough to make anyone think Utah is close to being anything other than the John White show.

As for Utah's defense, we all knew they would be stout, but Northern Carolina shot themselves in the foot time and time again with some poor blocking off the edges, tough field position, and some conservative playcalling. With that said, it's still impressive when you keep a team from even crossing midfield.

Up Next: Utah has a bit of a stiffer challenge in a road game against a decent Utah State squad. The Utes aren't in any real danger, but they better clean up some issues if they want to avoid dropping that key non-conference game against BYU.

UCLA 49 Rice 24
Lowdown: What a wacky, wacky game. UCLA gets off to a hollywood start with freshman QB Brett Hundley taking a QB keeper 72 yards for a score on his first collegiate play. Jonathan Franklin also records 2 rushing TDs of over 70 yards. The Bruins would also have 3 PATs blocked, en route to giving up 24 points and 357 yards in the first half.

The Bruins have to be encouraged with the play of Brett Hundley overall. The freshman was 22 of 29 passes for 204 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. Even more impressive? 8 rushes for 146 yards and 2 TDs. The Bruins offense overall rolled up 616 yards. The only downer? The yards were against Rice. (sad trombone noise). We knew this going into the game, but Rice looked preeeeetttty terrible.

Up Next: Nebraska? Ok and then the--wait, what? Nebraska? Ohhh crap. A win seems unlikely, but I'm far more interested to see what UCLA can do against a tough Nebraska defense. And Nebraska is far from being an offensive juggernaut, but they're a far cry from Rice. I'm almost just as curious to see how the Bruins' defense fares against the Cornhuskers. Gut instinct? This might get ugly quickly. But Hundley's development will be fun to watch.

Arizona State 63 Northern Arizona 6
Lowdown: In a night of low expectations and an even lower turnout in Sun Devil Stadium, ASU absolutely dismantled Northern Arizona. Just abused them. I know what you're thinking, "Yeah, yeah, it's just Northern Arizona." Now I know NAU aren't exactly world beaters, but the new no huddle Sun Devil offense looked focused, sharp, and dare I say, entertaining to watch? Despite being the most boring QB announcement, I was very impressed with starting QB Taylor Kelly. He looked poised and in command of the offense, and I thought he showed a decent set of wheels.

Fun note of worth, former Cal RB Covaughn Deboskie-Johnson was the NAU offense Thursday night rolling up 81 yards.

Up Next: It'll be tougher sledding for the Sun Devils when they have to face an actual FBS team next week in Illinois. I had this as a loss going into the season, but I must say, that Sun Devil offense will torment some teams this season. Illinois just might be one of them.

Washington State 6 BYU 30
Lowdown: A nightmare of a start to the Mike Leach era at Wazzu. You have to feel for the the Cougar fans who made the trip to Provo, filled with optimism, only to see much of the same. The Cougars had a chance at making this a real good game...until Jeff Tuel was picked off at the end of the first drive. For as much as fans hyped the advent of the Mike Leach air raid, the Cougars managed just 3 points. WSU seemed shaken out of their gameplan early, and forced to go for more vertical routes instead of spreading it around the field. Up Next: For as tough as it was for the Leach's squad on Thursday, it's going to get better for the Cougars. They're going to be better. Their defense is playing better upfront. They have a great place to recollect themselves and get better as they face off against Eastern Washington next week. This will give them virtually two weeks to work the kinks out and bounce back from a game that few had them actually winning anyway.

Stanford 20 San Jose State 17
Lowdown: First off, give credit where credit is due to this San Jose State squad. They were far better than most anticipated, and this team's in a much better position than it has been in years. If their receivers could have cut down on just half their drops this might have been a different ball game.

With that said, I think it's safe to say that the Stanford fanbase is going to quickly realize just how different life is post-Andrew Luck. I believe that for as much as fans lauded Luck's ability, they strangely underestimated just how much he did for their offense. He nearly singlehandedly kept the Cardinal out of third and long situations, and with him their offense completed a ridiculous 52.6% of their third downs. Without him? The Cardinal converted just 2 of their 13 3rd down conversion attempts. But beyond that, I was stunned at how little push Stanford's vaunted offensive line got on an outmatched Spartan squad.And than on top of that, Stanford's secondary proved itself to be vulnerable to sideline catches and posts over the middle.

Up Next: The Cardinal are unlikely to be challenged much more than they were last week as they face off against a hapless Duke squad. It should be another week to continue to work out the kinks and build Josh Nunes' confidence. But then again, I though the Cardinal would roll San Jose State, so what do I know?

Colorado 17 Colorado State 22
Lowdown: Colorado suffered another one of the "eesh" losses of the weekend, giving up a 14-9 half time lead. The Buffaloes were held to just a field goal in the second half, and Jon Embree's Buffs suffered a deflating loss in what was supposed to their "We're getting better, seriously guys" party. One of the biggest reasons the Buffalos lost? A combined 58 rushing yards on the ground. Oof.

Up Next: The Bears have a bounce back game against Sacramento State. At this point you've got to think Colorado is simply hoping for confidence and some type of rhythm. I had actually given the Buffalos a decent chance at going 3-0 through it's non-conference slate, but suddenly the road trip to Fresno State the week after doesn't seem like such a gimme anymore.

USC 49 Hawaii 10
Lowdown: The closest this game was before the opening kickoff. The Trojans steamrolled Hawaii in their attempt to boldly declare that they're ready to live up to their preseason hype. And they did it in the flashiest of styles, with QB Matt Barkley hitting Marquise Lee for a 75 yard TD pass on the first play of the game. In even better news, the Trojans left the game healthy, critical for a team with top tier talent but questionable depth.

Up Next: The Trojans face off against a Syracuse squad that showed it was capable of putting up plays in a 42-41 barnburner of a loss against Northwestern. No matter. Assuming this team stay healthy, there isn't a team with the talent to push the Trojans until they face Oregon in November. And yes, I'm perfectly aware of what time I'm omitting.

Arizona 24 Toledo 17
Lowdown: Ok, so for the record I didn't watch this game. But in my defense, the matchup was Arizona and Toledo. C'mon. But from what I gathered from the highlights and reading up on the game, it seems the only thing stopping Arizona from having rolled up massive points were there three turnovers. The Wildcats rolled up a 624 freaking yards, but could manage just 17 points through 3rd quarters. Given the defensive questions surrounding this squad, I've gotta think you have to be encouraged if you're a Wildcat fan. Your team got the win, your defense buckled up as the game wore on, your QB Matt Scott showed he's perfectly capable in this offense, and the turnover issue is something that should shore up as the season wears on.

Up Next: Ok, Wildcat fans, don't let the next opponent discourage you. Oklahoma State. Sure they dismantled Savannah State to the tune of 84-0, but it's not going to be that bad. I mean you guys are in all likelihood going to lose, but trust that your team will learn from it and get better as this year goes on. It's getting better for you guys.

Washington 21 San Diego State 12
Lowdown: If you're a Huskies fan, you've got to be happy with your defense's performance, giving up just 12 points and scoring a TD on a fumble return. Just ignore the 199 yards your defense surrendered on the ground. Offensively, your star quarterback Keith Price shined, as did your star receiver Kasen Williams and tight-end Austin Sefarian-Jenkins. Just ignore the fact that you couldn't score after the first quarter and that you lost your running back Jesse Callier for the year. Relax. It'll be ok because...

Up Next: ...Heeeeere comes the toughest non-conference game of the year. I wanted to think that the Huskies would feature one of the better offenses in the conference and could score on any team. I honestly think Keith Price can do that much for this offense. But LSU will be be just too much to handle for the Huskies all around. At this point you have to think that Huskies fans are just hoping that Price remains healthy.

Oregon 57 Arkansas State 34
Lowdown: I'm actually disappointed the Ducks didn't make me look any more brilliant than I already am by fulfilling my prediction of running up 70 on Arkansas State. But Chip Kelly called off the dogs after the Ducks went into halftime with a shiny 50-10 lead. In the process they affirmed our deepest fears: Marcus Mariota is scary good, DeAnthony Thomas is going to absolutely scorch defenses this year, and the Ducks defense is going to continue to "fly" to the ball. See what I did there?

Up Next: The Ducks have gone all SEC with their schedule. Check out their impressive opening slate of games: Arkansas State, Fresno State, and Tennessee Tech. Yeah, until November 3rd's contest against USC, there's really nothing to see here.

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Cal vs. Nevada Postgame Show

Again, all props go to TouchedtheAxein82. Be sure to follow him on his YouTube Channel.

And yes, SMH indeed.

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Nevada Recap

(Out of reach)

[Note: I'm going to preface this post by stating that I had written the majority of this post only to find that it wasn't saved. FML. Just know that this ensuing post isn't nearly as good as what I had just spent an hour typing up earlier. Seriously.]

On a day of heightened enthusiasm surrounding the Cal football program, the Bears were thoroughly dejected, suffering a 31-24 loss to the Nevada Wolfpack. One would be hardpressed to find a dichotomy in college football as striking as the fanaticism that entered Memorial Stadium and the supreme disappointment that exited it.

The level of disappointment likely varied among the 63,000+ that filled out the newly renovated stadium that day. For freshmen or casual fans who decided to check out the game based solely on the allure of the new stadium, the disappointment was likely akin to disinterest and apathy. For the donors, or multiyear season ticket holders, the disappointment probably wavered from feelings of loathing to flat out rage.

As for myself, I tried to take pull myself away from thinking about the game for much of the weekend. Granted, this was a tough task given how engrained Cal football had been in my head for the past half year. I met up with friends and family, but really did all I could not to allow myself to get swallowed up in such feelings of despair.

And after finally allowing myself to reflect on the game upon watching it a second time, I really can only arrive at one thought:

This was an inexcusable loss.

Really, it's hard for me to come up with any good reason the Bears should have lost this game. And this is not to take away anything from Nevada. This is a potent, tricky offense, and that defensive unit can play some sound, physical ball. After watching Boise State this past weekend, I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Nevada win the Mountain West conference this year.

But how could one possibly justify this loss?

The Bears were outrun and beaten in the trenches by a team that it had shouldn't have been close in terms of talent and athleticism.

Cal also had an entire offseason to prepare for an offense that they had known full well had their number in years past.

They had the support of a fanbase that was riding the high level of excitement surrounding this program in years.

Yet, despite all that, the Bears found themselves deflated on the losing end of a 31-24 contest that featured all the symptoms of the most sickening type of loss: penalties, mental mistakes, substitution infractions, poor reads and questionable coaching calls.

Let's get into a few more specifics after the jump.

Quarterback Situation
Let's address the QB situation right off the bat. Starter Zach Maynard was held out of the game early on as a result of missing a tutoring session early in the summer. There's already a pretty active discussion of this matter and the decision to play Allan Bridgford despite not informing the offense until the day before.

Look, I'll just say this: it wasn't the right call. I don't have a huge issue with holding Maynard out a few series. If Maynard missed a tutoring session, I do think there are other ways of punishing him without it affecting the rest of the offense. But if you want to hold him out, I can understand that.

But I believe Tedford is either being disingenuous or incredibly naive if he actually believes that isn't going to put his offense into a funk. It puts the entire offense out of rhythm when you limit your backup to a few reps with the ones throughout the week, tell the offense that the starter isn't going to start, and then expect the team to come out sharp. It's an odd decision, and one I felt ultimately torpedo'd the offense in the early going.

As for the quarterback play itself, I do believe Allan Bridgford wasn't quite as bad as he looked in person or his 1-8 stat line would indicate. He made the right reads, wasn't that off in his accuracy and generally put the ball in the right place. However, his passes lacked zip, and again, you have to wonder if the lack of practice time affected his timing with his receivers.

As for Maynard, I thought he looked like..well Maynard. By no means do I think Maynard lost this game for the Bears. He made some plays, had some nice throws and looked like he knew where he was going for the most part. He was far from being the biggest issues for the Bears. However, he's still wildly inconsistent, struggles with his accuracy, his footwork in the pocket is still questionable, and he still isn't progressing through his reads as quickly as I would like from a 5th year senior quarterback. On Cal's second to last possession, Maynard was completely oblivious of the blitz from his blindside, and couldn't go right to his hot read in Richard Rodgers, and ended up taking a critical sack.

Look, let me put it this way: Who looked like the 5th year senior quarterback out there? Cody Fajardo or Zach Maynard? I rest my case.

Defensive Breakdowns
There was a lot to like from Cal's defense. Unfortunately, there was a lot more to shake one's head at.

First off, the inability by the Bears to defend the zone read is just perplexing at this point. I liked the looks Cal's defense was giving Nevada, but there were just so many misreads and loss of outside contain. You were seeing both linebackers, safeties and even corners being pulled in the wrong direction multiple times. I understand that this is a difficult offense to defend, but ultimately it's still assignment-based defense that's less on reading reacting and maintaining one's gaps. But it's still an issue for the Bears.
More than that though, I was disappointed at the lack of penetration the Bears defensive front were getting. Though this was a veteran Nevada offensive line, the Bears' defensive linemen had to have done more to disrupt Nevada'a zone read than they did. It was a real quiet day for the unit that was supposed to be strength of this defense.

The third down conversion rate has to be the more alarming stat though. The Bears defense were able to do enough defensively down the stretch to put the Bears in good 3rd and long situations, only to see Nevada convert 11 of their 20 third downs. That's as sigh-inducing of a stat as you'll find on defense.

Runningback Carries
I like CJ Anderson a lot. I'm ok with him being the costarter at the RB position. But this is one of those rare instances where I disagree Ron Gould's distribution of runningback carries. When you have a 1,300 yard rusher in Isi Sofele, you can't just give him the ball 5 times for 22 yards.

Overall though, I would have liked for the Bears to establish a running game earlier on. This was a young defensive line that could have been worn down. But instead, the Bears were inconsistent on the running attempts, often electing to pass on first down.

Let's be clear, we don't have the type of personnel, mainly at quarterback to be a pass happy offense. Maynard works best when asked to complete short to mid-range passes, and hit receivers when rolling out of the pocket once the threat of the run game has been established.

But when you don't have that, you force the Bears to become a pass first offense, and we're not there yet. At all.

Special Teams...Mixed
I don't feel deflated about this unit only because I had such low expectations heading into this game. With that said, I thought Cole Lenninger looked fine, and we'd all be remiss to expect Lenninger to duplicate the type of performances we saw from Bryan Anger. The decision to rugby punt is just the worst. Just, so terrible.

Vincenzo D'Amato looked fine on kickoffs and his 40 yard field goal was ok, but missing that 31 yarder was just huge.

Otherwise, Cal's coverage teams never made any huge blunders, and even forced a nice turnover that led to a Cal field goal. The Bears were afforded some pretty nice field position all day.

But, who's freaking idea was it to call a lateral on Cal's last kickoff with 32 seconds remaining? We're not talking about having just 2 seconds and needing to replicate the Play. We're talking about 32 seconds, more than enough time to run 4 or so pass plays and get down the field. I can't comprehend why you'd risk a turnover there and essentially end the game for yourself when you still have 32 seconds. Mind boggling. And if you think it wasn't that bad, imagine that Nevada hadn't been called offsides, they recover the fumble, and the Bears had ended on that note.

Wide Receiver Debuts
In one of the bright spots, I was encouraged by the play of Bryce Treggs and Chris Harper. Treggs has the distinction of scoring the first (Cal) touchdown in Memorial Stadium on a beautiful 39 yard strike from Maynard. He would go on to catch 3 catches for 62 yards.

Chris Harper impressed me far more than I thought he would. I knew he'd make a solid possession receiver for the Bears, but he showed some nice athleticism in the open field. At this point, he's the clear #3 receiver on the team. I know you hate to see his final catch be a fumble, but it's just one of those plays where the defense makes a big play. And for the record, I don't think Harper made an actual football move or truly controlled, but not much you can do there. Though I liked what I saw from Harper.

Moving Forward
It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. The Bears were supposed to overcome a hardfought game on Saturday, build on it, and walk out of the stadium to the chorus of the Golden Bear faithful singing "Fight for California."

Instead, a shellshocked fanbase wanders aimlessly out of their shiny new stadium to the chants of "Wolfpack! Wolfpack!" Meanwhile, you have to think that everyone from the players and coaches to the dejected fanbase are asking themselves, "Now what?"

Ultimately, it's the type of loss that leaves even the most ardent of program and Tedford supporters speechless in what to say. Sure, I'll keep supporting the Bears, and I'll be there next week against Southern Utah. But it becomes increasingly difficult, if not impossible to object to the belief that this game simply affirms all the hot seat talk surrounding Tedford and the notion that he has at best guided this program into mediocrity the past few years.

After a long 8 month hiatus that felt like an eternity, it's going to be an even longer week. Just how long will the season feel?

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