OsoDorado;842544495 said:

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It's a little unsettling that everyone seems so confident we will beat Texas.

We definitely have the potential to blow them out with our powerful offense and improved defense. On the other hand, I worry about our special teams.

Anyone else a little concerned?

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We beat Texas. The Golden Bear will never quit. The Golden Bear will never die.

Any concern regarding the Golden Bears and victory is Old Blues. We are in a Golden Era with Sonny leading the way to sunshine ("Let there be light"). Genesis, Phil Collins, do it.

6bear6;842544530 said:

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A review of the current odds generally have us as 6 point favorites per Vegas. Vegas is confident too. If they were playing at CMS, we would be 9 point favorites.

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No, it would be 9 on a neutral field and 12 at CMS.

calbear93;842544570 said:

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I also remember the Ducks in 2009 being in turmoil, and the Bears being highly regarded. The Ducks had lost to Boise State and barely beat Purdue and Utah. We went in ranked in the top 10. We got destroyed and we ushered in the Chip Kelly era.

None of that had to do with Cal fans being over confident.

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Do you think this Texas team is winning 10 games and the Big-12? Was Oregon's 18-9 loss in Boise in 2009 as bad as the 38-3 beatdown Texas received in South Bend 2 weeks ago? This Texas team is a far, far cry from 2009 Oregon.

Also, we have guys with balls as coaches, not Andy Ludwig.

CalBearinLA;842544573 said:

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If we beat a team that's in "turmoil"...that's all that it's gonna be...that we're a program that's only good enough to beat some team when they're down.

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If the youth movement in Austin is to be believed, we will have our hands full next year in Berkeley, so check in then.

I'm concerned, but cautiously hopeful. Yes, Texas is in a bit of turmoil right now, but there will still be 100,000 rabid Longhorn fans in the stands, plenty of 4 and 5 star Texas players on the field, and a rich tradition of Longhorn success. Plus it will be hot and humid. If our special teams don't give up long returns and our pass defense is tight, we can win this game. But those are big "ifs".

Golden One;842544592 said:

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I'm concerned, but cautiously hopeful. Yes, Texas is in a bit of turmoil right now, but there will still be 100,000 rabid Longhorn fans in the stands, plenty of 4 and 5 star Texas players on the field, and a rich tradition of Longhorn success. Plus it will be hot and humid. If our special teams don't give up long returns and our pass defense is tight, we can win this game. But those are big "ifs".

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And now they may have that circle the wagons thing going on with the ousting of the AD. Lots of iffy variables going on.

Bevo's a steer not a bull, therefore no cojones! Bear's by two.

Yeah, I'm with you 100%. We entered the season thinking we had a decent chance in Texas, and now after beating 2 (relatively easy) opponents are feeling pretty dam' high. It reminds me of the time when we faced Arizona just after they had their "players mutiny" - we thought it was in the bag ... and we lost.

The good thing about this team is that they haven't won enough games to be cocky

Strykur;842544585 said:

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Do you think this Texas team is winning 10 games and the Big-12? Was Oregon's 18-9 loss in Boise in 2009 as bad as the 38-3 beatdown Texas received in South Bend 2 weeks ago? This Texas team is a far, far cry from 2009 Oregon.

Also, we have guys with balls as coaches, not Andy Ludwig.

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No, I don't. My point was that losing to the Oregon team in turmoil in 2009 had nothing to do with Cal fans being over confident. It had to do with Chip Kelly's genius plan kicking into gear. As such, I am going to feel confident about our chances this Saturday without worrying whether my confidence will negatively affect our team's performance.

FrankBear21;842544597 said:

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The good thing about this team is that they haven't won enough games to be cocky

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And they don't have a Top 10 ranking, otherwise...

MiZery;842544533 said:

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Confident but I would not be surprised if we lost. Tough place to play.

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I'm curious, is it a tough place to play? At Shaggy people are complaining that too many fans treat the game as just a social occasion. I get the impression that the stadium isn't as loud as they think it should be considering >90K people there. But in any case, in an offense that doesn't use a cadence and you don't hear our QB barking out audibles, I don't think they give a rat's ass about noise. I think our guys will be more affected by traveling more than one time zone, and by higher humidity than they're used to. I don't think the temperature will be a problem.

And as Frank says, the current Cal team has no signature wins to hang their hat on. No way they are over-confident. While Texass isn't expected to have a good record this year, they're still a big name so our boys will be motivated and hungry.

bearsandgiants;842544555 said:

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i'm terrified.

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Thank you. Me too.

I like the offense,but how good are we really, against a good defense?

Our defense has made strides, but can we keep a real P5 offense under 30 points?

Who knows? I sure don't. I DESPERATELY want to win this game, but I'm not the least bit confident.

calbear93;842544598 said:

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No, I don't. My point was that losing to the Oregon team in turmoil in 2009 had nothing to do with Cal fans being over confident. It had to do with the Chip Kelly's genius plan kicking into gear. As such, I am going to feel confident about our chances this Saturday without worrying whether my confidence will negatively affect our team's performance.

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haha finally someone gets it. fans love to think that they have more of an impact on the game than they really do, especially when most of them this week will be sitting at home watching on tv.

gobears725;842544625 said:

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haha finally someone gets it. fans love to think that they have more of an impact on the game than they really do, especially when most of them this week will be sitting at home watching on tv.

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so ... are you really serious ... yelling at the TV won't have any effect ... oh damn ... next you'll suggest that neeners deciding whether or not to extend Sonny's contract, or firing Sonny is non-sensical ... horrors

gobears725;842544625 said:

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haha finally someone gets it. fans love to think that they have more of an impact on the game than they really do, especially when most of them this week will be sitting at home watching on tv.

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However, just like judges on these stupid reality contest shows seem to be a reflection of the sentiment of fans (either reflection or steering), sometimes, just sometimes, we could be a reflection of what the players and coaches are thinking. Don't underestimate the time these kids (and some coaches) spend on social media reading about their next opponent. It's a double-edge sword. I think we're a better team than Texas, but I don't like the external variables that are going on (firing of AD may fire up the team and coaches, humidity + travel, rabid crowd, etc.). I'm glad Texas beat Rice though. We played Maryland in 2008 after their loss to Middle Tenn. (or was it some other direction?). The intangibles for that Maryland game were stacked against us.

Cal88;842544525 said:

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I was a lot more nervous going into the SDSU game, which looked like a trap game and a bad matchup. The scenario that unfurled in the first 20min of the game could have conceivably gone on.

It's going to take a lot of big breakdowns on ST and D for Texas to have a chance at upsetting us. Without those we should win by double digits. UT is a lower-middle B12 team with shaky foundations, they might get better later this season but right now they're very vulnerable.

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I'm thinking a lot less about UT's problems and a lot more about Cal's potential. As good as the team has played in the first two games I feel like we haven't been anywhere near 100%. (Defense has been good - maybe that side is playing its best football, but not the high-powered offense.) I still get the sense this Cal team really hasn't shown what it can do. I'm hoping we get to see that Saturday - sometimes teams play more focused on the road. I want to see this offense with its foot to the floor against a quality opponent - we've seen parts of it since Sonny arrived but never the full show. If Cal plays its best football, it won't matter what Texas team shows up.

Go Bears!!

Yah, seriously. NO WAY the Bears are looking ahead to UW. The bigger concern would be a let-down in Seattle, but we can (hopefully) discuss that possibility next week.

game.

TouchedTheAxeIn82;842544608 said:

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I'm curious, is it a tough place to play? At Shaggy people are complaining that too many fans treat the game as just a social occasion. I get the impression that the stadium isn't as loud as they think it should be considering >90K people there. But in any case, in an offense that doesn't use a cadence and you don't hear our QB barking out audibles, I don't think they give a rat's ass about noise. I think our guys will be more affected by traveling more than one time zone, and by higher humidity than they're used to. I don't think the temperature will be a problem.

And as Frank says, the current Cal team has no signature wins to hang their hat on. No way they are over-confident. While Texass isn't expected to have a good record this year, they're still a big name so our boys will be motivated and hungry.

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Ahh - interesting. I was just thinking back Tennessee. I would think the crwd will be more hyped playing us due to state rivalry and we are the first 'big' name playing there this year.

Hopefully an early score or two will take the crowd out of the

gobears725;842544625 said:

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haha finally someone gets it. fans love to think that they have more of an impact on the game than they really do, especially when most of them this week will be sitting at home watching on tv.

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I find it funny that people think message board posts have anything to do with the outcome. Everyone knows the game is decided on Twitter.

KoreAmBear;842544638 said:

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However, just like judges on these stupid reality contest shows seem to be a reflection of the sentiment of fans (either reflection or steering), sometimes, just sometimes, we could be a reflection of what the players and coaches are thinking. Don't underestimate the time these kids (and some coaches) spend on social media reading about their next opponent. It's a double-edge sword. I think we're a better team than Texas, but I don't like the external variables that are going on (firing of AD may fire up the team and coaches, humidity + travel, rabid crowd, etc.). I'm glad Texas beat Rice though. We played Maryland in 2008 after their loss to Middle Tenn. (or was it some other direction?). The intangibles for that Maryland game were stacked against us.

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i think that was more of a tedford problem in how he prepared his team in away games/important games, not to say that dykes knows what hes doing in that regard, but i think we're going to find out this week.

gobears725;842544655 said:

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i think that was more of a tedford problem in how he prepared his team in away games/important games.

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Yah I think JT was uptight and therefore the team was too on the road, v. $C, etc.

I became fearful of road games under Tedford. With Dykes, we see a team that can pull a shockingly fast and big lead on the road (see Northwestern, Arizona), but then have great difficulty maintaining the gap / holding on to that lead (see Northwestern, Arizona). So I'm not concerned about offensive production on the road, but the mental and game-plan aspects of keeping their foot on the opponent's neck.

Sonny Dykes, takes his team, our California Golden Bears, to his home state of Texas, and kicks Bevo's ass.

I'm not. My trip to Austin is hedged with bets on Texas. Win/win

I don't know what to make of this team yet, because the evidence is still too thin. We thought we had a quality road win against a quality opponent @ Northwestern last year, but they turned out to be not so quality. We've had narrow losses to good team (UCLA, Arizona). We've had narrow escapes against bad teams (Colorado, WSU). We've had convincing wins against mediocre teams (SDSU, Oregon State). What we don't have is a win against a good team. And we probably won't get it this weekend...the jury is still out (at best) about Texas.

if anything though, id say many of their fans are over confident. we are texas tech west in a shittier conference according to some posts on their board

gobears725;842544687 said:

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if anything though, id say many of their fans are over confident. we are texas tech west in a shittier conference according to some posts on their board

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more like delusional!

Sonny said the offense last game wasn't really in sync and firing. What are the chances our offense is not up to par 2 games in a row????? Go Bears, F Texas!!!

FrankBear21;842544597 said:

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The good thing about this team is that they haven't won enough games to be cocky

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Boom! Bingo +1

Seriously....the only ones being cocky about winning this game are the fans.

With that being said....we're in year 3 of the "system", NFL caliber QB, running game will get going and we have an improved D. If we can't win against Texas, then not only is it going to be a long season, it's going to be a long 2-3 years.

BeachyBear;842544644 said:

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Yah, seriously. NO WAY the Bears are looking ahead to UW. The bigger concern would be a let-down in Seattle, but we can (hopefully) discuss that possibility next week.

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Looking past SDSU to Texas, and now looking past Texas to UW. Texas is the forgotten game.

JSC 76;842544682 said:

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I don't know what to make of this team yet, because the evidence is still too thin. We thought we had a quality road win against a quality opponent @ Northwestern last year, but they turned out to be not so quality. We've had narrow losses to good team (UCLA, Arizona). We've had narrow escapes against bad teams (Colorado, WSU). We've had convincing wins against mediocre teams (SDSU, Oregon State). What we don't have is a win against a good team. And we probably won't get it this weekend...the jury is still out (at best) about Texas.

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Last year was last year. Regardless of the opponent, a W is an unqualified W. Hope we get it.

I am confident that my cautious nervousness is reflective of the cosmic implications of the game. I am hoping that Mac Brown karma will benefit the Golden Bears.

Sept. 20, 1975 -- 40 years ago this week, we lost to Bobby Bowden and West Virginia to start off 0-2. We were supposed to beat them. Joe Roth got PT for the first time. I think section TT was pretty empty. Pics from California Gridiron's FB page. Looks like "Meathead" of All in the Family was on the 20 yard line in Joe Roth's pic.

gobears725;842544553 said:

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the fans are too confident = doom. Said no coach ever

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lol +1