The Daily Californian » Gameday

Why we’re bummed we missed out on bago this year

Tara Lookabaugh — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 15:00:59 +0000

Don’t you just love the smell of stale beer in the morning? Love seeing campers with the words “Your daughter is in here” plastered on the side? Love driving six hours to SoCal in a winnebago full of frat stars, making that traditional stop at In-N-Out? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you probably found yourself at UCLA this weekend. While we’re grateful for the 20+ hours of sleep we got this weekend, we can’t help but feel like we missed out on a great #gameday.

Here’s why we’re bitter.

While you were drinking for Cal at a tailgate in LA, we were busy studying for Berkeley in a cubby at Main Stacks. #stressed

Upset that I can't bago down to ucla for the game bc I have a midterm & 6 page paper on Shakespeare to write

While you were watching the Bears live, we had to deal with literally the most ridiculous commercials. #unimpressed #pooradvertising

Just saw a snowblower commercial on @espn 2 watching @Cal vs @UCLA. Note to ESPN sales — it doesn't snow in Berkeley or LA

— Albert Chi (@albertchi) October 13, 2013

And while you were devouring your animal-style fries in classic Bear fashion, we were eating at Cafe 3 and dreaming about In-N-Out …

Cal drinking song…. In kettle man city..,, at in n out. #gobears #TFM

— Samantha Saravong (@samsaravong) October 11, 2013

So come next October, don’t make the same mistake we did.

Finish your homework early so you can trek down to SoCal and partake in the infamous bago festivities. #priorities

Image Source: Roadsidepictures under Creative Commons
Contact Tara Lookabaugh at tlookabaugh@dailycal.org.

The post Why we’re bummed we missed out on bago this year appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Where Soul Meets Body: James Grisom’s balance of two passions

Michael Rosen — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 20:51:34 +0000

Kore Chan/Staff

The alarm clock blares at 5 a.m. But the alarm isn’t necessary, because falling asleep is difficult for sophomore wide receiver James Grisom, so today he’s lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the ringing to kick off the start of his 21-hour day.

It’s March of 2012. Football meetings start in exactly an hour, and he needs to trek the three miles from his apartment at University and San Pablo to Memorial Stadium. There’s no time for breakfast, so he has to sit through another morning meeting on an empty stomach and the customary zero to three hours of sleep.

The meetings end at 8 a.m., but there’s no time for a nap; class starts right afterward and goes on until the afternoon. And he can’t head home, because there’s homework to do, and afternoon practice to attend, and an occasional mentoring session in Oakland, and weekly Bible study, and a work-study job keeping him at work until 1 a.m. at the earliest. And he needs to make time for his music.

Music is practically hard-wired in his brain — as a young child, he used to fall asleep to the sound of his father playing the piano downstairs. Grisom’s mother calls his ability to play the piano a gift from God.

“I don’t know what it is,” Grisom says. “But music takes me to a whole other place. It has this really weird effect on me. I don’t really understand it.”

Grisom’s father brought him into the world of music with the purchase of a small studio, complete with a tiny drum kit, for him and his brother.

At first, Grisom messed around with making basic hip-hop beats. The connection wasn’t instantaneous. It arrived later, in ninth grade, while playing the video game “Ninja Gaiden” on his Xbox 360. Midway through the game, he began to pay attention to the background music.

“It was like an epiphany,” Grisom says. “I was fighting the boss and getting really into it. And then I started noticing the music. I would re-play that fight over and over because I loved that music so much.”

He asked his father to teach him the basics on the piano, and soon he was composing his own music. He never took a single lesson. His mother once asked him how he wrote his music.

“I just play what’s in my head,” he responded.

He flirted briefly with the idea of producing rap or rock music but soon became enamored of film and video-game scores. For inspiration, Grisom dabbled in genres of all kinds: meditation music, instrumental guitar and modern hip-hop.

His eclectic influences cohered to a singular goal: becoming the best musician he could be. The dedication paid off — he now plays the piano fluently and has an entire catalog of songs on his personal SoundCloud page. When he can find time, he assists a local filmmaker named Sheri Shuster in composing a score for her documentary on human trafficking.

But ask Grisom why he calls composing his dream job, and he can’t quite put his finger on it. He thinks his attachment to music connects, in some way, with his spirituality — he likens the feeling of sitting down at the piano to a religious experience.

“Over the past week or two, I’ve been talking to some of my friends, trying to understand why music has this effect on me,” Grisom says. “I’ll just be listening to something, and I start thinking about life and, like, appreciating everything around me. It’s out of this world.”

It’s hard for Grisom to find time for his music these days. He accepts the compromise, because if there’s anything in his life he cares about as much as music, it’s football.

“I feel like I came out of the womb playing football,” he says. “It’s always felt like something that’s meant to be.”

Around fourth grade, Grisom set his mind on playing football for the local Pop Warner team. His father refused to let him play. Grisom begged. His father held firm — until he couldn’t.

One spring morning, the elder Grisom threw him in the car and drove him to the Pop Warner sign-ups.

Speedy and undersized, the young Grisom fit well at receiver and cornerback. He terrorized opponents and had a knack for stepping up under pressure, earning the nickname “Big Game James” from an uncle of his.

Upon arriving at Lynwood High as a freshman, Grisom switched positions twice: On offense, he moved to quarterback, and on defense, he became a safety.

During his junior year, his strong play brought representatives to watch him from Fresno State and Washington, among other schools. But a separated shoulder dampered his senior-year production, and the burgeoning interest from Division I schools evaporated.

When former Cal running backs coach Ron Gould hinted at a chance to walk on, pending his acceptance, he made UC Berkeley his top choice.

Unfortunately, former Cal head coach Jeff Tedford seemed uninterested in letting him play receiver. Grisom saw the field occasionally as a special teams player, but he remained on the periphery. Despite the insane schedule that comes with the territory of being a walk-on, Grisom pushed on.

The hire of head coach Sonny Dykes was like a defibrillator to Grisom’s receiving career. Dykes’ offense scratched the tight end position and called for four or five receivers rotating in and out of the game with regularity, forging a sliver of an opening on the depth chart for Grisom.

He starred in his first camp under Dykes, providing one of the highlights of the annual spring scrimmage with an acrobatic 45-yard touchdown catch. A lifeless situation found its heartbeat.

Early in the morning on Aug. 23, prior to the last practice of fall camp, Dykes called a team meeting to collect votes for the election of the team’s captains. After the vote, he mentioned that there was a special announcement: Grisom had received a full scholarship.

The room erupted in applause.

The alarm clock blares at 5 a.m. He’s eaten a good breakfast, so he’s rested and energized for his 7 a.m meeting. He no longer lives three miles from the stadium; he’s found a house with his friends on Southside.

It’s September of 2013. Classes continue deep into the afternoon, and practice finishes at 7 p.m. He heads straight home and starts working on composing a song for a scene Shuster described to him earlier that week over coffee. He will consider the mood of the scene, the camera angles and the context.

And he’ll fall asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow at 10 p.m, a lifelong dream materialized.

Michael Rosen covers football. Contact him at mrosen@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @michaelrosen3.

The post Where Soul Meets Body: James Grisom’s balance of two passions appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right: How Spencer Hagan coped with his career-ending injury

Connor Byrne — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 20:25:59 +0000

Jan Flatley-Feldman/Staff

On Sept. 15, 2012, Spencer Hagan came within a centimeter of losing his right leg.

Playing No. 3 Ohio State in a nationally televised game, the redshirt junior was thrust into duty due to a plethora of injuries to Cal’s tight end corps. And for a former walk-on who had shown flashes of potential in his first two seasons, there would be no better stage to launch what looked poised to be a breakout season. This was his shot to live his dream.

With four minutes remaining in the third quarter, Hagan lined up on the left side of the line, ran a hitch route and caught a quick strike from quarterback Zach Maynard. As he turned up field, he was immediately met by Buckeyes safety Christian Bryant. The crown of Bryant’s helmet ducked down and collided with his right knee, exploding through and gruesomely bending it in a way a knee should never bend. It became instantly clear to everyone watching that Hagan had sustained a major knee injury.

As he lay on the turf and clutched his right leg, the grim reality of his situation began to sink in. Hagan’s season was over before it really began. His chance at breaking out was all but gone.

“That was supposed to be my season to come out,” Hagan says.

An MRI would later confirm a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus. But it would also show damage to the exterior lining of his popliteal artery. Had the knee bent a few centimeters farther, the artery would have been severed, and his leg would have required amputation.

After reconstructive surgery in October, Hagan planned to go through rehab and come back to football. But he also began to realize that having been centimeters away from being an amputee had left him unable to look at football in the same light. Flashbacks from the injury lurked in the back of his mind, constantly reminding him of the horror that could have been. For the first time in his life, Hagan realized he wasn’t invincible.“It changed the way I see football, and it changed the way I see life,” he says. “Playing the game wasn’t as important as my health. I wanted my knee for the rest of my life.”

Last Tuesday, he officially announced his retirement from the game of football. While he wants nothing more than to continue to play the game he loves, he understands his body is not invincible. And while many players would feel conflicted about such a decision and would feel all kinds of frustration about being physically prevented from playing the game they love, Hagan has not had any second thoughts.

“Usually, guys are like, ‘I still wish I could play,’ ” he says. “I’m past that. I’m moving on from playing, and I’m enjoying where I’m at now, helping the guys and helping the coaches.”

Hagan will turn to a potential future of coaching, as he will continue working with the coaches as a team manager while he determines whether a future in coaching is where he belongs.

And although his career stats of 12 catches for 92 yards and a pair of touchdowns are just a fraction of what they could have been, Hagan has no regrets about packing up.

“I had the full experience at Cal,” Hagan says. “I walked on, earned a scholarship, scored a touchdown in the Big Game and got to play at Ohio State. All of the biggest college football things to do at Cal, I’ve done them all.”

The post Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right: How Spencer Hagan coped with his career-ending injury appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick: Freddie Tagaloa’s nice-guy personality

Sean Wagner-McGough — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 21:21:45 +0000

Kore Chan/Staff

Chances are you’ll be looking up when you first meet Freddie Tagaloa.

Standing at 6-foot-8 and weighing in at 325 pounds, Cal’s left tackle and team captain is hard to miss. Just ask offensive line coach Zach Yenser. Yenser first met the teenager back in January, and he still remembers their first handshake.

“I heard about how big he was when I got the job,” Yenser says. “Everyone was like, ‘Have you met Freddie yet? Have you met Freddie yet?’ And I’m walking around the weight room and I’m like, ‘Well, I’m guessing that’s Freddie.’ I go and shake his hand. His frickin’ hand is a big paw.”

And as far as football goes, Tagaloa is an opponent’s worst nightmare.

“If the person in front of him gets in his way, he’s going to get moved out of his way,” says Ikaika Woolsey, Tagaloa’s best friend and former teammate from Salesian High School. “You’d see the guys line up next to him, and you could kind of see that deer-in-the-headlights look at Freddie, realizing that ‘damn, I’m going to have to play against this guy for four quarters straight.’ ”

But once the pads come off, he transforms.

Away from the football field, Tagaloa is protective. He’s “gentle.”

When Woolsey graduated from Salesian and left to play quarterback at the University of Hawaii, Tagaloa was entering his senior year. Woolsey’s younger sister was also a student at Salesian, so before Woolsey jetted across the Pacific, Tagaloa approached Woolsey and made sure his friend understood that he was going to look out for his sister.

“When everyone sees Freddie, they think of this big, mean, intimidating guy, but deep down inside, he’s a good guy,” Woolsey said. “People used to call him ‘Freddie Bear.’ As big as he is, he can be really gentle.”

As a product of his menacing figure, protecting the people he cares about has always come easily for Tagaloa. But getting to be the strongest man in the crowd comes with a catch.

The center of attention is something that has been impossible for Tagaloa to escape since his growth spurt. For as long as he can remember, he’s stuck out everywhere he goes.

He’s always been a giant among hobbits.

“Honestly, everywhere he kind of is a spotlight,” Woolsey says. “But he’s never one to attract unwanted attention to himself. He’s just Freddie.”

His distaste for always being the focal point is why you won’t ever hear him bringing up any of his accomplishments on or off of the field. Being the fifth child of a longtime San Quentin worker and a stay-at-home mother has taught Tagaloa to be a quiet grinder. Watching four of his uncles fail to capitalize on their potential in college football keeps him humble, no matter his success.

“I’ve never been the type to do something and like the praise for it,” Tagaloa says. “I’ve always been that way growing up.”

But there’s one place that Tagaloa can be almost invisible: the trenches.

Paradoxically, when Tagaloa takes the field in front of 65,000 fans and a couple million ESPN viewers, he’ll be where he’s the most comfortable.

“I’ve never really been in a situation where I’m lost in football,” Tagaloa says. “I haven’t really been there before.”

The football field offers Tagaloa an escape from the limelight. Out here, he isn’t the focal point — he’s just another player. Despite his knack for controlling the line of scrimmage, you won’t ever find Tagaloa or any other offensive lineman gracing Sportscenter’s top-10 plays.

If he succeeds at the task at hand, chances are the average fan won’t mention his name when looking back on what transpired on the field.

“We go unnoticed,” Tagaloa says, regarding the offensive line.

It’s why you’ll never hear him giving an opponent an earful on the field or participating in any Ray Lewis-esque pregame speeches. Tagaloa never is trying to attract any extra attention to himself. For years now, Tagaloa has fully embraced this mentality.

“Lead by example, do your job and shut up,” Yenser says. “That’s the O-line mentality.”

And as far as Tagaloa is concerned, the lack of recognition is exactly why he loves playing at arguably one of the most unheralded position groups in all of sports.

“If Jerry Rice goes into Costco, everybody is like, ‘Oh my god! That’s Jerry Rice!’ ” Tagaloa says. “But if Orlando Pace walks in, one of the great left tackles, he’s like a normal person without anyone knowing he’s rich. I kinda like that.”

On Saturday night — despite the bright lights, the flashing cameras and the millions of judging eyes — Tagaloa will be right where he’s supposed to be. He’ll be out of the spotlight. The gentle Tagaloa will terrorize Northwestern’s defensive line. He’ll try to knock them sideways to the sun.

But he also will be guiding the way for running back Brendan Bigelow. He will be guarding the blind side of his quarterback, true freshman Jared Goff. He will play the role of the silent protector.

If he succeeds, no one will notice.

Sean Wagner-McGough covers football. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org.

The post Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick: Freddie Tagaloa’s nice-guy personality appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Live Blog: Cal vs. Washington

Jonathan Kuperberg — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:34:53 +0000

Kelly Fang/Senior Staff

The Bears are looking to start a winning streak with three games left in the season. Cal taking on Washington at Memorial Stadium.

Follow along as Daily Cal football beat writers Connor Byrne, Jonathan Kuperberg and Michael Rosen give play-by-play and analysis of Cal’s game against Washington, better known as the return of reviled defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi. How will the absence of Keenan Allen affect the Bears? Will O-lineman brothers Jordan and Tyler Rigsbee open up holes for running backs on the left side?

Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is 6 p.m.

The post Live Blog: Cal vs. Washington appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Players to watch: Chris Harper, Shaq Thompson

Jonathan Kuperberg — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 04:26:55 +0000

Chris Harper, Cal receiver

Who needs Keenan Allen?

With Allen scratched from the game due to an injured knee, the future of Cal’s receiving corps will be on full display against Washington. Four freshman receivers and a sophomore tight end will try their best to fill the void the Bears’ all-time receptions leader.

The leader of the bunch thus far this season is Chris Harper, somewhat of a surprise considering the lack of hullabaloo surrounding the three-star recruit’s commitment to Cal. But Harper has been beacon of hope for the Bears in the midst of a struggling season, particularly on the offensive side. He is second on the team in both receptions (29) and receiving yards (380) behind Allen.

And Harper has done his best Keenan impersonation with several one-handed grabs throughout the year. Still only a freshman, Harper has had his share of fumbles — but he’s a star in the making.

— Jonathan Kuperberg

Shaq Thompson, Washington nickelback

Twice a Cal commit and the younger brother of former Cal cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson, Shaq Thompson has started every game for the Huskies at nickelback, and for the most part he’s lived up to his five-star billing. His 44 tackles is one short of leading his team, and his run stopping ability has played a major roll in Washington giving up a touchdown less per game than it did a year ago.

But he’s also had plenty of moments to remind everyone that he is a freshman, and his over aggressiveness in the passing game has left the Huskies vulnerable over the top at times.

Whenever Thompson is in the game, something is exciting is bound to happen – whether it be a big open field tackle or trying to undercut a route and getting burned deep. He likely won’t be giving Cal quarterback Zach Maynard too much respect in the passing game, so Friday night could be another big run stopping night for the 6-foot-2 freshman out of Sacramento.

— Connor Byrne

The post Players to watch: Chris Harper, Shaq Thompson appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Live Blog: Cal football vs. Arizona State

Jonathan Kuperberg — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 19:31:35 +0000

Kevin Foote/File

The Cal Bears take on Arizona State in a home tilt on Saturday.

Follow along as Daily Cal football beat writers Connor Byrne, Jonathan Kuperberg and Michael Rosen and The Lombardo Trophy (sports columnist Jordan Bach-Lombardo) give play-by-play and analysis of the Cal-Arizona State game live from Memorial Stadium.

Will the Bears shake off their 1-3 start? How many carries will Brendan Bigelow get? And how will defenders such as Deandre Coleman, Avery Sebastian and Marc Anthony fare against the Sun Devils’ offense? Find out at 1 p.m.

The post Live Blog: Cal football vs. Arizona State appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Lose yourself: Deandre Coleman is holding out hope for a win

Jonathan Kuperberg — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 04:05:52 +0000

Michael Tao/Staff

Even after losing 34-of-36 games in high school, Cal defensive end Deandre Coleman has not gotten used to losing.

Deandre Coleman is two minutes into a description of his high school, and he’s already used the word frustrating five times.

Not that he didn’t enjoy high school. The future Cal defensive end loved playing ball with his friends in Seattle.

It’s just that his neighborhood high school didn’t win a lot.

Two games, to be exact. In Coleman’s four seasons, the Garfield High Bulldogs went 2-34.

“We tried to win,” he says. “We just couldn’t do it.”

The losing fueled his competitive drive. It made him try harder, made him hungrier to win. The state of his high school program virtually forced him to redshirt his first year at Cal but also helped turn him into a grounded, headstrong player able to persevere through .500 seasons in Berkeley.

“It gave him a lot of character in going through that,” says his mother, Deborah Coleman. “It made him stronger.”

Ten pounds, two ounces at birth, Deandre Coleman was nicknamed “Biggie” as a baby. At six years old, Coleman gazed out the window as other children headed down to the football field at the nearby park. He walked down there every day in the summer to watch them practice. He begged his mother to let him play, and eventually she relented.

She stayed supportive through the turbulent seasons at Garfield High. In fact, she admits that she dealt with all the losing worse than her son did. Deandre was able to keep his emotions in check — but he still lingered over losses.

“After a loss, I just think for a whole day about what I did wrong, if it was my fault,” he says.

In Coleman’s first season, the team went 1-8. It was downhill from there. Coleman kept pushing, kept putting in effort, but no matter how hard he tried, his team just wasn’t winning. The next season, Garfield lost all nine games. In 2007, the team went 1-8 again.

He remained optimistic — if his teammates continued to get better, there was always a chance the squad would bounce back. But it never did. He didn’t win a single game senior year.

“A lot of them were blowouts, I’m not gonna lie,” he says.

The closest game that season was decided by a 22-point margin. In four games, the squad failed to score in double digits.

Coleman says he’s not sure why his team was so bad. Maybe it was the coaching. Maybe it was the tough competition in the Seattle area. Maybe it was his teammates’ work ethic — he praises their effort but later backtracks.

“Some people on the team weren’t all into it,” he admits. “No one really wanted to play football at my high school.”

As a result, Coleman says he did not always think he would play college football. He didn’t go to camps and never paid much attention to scholarship offers as an underclassman.

“I told him, ‘If you have the talent, it doesn’t matter, they’re gonna find you,’” his mother says. “‘The word’s gonna get out. It doesn’t matter if you’re at a winning school or not.’”

In his four years on varsity, no player besides Deandre reached Division I college football. Coleman received his first scholarship at the end of his sophomore year. It was from LSU. Oregon entered the fray later that week. Soon Washington and Cal came beckoning.

“It was interesting,” he says. “They just came and found me.”

At 6-foot-4, 295 pounds, Coleman had the raw talent and brute force that recruits drooled over in a defensive lineman prospect. He could bench-press 350 pounds and squat 545. Rivals even named Coleman the top recruit in the state of Washington.

To his teammates, Coleman was the big fish in their small, losing pond. So he molded himself into a leader, motivating and encouraging his boys. If he played hard, he hoped his teammates would as well.

“He’s always lifting guys up,” his mother says. “Win or lose, he always has something positive to say.”

But he never got used to losing. He calls it “pitiful.” By the end of his senior season, after four years of not showing emotion and not exhibiting the frustration, Coleman had had enough. He was tired of giving 100 percent every week with nothing to show for it. He was tired of losing.

When Coleman arrived at Cal, he no longer felt pressure. He didn’t have to be The Man and carry the team. In fact, his fellow defensive linemen had to teach him the ropes. Future first-round draft picks Tyson Alualu and Cameron Jordan took Coleman under their wings, tutoring him on technique and discipline.

Coleman had never played against people as big as he before coming to Berkeley. He also came in with very little knowledge about football.

“Techniques you have to do, schemes — I didn’t really know all that in high school,” he says. “I didn’t really lift weights in high school, so I was trying to get stronger in the weight room.”

Coleman redshirted his first season, which was the best thing that could have happened to him, according to his mother.

“When you’re the No. 1 recruit, biggest guy and go to college level, see that there’s boys bigger than you, better than you, redshirting humbled him a lot,” she says.

He only started two games the next two seasons, but he played in every single contest.

Earlier this year, Coleman dominated spring practice, leading head coach Jeff Tedford to remark at the time that “he may be one of the best that we’ve ever had.” Coleman’s name was added to nearly every preseason watch list — top defensive end, top lineman, first-team All-Pac-12.

Once again, people saw the potential in Coleman.

“I think it means for me to build off that, to try to do better than that,” he says.

In four games this year, Coleman already has 20 tackles, surpassing his totals from each of the past two seasons.

But the Bears have just one win.

In fact, Cal is an even 21-21 since Coleman joined the team in fall of 2009. A .500 record may not be ideal, but it’s better than his high school record of .053.

Yet the vast improvement in success and winning games does not satisfy Coleman. He is not content. He believes the harder he works, the more he deserves to win.

“Now, losses hurt more,” he says. “Because I try so hard, this is what I want to do, and my whole team … has such a bond.

“I think it’s more difficult now.”

Seven years since that first high school football season, Coleman still isn’t used to losing. After losses, he sits in the locker room with his pads still on, thinking about what he did wrong, alone in his thoughts. He’s always one of the last players to leave.

But with a new Saturday comes a new game, a fresh start, a clean slate. And win or lose, Deandre Coleman is not about to give up.

Jonathan Kuperberg covers football. Contact him at jkuperberg@dailycal.org.

The post Lose yourself: Deandre Coleman is holding out hope for a win appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Players to watch: Brendan Bigelow, Chris Coyle

Jonathan Kuperberg — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:45:59 +0000

Brendan Bigelow, Cal running back

Brendan Bigelow is going to touch the ball against Arizona State, it’s just a question of how many times. The sophomore had an electrifying performance against Ohio State (two touchdowns and 160 yards on four rushes). Bigelow was supposed to be the future, but he may as well be the present. Despite being the third-string running back, Bigelow has been the most effective one of late. Isi Sofele struggled against USC, tallying just 16 yards on eight carries, and C.J. Anderson is averaging fewer than 40 yards a game on the season. After spinning his way 81 yards for a touchdown at the Horseshoe, defenses key on him. Maybe he’ll be used as a decoy, or maybe next to Zach Maynard in the shotgun. Whatever the way, Bigelow is too talented, too fast, too dynamic to carry the ball just four times a game. With a long list of injured tight ends, Cal’s seemingly endless stable of tailbacks might be called on to line up in the slot — or, at the very least, catch passes out of the backfield. Bigelow is arguably the Bears’ best overall playmaker on offense after Keenan Allen. Get the ball to No. 5 in the open field, and he’ll take it from there.

Chris Coyle, Arizona State tight end

After two quiet season in Tempe, tight end Chris Coyle has exploded onto the scene his junior season. He has become quarterback Taylor Kelly’s favorite target, with 22 receptions for 301 yards and two scores, all tops on the team. Coyle’s 75.2 receiving yards per game are just two shy of Cal star Keenan Allen. Coyle had a nice opener against Northern Arizona on Aug. 30, but his coming-out party came the next week against Illinois. Coyle caught 10 passes (equating to more than half of Kelly’s receptions) for a whipping 131 yards and two touchdowns. With speedy wide receivers, such as Rashad Ross and Jamal Miles, on the outside, the Sun Devils have the ability to utilize the size of Coyle in the middle of the field. Coyle has the strength to break the tackles of smaller defensive backs and the quickness to gain serious yardage after knocking them down. The Bears have had some difficult defending tight ends in their last two games, probably due to their emphasis on speedy receivers and elite quarterbacks. Nevertheless, Ohio State’s Jake Stoneburner caught a 40-yard pass to go with two short touchdown receptions two weeks ago. USC’s tight end tandem Xavier Grimble and Randall Telfer of combined for four catches for 55 yards last Saturday. Cal can’t forget about Arizona State’s tight end, because he can rack up yards in a hurry.

Jonathan Kuperberg covers football. Contact him at jkuperberg@dailycal.org.

The post Players to watch: Brendan Bigelow, Chris Coyle appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Wake me up when September ends

Jonathan Kuperberg — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:49:19 +0000

Just this year, just this once, September should have 28 days.

It would be so much more simple if Saturday was the first of October and not the 29th of September. Because September has not gone so well for the Cal football team.

The Bears opened the season — and their newly renovated stadium — with a last-minute loss to Nevada. The next week, they led FCS club Southern Utah by just three points before a fourth quarter scoring barrage that resulted in a win. A few mistakes amounted to a near-upset of Ohio State the next Saturday. A few more mistakes led to a ninth-straight loss to USC this past Saturday.

So with a 1-3 record, the Bears need to start anew. They need a fresh start. That new month would do the trick.

It would have been foolish to predict Cal would have a winning record through four games, not when the latter two were consecutive road games at Ohio State and USC — perhaps as difficult a back-to-back as there is in football. September was never going to be one to remember, not with that schedule.

But let’s round up and call it October now. With the new month might come crisp autumn winds to cool a heated fan base, the head coach’s hot seat and the glowing embers of a red zone Cal has been unable to master (just six touchdowns in 15 trips).

The Bears have eight games left this regular season. Other than the Oct. 20 Big Game, November holds what appears to be the other three most challenging matchups: visits from Washington and No. 2 Oregon and a trip to No. 18 Oregon State.

That leaves October — which, remember, for our purposes, starts on Saturday — for Cal to make up for its slow start. It begins with Arizona State, a quality opponent but certainly a winnable game. On deck is UCLA, another team brimming with talent yet inconsistent and unproven on the road. Mind you, neither of those teams has beaten the Bears at home in the Jeff Tedford era. Then Cal heads to Pullman to take on Washington State, a squad that last defeated the Bears in 2002.

There is no reason Cal can’t win three in a row and enter the Big Game with a winning record. Add another “W” for the Utah game — the Utes’ starting quarterback retired from football and the squad lost to the Bears by 24 points last season — and suddenly we’re looking at Cal team that could be 5-4 — or dare I say 6-3 — entering November.

Except there are a lot of reasons why Cal might not win its next three games in a row. The Bears have shown flashes of brilliances — see minutes 5 through 56 of the Ohio State game — before fizzling. “We have good drives or quarters, but sometimes we fall apart,” said cornerback Steve Williams. “We just got to hold through the whole game.”

Easier said than done.

For all Zach Maynard’s inconsistencies (four touchdowns passes, four interceptions on the season), the senior quarterback has not always received a lot of help. His offensive line gave up nine sacks against USC, while his run game gained just 77 yards.

“It’s not just quarterback play,” Tedford said. “He’s not perfect by any means, but he’s played under heavy duress the last couple games … It’s on everyone.”

It starts with the opening whistle. Cal is getting outscored 37-7 in first quarters this season, putting the Bears in holes they have only once been able to dig themselves out of.

Then again, Cal is crushing opponents, 40-7, in third quarters. For all the criticism Tedford and company have received on Twitter, blogs and Tightwad Hill, the squad has clearly made mid-game adjustments that have turned the tide in all four games.

Now, like Williams said, the Bears just need to put it together for 60 minutes.

They’ll have an extra two days this October.

Jonathan Kuperberg covers football. Contact him at jkuperberg@dailycal.org

The post Wake me up when September ends appeared first on The Daily Californian.