I just saw that collegefootballnews.com predicted that Cal would win 38-34. Pretty darn good.

sycasey said:

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Okay, so because we pulled this off, somehow 7-5 Duke gets to play for the ACC championship? And if they win that there's a chance the ACC could be out of the playoff entirely?

The conference really needs to review its tiebreaker rules. If there's a head-to-head result then you can go with that, but for a four-way tie you should probably select based on overall record or go by the CFP rankings or something. When playoff berths are involved the conference should put its best foot forward.

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The worst case scenario has a decent chance of happening, yeah. By the way, it's still tough to accept how badly we collapsed against Duke.

chazzed said:

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. By the way, it's still tough to accept how badly we collapsed against Duke.

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4 of our losses are inexplicable.

How did we look so bad (both offense and defense) against SDSU?
How did we start out hot against Duke and then revert to the SDSU version of the Bears?
Why couldn't we stop that one play that Virginia Tech ran over and over and over ... ?
***: Stanfurd??

TandemBear said:

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Cal88 said:

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hope it gets reviewed and called back at the 1 foot line, we ve got 2 more tries and will kill the clock

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No way. Never. We TAKE the TD when we get it. Too many ways to Coug' it. Can't believe they scored on such an effort.

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Indeed, remember the A&M game where Kapp took the points off the board, and the bears fumbled the ball at the A&M 2 yard line?
Rivera saved his bacon with the safety, but he's no longer on the field . . .

chazzed said:

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sycasey said:

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Okay, so because we pulled this off, somehow 7-5 Duke gets to play for the ACC championship? And if they win that there's a chance the ACC could be out of the playoff entirely?

The conference really needs to review its tiebreaker rules. If there's a head-to-head result then you can go with that, but for a four-way tie you should probably select based on overall record or go by the CFP rankings or something. When playoff berths are involved the conference should put its best foot forward.

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The worst case scenario has a decent chance of happening, yeah. By the way, it's still tough to accept how badly we collapsed against Duke.

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Like once SMU lost to us then it's crazy to me you don't just put Miami in the championship game. Instead it goes way down the tiebreaker process to "record against common opponents," of which there are few. Everyone knows Miami is the best team out of that batch.

Doesn't the conference have to set the tiebreaker rules before the season starts? Or are you just pointing out the obvious failings of those rules?

chazzed said:

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Doesn't the conference have to set the tiebreaker rules before the season starts? Or are you just pointing out the obvious failings of those rules?

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They can't change it for this season. They should look at changing it in the future. If playoff spots are tied to the championship game you can't mess around.

sycasey said:

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Okay, so because we pulled this off, somehow 7-5 Duke gets to play for the ACC championship? And if they win that there's a chance the ACC could be out of the playoff entirely?

The conference really needs to review its tiebreaker rules. If there's a head-to-head result then you can go with that, but for a four-way tie you should probably select based on overall record or go by the CFP rankings or something. When playoff berths are involved the conference should put its best foot forward.

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Yes, yes, and maybe, Duke would first have to win on Saturday and they do have a good but small shot at it, and Miami could still be selected if Duke is not

Strykur said:

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sycasey said:

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Okay, so because we pulled this off, somehow 7-5 Duke gets to play for the ACC championship? And if they win that there's a chance the ACC could be out of the playoff entirely?

The conference really needs to review its tiebreaker rules. If there's a head-to-head result then you can go with that, but for a four-way tie you should probably select based on overall record or go by the CFP rankings or something. When playoff berths are involved the conference should put its best foot forward.

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Yes, yes, and maybe, Duke would first have to win on Saturday and they do have a good but small shot at it, and Miami could still be selected if Duke is not

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Sure. I just think that as a conference the ACC should not leave this open as a possibility. It's one thing if it's a weak enough conference that there's only one legitimate CFP contender, but that's not the case. The dumb tiebreakers are holding better teams out.

Wonderful to see the smiles last night. Elation from the Bears rushing the field and the smiles and togetherness in the locker room. Hard to think of a better ending for the seniors.

— Nick Rolovich (@NickRolovich) November 30, 2025

Congratulations to @DukeFOOTBALL for making it to the @ACCFootball championship game. In this season of gratitude, I think it would be a fine gesture for Coach Diaz and all happy Duke fans to make a donation to a charity of the #Calgorithm’s choice. Calgorithm, do your thing.

— Nick Rolovich (@NickRolovich) November 30, 2025

TandemBear said:

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Cal88 said:

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hope it gets reviewed and called back at the 1 foot line, we ve got 2 more tries and will kill the clock

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No way. Never. We TAKE the TD when we get it. Too many ways to Coug' it. Can't believe they scored on such an effort.

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You have to play by the odds presented for a particular situation, as opposed to some arbitrary "one size fits all" rule. I'm not saying either choice is a slam dunk, but having two chances to punch it in from the 1 foot line while killing the clock collapses the possibility of SMU scoring on the last possession.

Cal88 said:

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TandemBear said:

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Cal88 said:

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hope it gets reviewed and called back at the 1 foot line, we ve got 2 more tries and will kill the clock

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No way. Never. We TAKE the TD when we get it. Too many ways to Coug' it. Can't believe they scored on such an effort.

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You have to play by the odds presented for a particular situation, as opposed to some arbitrary "one size fits all" rule. I'm not saying either choice is a slam dunk, but having two chances to punch it in from the 1 foot line while killing the clock collapses the possibility of SMU scoring on the last possession.

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Yes, but how many times have we seen this Cal team false start or hold inside the red zone? Take the points.

Yes, ironically, the best thing for SMU was that it remained a TD. I don't believe it was. But from that distance, Cal probably would have scored, eating a enough time to prevent SMU from driving down the field as far as they subsequently did.

JollyBear said:

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How was that not a chop block and 15 yards?

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You will NOT believe that this flag was picked up.

Quickest call from the conference office you will ever see.

Yet it fails. There is simply no rescuing the ACC championship game from 5-loss Duke.

But nice effort, ACC! pic.twitter.com/S0HaaccyGE

— Kevin O'Neill (@ExtraHalfPoint) November 30, 2025

No chop block call against SMU.

No targeting call against Miami.

tokuno said:

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TandemBear said:

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Cal88 said:

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hope it gets reviewed and called back at the 1 foot line, we ve got 2 more tries and will kill the clock

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No way. Never. We TAKE the TD when we get it. Too many ways to Coug' it. Can't believe they scored on such an effort.

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Indeed, remember the A&M game where Kapp took the points off the board, and the bears fumbled the ball at the A&M 2 yard line?
Rivera saved his bacon with the safety, but he's no longer on the field . . .

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I don't. I think I was probably in Moffitt wishing I was at the game instead. I missed most of Kapp's games, unfortunately.

But thanks. One of the Cardinal rules of football is never take points off the board. (Never say never is another!)

glb78 said:

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I'm sorry, I played football. That was a chop-block.

Textbook.

But we prevailed. Go Bears!

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Picking up that flag on the chop block in the SMU-Cal game was CRAZY.

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) November 30, 2025

JSC 76 said:

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chazzed said:

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. By the way, it's still tough to accept how badly we collapsed against Duke.

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4 of our losses are inexplicable.

How did we look so bad (both offense and defense) against SDSU?
How did we start out hot against Duke and then revert to the SDSU version of the Bears?
Why couldn't we stop that one play that Virginia Tech ran over and over and over ... ?
***: Stanfurd??

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Take care of business in those games and we are 11-1, 10-2 at worse. It was right there for a hungry and motivated coach and team to seize.

Where were Boscia and Adams all season? We're they in Wilcox's dog house?

Golden One said:

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Where were Boscia and Adams all season? Were they in Wilcox's dog house?

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More likely Harsin's.

The two transfers from Idaho, Mini and Hamper, had a lock on their starting positions from game one but got injured. Adams is small like DeJesus, but super fast. He should have been getting more play sooner to stretch the defense in a way Grizzell and Hamper cannot as we saw in the TD play.

Plummer also had a TD on 1 reception giving him 2 receptions for 86 yards and 1 TD on the season. Morris had 6 receptions for 2 TDs on the season.

When our starters were not getting open or dropping the ball, you'd think the backups would get a chance, and when they come in and deliver, you'd think they would get more chances.

PAC-10-BEAR said:

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JollyBear said:

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How was that not a chop block and 15 yards?

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You will NOT believe that this flag was picked up.

Quickest call from the conference office you will ever see.

Yet it fails. There is simply no rescuing the ACC championship game from 5-loss Duke.

But nice effort, ACC! pic.twitter.com/S0HaaccyGE

— Kevin O'Neill (@ExtraHalfPoint) November 30, 2025

No chop block call against SMU.

No targeting call against Miami.

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The thing the video fails to call out is the 10 second run off. There was 8 seconds left, the game would have ended on that chop block penalty full stop. No chance for a Hail Mary or anything, just game over.

And just like the "non targeting" call for Miami last year, what bugs me the most about this is both of these are PLAYER SAFETY issues. These are inexcusable flags to pick up. A judgement call like PI or something would have been better because at least that's not putting players health at risk.

MrGPAC said:

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The thing the video fails to call out is the 10 second run off. There was 8 seconds left, the game would have ended on that chop block penalty full stop. No chance for a Hail Mary or anything, just game over.

And just like the "non targeting" call for Miami last year, what bugs me the most about this is both of these are PLAYER SAFETY issues. These are inexcusable flags to pick up. A judgement call like PI or something would have been better because at least that's not putting players health at risk.

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They said SMU's lineman tripped but the end result is still a chop block.

JSC 76 said:

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chazzed said:

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. By the way, it's still tough to accept how badly we collapsed against Duke.

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4 of our losses are inexplicable.

How did we look so bad (both offense and defense) against SDSU?
How did we start out hot against Duke and then revert to the SDSU version of the Bears?
Why couldn't we stop that one play that Virginia Tech ran over and over and over ... ?
***: Stanfurd??

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You need to count wins too.
Fumble back of endzone ??