<p>I'd like to look up the names of everyone that plays for Cal special teams and personally tell them how horrible they are and that they should quit playing football and leave Berkeley because they don't deserve to be called Golden Bears. If anyone has classes with any of them please don't forget to thank them for blowing the game for us.</p>
<p>You are always an angry person. Your welcome. If its such a big deal why dont you play?</p>
<p>Funny that you'd say anything, considering that every post you've made so far has been complaining about how boring everything is. Is being frusterated about my football team too boring for you? Is college football in general too boring for you? Anyway, your (you're? I take it you're an english major) welcome too, whatever that means. I'm surprised you weren't too bored to write that long post.</p>
<p>No doubt - this game was a major let-down. However, you should have expected this outcome. Before tonight's game began, Tedford himself admitted that our weakness was our special teams. Don't get me wrong, I totally feel your pain. We let ucla's offense slip between our fingers at very crucial points in the game. But, our kicker made a few difficult field goals which continued to keep us in the game. If anything, we should be dissapointed at the amount of field goals that were made when touchdowns (however unlikely they appeared) should have been attempted. </p>
<p>This loss doesn't mean we're going to loose to Oregon. It's obvious that we need to re-group and go over our game plan, but this loss doesn't make Cal a bad team. But we are also not a fabulous football team; at least not this year. USC, well..that might be another story. Southern California is a monster of a football team, but remember - the last time they lost was here in Berkeley. Miracles do happen...</p>
<p>Anyway, you should take notice of the three football players that made excellent progress tonight - Lynch, Forsett and Jackson are all very promising players. By next year, we could very well be at the top of our game. </p>
<p>Don't give up hope. We can learn from this loss...</p>
<p>Still totally sucks though. Damn.
<3,</p>
<p>Izzie Bear</p>
<p>First of all, don't blame the special teams for "blowing the game." Yes, special teams gave up some big plays, and even a touchdown. However, don't forget that we made some mistakes on all three areas of the game: Offense, Defense, and Special Teams. For example, if the defense held the Bruins on their last drive, we would have won. If we converted that key third down, then we might have sealed the game. You need to realize that this is a young team that is not as experienced yet, and thus we should give this team patience because we definitely have the potential to be very very good. We went out there and played a tremendous game against a ranked team on the road!</p>
<p>Lastly, your whole point about telling the special team how horrible they are and how we should all thank them for blowing the game for us is rediculous. Fine, let's say they did blow the game for us, would it do ANY good at all to tell them how much the suck and how they costed us the game?? Don't forget that these are not professionals; they are, first and foremost, STUDENTS, 18-22 old kids who are just trying to play their very best. Yes, their play could be improved, but they can only improve through continuous practice and learning from their mistakes in the games, and definitely NOT having someone tell them that they suck. I realize that you are disappointed in our loss (we all are), but realize that those kids are probably just as disappointed if not more disappointed and we need to keep encouraging them.</p>
<p>To be perfectly honest, I still think that Cal is a better-rounded program than UCLA.</p>
<p>There's a saying in Japanese- "saru mo ki kara ochiru" </p>
<p>Even the monkey sometimes falls from the tree. I think that Cal just had a bad day. It happens.</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree. I still think Cal needs some work, but I'm also confident that with the exception of USC, we will continue to beat our opponents this season. This loss will only make us more determined. UCLA didn't win by a landslide. Cal was almost continously on top the entire game. UCLA got lucky in the last two minutes of the game, making for a tragic but fair win on their part. I'm sure it was a fun win for everyone at UCLA, but Cal will keep on truckin'. If anything, as Cal students, we need to go out there this coming weekend for our hopeful slaughter of OSU. We can't just give up hope and place blame on some already mourning football players. They know they screwed up. But we need to stop expecting Cal to be exactly how they were last year. Remember that for quite a few years, we were a pretty pathetic team. We lost a lot of solid players after last year and we are still in the building process. We have Tedford, so we have a lot of amazing potential. </p>
<p>Besides, while UCLA fans rub it in our face...we could always remind them who had that fight song first...heh. Only kidding...</p>
<p><3,</p>
<p>Izzie Bear</p>
<p>Yes, yes, everyone is right. I wrote that post in the heat of passion (and a little tipsy to be perfectly honest) and I realize that the kids on special teams gave everything that they had and they shouldn't be singled out and attacked, even in jest. That said, it WAS the special teams that lost us the game. There were many mistakes on offense and defense, but the most glaring mistakes were the two punt returns that killed us and the fake punt that allowed UCLA to score the go ahead points. I also wish that Tedford would've ran the ball more in the first half. It seemed like every time we ran it we picked up 10-15 yards, yet Tedford kept calling passes in between that often led to third and long where he was obligated to call a pass play. Ayoob might end up being a good quarterback, but he's not there yet, and with our dominance on the line as well as in the backfield, I just think we need to bite the bullet and run the ball 3 out of every 4 plays. Oh well, maybe next year.</p>
<p>We would've won if:</p>
<p>Tedford had elected to run the ball more often inside the 20-yard line. On three-four occasions we had big runs of over 40 yards that put us inside the 20 but Tedford proceeded to have Ayoob (who has a terrible arm compared to peers) repeatedly throw the ball. It worked once on the second drive, but never again throughout the game. Everyone who knows football understands the most difficult place to pass is near the goal line. Why did Tedford insist? Lynch chewed up 9, 10, and 12 yards consecutively on one drive and Tedford had Ayoob try to throw three passes once they were within 10 yards of the goalline. Somehow this doesn't seem right. I said before the game to my friends, "If we run the ball and play Cal football, there is no chance UCLA is going to win. If we TRY to throw the ball, TRY to match UCLA's strength, then we're screwed." The special teams was sub-par- even bad, maybe- but we still had it in our hands to win.</p>
<p>All of Ayoob's passes are never on target. He never leads the receivers, but have them fall back towards the ball. He is raw and has potential (at least I hope), but he shouldn't be at the helm. Or, at least, he should make better decisions. He hasn't been comfortable in the pocket and has the tendency to throw away the ball way too early. He needs to stand his ground in the pocket and make some strong throws, rather than panic and release from the pocket and hope to gain some measly yards.</p>
<p>However, in college football, accountability can never rest on the players. We can simply assume that they all tried their darndest because they love the game. The coaches, on the other hand, should've done a better job. We pay Tedford $2 million this year to make sound decisions and get our players ready for games each week- he should've had the special teams coach prep his players on Maurice Drew, Tedford should've had our three AMAZING running backs pound the ball for touchdowns, and if Tedford wanted to Bears to throw the ball more often, he should've brought in Steve Levy who has a superior arm (at least for the final drive).</p>
<p>I don't know...</p>
<p>TTG</p>
<p>I saw a few minutes of it. Ayoob threw one great pass that would have been a touchdown if that idiot receiver actually caught the ball and didn't deflect it with the tips of his fingers. That was just an AWFUL display. That dude lost the game. Time to facebook him.</p>