Idiots Write About Sports

For the first time since the Holiday Bowl (and only the second time since 2003), Cal played a game that they simply had no chance of winning. (See the Flickr photo set here.)

We’ve beaten Joe Ayoob to death. I feel bad for the guy, because I’m sure he’s trying hard, but he simply can’t play. His passes were laughably awful, off target by a gigantic amount. Four picks. 9 for 19. Benched for Steve Levy, who received a huge sarcastic cheer from the crowd. That’s got to hurt. But let’s be honest — he’s been a huge disappointment. The day he was recruited, he was projected to be the starter. But he lost the job to Longshore, went 0-fer versus Sac State, and it’s been pretty bad ever since.

“Our passing game was futile,” said Tedford, who has sent eight quarterbacks to the NFL in his last 12 seasons of coaching. “That’s as good as any defense has played against them this season … but if you’re one-dimensional, you can’t beat USC.”

And from the Chronicle:

Tedford replaced him with Steve Levy midway in the fourth quarter. Tailback Marshawn Lynch comforted Ayoob on the sideline. Later, teammates gathered around him in the locker room.

“The guys have confidence in me,” Ayoob said. “I just have to get that back myself.”

Tedford said he would evaluate the quarterback situation as the Bears head into Saturday’s Big Game at Stanford. The first order of business will be addressing Ayoob’s confidence, following poor outings against the Trojans and last week in the 27-20 overtime loss at Oregon.

“We have to bring him back for his personal sake and for his football career,” Tedford said.

Matt Leinart, on the other hand, is one helluva quarterback. Amazing accuracy, cool in the pocket, and oozes leadership on the field. Cal’s defense actually played pretty well considering they had to deal with six turnovers by the offense, which essentially couldn’t move the ball all day. They kept Reggie Bush contained. They did their best. But USC still scored 35. And I can’t express how impressed I was with Leinart.

Cal coaching rage moment of the day was in the 3rd quarter. Cal had it, 4th and 3 at the USC 25 yard line. You’re down 28-3 in the 3rd quarter against the top-ranked team in the country. So what do you do? Try to kick a field goal! Because cutting it to a 22-point lead is really what you want to do there.

Seriously, at that point, why not just toss a towel into the field and usher your players down the tunnel and into the locker room? Because trying for a field goal on 4th and 3 at the 25, down by 25 points, is giving up. And to make matters worse, Schneider missed it.

Frustrating in a different way was the drive at the start of the 4th quarter. It’s 2nd and goal at the 4. You’ve gotten here because of your running game. What do you do? Run a draw with Ayoob! Okay, that didn’t work. Third down — run a pass play that Ayoob blows and ends up getting sacked back at the 11. Fourth down — this time they don’t kick a field goal. Instead, they run another pass play and Ayoob chucks it into the arms of a Trojan. Terrible play calling, terrible execution.

So it’s come to this. 6-4 going into the Big Game. Against a Stanford team with five wins, desperately needing a sixth to become bowl eligible. (And realizing that they aren’t gonna get that win in their final game against Notre Dame.)

Well, the Big Game’s always interesting. This one will have a lot of meaning for both teams. 7-4 sure beats 6-5, that’s for sure. Here’s hoping.

Ayoob just gives me fits. He was 0-for a long time, then he had a drive which he ended with a pick.

Me and some others on Tightwad were yelling at Kyle Reed to "take off his red shirt"

“We have to bring him back for his personal sake..." said Tedford.

Oh, well, thanks Coach T. Mail me Ayoob's address and I can just send my season ticket money straight to Joe, for his personal sake.

Tedford made a he-yoooge mistake placing confidence in Ayoob (why? was he afraid to admit he was wrong in public?) and now he refuses to admit it. He's still got something to learn.

Enough has been said about Ayoob, so no use having me ad anything. I will say this much: I think a huge amount of kudos should be extended in the direction of Coach Tedford -- he's shown tremendous patience with Ayoob, and didn't just jump ship when the going got tough several games ago. Over the course of the season, Tedford's demonstrated class in saying all the right words (after games against Sacramento or Oregon) to the media that sent the message that this coach doesn't jump ship on his players, like Ayoob, when they are down. I think that says alot (positive) of about the character of our coach . . . . But I have a feeling that even he's beginning to think that, well, maybe it's time to start thinking about 2006 and Kyle Reed. Best wishes in the Big Game. I think there's a shrewd part in Tedford as well that will conclude that by benching Ayood in the coming week (and maybe next season as well) he'll be sending another message: at the end of the day, players are going to have to perform on the field.

Hey! Nice photos! Sitting in different seats this week?

You know, Cal is undefeated when Jason takes me to the games, so in a way, I put the blame for this loss entirely on his shoulders.

Thanks, Marty. They're the same seats they've been every game since the '80s.... I shot drives at a few different points on the field this time, so the angles were a little different from the WSU game. We're always on the 35 yard line, north half, west side. Lovin' that long lens on the Digital Rebel. I'll try to shoot some farewell shots of Stanford Stadium next week too.

Seth, you totally made a knee jerk reaction by attacking Ayoob early in the season. There was no way to know how bad he would be, that early in the season. As it turned out your reaction was right, but I don't agree that you were right to be so harsh so soon.

Posted by Jason at November 13, 2005 09:25 AM

No, no, seth, the blog will continue, watching from above and looking upon our colors fair.

But they're blowing up Stanford Stadium at the end of this year -- didn't you know? Okay, not blowing it up, but totally rebuilding it. So... it will be a farewell to Stanford Stadium as we know it.

Nobody caused Ayoob's crappy season but Ayoob. And Longshore's ankle. :-)

Posted by Jason at November 13, 2005 09:56 AM

My Cal football knowledge is limited to what Jason relates here, but I do know this: it's all Tedford's fault that I feel genuine pity for this Ayoob character. What's he supposed to do, ask not to be played?

Seth, I can defend myself. And Steve-O's a friend. If I want to start a fight with him by meeting him in an alley and verbally assaulting him until he throws a punch -- we call that "seth's Ayoob strategy" around the office -- I'll do it myself.

I can't blame Tedford for Ayoob, mostly because he has nobody else to play. Yes, I guess Tedford made a mistake in looking at Ayoob at CCSF and thinking he could play at Cal... but I bet you 99% of coaches would have made the same mistake.

Posted by Jason at November 14, 2005 10:15 AM

"i love my bears and i love cal, so i love jason. so u better get the f*ck out of here..."

I love grammar, and I love capitalization, and I love rational, sentient thought on a level at or above that which chinch bugs can piece together. Yet I don't threaten you or tell you to leave, because I also love good, free comedy.

Ayoob's going to keep playing as long as he's put into the game; to do otherwise would probably be the only thing that would piss fans off more than his in-game ineptitude. All I'm saying is I feel bad for the poor kid. Having to relive the same nightmare week after week because nobody in management thought to put together a workable back up plan sounds -- well, crap, it sounds an awful lot like my job, and that's surely not something I'd wish upon a college lad.

So if Tedford has nobody to play but Ayoob, who's to blame for that? Sounds like he's the person at whom your boundless ire should really be directed.

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