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| All was good at the pre-game rally. |
Lesson learned, if you’ve had a season without fans in Memorial Stadium, don’t invite Nevada to the first game back. After spending the 2011 season playing in San Francisco while Memorial Stadium was being refurbished, the Bears returned to Strawberry Canyon to open the 2012 campaign and the uncooperative Wolfpack beat us. After fans were prohibited from Memorial in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Bears returned Saturday night and Nevada was there to spoil the party.
Some party. The band didn’t enter the field through the north tunnel for the pre game show, a tradition that goes back for as long as I can remember (nearly sixty years) and perhaps well beyond. Instead they played from the stands.
The game day experience has been losing more and more of its luster and Saturday night seemed another nail in the coffin.
Case in point: there was no, “hey alumni go!” Attempted until late in the game and it died aborning.
The piped in rock music between plays stifles whatever noise and cheers the student section might make which is especially troublesome when the Bears are on defense. The music even overlaps with the PA announcer. Somebody needs to sort that out.
On the plus side there was a full student section, though how many return for Sac State is an open questions. Also on the plus side was the first quarter when the Bears drove the length of the field for two time-grinding touchdown drives while Nevada had a three and out on their possession.
On the minus side was the rest of the game, which Cal lost 22-3. If I was sitting through a movie that bad I’d I’ve walked out.
(Wait a second, after the first quarter I put on my Cal sweatshirt, you don’t think I’m somehow responsible…..)
I’ll not do an entire game analysis, that’s not my thing on the Oski Archives. But I will say I was especially disappointed with OC Bill Musgrave’s “offense” and the abandonment of the running game that had been so successful. I don’t think Cal’s offensive personnel is designed to run a pro set. It was also disheartening seeing QB Chase Garbers, a veteran, seemingly regress.
The defense was solid and holding Nevada to 22 points should be good enough to earn a victory. Then again they were lucky with some drops and penalties. It could have been worse.
I don’t know that Justin Wilcox’s seat is hot but another few performances like Saturday’s and it’ll certainly start to warm up. I think it might take something in the nature of a 4-8 season or worse for him to be canned. But another 5-7 to 7-5 season and he could really need to do well next year.
As for the rest of the season….Nevada may end up being one of the better teams we play this year. It’s early but UW, Stanf*rd, WSU, OSU, and Arizona looked bad in week one (Washington really lost to Montana? How cool is that?). Colorado looks beatable too. As for our TCU, USC, Oregon and UC, Los Angeles, those are looking like imposing tasks. Oh yes, there’s also Sac State and if that isn’t a Golden Bear win, all is lost.
So yes, it’s only one game but what a deflating start. The general mood among Cal fans has been that this is one of the more disheartening losses in recent memory. Now TCU looms and they’re a 9.5 point favorite. Cal hasn’t lost the first two games of a season (we’re not counting last year which was not a proper season at all) since 2001 when the Bears didn’t win until the finale against Rutgers.
Hey everybody, it was just one game, we can turn this around. Right? Right? Anyone?
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