Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

Thank you for posting here, Mrs. Mendoza. Your son is having a great season at IU. Most of us wish him the best. Sort of.

Certainly we wish him a healthy and happy life.

BrightBear said:

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Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

Wilcox and Fernando messed up. No way around it. We move on and hope Ron Rivera makes a good decision for the future.

Big C, Bright Bear who has been hollering and sending a plethora of letters to RR about firing Wilsux is definitely Fernando's mom !

I hope to hear a response from RR soon !

oski003 said:

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BrightBear said:

---

Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

---

hate on it all you want, but he's been coached, by one of ours, to do this. Cignetti has his system but that's not what's going on. You take what the defense gives you, he is excelling at it more than any P4 quarterback in recent memory. 1 game at 85% and two over 90% efficiency. That's the data. Insane.

95bears said:

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oski003 said:

---

BrightBear said:

---

Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

---

hate on it all you want, but he's been coached, by one of ours, to do this. Cignetti has his system but that's not what's going on. You take what the defense gives you, he is excelling at it more than any P4 quarterback in recent memory. 1 game at 85% and two over 90% efficiency. That's the data. Insane.

---

I don't disagree.

95bears said:

---

oski003 said:

---

BrightBear said:

---

Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

---

hate on it all you want, but he's been coached, by one of ours, to do this. Cignetti has his system but that's not what's going on. You take what the defense gives you, he is excelling at it more than any P4 quarterback in recent memory. 1 game at 85% and two over 90% efficiency. That's the data. Insane.

---

Oh excellent. So who do we have to thank on our coaching staff that taught him those skills that Cignetti now uses to full effect? Unbelievable.

What happens in the timeline where he stays? JKS never comes here? JKS comes, but there's QB drama compounded by the mediocre team surrounding that drama (as a freshman, JKS has elevated us to slightly better than mediocre)? How long until we can retire the Mendoza obsession? After he retires himself from a pro career, maybe some SB championships and over a decade of saying "The University of Indiana" on TV broadcasts? There are so few situations in life that can be classified as a true "win-win." Let's try to accept this one with some grace.

Johnfox said:

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Wilcox and Fernando messed up. No way around it. We move on and hope Ron Rivera makes a good decision for the future.

---

I don't think Fernando would agree that he's messed up. He'd say he made an unbelievably great choice!

philly1121 said:

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95bears said:

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oski003 said:

---

BrightBear said:

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Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

---

hate on it all you want, but he's been coached, by one of ours, to do this. Cignetti has his system but that's not what's going on. You take what the defense gives you, he is excelling at it more than any P4 quarterback in recent memory. 1 game at 85% and two over 90% efficiency. That's the data. Insane.

---

Oh excellent. So who do we have to thank on our coaching staff that taught him those skills that Cignetti now uses to full effect? Unbelievable.

---

His 3 QB coaches in his 3 years at Cal were Bill Musgrave, Jake Spavital and Sterlin Gilbert. I think he also worked out with Mike Pawalski?

He improved dramatically from 2023 to 2024 (even though the offense was worse) and now has improved dramatically from 2024 to 2025, albeit in a far better offense. Cal passed more in 2024 than Indiana does in 2025, and I was arguing last year that given Mendoza's improvement we should have passed even MORE, that having built leads with his arm we should have kept on throwing downfield, rather than getting conservative with 4th quarter leads. We aren't making that mistake this year. I give Harsin credit for that even as I blame him for the lack of talent at RB and WR.

Mendoza is relentlessly dedicated to self-improvement, so he deserves the most credit for what he has accomplished. He has always been about his own career and goals. He is smart enough to give lip service to his teammates because he knows that is what you "should do" but it always seemed a bit of a facade to me. This should be obvious from his call to Sagapolutele to dissuade him from signing with Cal. He made a good move for himself going to Indiana and I am neither mad at him, pinning for him, neither rooting for or against him.

95bears said:

---

oski003 said:

---

BrightBear said:

---

Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

---

hate on it all you want, but he's been coached, by one of ours, to do this. Cignetti has his system but that's not what's going on. You take what the defense gives you, he is excelling at it more than any P4 quarterback in recent memory. 1 game at 85% and two over 90% efficiency. That's the data. Insane.

---

At least some of it is because he's playing in a better system. Cal's system sucked last year.

sycasey said:

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95bears said:

---

oski003 said:

---

BrightBear said:

---

Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

---

hate on it all you want, but he's been coached, by one of ours, to do this. Cignetti has his system but that's not what's going on. You take what the defense gives you, he is excelling at it more than any P4 quarterback in recent memory. 1 game at 85% and two over 90% efficiency. That's the data. Insane.

---

At least some of it is because he's playing in a better system. Cal's system sucked last year.

---

A ton is because he is in a better system. However he improved a ton from 2023 to 2024 going from a better system under Spavital to a worse system under Bloesch. So a lot is just that he is improving as a quarterback too. Both are true.

Negabear3000 said:

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What happens in the timeline where he stays? JKS never comes here? JKS comes, but there's QB drama compounded by the mediocre team surrounding that drama (as a freshman, JKS has elevated us to slightly better than mediocre)? How long until we can retire the Mendoza obsession? After he retires himself from a pro career, maybe some SB championships and over a decade of saying "The University of Indiana" on TV broadcasts? There are so few situations in life that can be classified as a true "win-win." Let's try to accept this one with some grace.

---

The answers are pretty apparent.
1.) JKS would not have come here if nando was here for a plethora of reasons…the 2 obvious being I don't think he was a big fan of nando after the phone call and we wouldn't have been able to afford both.
2.) While nando is a great qb and played great for us and fdl I did advocate for him and think he'll make it to the next level…he has serious flaws as a passer at the next level…chief of which are that while he does have a high release point he crouches when he throws meaning he hasn't yet learned how to throw to spots he's not telegraphing to defenders ala his body position. The positives are his grit; his height and his running ability. But on running ability see my previous point. Despite what others think I honestly don't see him making it through all his reads before tucking the ball because he has odd squatting throwing mechanics wherein he looks for a read whilst popping a squat and then tucks it and runs if it isn't there. I don't think that works in any way shape or form at the next level solely due to the fact that pro passers need to make it through at least 3 reads routinely if they're going to be successful.

In terms of JKS? I think nando beats him at mobility and "decision making" and that's literally it. And tbh given JKS is a frosh I think by senior year like nando he'll beat him at those as well in addition to the things he's already better at: arm strength, accuracy, throwing on the move, and not being a Judas.

20 Fernando Mendoza threads, 40 Fire Wilcox threads, and 30 threads complaining about Cal whether it's Ron or the program in general. Oh and don't forget the Monster! That my friends is BI summed up

Yeah, I'm going to bed.

philly1121 said:

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95bears said:

---

oski003 said:

---

BrightBear said:

---

Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

---

hate on it all you want, but he's been coached, by one of ours, to do this. Cignetti has his system but that's not what's going on. You take what the defense gives you, he is excelling at it more than any P4 quarterback in recent memory. 1 game at 85% and two over 90% efficiency. That's the data. Insane.

---

Oh excellent. So who do we have to thank on our coaching staff that taught him those skills that Cignetti now uses to full effect? Unbelievable.

---

no one on the current Cal coaching staff. That's all I can say.

Bottom line is this guy is an elite COLLGE QB with mental and decision making skills that are at the 99% percentile right now. You can hate that and be angry with the way he left, but facts is facts.

Johnfox said:

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20 Fernando Mendoza threads, 40 Fire Wilcox threads, and 30 threads complaining about Cal whether it's Ron or the program in general. Oh and don't forget the Monster! That my friends is BI summed up

---

john, the problem with this biz model that got sr citizen tv "fans" losers like not so bright bear starting receptive predictably negative threads with zero information/entertainment value is that this board is unreadable & NOBODY under 30 years of age is reading anything other than the monster and then clicking away to more FUN social media like calgorithim, write for california, etc

the bearinsider.com is not sustainable, like cal mbb & wbb attendance precipiticious declines (winning a couple of more games is NOT gonna grow the fanbase, that belief is an outdated 1950s biz model) unless there are biz model corrections this place is becoming a ghost town except for the small niche of uninformed urine stained sofa incels that are angry/frustrated with their lives that are lashing out against wilcox

and literally NOBODY wants to read that ****

Congratulations to Fernando. But has anyone noticed how GOOD the Indiana's offensive and defensive lines are?

grumpybear said:

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Congratulations to Fernando. But has anyone noticed how GOOD the Indiana's offensive and defensive lines are?

---

This. The Indiana roster is very strong across the board and in the games I watched, their defense was very good. They also had a very easy schedule.

A qb's life is much easier under these circumstances, which takes nothing away from FM for taking advantage of a great system/roster.

"98 yards with my boys" is still a great Big Game memory. Ferragamo left Cal and did OK for himself too. We gonna rag on Vince as well.

I hate the way the portal has been set up. But players do what they feel they need to do. FM has a brother at IU and gets to play on the same team as his brother. That would be a big draw to me too, if given the opportunity.

Nothing is going to tarnish the memory of last year's Big Game. And nothing is going to tarnish the memories of what Fernando did while in Blue and Gold.

We have JKS now. I'm exceptionally happy to have him. And I am hoping for him to have a great career (and experience) at Cal.

That is my focus.

As for Mendoza, haters gonna hate. But, fortunately, not everyone is a hater.

TomBear said:

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"98 yards with my boys" is still a great Big Game memory. Ferragamo left Cal and did OK for himself too. We gonna rag on Vince as well.

I hate the way the portal has been set up. But players do what they feel they need to do. FM has a brother at IU and gets to play on the same team as his brother. That would be a big draw to me too, if given the opportunity.

Nothing is going to tarnish the memory of last year's Big Game. And nothing is going to tarnish the memories of what Fernando did while in Blue and Gold.

We have JKS now. I'm exceptionally happy to have him. And I am hoping for him to have a great career (and experience) at Cal.

That is my focus.

As for Mendoza, haters gonna hate. But, fortunately, not everyone is a hater.

---

Here are things that tarnish the memory of last year's big game, where Mendoza had a fantastic final drive:

1) Mendoza secretly calling our one 5 star recruit to tell him not to come to Cal;
2) Mendoza faking sickness right before the SMU game because he had struck a deal to go to Indiana; and
3) Mendoza not playing in our bowl game because he had struck a deal with Indiana.

He led Cal to a magnificent, and memorable victory.

THAT is what I choose to remember.

JKS is here. And new memories are comin'!!!!

Mendoza contacting JKS and being hostile to him was well beyond the pale. Clearly, he is not a team-first kind of guy.

Seems pretty team first to me. No one knows exactly how the conversation went down besides JKS and Mendoza, no point in continuing to spread rumors about it

$

Why do you hate America?

oski003 said:

---

BrightBear said:

---

Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

---

Cal is well known for **** defense under Wilcox.

LunchTime said:

---

oski003 said:

---

BrightBear said:

---

Hoosiers with 30 passing touchdowns in a season:

- Fernando Mendoza pic.twitter.com/3kSWQXvs4q

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 15, 2025

No matter how he left or what he did, he's going to win the Heisman, go to the college football playoffs, be the #1 pick. Worth every penny in NIL !

And Justin Wilcox figures out a way to fumble the football at the 1 yard line with no one standing around because he doesn't know what he is doing !

And Justin Wilcox goes to tell everyone that fernando messed it up and "it's not his fault" because he does not want to take responsibility. And everyone believes him as Addison Ooms goes to make it even more credible. Blame blame blame !

How did we botch this or is Indiana just that good ?

Classic Justin Wilcox

---

I watched the game. He is making easy passes and his D and S/T are giving him great field position. His receivers are making plays after the catch. He took 5 drive killing sacks instead of throwing the ball away, but his D kept getting three and outs to give him the ball back. He made one impressive play where he went through his progressions to the right, looked left, and threw a nice ten yard ball. Everything else was easy throws. #37 broke two tackles on a five yard cross for his 21 yard TD. Three of his other TDs were at the goal line. He is good, but not great.

---

Cal is well known for **** defense under Wilcox.

---

Wilcox had a great defense 7 years ago in 2018. Since then he has had defenses with good DBs and some good LBs but the run defense and pass defense has been limited by poor recruiting at DL.

Negabear3000 said:

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What happens in the timeline where he stays? JKS never comes here? JKS comes, but there's QB drama compounded by the mediocre team surrounding that drama (as a freshman, JKS has elevated us to slightly better than mediocre)? How long until we can retire the Mendoza obsession? After he retires himself from a pro career, maybe some SB championships and over a decade of saying "The University of Indiana" on TV broadcasts? There are so few situations in life that can be classified as a true "win-win." Let's try to accept this one with some grace.

---

Agree with this take. Why are we spending any mental energy when we such a great replacement at QB. Nando is killing it and we have JKS who is both beloved, super talented and committed to building something at Cal. Let's just be happy for each other and focus on beating the 'rurds and finishing the season strong!

chazzed said:

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Mendoza contacting JKS and being hostile to him was well beyond the pale. Clearly, he is not a team-first kind of guy.

---

Did it ever occur to you that when a coach on the hot seat lost his number one recruit and then lost his starting QB that there was an incentive to find someone else to blame for that and a conversation that two 18-21 year olds had that no one else was privy to became an easy way to divert attention by making people feel wronged?

Fact: Fernando Mendoza did not hurt Cal. Whether he was a total ass or a convenient scapegoat, the phone call ultimately didn't change anything.

Fact: We lost our starting QB after the 2024 season for whatever reason.

Fact: For whatever reason, that QB who many (clueless) Cal fans thought was pedestrian when running Cal's offense is now front runner for Heisman and a predicted first round pick

Fact: When Mendoza was a Freshman starter for two thirds of the season, Indiana was busy finishing last in conference with a worse record that year than Cal.

I think it is fair to conclude that the issue was not Mendoza. That the issue was coaching and offensive scheme. That the potential was always there with the right coach and the right scheme. That maybe we should ask why our coaches didn't recognize his talent and provide the environment for him to thrive the way he has now.


Fact: After 2022 Cal lost its starting QB. For whatever reason.

Fact: People here said it was okay because we spent a bunch of money to sign an awesome replacement. And we were also okay because we paid good money for a solid backup.

Fact: The awesome replacement was truly awful. The backup was worse

Fact: That starting QB from 2022 was better in 2023 with his new team and certainly much better than his awful replacement.

Fact: Our coach started the awful QB that we paid lots of money for over Mendoza because he didn't know what was on his roster. Coach than started a worse QB who we paid money for because he didn't know what was on the roster. After Mendoza saved Coach's bacon, Coach went out and paid money to recruit over him because he didn't know what was on his roster even after seeing it in game situations.

Reports: Mendoza didn't feel the coaches believed in him. True? I don't know. Consistent with the facts? I'd say yes.

Fact: (repeated) For whatever reason we lost our starting QB after 2024.

Fact: That starting QB was light years better with his new team.

So Cal has had two successful starting QB's in three years leave and be more successful. One massively so. I think it is fair to ask why. I think it is a million times more relevant to Cal than whatever a 20 year old said to an 18 year old in a phone call that didn't impact Cal's fortunes. But we keep talking about the phone call.

Yeah, full disclosure. I am rooting for Mendoza because by the time he left I thought he was a really good QB in a really crappy system and I thought that was really obvious and I kind of made that point pretty clearly in response to people who I thought were drastically wrong. And yes, I did compare his first two years with Jared Goff's first two years and conclude they were very similar (they were by any measure) and say he could match Goff's junior year if he worked hard. And yeah, I like being very right in public. And, I thought the pettiness towards him was over the top. So, yeah, for vain reasons I'm not proud of, I'm glad of his success. I can be as petty as Steph Curry

But petty burns out quickly. What keeps me coming back to this is that we had him on our roster and didn't know how to make him as successful as he is now and that is because of massive, fundamental flaws in our program. And the consistent reply is 1. He's not really that good (yeah, whatever). 2. Why do we keep talking about the thing that I don't want to talk about because I was so wrong in public; or 3. But the phone call!!!!

Say it after me. Mendoza is an awesome QB. We have lost 2 good QB's in 3 years because our coach and our offensive system sucks. We run a very real risk of this continuing to happen if we don't fix it. It's not hard.

Or we can spend billions of dollars to research and build a time machine, use it to go back in time and take Mendoza's phone away, and then realize that we have the same starting QB we would have had without the time machine so we built the time machine for nothing. Although the patent will be massively valuable.

BearGreg said:

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Shocky1 said:

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Johnfox said:

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20 Fernando Mendoza threads, 40 Fire Wilcox threads, and 30 threads complaining about Cal whether it's Ron or the program in general. Oh and don't forget the Monster! That my friends is BI summed up

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john, the problem with this biz model that got sr citizen tv "fans" losers like not so bright bear starting receptive predictably negative threads with zero information/entertainment value is that this board is unreadable & NOBODY under 30 years of age is reading anything other than the monster and then clicking away to more FUN social media like calgorithim, write for california, etc

the bearinsider.com is not sustainable, like cal mbb & wbb attendance precipiticious declines (winning a couple of more games is NOT gonna grow the fanbase, that belief is an outdated 1950s biz model) unless there are biz model corrections this place is becoming a ghost town except for the small niche of uninformed urine stained sofa incels that are angry/frustrated with their lives that are lashing out against wilcox

and literally NOBODY wants to read that ****

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Then why do you post here? Why did you "create" the Monster thread here and keep it here until this day?
please go post somewhere else if this is how you feel.

And for the record, since 2017, BearInsider has grown its traffic by an average of 10% every year and nearly doubled the number of subscribers. And much more importantly, the BI community helped catalyze the Caliber Fund, was close to 90% of NIL donations and played a big role in Ron Rivera joining and eventually getting the keys along with Knowlton leaving. And we will continue to play a vital role in navigating the existential near term future of Cal Athletics.

We want this to be an inclusive place for everyone who cares about Cal and it's Athletic Program. I hope you choose to stay, but not if you do so while continuing to denigrate the place where you seem to spend a lot of your time.

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Given that BearInsider and its predecessors have been going for nearly 30 years, since pretty close to the advent of the internet, I think saying it is not sustainable is pretty ludicrous.

Honestly, I think there are a lot of people who haven't left Cal sports entirely because of the community here. Since 1959, Cal has had a lot more poor years that good ones. That is just a fact. Fans have come and gone. Hell, presidents have come and gone. The internet has developed and BearInsider has developed with it. The underlying fact has not changed. I'm pretty sure that neither today's fans nor BearInsider didn't make Cal suck in 1969 or 1979 or 1989 or 1999. So I'm pretty sure neither are to blame now.

This is a community and given the track record there is simply no way to expect the community to be happy with where things are. If BearInsider wanted to take a heavy hand and just remove all criticism, the community would just disband. The community is not the problem. Fact is, if we want things like the Caliber Fund we need people to be angry enough to want to do something.

> Then why do you post here? Why did you "create" the Monster thread here and keep it here until this day?
> Please go post somewhere else if this is how you feel.

smh said:

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> Then why do you post here? Why did you "create" the Monster thread here and keep it here until this day?
> Please go post somewhere else if this is how you feel.

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A little OT, I know, but one of Smokey's songs that really touched me: