Spent less time at work today working and more time explaining to coworkers and clients why they saw what they saw.

Tough morning. We are a national joke.

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CAL/TCU punishment should be a 1 yr bowl ban for their play tonite.
9:08 PM - 26 Dec 2018

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Of all the Cheez-It Bowls I have seen in my life, this is definitely the dumbest.
8:51 PM - 26 Dec 2018

I would rather take Dykes and his #drop60 Air Raid over this hot garbage. That was easily one of the worst football games I've ever witnessed. The offense looked like some mediocre Marin High School JV squad.

Dykes went 13-12 his final two seasons in a MUCH TOUGHER PAC-12. Wilcox has gone 12-13 in a historically bad pac-12 (6-12 record in the pac-12 play!!!!) and we gave this guy an extension. Unbelievable. You know in business they say never hire "friends". .. It makes it that much tougher to admit you made a mistake. I'm not saying to hire Sonny Dykes, but Wilcox is NOT the answer.

At least Dykes brought in some 4 and 5 star talent. That WILCOX has squandered. Why? Watch the cheez-it bowl fellas. Nobody wants to play for this coach/offense. The results are telling (did you see early signing day??!!!)

But please, keep reminding us that he has the football team "in the right direction".

I'd rather take Wilcox's record vs. Dykes at the same mark. See, it's still about winning and Cal has won more under Wilcox than Dykes at this point and despite the craziness of last night...Cal is better off.

Wilcox needs to do something about the offense by Dykes and #drop60 was more like #drop24 and give up 40+ against teams that were any good.

Another Bear said:

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I'd rather take Wilcox's record vs. Dykes at the same mark. See, it's still about winning and Cal has won more under Wilcox than Dykes at this point and despite the craziness of last night...Cal is better off.

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Dykes INHERITED the worst APR in the Pac-12. He inherited a locker room whose culture was severely fractured (remember the Maynard/Keenan/etc situation)

Year 3 for Wilcox will be extremely telling. Early signing day/cheez-it bowl aren't giving me tons of optimism. Same with the plethora of offensive transfers.

Bear_Territory said:

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Wilcox needs to do something about the offense by Dykes and #drop60 was more like #drop24 and give up 40+ against teams that were any good.

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The teams we beat aren't VERY good. I see tons of people on here bringing up SC (They lost 7 games, LOST to 3-9 UCLA). UW is hot garbage. Did you watch the pac-12 championship game?? It was a marginally better cheez-it bowl!!

Wilcox has proven that he is a good defensive coordinator. Dykes proved he is a good offensive coordinator. Neither has proven squat they're good HEAD COACHES.

StarsDoMatter said:

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Another Bear said:

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I'd rather take Wilcox's record vs. Dykes at the same mark. See, it's still about winning and Cal has won more under Wilcox than Dykes at this point and despite the craziness of last night...Cal is better off.

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Dykes INHERITED the worst APR in the Pac-12. He inherited a locker room whose culture was severely fractured (remember the Maynard/Keenan/etc situation)

Year 3 for Wilcox will be extremely telling. Early signing day/cheez-it bowl aren't giving me tons of optimism. Same with the plethora of offensive transfers.

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Good for Dykes for fixing academics. He didn't fix FB however. I don't care what anyone says about Dykes but completely folding that first season and having a historically bad season was inexcusable.

So Dykes fixed the academics give him props. About FB...he failed but he also created a dumb culture where folding is somehow okay if pragmatic. That's just bull beep. I knew after that first season he wouldn't last. Conversely Wilcox might but not 100% sure.

StarsDoMatter said:

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Bear_Territory said:

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Wilcox needs to do something about the offense by Dykes and #drop60 was more like #drop24 and give up 40+ against teams that were any good.

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The teams we beat aren't VERY good. I see tons of people on here bringing up SC (They lost 7 games, LOST to 3-9 UCLA). UW is hot garbage. Did you watch the pac-12 championship game?? It was a marginally better cheez-it bowl!!

Wilcox has proven that he is a good defensive coordinator. Dykes proved he is a good offensive coordinator. Neither has proven squat they're good HEAD COACHES.

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Gosh, I like your posts, that is, the reality reflected in them.

Another Bear said:

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I'd rather take Wilcox's record vs. Dykes at the same mark. See, it's still about winning and Cal has won more under Wilcox than Dykes at this point and despite the craziness of last night...Cal is better off.

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the good news - a culture of defense, where, apparently, Wilcox can take Dykes-level defensive players and create quality defenses, is something that should pay dividends over time... its just waiting for a good offense to come and we'd have quite a program.

the bad... how... how can an offense be that bad?

i've said i liked Baldwin since day 1, and I genuinely did. But good god.

I'm choosing not to focus on being "embarrassed" by the game. I'm actually not embarrassed ever to be associated with the University of California because I know the core values it represents and I think the team did a fine job of representing those values. Like everyone I'm frustrated by the loss. I'm disappointed for the seniors and for the team not being able to check off one of their goals for the season.

All the BS about us being a national punchline and this being used against us on the recruiting trail is nonsense. Do you think anyone will remember what happened in the Cheez-its Bowl a week from now? The enduring effect of our participation in this bowl will the the extra development we got out of the practices and I trust we'll see the benefit of that on the field next year.

I trust that Wilcox will not make any rash decision based on this type of logic. It would be entirely counter to the obvious strength of character that he has shown up to this point. Leaders do not make decisions out of embarrassment. Good leaders do not buckle to pressure from outside forces to make decisions especially when those forces are related to such transient things like being "embarrassed". Leaders set a direction, trust their gut, and continue to put the vision of where the group is going in front of people even when it looks like no progress is being made.

In Justin Wilcox, we have a good leader, perhaps the makings of a great leader. He'll figure out the next step we need to make to move closer to our group goal of being an elite football program.

SadbutTrue999 said:

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Another Bear said:

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I'd rather take Wilcox's record vs. Dykes at the same mark. See, it's still about winning and Cal has won more under Wilcox than Dykes at this point and despite the craziness of last night...Cal is better off.

---

the good news - a culture of defense, where, apparently, Wilcox can take Dykes-level defensive players and create quality defenses, is something that should pay dividends over time... its just waiting for a good offense to come and we'd have quite a program.

the bad... how... how can an offense be that bad?

i've said i liked Baldwin since day 1, and I genuinely did. But good god.

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Agree, defense is healthy...offense not. I also liked Baldwin and thought he generally called good games but yesterday was a mess. I have no solutions for the offense but if Modster is here in Spring, we might see something.

evanluck said:

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I'm choosing not to focus on being "embarrassed" by the game. I'm actually not embarrassed ever to be associated with the University of California because I know the core values it represents and I think the team did a fine job of representing those values. Like everyone I'm frustrated by the loss. I'm disappointed for the seniors and for the team not being able to check off one of their goals for the season.

All the BS about us being a national punchline and this being used against us on the recruiting trail is nonsense. Do you think anyone will remember what happened in the Cheez-its Bowl a week from now?

I trust that Wilcox will not make any rash decision based on this type of logic. It would be entirely counter to the obvious strength of character that he has shown up to this point. Leaders do not make decisions out of embarrassment. Good leaders do not buckle to pressure from outside forces to make decisions especially when those forces are related to such transient things like being "embarrassed". Leaders set a direction, trust their gut, and continue to put the vision of where the group is going in front of people even when it looks like no progress is being made.

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Leaders also have a good sense of reality and aren't afraid to make tough decisions when necessary to improve their organization. It's time for Wilcox to make some tough decisions regarding his offensive staff. Changes need to be made.

Blueblood said:

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StarsDoMatter said:

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Bear_Territory said:

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Wilcox needs to do something about the offense by Dykes and #drop60 was more like #drop24 and give up 40+ against teams that were any good.

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The teams we beat aren't VERY good. I see tons of people on here bringing up SC (They lost 7 games, LOST to 3-9 UCLA). UW is hot garbage. Did you watch the pac-12 championship game?? It was a marginally better cheez-it bowl!!

Wilcox has proven that he is a good defensive coordinator. Dykes proved he is a good offensive coordinator. Neither has proven squat they're good HEAD COACHES.

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Gosh, I like your posts, that is, the reality reflected in them.

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Not trying to be a downer. The reality is not as SUNNY as we would like it to be,

I agree. Nothing about what he has said so far makes me think he is unaware of the ways in which the team must improve to fulfill its goals.

He outlined a process in the presser by which he will evaluate the performance of the coaching staff and also said that the process would begin immediately. He has more information than I do about why things worked with the team and why things didn't work. He has the job of head football coach of the University of California. I choose to be a fan of that team and the University where I received my under graduate education. My role and his role are very different.

I am blessed with enough knowledge to enjoy the team and the game but no so much as to think that I can do Justin Wilcox's job better than he can.

So after a defeat like this, I am left with appreciating what a special group of seniors that we had and how many exceptional underclassmen are choosing to return to the team.