Cal v. Oregon State … … Dammed … & Chewed …

Posted on October 26, 2013 by runtam

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… Cal v. Oregon State …

The Beavers …

… Dammed …

… up Cal’s offense, holding the Bears to 3 points for more than 40 minutes …

… motivating the benching of starting QB Jared Goff in favor of Zach Kline …

… and igniting the first embers of a QB controversy in Berkeley …

… Cal managed just 366 yards in total offense and 19 first downs …

… and trailed 28-3 at the half and 35-3 early in the 3rd quarter …

… Goff was 21 of 31 for 221 yards passing, but the running game was anemic, and the Bears turned the ball over four times (1 pick, 2 lost fumbles and once on downs) …

Jared Goff Passing from Deep in Cal Territory

… Kline came on to take advantage of some loose chinks in the dam …

Zach Kline Scrambles for 15 Yards

… leading the Bears on two long touchdown drives (88 and 65 yards), but they came after the matter was settled …

… and were the definition of too little, too late.

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… & chewed …

… their way through the beleaguered Cal defense …

… racking up 570 yards in total offense and 31 first downs …

… OSU QB Sean Mannion was 35 of 45 for 481 yards passing, with 2 touchdowns …

… and during one stretch completed 21 passes in a row despite occasional pass rush pressure…

DE Puka Lopa Closes in on OSU QB Sean Mannion

… while his team averaged 7.7 yards per play from scrimmage to just 4.8 yards per play for Cal …

… and the Beavers prevailed 49-17.

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… GAME REPORTS …

… stats and additional photos are available on ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?id=332920025

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… and the official Cal Bears website:

http://www.calbears.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30100&ATCLID=209288018…

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… GAME REPORTS …

Although Cal’s Week 1 opponent, Northwestern, has dropped out of the Top 25, the Bears have still played four teams that are now ranked in the Top 25 of the first BCS poll …

… #3 Oregon, #4 Ohio State, #12 UCLA and #25 Oregon State …

… and those four teams currently have a combined record of 25-2! …

… while Cal’s other three opponents are a combined 12-12 and only one (Portland State at 3-4) has a losing record.

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The BCS and other poll rankings are here:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings

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… NEXT UP …

… Cal visits the Washington Huskies …

… in Seattle … with an 8:00 pm Saturday evening kickoff … and the game will be televised on Fox Sports 1 …

… the Bears are 23 point underdogs in this one.

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Head Coach Sonny Dykes quelled the budding QB controversy on Friday …

… announcing that Jared Goff will once again start for California.

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GO BEARS!

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… More CAL-OSU photos:

Cal v. Oregon State -- Happy Birthday Joe Starkey

Game Day was Joe Starkey’s Birthday.

Khalfani Muhammad Cuts Left on Kickoff Return

K Vincenzo D’Amato Puts 3 on the Board

P Cole Leininger

Jared Goff Tirggers the Bear Raid

WR Bryce Treggs Avoids a Tackle

Cal @ UCLA … Battered … & Bruined …

Posted on October 18, 2013 by runtam

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… still running a bit behind, so just getting to writing up …

… Cal @ UCLA …

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… BATTERED …

… despite missing more than half of its projected starters, Cal’s defense gamely stood up to UCLA’s potent offense …

… holding the Bruins to 74 yards less and 11 points less than their season averages entering the game …

… but that still meant that the Baby Bears gained 488 yards in total offense and scored 37 points …

… to pace a 37-10 UCLA victory.

Once again, the Bears got behind early, trailing 17-0 early in the 2nd quarter …

… before closing the gap to 17-10 with 2:35 to play in the half.

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… and BRUINED …

… UCLA, however, used just 1:50 of that time to drive 73 yards in 8 plays and scored on a 27 yard pass to make the score 24-10 at the half.

Despite controlling the ball for 16:02 of the second half, the Bears could not score again …

… as they turned the ball over on an interception, a fumble and once on downs, while having to punt twice …

… while the Bruins managed to add two more field goals and another touchdown pass to make the final score 37-10.

UCLA’s defense held QB Jared Goff in check …

… as he managed just 215 yards passing on 16 of 43 with one interception and 3 sacks …

… and a long gain of just 23 yards …

… while UCLA had 410 yards passing, with 3 touchdowns and 3 completions longer than 30 yards.

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… Game Reports …

… stats and additional photos are available on ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?id=332850026

… and the official Cal Bears website:

http://www.calbears.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30100&ATCLID=209282592

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… Mid-Season Bears Review …

… matching the 2nd youngest team in the country with college football’s 3rd most difficult schedule has proved daunting for the Bears …

… while injuries have made a difficult situation even worse …

… Cal has already played four Top 25 teams (#22 Northwestern, #3 Ohio State, #2 Oregon and #11 UCLA) …

… and those four teams currently have a combined record of 25-4!

My pre-season optimism (6 wins) now appears doomed to disappointment, as the Bears are likely to be underdogs against all of their remaining opponents except for Colorado …

… nevertheless, there is reason for some optimism …

… as USC looks vulnerable and you never know what will happen in The Big Game.

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… Next Up …

… Cal hosts the Oregon State Beavers …

… at Memorial Stadium at 7:30 Saturday evening …

… with the Bears an 11 point underdog.

This game will feature two of the country’s leading passers, Cal’s Jared Goff and OSU’s Sean Mannion …

… Goff is 4th in the country in passing yards per game at 339.3 …

… while Mannion is 1st at 418.5 ypg.

Interestingly, the fathers of both QBs attended the same high school (San Rafael HS in Marin County), where Jerry Goff was a senior when John Mannion was a freshman.

GO BEARS!

The World’s Top 10 Best Images of Cats Behind Bars

Posted on October 12, 2013 by runtam

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Russell Deasley has done it again with his Caturday Top Ten! My favorite is #4 — the look on his face would qualify him for a spot on The Official Grumpy Cat Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/TheOfficialGrumpyCat

Thanks again, Russell — I look forward to all of your Top Tens, but especially the Caturdays!

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One of our cats, Frasier, was an escape artist who needed to be kept behind bars — when we adopted him in 2008, he promptly began to escape from the back yard, despite the prison like fencing I installed above the deck and the retaining wall. When I finally figured out how he was doing it, I had to install some additional security measures:

On one occasion, I caught him in the act of escaping:

On another occasion, however, he got completely away and was gone for a couple of very worrisome days before turning up on his own:

Cal v. Washington State … Highlights … Lowlights … and No Lights …

Posted on October 12, 2013 by runtam

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… running a bit behind … sorta like Cal’s defense … but, it’s been a busy week … and the subject is so depressing …

… however, with the next game up this evening, I figured I’d better get this done tonight … so here goes …

… Cal v. Washington State …

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… HIGHLIGHTS …

… QB Jared Goff continues to impress …

QB Jared Goff Surveying the Field

… hitting 35 of 59 passes for an all-time Cal record 504 yards passing …

… one yard more than Pat Barnes had in a quadruple overtime win over Arizona in 1996 …

… Goff now has three games in which he has passed for more than 400 yards … considerably more … 450 … 485 … and 504 …

… only one other Pac-12 QB (Arizona State’s Andrew Walter) ever has had three passing games of 450 yards or more …

… and no other Cal QB has ever had three 400+ yard passing games …

… and Goff has them just five games into his freshman season!

… the new offensive system … Bear Raid! … is partially responsible … but Goff is running it like an experienced college quarterback rather than a freshman with just five games under his belt …

… WR Chris Harper also had a big game …

WR Chris Harper Makes Another Catch

… with career highs of 14 receptions and 231 yards …

… he is only the 5th Cal receiver to have more than 200 yards in a game …

… and the totals put him at #3 on the all-time single game lists for both receptions and yards.

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… LOWLIGHTS …

… the struggling Cal defense gave up 570 yards in total offense …

… and three more defenders went down with injuries … LB Jalen Jefferson and CBs Joel Willis and Stefan McClure …

… McClure’s knee injury is going to cause him to miss the rest of the season …

… the Bears’ offense once again got off to a slow start, allowing the Cougars to open up a 14-0 first quarter lead …

… and for the 3rd time in 5 games, Cal never led.

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… and NO LIGHTS …

… the Bears self-destructed again, going -4 in turnovers …

… Cal fumbled 3 times and lost them all, while Goff threw two interceptions …

… while WSU had no fumbles and threw only one interception …

… two of the Bears’ fumbles came as they were close to scoring … once at the Cougars’ 5 and once at the 2.

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… GAME REPORTS …

… stats and additional photos are available on ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?id=332780025

… and the official Cal Bears website:

http://www.calbears.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30100&ATCLID=209277240.

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… NEXT UP …

… tomorrow, the 1-4 Bears travel to Southern California to meet their 4th Top 25 opponent in 6 games, the #11/13, 4-0 UCLA Bruins …

… the Baby Bears will be looking for revenge for the 42-17 beat down administered by Cal last year at Memorial Stadium …

… and enter the game as 23 point favorites.

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Cal now ranks 4th in the country in passing offense (402.6 ypg), but 106th in rushing offense (113.0 ypg), 78th in scoring (27.7 ppg) and a dreadful 125th in scoring defense (45.0 ppg) …

… while UCLA is 5th in scoring (48.0 ppg), 14th in rushing offense (259.8 ypg), 21st in passing offense (302.0 ypg) and 30th in scoring defense (20.3 ppg) …

… so predicting a Cal win is difficult, but a reversal of fortune in the turn-over battle could give the Golden Bears a shot at an upset.

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… MORE PHOTOS …