<p>I agree Elmo, that Jackson is too inconsistent. But part of that has to do with the balls that are thrown to him. this is why I was wondering his intentions for the draft. I've heard that Hawkins is projected by several draft experts as being a 2nd-4th round pick in the draft, assuming he keeps up his good work.</p>
<p>UCB: USF has quality wins, but if they can't beat an unranked team, they don't deserve to be ranked that high, just like Cal and USC don't, though they have excuses because both had injured qb's during their losses. IMO, WV is overrated as well. </p>
<p>Marvin Jones is ranked as the #14 wide receiver in the nation, and actually committed to Cal over Oregon after the OSU game (he was the only recruit present then). There was an article on him in the SI prep section this week.</p>
<p>vc08, USF was rated No. 2 because they were undefeated, and other teams lost. They will slip because of Thursday's loss, just like Cal did. It's not USF's fault that teams ranked higher than they were lost earlier in the season. Poll voters move up teams if they keep winning...even, if the wins can be called "garbage wins".</p>
<p>Speaking of overrated. Our defense is porous: 144 yards rushing?! Tons of Pass Interferences. Got owned on that trick play that even the announcers saw coming.</p>
<p>Is anyone else just really depressed about this! I think it hurts so bad because we were one half of good football away from being no. 1 and now we might be out of the top 25. I'm just really, really depressed over this.</p>
<p>Now I'm going to ASU next weekend and I have to hear all the trash talk from my friends since they are (7-0).</p>
<p>Oh yeah and mix in that I have two midterms this week, gosh just not a very good week.</p>
<p>Man. I can't really say much, but...this sucks. My Lakers got ravaged by injuries last season. My Angels got some major injuries and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Not to make excuses, but it looks like not being at full power has hurt the Bears.</p>
<p>I don't know. I don't think we might even have a chance against ASU. Well, I guess it's official, the season goes down the drain. Just a week ago, we were poised to be Number 1, now it's pretty much over.</p>
<p>Well, what can I say, the Bruins just put it down. :p</p>
<p>J/k tho, you guys have just been having bad second half luck. You were <20 yards, 30 seconds away from a victory if it weren't for that interception. And last week you guys dropped the ball in the final minute, too. </p>
<p>The whole game was solid and definitely a good match up. You shouldn't be down, we're a team to be reckoned with that's just had two silly losses. If it weren't for ND we'd be in the top ten right now. At least you weren't like SC and beaten by crap like Stanford :p..</p>
<p>I don't think its so much of Cal sucking or playing badly, and more of the fact that the PAC-10 started getting recognition for the fact that both Cal, Oregon, and USC were solid, if not national level teams, after years (if you haven't noticed, the Pro-SEC commentators on ESPN used to talk about what a joke the Pac-10 and Cal, especially, was, until recently.) of being seen as a weak conference. Now, because people are recognizing that football powerhouses are coming out of the Pac-10, the Pac-10 is getting just as brutal as some of the Eastern and Southern conferences. We lost to a STRONG team, there is no shame in that.</p>
<p>I honestly think Cal played the better game today. I'm not as sure that UCLA won as Cal lost. I give credit to UCLA, they made less mistakes, but I just can't fathom how Cal lost that! They had bigger plays, DJ was unstoppable (I was there, and he was open on virtually every play, totally owning his defender). Hawkins played well also. I think our prevent-D has to go.</p>
<p>Basically, Cal lost because of penalties and turnovers. They commited suicide.</p>
<p>Tvaldivi, unnecessarily, BlueElmo: Arizona State has not played a team this year with a winning record. Why else would they be undefeated in the Pac-10 right now and only ranked 10th? I have this weird feeling that Cal is gonna give them a rude awakening next week.</p>
<p>Cal might pull one out next week. ASU just lost their top runner and all the pressure is on them. Cal basically has nothing left to play for. Cal wins, they go to the Holiday Bowl at best, Cal loses, they go to some other random bowl or none at all. Playing with no pressure = less nerves = less mistakes...I hope.</p>
<p>A lot of radio announcers have been saying that Cal is out of the running for the Rose Bowl. Not "virtually out of" the running, but totally out.</p>
<p>That loss to UCLA hurt our chances, but I don't think things are so bleak. Of course, a lot of things out of our control have to happen. But UCLA still has to play Oregon, USC, and ASU, all tough games. Oregon, with one loss, still has some big games, too. USC lost to Stanford. There's a lot of parity in this conference, and it very well could be taken by a two loss team.</p>
<p>
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Is anyone else just really depressed about this! I think it hurts so bad because we were one half of good football away from being no. 1 and now we might be out of the top 25. I'm just really, really depressed over this.
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I don't know. I don't think we might even have a chance against ASU. Well, I guess it's official, the season goes down the drain. Just a week ago, we were poised to be Number 1, now it's pretty much over.
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<p>Come on guys. Have a litte perspective, please. It's not THAT bad. After all, I think it's a pretty safe bet that Cal is going to make SOME bowl game. Unfortunately, probably not a top bowl, not after today. But at least they'll get to SOME bowl.</p>
<p>Let's keep in mind that it really wasn't that long ago when Cal had a truly crappy football team, culminating in the nadir of the 2001 season when they lost 10 straight games, went 0-for-the-entire-conference, and finished 1-10. Not only did Cal not go to any bowl games at all during that time (late 90's and early 2000's), they couldn't even win any of the Big Games during that time. There were entire entering classes of undergraduates who came to Cal as freshmen and then later graduated without ever having experienced a single Big Game win. Not only that, but they even landed on probation for NCAA academic violations. {You would think that if a team was going to cheat, at least you would expect them to be pretty good on the field. After all, the whole point of cheating is to give you an unfair advantage. Cal was a very rare example of a cheating team that was also bad.} They were indisputably one of the most truly pitiful football programs in Division 1-A during that time. </p>
<p>*Those *days were truly dark and depressing days for Cal football. In contrast to that, everything that has happened in the last 5 years has been nothing but pure gravy. Think of it this way. However badly any of you guys think this season is going, trust me, it's still a LOT better than those old sad days. I'll take a season like this any day, as I remember how bad things used to be.</p>
<p>Seriously misterr, I don't understand how vc08 can say Cal lost it for themselves. If anything UCLA played a nearly spotless game(sans the fumble or incompletion here and there). Cowan threw pass after amazing pass that connected and many went for long yards. Not to mention how many of those were heavily defended and our receivers still pulled it out. Remember that pass into the endzone in the first half that bounced off the defender's hands and then juggled around for a bit before our receiver caught it? Unfortunately I'm not too good with names yet but if you were indeed there you would remember it.</p>
<p>And I didn't see anything spectacular out of DJ today, honestly. I'll credit him for his speed and a little bit for losing his defenders here and there but his catches were nothing amazing. Almost all of them were open catches with not much pressure, which is understandable since our pass defense(zone, so favors the good receiver) is shoddy at best. We stopped Forsett and Hawkins(I think he's the other RB) consistently on the run which is what we do best and shined in that regard.</p>
<p>I have to run right now so I'll add my other comments a little later..</p>
<p>Very good post, way to make me feel like a complete stubborn douchebag of a fan! I guess my only explanation is that I was 12 back when Cal had that 1-10 season and was at the bottom of D-1 football. I don't think I would be so down on the team if we wouldn't have been so close to no. 1. I got very confident, as did other Cal fans, when we were no. 2 and I didn't expect this fast of a drop off. </p>
<p>Thanks for the very good reminder of how lucky we are to have a solid team, and here's to Cal kickin ASU's *** come next Saturday!</p>