It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
For years, Cal hovered right there in the second spot in the Pac-10. If only USC could be overcome, Cal could break through, make it to Pasadena. They were always in contention – hell, officially, they were Pac-10 co-champions in 2006. Everything seemed to be trending the right way. Then the wheels came off in 2007, and the team’s never been put right since.
Now the clock has finally struck 12. USC has done what it’s never done in the regular season under Pete Carroll – they’ve lost a game they had to win. In fact, they’ve done it two weeks out of three. They’ve had all manner of near misses in games they did win (Ohio State, Arizona State) and are currently in fourth place in the Pac-10, with all the tiebreaks against them. If the season ended tonight, they’d be ticketed for the Vegas or Emerald Bowls at best.
For years, people have been talking about the teams that were waiting in the wings to overtake the Trojans. Usually, the conversation came down to the Oregon schools and Cal. Well, right now, Oregon is in first place. But both Oregon schools beat Cal senseless – as did USC. And now, USC’s lost their second straight home game against Stanford – in fact, Stanford absolutely destroyed the Trojans. They have a tiebreak in the Pac-10, and only one conference game left, and Oregon and Arizona – the two teams ahead of the Cardinal – still have to play each other.
And where is Cal in all this?
In the last three seasons, Cal is 5 games over .500. They’ve split the Big Game the last two years (after five straight). They’ve taken a remarkable array of talent and radically underachieved, wasting talents like DeSean Jackson and Jahvid Best with unimaginative playcalling and unnecessary over-complex offensive design. Three offensive coordinators in as many years have produced a team that’s confused at best and ineffective at worst. Special teams have been neglected beyond all reason, resulting in kickoffs that go 20 years and the inability to take a confident field goal from outside the five yard line. And the offensive line, with a cockamamie pro-style series of sets and formations, has been ineffective at run-blocking and helpless in pass protection.
There’s no sign that this is a flash in the pan, either. Oregon has a first-year head coach. Jim Harbaugh is no longer a joke down on the Farm. Pete Carroll is struggling, but USC isn’t going anywhere. And Cal’s “quarterback guru” hasn’t produced a drafted QB since Aaron Rodgers, who left Berkeley five years ago.
Jeff Tedford has been coasting a long time on 2004, aided and abetted by the disaster that was Tom Holmoe and the memory of 1-10 in 2001. But it is no longer possible to avoid considering the possibility that 2004 and 2006 were the flukes, and Jeff Tedford is in essence a 7-8 win per year coach. The administration and fans of the Golden Bears are going to have to take a long, hard look at whether that is the case – and what, if true, they are prepared to do about it.
Because the clock’s struck midnight, and if you look at Cal, you can see clearly where the slipper’s been stuck.