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.