My, how much difference does a week make.

On Friday, I would have given us little chance of beating the Trojans this year, but a great chance at beating the Wildcats. Now on Sunday, this is almost reversed: USC definitely looks beatable (although we need to bring our A game and not make and stupid mistakes, while Tait looks like he's gotten his mojo back, making our trip to Arizona this year look like this will be an extremely tough road game for us.

UCLA and OSU may be the only two PAC-12 teams we face that we are favored over (and I'm not sure about the Beavers), while WSU doesn't look like it has taken a step back with their new QB, and Colorado is going gangbusters as well.

So our hopes for a bowl game may come down to road games at Reser Stadium and the Mausoleum.

usc is never easy to beat in LA even if fiatlux is playing quarterback

chalcidbear said:

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My, how much difference does a week make.

On Friday, I would have given us little chance of beating the Trojans this year, but a great chance at beating the Wildcats. Now on Sunday, this is almost reversed: USC definitely looks beatable (although we need to bring our A game and not make and stupid mistakes, while Tait looks like he's gotten his mojo back, making our trip to Arizona this year look like this will be an extremely tough road game for us.

UCLA and OSU may be the only two PAC-12 teams we face that we are favored over (and I'm not sure about the Beavers), while WSU doesn't look like it has taken a step back with their new QB, and Colorado is going gangbusters as well.

So our hopes for a bowl game may come down to road games at Reser Stadium and the Mausoleum.

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Regarding your heading its not close. Sc lost to what will be ranked opponents on the road. They have a good defense and a work in process offense (sound familiar). UofA has a poor defense, and inexperience oline and a underutilized very good QB. They lost to two average teams. They don't have the experience or talent that SC can bring to the table, especially on defense.

chalcidbear said:

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My, how much difference does a week make.

On Friday, I would have given us little chance of beating the Trojans this year, but a great chance at beating the Wildcats. Now on Sunday, this is almost reversed: USC definitely looks beatable (although we need to bring our A game and not make and stupid mistakes, while Tait looks like he's gotten his mojo back, making our trip to Arizona this year look like this will be an extremely tough road game for us.

UCLA and OSU may be the only two PAC-12 teams we face that we are favored over (and I'm not sure about the Beavers), while WSU doesn't look like it has taken a step back with their new QB, and Colorado is going gangbusters as well.

So our hopes for a bowl game may come down to road games at Reser Stadium and the Mausoleum.

---

I don't believe we can beat USC until we actually beat them.

Our last win took 3 overtimes.

And since then (I believe) every Pac-12 team has beaten the Trojans.

But for us, it's (I believe) a psychological problem that carries on from year to year. Thus we are incapable of beating them, no matter how terrible they look.

chalcidbear said:

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My, how much difference does a week make.

On Friday, I would have given us little chance of beating the Trojans this year, but a great chance at beating the Wildcats. Now on Sunday, this is almost reversed: USC definitely looks beatable (although we need to bring our A game and not make and stupid mistakes, while Tait looks like he's gotten his mojo back, making our trip to Arizona this year look like this will be an extremely tough road game for us.

UCLA and OSU may be the only two PAC-12 teams we face that we are favored over (and I'm not sure about the Beavers), while WSU doesn't look like it has taken a step back with their new QB, and Colorado is going gangbusters as well.

So our hopes for a bowl game may come down to road games at Reser Stadium and the Mausoleum.

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Arizona is suddenly a great team because they beat an 0-3 FCS team???

MILDCATS

chalcidbear said:

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while Tait looks like he's gotten his mojo back

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Who's Tait?

USC is a way tougher opponent.

But weird **** happens in Tucson.

Then again USC is always up for the Cal game.

As far as this year goes, Arizona has Khalil Tate and not much else, USC is stacked with talent as always but is not very tough right now, but as far as which situation is more difficult, any given day it's USC.

okaydo said:

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chalcidbear said:

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My, how much difference does a week make.

On Friday, I would have given us little chance of beating the Trojans this year, but a great chance at beating the Wildcats. Now on Sunday, this is almost reversed: USC definitely looks beatable (although we need to bring our A game and not make and stupid mistakes, while Tait looks like he's gotten his mojo back, making our trip to Arizona this year look like this will be an extremely tough road game for us.

UCLA and OSU may be the only two PAC-12 teams we face that we are favored over (and I'm not sure about the Beavers), while WSU doesn't look like it has taken a step back with their new QB, and Colorado is going gangbusters as well.

So our hopes for a bowl game may come down to road games at Reser Stadium and the Mausoleum.

---

I don't believe we can beat USC until we actually beat them.

Our last win took 3 overtimes.

And since then (I believe) every Pac-12 team has beaten the Trojans.

But for us, it's (I believe) a psychological problem that carries on from year to year. Thus we are incapable of beating them, no matter how terrible they look.

---

I got married the day we beat SC is triple OT. I was in Fort Worth, TX getting updates from my friends at the game. When CAL finally won, all my CAL buddies and I sung the CAL drinking song on the dance floor. My boys are now 13 and 10. Time to beat them again. I'm willing to get divorced and remarried f that's what it takes.

graguna said:

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okaydo said:

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chalcidbear said:

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My, how much difference does a week make.

On Friday, I would have given us little chance of beating the Trojans this year, but a great chance at beating the Wildcats. Now on Sunday, this is almost reversed: USC definitely looks beatable (although we need to bring our A game and not make and stupid mistakes, while Tait looks like he's gotten his mojo back, making our trip to Arizona this year look like this will be an extremely tough road game for us.

UCLA and OSU may be the only two PAC-12 teams we face that we are favored over (and I'm not sure about the Beavers), while WSU doesn't look like it has taken a step back with their new QB, and Colorado is going gangbusters as well.

So our hopes for a bowl game may come down to road games at Reser Stadium and the Mausoleum.

---

I don't believe we can beat USC until we actually beat them.

Our last win took 3 overtimes.

And since then (I believe) every Pac-12 team has beaten the Trojans.

But for us, it's (I believe) a psychological problem that carries on from year to year. Thus we are incapable of beating them, no matter how terrible they look.

---

I got married the day we beat SC is triple OT. I was in Fort Worth, TX getting updates from my friends at the game. When CAL finally won, all my CAL buddies and I sung the CAL drinking song on the dance floor. My boys are now 13 and 10. Time to beat them again. I'm willing to get divorced and remarried f that's what it takes.

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Getting married on a Fall Saturday!

Unlike the earlier days of our losing streak against USC, they now have a massive talent edge on us. Beating them in LA sounds like a stretch, no matter how much they struggled the last two weeks (against two other good teams).

But it'd be great if USC this year could be like WSU last year, our unexpected big upset of the year.

510 Bear said:

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Unlike the earlier days of our losing streak against USC, they now have a massive talent edge on us.

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I don't know if that is true this year. They seem to have parts of their team that are not up to the usual SC talent standards.

One thing you can guarantee though, they will be playing their best football by the time we play them. They always figure out all their problems just in time to make us suffer.

Other things being equal, and they never are, would anyone on this board prefer to beat Arizona instead of SC? I haven't been really excited about a Cal win over Arizona since 1993 when Cal snapped its four game losing streak that started after the 0-30 to 42-41 comeback against Oregon.

Is the OP for real? SC would manhandle AZ right now.

Is this a serious question?

USC by a mile.

Even if USC's coaching is a mess, even if their team morale is also a mess, the same appears to be true at Arizona, and USC has more raw talent than Arizona at pretty much every position.

BearSD said:

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Even if USC's coaching is a mess, even if their team morale is also a mess, the same appears to be true at Arizona, and USC has more raw talent than Arizona at pretty much every position.

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Given the near-consensus in this thread I have no choice but to pick us to beat SC and lose to UA.

UofA hasn't proven they've solved any of their problems by beating an FCS team after losing to two average FBS teams. SC is the stronger team, by far, even with their significant problems. Their two losses are to considerably stronger teams and they actually have a win against an FBS team.

Both teams will likely be a strong challenge for Cal. SC more so because they're more talented and that's the time of year when depth issues will likely surface for Cal. Facing the weaker team at fuller strength makes the UofA game a more likely win, at least on paper.

USC owns us and is still loaded.

tim94501 said:

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USC owns us and is still loaded.

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They definitely own us, but how loaded are they? They have struggled to run the ball, which is about the most basic thing you can do when you are loaded with great players.

Yogi Bear said:

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tim94501 said:

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USC owns us and is still loaded.

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They definitely own us, but how loaded are they? They have struggled to run the ball, which is about the most basic thing you can do with you are loaded with great players.

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Think of it this way, when was the last time we beat USC in regulation?

2000.

Strykur said:

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Yogi Bear said:

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tim94501 said:

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USC owns us and is still loaded.

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They definitely own us, but how loaded are they? They have struggled to run the ball, which is about the most basic thing you can do with you are loaded with great players.

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Think of it this way, when was the last time we beat USC in regulation?

2000.

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I think that was covered under "they definitely own us."

Yogi Bear said:

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tim94501 said:

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USC owns us and is still loaded.

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They definitely own us, but how loaded are they? They have struggled to run the ball, which is about the most basic thing you can do when you are loaded with great players.

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USC is still massively talented. Anybody that thinks otherwise is fooling themself.

Funny, I always thought I was real ... but I suppose I could be just a figment of my parent's imagination.

chalcidbear said:

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Funny, I always thought I was real ... but I suppose I could be just a figment of my parent's imagination.

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Well I meant OP as original post, not poster, but yes this could all be a dream. Or an AI simulation by aliens.

PtownBear1 said:

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chalcidbear said:

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Funny, I always thought I was real ... but I suppose I could be just a figment of my parent's imagination.

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Well I meant OP as original post, not poster, but yes this could all be a dream. Or an AI simulation by aliens.

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Actually, given that many theoretical physicists now believe that there are an infinite number of parallel universes, it would be more accurate to state that OP is real, a figment of his parents' imagination, an alien, an AI simulation, a 'furd fan, a USC fan, and an internet bot among other things...