I know stats don't tell the whole story but still ... a pretty darn good game for Maynard other than the pick and fumbled handoff.

25/30 (83.3%) for 295 yards ... 4 touchdown, 1 pick ... 203.3 QB rating

When's the last time we had a QB with a 203.3 QB rating?

Career day from Zach tonight. Especially impressive after the rough start. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the best PER of the week nationally. Whomever sees him on campus needs to buy him some Top Dog (no violations)...

SoBeBear99;841971232 said:

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I know stats don't tell the whole story but still ... a pretty darn good game for Maynard other than the pick and fumbled handoff.

25/30 (83.3%) for 295 yards ... 4 touchdown, 1 pick ... 203.3 QB rating

When's the last time we had a QB with a 203.3 QB rating?

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He also scored a TD on the ground. I think the last time we had a QB put up a 203.3 rating was Riley in the AFB?

calumnus;841971351 said:

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He also scored a TD on the ground. I think the last time we had a QB put up a 203.3 rating was Riley in the AFB?

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:tedford

Maynard played well tonight, but there were two botched handoffs (at least one was his fault, don't know about the 2nd) and the pick which led to 7 pts for the Bruins. You can't do that and expect to win. The question really is whether or not another QB would have been better or worse than Maynard.

He played well enough to win tonight... he made some big mistakes that ended up not costing us the game... against a different opponent or on the road it may have been a different story.

I'm not drinking the Maynard Kool-Aid. BTW, I'm not rooting against the guy... the OL has been crappy, and the play calling has been erratic... he doesn't make excuses and has been tough. That said, he drives me nuts.

This game was eerily a mirror image of last year's game against UCLA.

Give the guy more credit than that.

The second botched appeared to be confusion on pay by Bigelow. Bigelow appeared to think play action. I say this ecause after fumble he kept running, rather than go back for ball.

OneTopOneChickenApple;841971379 said:

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Give the guy more credit than that.

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Some people hate him so much they can't see straight and can't even acknowledge when he has a great game. 25 of 30? He was responsible for 5 TDs.

OneTopOneChickenApple;841971379 said:

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Give the guy more credit than that.

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Agreed. He's definitely not the elite / heisman contending quarterback that we all would love to see and feel we deserve ... but I hope we can all give Zach some credit for a well played game. I do think the play calling was much better this game which gave him a better chance of success. Last week the play calling and 7-step drops was just terrible.

I'll also go further than that. Zach played with heart this game and after being a human pinata for much of the season he continued to take some big hits and gave up his body on a few runs to get the 1st down. Nice job today ZM!

And yes ... there's still lots to work on ... protecting the football (how many fumbles including botched handoffs does he have this year?) and yes, I'd love to see the same type of performance consistently for the remainder of the season. But today? Very well done...

calumnus;841971404 said:

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Some people hate him so much they can't see straight and can't even acknowledge when he has a great game. 25 of 30? He was responsible for 5 TDs.

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Exactly ... as if Bridford would have gone 27 of 30 and scored 7 TDs ...

He did have a few turnovers which could have definitely hurt us ... but that's what made his play today "very good" / "great" and not "perfect". There are relatively few QBs that will have had as good of a week as ZM

RealDrew2;841971384 said:

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The second botched appeared to be confusion on pay by Bigelow. Bigelow appeared to think play action. I say this ecause after fumble he kept running, rather than go back for ball.

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Crap. Knowing Gould and JT we might not be seeing Biggy that much any more.

Come on coaches! A little leeway here?

And he was REALLY psyched up at halftime, running off the field.

BerlinerBaer;841971413 said:

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Crap. Knowing Gould and JT we might not be seeing Biggy that much any more.

Come on coaches! A little leeway here?

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CJ had a fumble, but they kept giving him the rock.

Yep, no question about it. This was Maynard's best game as a Golden Bear. Kudos to him for a great game. That interception early in the first quarter was bad, because he threw it into double coverage; but considering the poor pass protection he got most of the night, he was excellent. Lots of quick passes were called tonight, and that helped him a lot.

Maynard's 203 rating is the best for a Cal QB since ...

Kevin Riley's 228 vs. UC Davis in 2010 ...

Against 'real' competition ... Riley had a 217 vs. Washington State in October 2009 and a 212 vs. Maryland in Sept 2009

So ... best Cal QB performance in 3 years?

SoBeBear99;841971432 said:

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Maynard's 203 rating is the best for a Cal QB since ...

Kevin Riley's 228 vs. UC Davis in 2010 ...

Against 'real' competition ... Riley had a 217 vs. Washington State in October 2009 and a 212 vs. Maryland in Sept 2009

So ... best Cal QB performance in 3 years?

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Where can you find game by game passing ratings?

We designed plays for the TE!! See how much easier the game becomes offensively when the TE is a viable weapon? The entire field began to open up after Rogers starting gettin open. The pass rush also began to ease as concern over identifying Rogers increased. Great job by Maynard and the coaches on involving the TE. Better late than never.

Zachary played a great game today.

In some cases, he was put in a position to do so. We grinder out at least 4 yards on first down pretty often. We haven't done that consistently this year. Kudos to the OL and RBs.

Getting in 2nd and short opens up a lot of potential for us. We can grind another 3-4, we can pass short for the 1st or let a play develop and throw it deep.

This took a lot of pressure off of the pass rush. ZM took some hits but we gave up way fewer sacks today.

I think he actually played better. He saw some blitzes and got rid of the ball quickly. The slant to CJ for the TD is a pass that they've tried and has been unsuccessful this year. ZM also threw to Rodgers for some huge gains. Earlier this season ZM would throw into a double covered KA and miss a wide open Rodgers.

As I said, he had a good game, but I don't let the positives make me forget the negatives. No QB is perfect, and I don't expect them to be, but that interception he threw in the 1st quarter is something we've seen before. He needs to be smarter than that. This was a great win, and I'm really happy right now, but we still need to cut down on the mistakes. If we don't beat ourselves, some of those close games will go our way.

Just look at ASU. Last year they were highly penalized, giving games away. Last week against us, they had two penalties and eked out a close game.

BTW, I think I don't know if I want to go to any more home games this year... we're 0-2 in home games I attend, 2-0 in games I skip. Gotta take one for the team.

Career performance. Gotta give it up for Zack.

freshfunk;841971444 said:

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Zachary played a great game today.

In some cases, he was put in a position to do so. We grinder out at least 4 yards on first down pretty often. We haven't done that consistently this year. Kudos to the OL and RBs.

Getting in 2nd and short opens up a lot of potential for us. We can grind another 3-4, we can pass short for the 1st or let a play develop and throw it deep.

This took a lot of pressure off of the pass rush. ZM took some hits but we gave up way fewer sacks today.

I think he actually played better. He saw some blitzes and got rid of the ball quickly. The slant to CJ for the TD is a pass that they've tried and has been unsuccessful this year. ZM also threw to Rodgers for some huge gains. Earlier this season ZM would throw into a double covered KA and miss a wide open Rodgers.

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Rodgers was dropping passes early too and then was injured. He was even questionable for tonight but I sure didn't see anything wrong with that foot on those long runs after the catch.

I like really like THIS PHOTO of Maynard showing the young ones in the background (Boehm6, Kline8, Lasco2, Hinder7) what heart & hustle (and game/field awareness) accomplishes.

He played a very good game overall, though it's true that at least a couple of those turnovers were his fault (fortunately UCLA was insistent on handing the ball back to Cal even more often).

Now the key will be to keep doing this from here on out! Please be real improvement, and not just a one-game fluke. Please!

The 30 yard plus or minus touchdown pass to KA, was prolly the best pass I have ever sen him make. I was in the N. endzone and they weremoving south. kA lined up far right. He had man on man single coverage. when the ball was snapped I looked right at Maynard. He was looking over to the right and I thought he is going there, Threw it perfectly over the left shoulder of KA. Right in his hands. We were all looking at eachother saying, " Damn, that was a nice pass "

sycasey;841971473 said:

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He played a very good game overall, though it's true that at least a couple of those turnovers were his fault (fortunately UCLA was insistent on handing the ball back to Cal even more often).

Now the key will be to keep doing this from here on out! Please be real improvement, and not just a one-game fluke. Please!

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He played well against Nevada, SUU and Ohio State, had a poor game against USC while being sacked 9 times and had a terrible game against ASU. The key will be continuing to play like he played against UCLA today, Ohio State a couple weeks ago and Stanford last year and avoiding more games like ASU (or SC or UCLA last year).

Nice work ZM! Keep it up! :cheer

sycasey;841971473 said:

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Please be real improvement, and not just a one-game fluke. Please!

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I hear you! The Tedford offense (not only ZM) has had a tendency of occasionally building up our hope only to thereafter crush it mercilessly.

davetdds;841971499 said:

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The 30 yard plus or minus touchdown pass to KA, was prolly the best pass I have ever sen him make. I was in the N. endzone and they weremoving south. kA lined up far right. He had man on man single coverage. when the ball was snapped I looked right at Maynard. He was looking over to the right and I thought he is going there, Threw it perfectly over the left shoulder of KA. Right in his hands. We were all looking at eachother saying, " Damn, that was a nice pass "

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That pass was a beauty. The long pass to Rodgers was also pinpoint. Zach hit him in stride and he was off to the races. I remember only 2 bad passes, the pick and an overthrow on a out route.

I'm not really expecting Maynard to improve steadily or build on this and other good performances. Instead I'm just going to celebrate the good games as they come and hope they come more often!

calumnus;841971513 said:

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He played well against Nevada, SUU and Ohio State, had a poor game against USC while being sacked 9 times and had a terrible game against ASU. The key will be continuing to play like he played against UCLA today, Ohio State a couple weeks ago and Stanford last year and avoiding more games like ASU (or SC or UCLA last year).

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I don't think he played all that well against Nevada or SUU (and you have to consider the level of competition there).

BerlinerBaer;841971413 said:

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Crap. Knowing Gould and JT we might not be seeing Biggy that much any more.

Come on coaches! A little leeway here?

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I think that missed exchange was actually Maynard's fault. It looked to me like the OL was in pass pro and it should have been play action. The announcers said something to the effect of Maynard apologizing to Bigs on the sideline after the play.

Anyway, I was expecting the worst after that first-drive pick, but Maynard bounced back really well and was fun to watch.

Zach was fantastic last night. The first pass was a horrendous decision but he more than made up for it last night. If he played that well every game we'd be a top-10 team right now. If he plays close to that well we can win every game this season - although it will take a lot more than Zach playing well to topple Oregon.

That first pick-a stinker-could have set the tone. To his credit he fought and had a super game

calumnus;841971436 said:

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Where can you find game by game passing ratings?

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cfbstats.com

Cal Bears Great;841971657 said:

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I think that missed exchange was actually Maynard's fault. It looked to me like the OL was in pass pro and it should have been play action. The announcers said something to the effect of Maynard apologizing to Bigs on the sideline after the play.

Anyway, I was expecting the worst after that first-drive pick, but Maynard bounced back really well and was fun to watch.

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The first one just looked like a botched exchange where CJA didn't get a firm grip on the ball and it slipped through his arms.

The second one involving Bigelow was definitely a blown play. Maynard tried to hand it away like itwas a running play and Bigelow was thinking play-action. Not sure who missed the play call, but the result was a ball on the turf. I do konw that the QB is supposed to notice when/if the RB doesn't take the ball and pull it back, so Maynard should have kept the ball when Bigelow didn't reach for it.

Zach had a fantastic game. That first INT was scary and really could have shot the team, and the fumble on the first drive was luckily scooped for a gain. We dodged a few bullets that really could have changed the game, but we capitalized on some plays and UCLA made some really boneheaded mistakes that were drivekillers.

His throws were on target aside from a few that required very athletic catches. The post to KA21 for a TD was a thing of beauty. He was calm in the pocket and stepped up beautifully and even threw with authority on the short routes to Rodgers. I'm glad we emphasized the TE in this game because he appears to be able to make that throw with some ease.

I never thought we'd see a better game frmo him after tOSU, but glad I was wrong.