Welcome back- Hope everyone had a good weekend and survived the heat here in the Bay Area! I KNOW the California Golden Bears fans did early, as ESPN took their pre-game "GameDay" show to the Berkeley campus for the very first time, hence the 6am PST start, which meant that the show literally started in the dark before sunrise!
It was a sight to behold, as thousands of Cal college football fans filled the park where the Game Day crew set up, an for me, and Cal fans, we were very pleasantly shocked with the enthusiasm the GameDay crew had as they were giving big love to the students, fans, and the city of Berkeley and embracing the joyful "weirdness" that is Cal football fandom!
I would say it was a HUGE success all around, for ESPN, for the students (who are in midterms!) and the city of Berkeley! There were so many "only in Berkeley" signs (ex: "I thought this was a protest!") that the announcers loved and highlighted for the viewing audience, and the energy for 6am in the morning, was off the charts! I'm betting that every restaurant on Shattuck Avenue and surrounding areas got slammed after 9am, as most of these fans had camped out in the park since midnight!
The best moment though was the GameDay Field Goal Challenge, and I'm just going to let the video below tell the story (teaser: the crowd, the announcers lost their minds in joyous shock!). So with this happy joyful opening paragraph, the next thing I will be typing later is the actual game between Cal and the #8th ranked Miami Hurricanes that was later Saturday evening.
Cal Bears Football: And that wonderful joy from earlier in the day turned to absolute anger and rage with how this game turned out! The game didn't start that way, as the Bears jumped out to a 21-10 lead at halftime and were up by 25 entering the 4th quarter. Then a few things happened: The Cal offense forgot how to score or eat up clock time, the run game was STILL non-existent as it had been for the whole game, the defense all of a sudden became a sieve, allowing Miami to within a touchdown to win the game. Then at about the 1:50 mark, Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza took off running, and was LEVELED by a Miami player, leaving his feet to launch himself and hitting Mendoza with the crown of his helmet in the neck/head area, a very, VERY obvious targeting penalty, Alas, the refs, upon review, decided that the play was NOT a targeting penalty, and Miami got the ball back and scored the winning touchdown to avoid the major upset, sour the mood of many Cal fans, and made sure the ACC conference made its money. i was beyond livid, and after reading A LOT of folks who know the rules of college football, it has been universal agreement by fans, pundits, former players, etc, that the refs effed up the call and robbed the Cal Bears of a major upset win. I have it on good authority that the ACC has already declared a Miami victory for their next game! Oh, and this is not the first time the refs chose Miami in officiating, just ask Virginia Tech, who had their game-winning Hail Mary touchdown overturned by the zebras last week! Next game is against the also undefeated Pittsburgh Panthers in Pittsburgh Saturday, 12:30 PST, on ESPN. Local Sports writer Damon Bruce sums it all up perfectly in this video short about targeting in this short video link: https://youtube.com/shorts/2n3Pjk8DqX4?si=txDtGovXW4fn7t7y This fan's meme trolled the ACC perfectly:
Other College football games had only one game with two teams that were ranked, as the #9 ranked Missouri Tigers ventured into College Station, Texas to play the #23rd ranked Texas A&M Aggie's, and the Aggies pulled off the upset, winning 41-10; but that was not the biggest upset of the day....As the shocking upsets were all over the place this weekend!
This pic of ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith sums Saturday up!
As a result, Alabama fell to 7th, Tennessee fell to 8th, Mizzou fell to 21st, Michigan ( called this upset!) fell to 24th, and USC was bounced out of the Top 25 altogether (ouch!). This weekend was a very good example that on any given day in college football, chaos can happen!
San Francisco 49ers: This one hurts, on more ways than one. as the heavily favored 49ers, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, losing to the Arizona Cardinals, 24-23 at Levi's on a hot (100 degrees in the 3rd quarter!) Sunday afternoon. Cards running back just could not be stopped in the 2nd half, and quarterback Kyler Murray had a solid game, starting with a 50 yard run for a touchdown on Arizona's first play from scrimmage. While Deebo Samuel was missing from this game, George Kittle, Jordan Mason and especially Brandon Aiyuk (who had a big day with 167 receiving yards- but no TD's!), had a good day, but quarterback Brock Purdy had his worst, at least in QBR, which was 62.5...the worst of his career so far. When you are shutout in the 2nd half, to a weaker team, you just might be in trouble. To make matters worse, 49ers kicker Jake Moody had to tackle a Cards player to save a touchdown, and rolled his ankle, so basically the 49ers were playing like they did not have a kicker, and made some critical mistakes, including a Mason fumble near the end zone in the final 2 minutes of the game to seal the win for Arizona. The Niners record now stands at 2-3, and have a quick turnaround as they fly to Seattle to play the Seahawks on Thursday night on Amazon Prime. Injury Update: CMC improving, MAY be back for the KC Chiefs game. Moody will miss at least four games with a high-sprain ankle, Defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos, who was playing great for the injured Javon Hargrave, also went on the injured list, as he had knee surgery this week, so again, next man up. Updated Update: Safety Talanoa Hufunga likely to go to the injury list as well with torn ligaments in his wrist. <sigh>
To pick up the mood, I think we all deserve a Bosa thirst trap snap:
Was getting ready to hit Publish, and then this breaking news popped up on my phone. The New York Jets (cough*Aaron Rodgers*cough) FIRED their head coach Robert Saleh after a 2-3 start. Seems rather drastic move so early in the season to me (cough, cough), as he was rudely escorted off the Jets premises, not even allowed to tell his players and staff goodbye! Real classy, Jets management <sic>. The news has sent the 49er fan base into a happy frenzy, as Saleh was the defensive coordinator that built the 49er defense that took San Francisco to two Super Bowls. So, what are the two options? 1) Saleh said he is going on vacation with his family and chill. He WILL be a very sought after coach by other NFL teams, so him getting a job won't be a problem.
2) If the 49ers continue to slide, I would not be surprised General Manager John Lynch makes every effort to bring Saleh back as defensive coordinator again, once the current one is canned.
After all that, and going thru Zoom Zoom F1 break withdrawal, lets close with everyone's favorite Formula One doggie diva, Leo LeClerc- we shall title this: CUTENESS ALERT!
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