Tonight's inactives for Cal:

• #3 Jarred Hyder
• #10 Josh Ragsdale
• #12 Jack McCloskey
• #32 Jalen Celestine
• #33 DeJuan Clayton

Facing liquidity crunch, being acquired by Binance.

Wonder what impact that will be on Cal’s coffers given FTX naming rights?

Go Bears

4-2 last week for 36-30 for the year. 0-1 for my lock of the week for 3-7 for the year. https://cal.forums.rivals.com/threads/lets-pick-the-pac-12-games-week-10.31575/

[home team in italics]

USC by 33.5 over Colorado - USC is sneakily not that great. Colorado covers.

WSU by 8.5 over ASU - I get WSU just clownstomped the furd, but they are a little too justin wilcoxie for my liking. ASU covers.

Oregon by 12.5 over UW - UW's D is baaddd. Oregon will score 50. Oregon covers.

Oregon State by 13.5 over Cal - I fully expect a cal loss, but almost 2 tds is ridiculous. Cal covers.

Utah by 23.5 over the Furd - Furd is done. Utah covers.

UCLA by 19.5 over Arizona - Hard to see fUCLA up for this game. Arizona covers.



Non conference lock of the week: Michigan by 28.5 over Nebraska - Too many points. Nebraska covers.

Hopefully UCLA somehow stays and we will call it a day

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About a Cal-USC game in my 35+ years as a Cal fan. Not even planning on watching. What’s the point? They are going to get killed and they will be boring as H-E-double hockey sticks in doing so. This has been brought upon by Cal’s insistence on maintaining a nice guy coach who clearly cannot perform the job at a competitive and/or entertaining level. This is pathetically sad and it appears there is no end in sight. Doom and gloom.

Well.... here we go folks!

6 PM on PAC 12 network

Here is game coverage from Jesse and I after last night's game. USC security oh so kindly kicked the media out of the press box shortly after the press conference wrapped up, but he's the recap, interviews and reaction after the 41-35 game at the LA Coliseum.



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There is not stream or radio broadcast for the exhibition tonight (7 p.m.)

I'll post the box score, and then we're getting Fox and players over Zoom on Friday, so I'll be able to get some further perspective on the takeaways from the exhibition then.

I'll be most interested to see what Askew does tonight -- not that you can read a ton into an exhibition game, but nonetheless.

(I have a football story coming and Matt has a recruiting update heading your way this afternoon as well).

Sadly, this is one of the only things keeping me interested in the games/season. I know the original self-imposed date was not met, which was met with predictable push back, but did that cause this to never happen? Apologies if it’s buried in another thread and I missed it.

A coach with some balls and innovation can take a garbage program have them winning while making it exciting as well. What a great win for Sac St tonight in national tv

Now that our football season is officially a wash, lets turn our attention from talking about how bad our coaches are to the other football season... in England.

Big match next week between Chelsea and Tottenham. Will be the biggest test to see if my Blues are forreal or not. Should be a good match.

Meanwhile Everton is slowly crashing (sorry @MC415 ), Liverpool is completely injured, and MC is having their typical slow start.

Will be an interesting season.

Not only antisemitic but dumb enough to show it on social media. Sent Knowlton an email, this guy shouldn’t be around the team.


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Jesse's final thoughts on the matchup with the Trojans:

Oakland-McClymonds running back Jaivian Thomas was recently on campus for a visit to Cal, and he was offered by the staff. It is the first Power Five offer for the speedy 2023 back, and is the culmination of a process that goes back to last year. Thomas says the staff has been impressed by his development over that tie (he's rushed for 1,200 yards and 13 TDs this season) leading to the offer.

He is not in any kind of rush to make a decision as he wants to see his senior season through before committing, but the offer from Cal is an important one in the overall process.

"I see a great scheme, and I feel like I could fit in great with the system. Not only that, but how they do things. He's (Jaydn Ott) a true freshman, so that makes me feel more comfortable about coming in and showing what I have."

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A bit of an update, some insight... this guy knows his sports media stuff....SBJ=Sports Business Journal

SBJ Media: Pac-12 deal rumors​

By John Ourand
October 31, 2022

Halloween candy, ranked:

1. Twix
2. Smarties
3. Caramel Creams

Big 12 deal puts focus on where Pac-12 will land​

Now that the Big 12 has secured six-year deals with ESPN and Fox Sports worth $2.28 billion, all eyes are on the Pac-12, which got out of its exclusive negotiating window with ESPN and Fox three weeks ago. This is what we know.

• ESPN and Amazon Prime remain the front runners to pick up Pac-12 rights, with agreements potentially coming by the end of the year. It’s too early to describe what’s in those packages with any accuracy. But it’s important to note that ESPN’s Big 12 deal does not take it out of the running for Pac-12 rights. And Amazon still wants a package of college football games that can complement its Thursday night package of NFL games.
• Pac-12 officials’ initial reaction when they heard of the Big 12’s deal was relief. Big 12 schools each will receive around $31 million per school as part of the deal, and Pac-12 officials are optimistic that they will be able to eclipse that figure. This means that unless the Big Ten or SEC come calling, it’s unlikely a Pac-12 school will be persuaded to leave the conference.
• One reason for that optimism is the fact that the Pac-12 has its rights in the open market. The Big 12 could not have hit the open market until 2024. While Amazon and ESPN are the clear front-runners, the Pac-12 has had talks with Apple, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. The theory is that the presence of multiple serious bidders will help drive the price up.
• The big question will come down to price. Media companies believe the Big 12 deal set the market. The Pac-12 still is aiming higher. Keep in mind, the Pac-12 will have fewer schools -- 10 instead of 12 -- after USC and UCLA depart for the Big Ten. That’s two fewer mouths to feed. ESPN took pains to make sure that its Big 12 deal would not result in a bigger per-school payout than the ACC. Because of the ACC Network, it’s difficult to determine how much ACC schools make from its ESPN deal. But I was told that the Big 12 will not eclipse the ACC on that front at any point in its deal, which runs through 2030-31. ESPN is likely to approach Pac-12 negotiations in a similar way.
• I keep seeing one aspect of the Big 12 deal that is creating confusion among fans on social media. Historically, the Big 12 had what it called "Tier Three" rights, which are the rights schools retained and sold to local broadcasters. These are the rights, for example, that Texas used to create the Longhorn Network with ESPN. ESPN now controls all of those rights as part of its deal; there are no more institutional-controlled games and no more Tier Three rights.

No official visits this week, but a lot of unofficial visitors (including some notable 2024s) ...

2023 commit
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2023
(This is a very interesting one. We'll do everything we can to follow up with him and see if there's any life here.)

2024
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On Jack Plummer's perseverance through 25 sacks in 8 games, Kai Millner's first meaningful snaps and what it means moving forward, the emphasis this week going up against USC's offense, where the Trojans are vulnerable and other notes.

What’s his buyout? Yes he got the long extension but it’s probably cheaper to dump him than wilcox at this point. Knowlton has dragged cal FB and mbb into the gutter. If we can least get someone accountable in place there, maybe there is hope for the future

Wilcox can't even cover properly. 2-3 last week for 32-28 for the year. 0-1 for my lock of the week for 3-6 for the year:


[home team in italics]

UW by 4.5 over Oregon State - Bad matchup for UW. Oregon State covers.

Oregon by 31.5 over Colorado - Beats me. Colorado covers.

WSU by 4.5 over Furd - Good matchup for the Furd. Furd covers.

Utah by 17.5 over Arizona - Beats me. Utah covers?

fUCLA by 10.5 over ASU - This line went up from 6.5, but I still like fUCLA.

USC by 21.5 over Cal - USC doesn't cover these big spreads at home very well. Cal covers.



Non conference lock of the week: TCU by 9.5 over Texas Tech - Time to bet against Sonny. Texas Tech covers.

Y'all know the deal -

*1130 am - Wilcox
*1200 pm - P. Sirmon
*1215 pm - Musgrave
*1 pm - Plummer
*115 pm - M. Young
*130 pm - Scott

Cal Bear/ Nets' GM Sean Marks must be feeling the heat these days. Ryan Forhan-Kelly is an assistant coach and Richard Midgley is a scout for such team. And, I thought that the Warriors' franchise had issues after Draymond cold cocked Jordan Poole.