To Cal...

#1
milohimself

milohimself

RIP CITY
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Sep 18, 2004
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#1
Okay. Here it is. Final burn.

Dear Cal,

You have disappointed me for the last time. I've given you the benefit of the doubt, time after time. I can't do it anymore. Yes, I was rooting for Tennessee. They're my team! But I also like to see the Pac-10 represented well. You represent the game from my general geographic area. I know we can play better than this out here.

In the 2004 Holiday Bowl, against Texas Tech, you dissappointed me. I stuck up for you as best I could, when Texas took what my fellow left-coasters and I thought was your rightful place in the BCS. Then you lose. "Okay," we thought, "Cal must be suffering from getting screwed by the voters like that." It's gotta feel bad, right? The emotional state going into that game? We were lying to ourselves. That kind of situation ought to fire a team up. But with you, Cal, you let it eat away at you, and lost to a far less talented Red Raider squad.

Now... The Tennessee game. We know Tim Mixon was out, okay? We saw that, and we know that he probably could have competed with Meachem. But then you lined up a freshman against an all-SEC caliber receiver! Why?! You were outplayed, outcoached and lost.

Most every other time a Pac-10 school goes out and plays, it represents itself and its conference well. In the other Pac-10/SEC matchups, USC killed Arkansas. Proves nothing, except USC is back to stay. Washington State went out to Auburn and played about as good a game as anybody can expect for a team from Pullman. Especially considering it was at the stadium of the preseason SEC favorite.

Even in years past, even in losses, the conference has been represented well enough. Oregon State and Arizona State both played LSU and both lost in special teams miracles. It even gave pause to the most staunch of Pac-10 haters in the SEC, to give the region a little more respect. Oregon also found themselves in the same situation as you after the 2005 season. Yes, they went on to lose to Oklahoma. But Oregon was also without its high-round draft pick QB in Kellen Clemens, breaking in two new QB's against an Oklahoma team that was realistically one of the 10 best in the country by season's end. The loss stung, but it was understandable.

Cal, you have failed me for the last time. I didn't even expect you to win, I expected you to play a competent game.

Pac-9!
 
#2
#2
i see a lot about moral victories in there Milo...sorry your pac 10 bretheren let you down...wait, no i'm not...and let's see...who's next? Oh yeah, AZ at LSU...another loss for the Pac 10 agaisnt the SEC....

after opening weekend, i feel like i can say this with some feeling of confidence, that the SEC this year is looking to be back on top. the ACC was awful. the Pac 10, save USC, was pedestrian. The big 12 loaded up on cup cakes (tell that to colorado right? he, he, he..) the big 10 was decent. I'd rank the SEC 1, the Big 10 2, the Big 12 3, and it's a tie between the other three BCS conferences.

just keep it to the SEC milo, you're already a TN fan and that's all you should need.
 
#3
#3
Yep. :p I'm a Tennessee fan, not an SEC fan...

When other Pac-10 teams go out and play, though, for the most part you can look at their performances and if they didn't win, at least you can say "They played a damned good game, that was a commendable performance." When Cal plays non-conf/bowls like that, you just say "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

I will have to wait to see more of the Big Ten before I dub SEC best conference this year. Big Ten could be highly competitive, and Florida Georgia and LSU could dissappoint, leaving just Tennessee and Auburn as the real contenders.
 
#4
#4
milohimself said:
Yep. :p I'm a Tennessee fan, not an SEC fan...

When other Pac-10 teams go out and play, though, for the most part you can look at their performances and if they didn't win, at least you can say "They played a damned good game, that was a commendable performance." When Cal plays non-conf/bowls like that, you just say "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

I will have to wait to see more of the Big Ten before I dub SEC best conference this year. Big Ten could be highly competitive, and Florida Georgia and LSU could dissappoint, leaving just Tennessee and Auburn as the real contenders.
Click to expand...
moral victories are still losses.

as for UGA, LSU etc...i think UGA could be a let down, if their qb situation doesn't pan out...but i have a feeling that given their cupcake (as usual) scheduling early on, by the time they get in to the meat of the SEC schedule, they should be a capable team mid year on. LSU has talent no doubt and 9+ wins looks promisiing. Florida won't lose more than 3, and that's nothing to apologize for given thier schedule. Bama is the one that is intiguing to me....are they an 8 or 9 win team or a huge bust with JPW at the helm?

and then, are we for real? unfortunatley for the conference, if we are that means more losses for some supposed good SEC teams...and i can live with that.

Auburn has 12 straight games, with LSU, UF, UGA and BAma...i see one loss in there, but not sure who it's going to be to.

Auburn, LSU could both wind up with 10 wins, Bama 8 or 9.
UF, TN, UGA could all wind up with 9+ wins each

pretty strong if that happens. doubt you'll see any other BCS conference (nor does any currently have the potential to do so now) with possibly 6 teams with 9 or more wins each. Unlikely yes, but possible.
 
#5
#5
I can't see LSU competing with Miles at the helm. They will slip up somewhere, enough to cost them the difference between SEC title contenders and Capital One Bowl regulars.
 
#6
#6
technically, they contended for the title last year....
 
#7
#7
I can't remember a time I have ever said that a Pac-10 Team not named USC ever "played a hell of a game".

Their "style" of Football is barely even still FOOTBALL.
 
#8
#8
I actually watch the pac 10 most Saturdays. It's the only thing still on at midnight. Besides, some of those 52-48 games can be entertaining at times.
 
#10
#10
jakez4ut said:
technically, they contended for the title last year....
Click to expand...
Exactly who did they beat in the west? Auburn was down, and Bama's offensive line sucked so bad even talented guys like Croyle and Darby couldn't move the ball. Baton Rouge is going to be cleared of Saban's players at some point.
 
#12
#12
I don't know about that... They have to mooch off the states of Texas and Florida. Louisiana's in-state talent isn't really anything special. All it takes is a few years of mediocrity and LSU ends back up on the recruiting feeding chain in the neighborhood of Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
 
#13
#13
I never thought I'd see the day when Milo is cracking on the Pac-10 (well, Cal at least). Beautiful!
 
#15
#15
milohimself said:
Exactly who did they beat in the west? Auburn was down, and Bama's offensive line sucked so bad even talented guys like Croyle and Darby couldn't move the ball. Baton Rouge is going to be cleared of Saban's players at some point.
Click to expand...
i'm just saying that they played for the SEC title in the championship game against GA last season...so they did contend for it. that's all...

but they did play the following ranked teams (what they were ranked when they played anyway):
#15 AZ. ST. W
#4 TN L (the only game they lost in reg. season)
#11 FL W
#16 Aub W
#4 Bama W
4-1 against top 20 teams in regular season...
they lost to #13 GA in SEC title game
and the beat #9 Miami in the Peach bowl.
so all in all they finished 11-2, and had a 5-2 record against top 20 teams, when they played anyway...obviously TN wasn't ranked, and i dont think Az. St was either at the end of the season....but still, not terrible.
 
#16
#16
milohimself said:
I don't know about that... They have to mooch off the states of Texas and Florida. Louisiana's in-state talent isn't really anything special. All it takes is a few years of mediocrity and LSU ends back up on the recruiting feeding chain in the neighborhood of Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
Click to expand...
Not really. As long as LSU keeps its in state talent, they'll be just fine. The state of Louisiana produces more than enough talent to keep one big time program running smoothly.
 
#17
#17
hatvol96 said:
Not really. As long as LSU keeps its in state talent, they'll be just fine. The state of Louisiana produces more than enough talent to keep one big time program running smoothly.
Click to expand...
agreed. that was one thing that Saban made a priority was putting a wall around the state...FSU at one point was getting as good a tallet out of LA as it was FL....LA is underrated in my opinion from a talent standpoint....
 
#18
#18
So Milo... How is this prognostication about how "horrible Cal is," looking? I live on the East coast so I don't even know what the Pac-10 is... ya know, East coast bias and all. :lol:

The Pac won't have any credibility on this board for a LOOOOONG time with the way Cal went back west, and seems to be ready to make a run at the conference.
 
#19
#19
:lol:

Longshore has looked like a friggin Heisman level QB against those West Coast defenses.
 
#20
#20
I could come on here and say this isn't the same Cal team that played in Knoxville earlier, but I doubt that statement would be taken with any level of seriousness.

I don't know what to say about this, otherwise... I know Arizona State is usually one of the weaker defenses in the Pac-10, but still... I just feel a trend coming on with Tedford, that Cal is going to suck it up in big non-conference games then turn right back around and kill in the Pac-10.
 
#21
#21
I did, however, qualify each statement I made about Cal sucking in the Pac-10 by saying "Barring a major turnaround." or something like that. If I didn't, it was a slip and I meant to include that part every time I said it. If any of you folks watched Cal, they've made that turnaround.

I need to listen to my gut more when making predictions in football... In the NFL, I don't really have any sort of emotional connection to it (not since the Cowboys dynasty of the 90's), so I can look at it, see what my gut says, go with that and generally be correct. As you guys have seen... Ain't that way with college football. I started tellin' myself "Cal's just not that good, so they'll go back into the Pac-10 and finish in the middle." when I knew deep down that Tedford's crew was coaching the worst possible game they could manage, and that they'd turn things around, probably fast, and start spanking Pac-10 teams.

It's college football. All about going with those gut feelings.
 
#22
#22
Cal is the second best team in the Pac Ten thus far, it's not really that hard to admit.
 
#25
#25
Yeah, can't forget Oregon. Although their officials DID job OU last weekend...

I think it is athleticism on the defensive side of the ball that caught Cal against UT. We also wouldn't have blown them out if they had recognized that Thompson wasn't ready to cover a big time reciever like Meach 1 on 1. All I know is that the more Cal wins, the better it makes the Vols look. :)
 
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