He also states that Cal should battle for 2nd.

North:
Ducks
Furd
Cal
OSU
UW
WSU

I might have OSU and WSU reversed, but he has the Lupaids FIFTH in the North. They might just be my most hated team this year. F-them.

Go Bears

socalBear23;841898788 said:

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He also states that Cal should battle for 2nd.

North:
Ducks
Furd
Cal
OSU
UW
WSU

I might have OSU and WSU reversed, but he has the Lupaids FIFTH in the North. They might just be my most hated team this year. F-them.

Go Bears

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No real stretch here. That being said, we have #1 and #2 at home... and neither will be close to what they were last year. I like our chances.

Agree, we got UW, Oregon and Furd at home. No reason we can't compete for #2 and with a little luck (say, eg, Oregon has QB issues?) we could compete for #1. That said, it will be road tests to Utah and and PNW that I think will determine our season. Win those three and we will definitely be in contention.

Surprised that he has UW so low. Not that I will lose any sleep over it.

Maybe he is thinking that Price will take another beating behind a very suspect OL. Not much behind him to speak of. Maybe Shaq will be tried as an option QB.

I don't think we win the north, but I think we take down Ore, Furd, UW this season. Mark my word.

SurvivorOf1and10fkaLEA;841898855 said:

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I don't think we win the north, but I think we take down Ore, Furd, UW this season. Mark my word.

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I can't see how we would defeat Oregon, Stanford, and UW, but not win the North.

Oregon loses only one to us. We lose to SC, Utah, and maybe one more random one somewhere.

Then Oregon gets a postseason ban and we win the North.

I'm not sure that I see any difference between another season of taking third and taking forth or taking fifth or even taking second? Maybe other Cal fans will disagree with ol' Blueblood but
I don't think any champions will......

Blueblood;841898884 said:

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I'm not sure that I see any difference between another season of taking third and taking forth or taking fifth or even taking second? Maybe other Cal fans will disagree with ol' Blueblood but
I don't think any champions will......

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Well I mean that's like saying there's no difference in Stanfurd's performance the past two years vs. Wazzu's over the same time.

easdog1;841898793 said:

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Agree, we got UW, Oregon and Furd at home. No reason we can't compete for #2 and with a little luck (say, eg, Oregon has QB issues?) we could compete for #1. That said, it will be road tests to Utah and and PNW that I think will determine our season. Win those three and we will definitely be in contention.

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I don't see Oregon having qb issues. Their system under Kelly is just ridiculous. Remember when Masoli was dismissed from the team? They just slid Thomas into his spot and still made it to a BCS bowl game.

Yes.....why? you don't think so?.....er....you do realize my post deals with the goal of participating in the conference and reaching reaching that goal....and not so much as
jumping for joy and beating my chest that Cal may take third place in the north section, right? I therefore don't care about the furds or Wazzu's past performances....

Blueblood;841898920 said:

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Yes.....why? you don't think so?.....er....you do realize my post deals with the goal of participating in the conference and reaching reaching that goal....and not so much as
jumping for joy and beating my chest that Cal may take third place in the north section, right? I therefore don't care about the furds or Wazzu's past performances....

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But with Stanfurd as an example of not winning the conference but still seeing a clear uptick in success and appearances in BCS bowls and what not I don't think that there's a clear line of 1st place = Happy and <1st = Equivalent amounts of failure.

Reaching third or second in the conference would represent an upward swing for a Cal team and would be good news in my eyes. Placing 5th would not signal that same trend.

Being complacent with "reaching third or second" is all too representative of Bear fans....I expect championship performance albeit a rare Cal football experience!
Seasonal fluctuations without championships just aren't doing it for me anymore....I mean, Tedford has had 10 or 11 seasons now.....I've seen enough to know that a championship performance is a missing expectation without a significant change in the current program......this is my summer muse....closer to the beginning of the season and especially after Cal typically wins itsfirst two games......I'll probably tout Tedford for President!

"What's this duck doing on the bar?"


pssssst......No one here really cares about whoregon being better, even if true.....

and it's hard to be optimistic at this stage being so mindful of last season (disappointing to say the least). So....with all the coaching changes, adjustments, replacements in the P12, I don't have a clear picture at all..How can anyone? Based on last season, I also see us 3-4 in the North right now until I see something significantly positive coming out of the CMS tunnel on Sept. 1.

"Hey Curley, what do you get when you cross a Duck with a Buckeye?"
"Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk Moe...dunno..One more arrest?"

Forget last season. We win the North. Mark my words.

kelly09;841898960 said:

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Forget last season. We win the North. Mark my words.

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We are undefeated!

:gobears:

He states Gabe King may be tried on OL. Maybe this is common knowledge but it was news to me.

"Good one kelly09....take another snort but don't inhale too much...
AAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA"

The good thing about the new conference is we can define mediocre as finishing third instead of fifth.

59bear;841898966 said:

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He states Gabe King may be tried on OL. Maybe this is common knowledge but it was news to me.

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Phil probably got that from BI, but having some of the many great athletes we have on that side of the ball consider playing on the other side would be a good thing.

Blueblood;841898926 said:

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"What's this duck doing on the bar?"


pssssst......No one here really cares about whoregon being better, even if true.....

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ducktilldeath;841899034 said:

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You don't care about talking football? You cared enough to reply...

I replied to a statement I disagreed with and used facts to support the opinion. Care to do the same?

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I'm torn...support Blueblood or support Daffy against Blueblood? :headbang

You presume too much. I like talking about college football, specifically Cal football. As a consequence, I cared to reply simply to inform you that I, and I just bet many more here, don't give a crap about the expected status of whoregon football. So, actually, I, and again many here, don't care what you disagree with here. Facts mean nothing here when commenting on opposing fans' views.

ducktilldeath;841899057 said:

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Suit yourself.

FYI tho, Oregon is your main rival.

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Oregon is our main competition, and has become a rival, but Oregon is not close to being our main rival.

Tedhead03;841898914 said:

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I don't see Oregon having qb issues. Their system under Kelly is just ridiculous. Remember when Masoli was dismissed from the team? They just slid Thomas into his spot and still made it to a BCS bowl game.

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+1
The only issue Oregon has at QB is to decide between two talented QBs each of whom has a plethora of talent at the skill positions.

Phil Steele is very accurate, except when it comes to Cal.
Many of predictions for the Pac-12 this year are dubious. Just one of many examples is that his unit rankings places Cal 6th in the conference at RB (behind ASU, Utah and USC) and only 3rd at Receiver.

On page 136 and 137 of his magazine are the Pac-12 predictions, which includes the preseason all conference selections that go 4 deep. There are some ridiculous selections. For example, Cal has only 3 defensive players in the entire 4 deep. Those players are Cecil Whiteside (no longer with the team), Aaron Tipoti (1st team?!)(never been a starter and was out of shape until last year), and Mark Anthony (probably had one of the more disappointing performances as a starter last year, next to Sean Cattouse). No mention of Jalil, Wilkerson, Coleman, Williams and McCain.

I think Phil Steele's magazine is a wonderfully entertaining glossy showcase of college football information. And I look forward to it every year. But it is not nearly as accurate as he claims.

59bear;841898966 said:

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He states Gabe King may be tried on OL. Maybe this is common knowledge but it was news to me.

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That was a pre-spring practice comment from someome (JT?). Never happened in the spring and certainly won't in August.

KoreAmBear;841898796 said:

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Surprised that he has UW so low. Not that I will lose any sleep over it.

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Huge coaching turnover, big graduation losses, weak defense.

I am not sure Oregon is better than last year - that essentially is saying the team will go to the national championship game without James, and with a new QB. With Furd's graduation losses, the Ducks clearly have separated themselves from the rest of the division. However, they may face an emotional killer if major sanctions are announced, and they are ineligible for post-season play for example (this is speculation, I don't know any inside stuff).

Steele is usually good at predicting where Cal ends-up, even if he often doesn't have the specifics correct. Cal has as good a conference schedule as you could get (in terms of who Cal plays home, and when), choosing Cal for third is not a major stretch. I think (hope) that the number 2 spot will be competitive, and come down to the winner of the Big Game.

wifeisafurd;841899450 said:

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Huge coaching turnover, big graduation losses, weak defense.

I am not sure Oregon is better than last year - that essentially is saying the team will go to the national championship game without James, and with a new QB. With Furd's graduation losses, the Ducks clearly have separated themselves from the rest of the division. However, they may face an emotional killer if major sanctions are announced, and they are ineligible for post-season play for example (this is speculation, I don't know any inside stuff).

Steele is usually good at predicting where Cal ends-up, even if he often doesn't have the specifics correct. Cal has as good a conference schedule as you could get (in terms of who Cal plays home, and when), choosing Cal for third is not a major stretch. I think (hope) that the number 2 spot will be competitive, and come down to the winner of the Big Game.

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I'm gonna take the opposite opinion and beleive that Oregon is going to be a better team this year than last. Remember DT stepped in and got Oregon to a "Natty" his first year, and who ever replaces him is likely going to be a better QB (Remember DT wasn't exactly the best QB in the conference). Also I think you can make an argument that the Black Mamba is a better player than LMJ. Oregon may not be as good as they were in 2010, but with most of their defense coming back and replacement players who you could make an argument are better along with Chip Kelly's "easy" to work with system I believe the Ducks will be a better team.

calumnus;841899065 said:

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Oregon is our main competition, and has become a rival, but Oregon is not close to being our main rival.

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Well, we hope Oregon is a our main competition this year....