Idiots Write About Sports

It’s easier to write these blogs when you witness a train wreck.
First off, if Joe Ayoob is an accurate passer, Cal blows out UCLA. The number of passes he blew — most memorably when he bounced a pass to a wide-open receiver on third down — would’ve transformed Cal’s first half.
Also, for the second straight year, Cal goes to L.A., outplays a team on offense and defense, and gives the game away on special teams. A punt return for a touchdown, a punt return that led directly to an easy touchdown, and an obvious fake punt situation (it was a great fake punt, by the way — excellent play calling by UCLA, but Cal should’ve seen it coming).
Let’s give UCLA credit; if the win over Oklahoma didn’t prove it (it didn’t), they certainly seem to be a good team now. One could make an argument that because Cal outgained UCLA and outplayed them in most facets of the game, that this win doesn’t prove that they’re for real. But I think that’s wrong: UCLA found a way to beat Cal despite being outplayed just as USC did last year, and does anyone dispute how great USC was?
As for Cal, this is a very depressing loss, but honestly, the first five games this year were not exactly convincing any of us that this team was among the best in the country. Ayoob’s the horse we’ve gotta ride, but he’s just not dependable. With the exception of a few series in the early third quarter, the running game was impressive. (With a minute and a half to go and UCLA rushing only three guys, I honestly think Cal had a better chance with hand-offs to Lynch and Forsett than with Ayoob passing. Ayoob’s fat interception proved that point a little too well.)
The real question now is, was this a battle between two teams headed to minor bowls, or between two quite good teams? Two games, against USC and either Oregon (Cal) or Arizona State (UCLA) will tell the tale. I still think Cal very well may have eight wins in them, but I’m not sure how 8-3 (5-3) will be anything but a ticket to Las Vegas or San Francisco (!) in December. And of course there’s the outside chance at a 7-4 or 6-5 season. Yuck.
So to put it all in perspective: Young team, lost lots of players. Not expected to seriously contend this year. Played well in their first five games against minor opponents. So should I be disappointed that they lost their first real test of the year, or should I be encouraged that they played so well, outplaying their opponent for most of the game but failing to make the right plays when it counts?
Okay, perspective’s a hard thing to grasp half an hour after watching only the third Cal loss in the last year. This kind of thing used to happen every three or four weeks! How far we’ve come that this loss, on the road to a favored team that’s ranked in the top 20, burns so much. And I realize that. But it still burns, no doubt about it.
(Addition: I’ve been so down on Pac-10 officials, I should say that the officiating on this game was actually pretty good. The Cal was-it-a-touchback play in the first quarter was even handled properly, because although it’s more likely than not that it was a touchback, there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the call. Pac-10 officiating is still horribly inconsistent, but to be fair I have to say that this game was handled just fine.)