Props given where props due. The D is getting that swagger and has that attitude you want to see in a defense.

These guys deserve the game ball

sycasey;842738628 said:

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I admit, I did not see that goal-line stand coming. I'd written off the game after the PI call, to be honest. Best defensive moment of the Dykes era, by far. Totally shocking.

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I was beyond stunned. Still am. This isn't supposed to happen. Does our defense actually not suck balls?

exactly-not taking away from the goal line stand but look how many times today and so many times in the past at the results of Kaufman's 3 man front-gets tiring

What an unbelievable last stand for this D.

I was standing in field club seats, holding my kid up because for once, everyone in field club was standing and making noise for the D. Was so great to celebrate that finish with him and with all the fans. I have to admit, I thought the odds were against us and they probably were.

Blackjack-wise, by not calling time-outs earlier, I feel like we stayed on 16 against 10 (in other words, we went against the odds) and the dealer gloriously went on to bust. All kinds of unusual things happened to make not taking the timeouts help rather than hurt us: PI on a late down to reset the downs and give Utah more plays, Whittingham charged a timeout when he should not have been, and of course most of all our defense digging deep. I'll take it.

During the first quarter, the defense made a great stop. I yelled, "Here's a cheer you haven't heard in a long time...DEFENSE GREAT!!!" Everyone laughed.

Today the Defense was GREAT! :woohoo

Because the D won this one for us, I find this the most rewarding win in the SD era. A quality Pac-12 opponent too... Go Bears!

Defense, "holding the rope". I thought that was a really classy thing. I hope Ted is proud of them.

Add me to the list of fans who were surprised that we pulled it out. I'd like to say I had faith, but all I really had was hope.

As for our resurgent defense, we really didn't play half bad last week against ASU, either. Maybe we're turning the corner!

Big C_Cal;842738780 said:

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Add me to the list of fans who were surprised that we pulled it out. I'd like to say I had faith, but all I really had was hope.

As for our resurgent defense, we really didn't play half bad last week against ASU, either. Maybe we're turning the corner!

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And give Kaufman credit. He called the no-timeouts move as a way to confuse Utah. He's got his finger on the pulse of things.

A TRULY great moment in Cal Football History: we need to start giving Sonny and Coaches, and above all the players, credit
for being the kind of team of which we can be proud.

OneKeg;842738771 said:

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What an unbelievable last stand for this D.

I was standing in field club seats, holding my kid up because for once, everyone in field club was standing and making noise for the D. Was so great to celebrate that finish with him and with all the fans. I have to admit, I thought the odds were against us and they probably were.

Blackjack-wise, by not calling time-outs earlier, I feel like we stayed on 16 against 10 (in other words, we went against the odds) and the dealer gloriously went on to bust. All kinds of unusual things happened to make not taking the timeouts help rather than hurt us: PI on a late down to reset the downs and give Utah more plays, Whittingham charged a timeout when he should not have been, and of course most of all our defense digging deep. I'll take it.

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If the PI had not happened, we would be glad that the timeouts were not called because, instead of 2+ minutes on the clock with the ball on our own 8, there was only 14 seconds.

Let's take a sneak peek at the 2017 defense:
DE - Saffle
DE - Weaver
DT - Looney
DT - Mekari
LB - Downs
LB - Kunaczyk
NB - Turner (Drayden?)
CB - Allensworth
CB - Franklin
S - Rambo
S - Hawkins / Rubenzer

This could actually be a pretty good, experienced defense if we can get some development out of the safety spot

Absolutely! My major beef with Dykes is his approach to defense and they definitely played a stellar game on Saturday.

dajo9 - If we still have Downs at lb we have big problems. He is never in the right place and is a huge disappointment. Great last stand, but this is the defense which allowed Utah to run 93 plays. Yes, the offense is partly to blame, but the late Utah drive that didn't have a single third down was not the measure of a good defense. But in the clutch with the game on the line, they came up big. That was totally unexpected and very welcome.

We nearly all sh*t our pants in the living room watching the end. Cal D wins the game?? Impossible!!!!After the PI, my son-in-law and I said, okay, they are going to walk in now - TYPICAL Cal game ending. .But NO! and bless our hopefully wild and crazy defense!!!

oski003;842738855 said:

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If the PI had not happened, we would be glad that the timeouts were not called because, instead of 2+ minutes on the clock with the ball on our own 8, there was only 14 seconds.

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Not 2+ minutes. 1:40 at our first would-be TO I think. But if you're worried about that, just wait a little longer but still call the TO. Say with 1 minute left. Utah did not have all their TOs and would not have been able to stop us from running out the clock if no PI called.

And in case they did score, Preserve the possibility of a drive if Utah scores. But it's moot. Dykes gambled, it appeared to inspire the D, and for once, we came out of it great!

CAL6371;842738988 said:

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dajo9 - If we still have Downs at lb we have big problems. He is never in the right place and is a huge disappointment. Great last stand, but this is the defense which allowed Utah to run 93 plays. Yes, the offense is partly to blame, but the late Utah drive that didn't have a single third down was not the measure of a good defense. But in the clutch with the game on the line, they came up big. That was totally unexpected and very welcome.

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I think Downs has improved a lot since week 1. Davison at MLB is a real weakness. I think Kunaczyk will be an upgrade next year.

[SIZE=3]
Goal line stand[/SIZE]:

[SIZE=3]DENIED![/SIZE]

For the real thing [SIZE=1](for sound, click on speaker icon at bottom right)[/SIZE]: https://twitter.com/i/videos/782413750384996353

I am worried about how our dbs will look vs a team like wazzu.

Tasty

dajo9;842738907 said:

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Let's take a sneak peek at the 2017 defense:
DE - Saffle
DE - Weaver
DT - Looney
DT - Mekari
LB - Downs
LB - Kunaczyk
NB - Turner (Drayden?)
CB - Allensworth
CB - Franklin
S - Rambo
S - Hawkins / Rubenzer

This could actually be a pretty good, experienced defense if we can get some development out of the safety spot

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tim94501;842739132 said:

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I am worried about how our dbs will look vs a team like wazzu.

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I hate playing in the Palouse....still haunted by that fumble on the GL when mariucci coached

dajo9;842738907 said:

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Let's take a sneak peek at the 2017 defense:
DE - Saffle
DE - Weaver
DT - Looney
DT - Mekari
LB - Downs
LB - Kunaczyk
NB - Turner (Drayden?)
CB - Allensworth
CB - Franklin
S - Rambo
S - Hawkins / Rubenzer

This could actually be a pretty good, experienced defense if we can get some development out of the safety spot

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Looney might get some looks from the NFL. Selfishly, I hope he sticks around for one more year.

OneKeg;842739067 said:

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Not 2+ minutes. 1:40 at our first would-be TO I think. But if you're worried about that, just wait a little longer but still call the TO. Say with 1 minute left. Utah did not have all their TOs and would not have been able to stop us from running out the clock if no PI called.

And in case they did score, Preserve the possibility of a drive if Utah scores. But it's moot. Dykes gambled, it appeared to inspire the D, and for once, we came out of it great!

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Utah had all 3 timeouts until there was 20 seconds left.

I can't even remember the last time we had a defensive game in conference like that. Maybe UCLA in 2012?

Nasal Mucus Goldenbear;842739127 said:

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[SIZE=3]
Goal line stand[/SIZE]:

[SIZE=3]DENIED![/SIZE]

For the real thing [SIZE=1](for sound, click on speaker icon at bottom right)[/SIZE]: https://twitter.com/i/videos/782413750384996353

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If Malik McMorris was in there...

OneKeg;842739067 said:

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Not 2+ minutes. 1:40 at our first would-be TO I think. But if you're worried about that, just wait a little longer but still call the TO. Say with 1 minute left. Utah did not have all their TOs and would not have been able to stop us from running out the clock if no PI called.

And in case they did score, Preserve the possibility of a drive if Utah scores. But it's moot. Dykes gambled, it appeared to inspire the D, and for once, we came out of it great!

---

oski003;842739156 said:

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Utah had all 3 timeouts until there was 20 seconds left.

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Yep you're right, Utah started calling timeouts with 20 seconds left.

But the thing is, even assuming you take that our of my argument, the point still stands. If Cal started calling timeouts around 1 minute, after Utah's goal-to-go play with roughly 1:10 left then, without the unlikely event of a "down re-setter" like the PI:
- Cal stood to gain a significant chance to win the game with a field goal in the eventuality that Utah scored. I would give Cal's hurry-up almost a 50-50 chance of getting in field goal range in that situation. No TD needed, just a field goal for Anderson, a pretty good kicker.
- Cal stood to lose a smaller chance of losing, if Utah didn't score and downs were never reset, of Cal getting the ball back running it 3 times (and only assuming Cal did NOT get a first down) and then punting with 40ish seconds left on the clock with Utah having to go 40-50 yards with no timeouts. Cal loses only on a turnover, blocked punt, punt return or Utah scoring a TD (FG not enough) in that last situation. Certainly possible from what we've seen as Cal fans, but in my opinion, significantly lower expected value of loss than the expected value of gain from getting a chance at a gain in the first case where Utah scored with our hurry-up offense trying to get in field goal range.

Just like hitting a 16 against a 10 could hurt you in many ways, but ultimately is the move that usually has the best expected value (given no further information about the deck etc.).

If you disagree, that's cool. Again, I do accept the idea that Dykes' decision probably had benefits outside these types of expected value assessments, inspiring the defense emotionally etc. And as a Cal fan, I'll surely take it. Ended up being an epic defensive stand I was there with my kid going jumping up and down in the normally placid field club.

Go Bears.

CAL6371;842738988 said:

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dajo9 - If we still have Downs at lb we have big problems. He is never in the right place and is a huge disappointment. Great last stand, but this is the defense which allowed Utah to run 93 plays. Yes, the offense is partly to blame, but the late Utah drive that didn't have a single third down was not the measure of a good defense. But in the clutch with the game on the line, they came up big. That was totally unexpected and very welcome.

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WTF are you watching? Downs is a dynamic player. I watch him all the time because he causes havoc. He caused the 4th and 10 with his blitz. He also saved the day on the 1st and goal at the 2 where the RB ran outside. Yes, it was davison and #7 safety that tackled the guy but Downs ran from all the way from the middle to push #7 vanderbilt as the RB was going to carry him into the endzone. Watch the play again. If all 3 defenders (including downs) were not there, his momentum would have easily carried him into the endzone.

Dbearson;842739482 said:

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Watch the play again. If all 3 defenders (including downs) were not there, his momentum would have easily carried him into the endzone.

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Exactly. It really was a great team defensive play (and series). I really want to give a nod to Vanderbilt though. He absolutely sprinted down the goal line to re-set the edge and force the rb to cut back to the inside. Then great team pursuit by Downs and Davison to help get the guy on the ground. Davison in particular made sure to twist the rb back towards the field and away from the goal line while Downs scraped in case he lunged forward. Great play by all 3 guys. If any one of them isn't there the Ute probably scores. Team defense. Swarming to the ball. Man, it was awesome to see.

OldBlue1999;842739646 said:

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Team defense. Swarming to the ball. Man, it was awesome to see.

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We definitely need to swarm, being a bit undersized on defense. That we are seeing it fairly often gives me hope that the D staff is doing its job.

CAL6371;842738988 said:

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dajo9 - If we still have Downs at lb we have big problems. He is never in the right place and is a huge disappointment. Great last stand, but this is the defense which allowed Utah to run 93 plays. Yes, the offense is partly to blame, but the late Utah drive that didn't have a single third down was not the measure of a good defense. But in the clutch with the game on the line, they came up big. That was totally unexpected and very welcome.

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I don't know what you're watching, but Devante is a beast.

FCBear;842739137 said:

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I hate playing in the Palouse....still haunted by that fumble on the GL when mariucci coached

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ahh .... the snow ..... the fumble ........ the freezing ride back to Spokane ........

I also like how Rubenzer was in the backfield (on the last play of the game) ready to take on the QB if it had been a keeper.

OldBlue1999;842739646 said:

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Exactly. It really was a great team defensive play (and series). I really want to give a nod to Vanderbilt though. He absolutely sprinted down the goal line to re-set the edge and force the rb to cut back to the inside. Then great team pursuit by Downs and Davison to help get the guy on the ground. Davison in particular made sure to twist the rb back towards the field and away from the goal line while Downs scraped in case he lunged forward. Great play by all 3 guys. If any one of them isn't there the Ute probably scores. Team defense. Swarming to the ball. Man, it was awesome to see.

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Actually I think it was Marloshawn Lynch, I mean Franklin, that was fighting off the block of the WR and set up outside of the runner. I think the RB realized that he could not get outside and around Marloshawn and then turned it up field only to be hit by three you mentioned. Collectively a great team D play.

chazzed;842739665 said:

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We definitely need to swarm, being a bit undersized on defense. That we are seeing it fairly often gives me hope that the D staff is doing its job.

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I saw more swarm tackles from the D in this game I've seen in a number of years. They never stopped fighting and they never gave up on the play. It was fantastic.

NVGolfingBear;842739869 said:

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Actually I think it was Marloshawn Lynch, I mean Franklin, that was fighting off the block of the WR and set up outside of the runner. I think the RB realized that he could not get outside and around Marloshawn and then turned it up field only to be hit by three you mentioned. Collectively a great team D play.

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I couldn't decide whether the pa announcer was trying to be funny or that he really did just mix them up

Nasal Mucus Goldenbear;842739127 said:

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[SIZE=3]
Goal line stand[/SIZE]:

[SIZE=3]DENIED![/SIZE]

For the real thing [SIZE=1](for sound, click on speaker icon at bottom right)[/SIZE]: https://twitter.com/i/videos/782413750384996353

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I think I once had that exact same ottoman (while in grad school at Cal, no less)