There are fans in this world who would see their team do what Cal did last night, and think it impossible. There are fans in this world, who when they see this account of what happened, will find it impossible to believe unless they saw it with their own eyes.
Let's re-cap the "Only Cal" things from the game:
- Trailing 7-3, Cal commits THREE pre-snap penalties from the 1 yd line, but they convert a 3rd and 11 to get out of jail!
- They drive the ball all the way to the FSU 35, and on 4th and 3, with a kicker who has a big leg and made his first FG, Cal doesn't go for the first, doesn't kick FG, but punts?!?!?!?!
- The teams trade possessions, and Cal gets a 4th down stop at their own 38, but with only 16 seconds left
- Cal somehow moves the ball downfield, aided by a 15 yd FSU penalty for hitting sliding QB, and makes it down to the FSU 11, only able to kick 28 yd FG, to go in at at half down 7-6
- At half, Wilcox says they need to do a better job on 3rd Downs, so Cal gets second half kickoff and drives the ball down field, converting three 3rd Downs in a row!
- Cal has 1st and 10 from the FSU 13! The Offense is ROLLING!
- But then after incomplete passes on 1st and 2nd down. and sacked for 5 yd loss on 3rd Down, Cal promptly MISSES a 36 yd FG to take the lead!
- No worries, Cal's Defense steps up, and forces two straight FSU punts to give the ball back to the Offense
- Cal drives the ball 42 yds to the FSU 33 and faces another 4th and 3. This time Wilcox decides to kick FG from 51 yds, after punting in virtually the same place earlier. It's Good, and Cal leads 9-7!
- Just when you think Cal's D is going to rise up as it had the entire game since the first quarter, it gives up a 79 yd TD drive, capped with a 3rd and 7 TD pass from the Cal 36, FSU leads 14-9
- Cal still has time with 11 mins left, and it could even win with 2 FGs, given how well Cal's D is playing, but the Offense can also do its thing and put a TD on the board
- Cal shows fight and drives the ball down to having 1st and 10 from the FSU 12 with 8 mins to play, and the Calgorithm is starting to get warmed up, because these aren't the same old Cal Bears!
- Then Cal fans are reminded that they are in fact STILL Cal, as they introduce the ACC to the Cal Football brand...
- On 1st and 10, the left side of the OL shows it doesn't know the snap count, and false starts
- On 1st and 15, Cal QB is sacked
- On 2nd and 15, another false start penalty
- On 2nd and 20, Cal runs a play for no gain and FSU declines illegal motion penalty
- On 3rd and 20, QB runs for 2yds, setting up another chip shot FG from 38 yds out, that is BLOCKED
- Instead of Cal trailing 14-12, or maybe even leading 15-14 (if Cal had made the 36yd FG earlier), Cal still trails 14-9, with just over 5 minutes to play
- If Cal's D can get a stop, despite all its gaffes and missed opportunities, Cal could STILL win this game!
- And it does! FSU goes 3 and out, and Cal gets the ball back with 4:38 to go, plenty of time to get the game-winning TD and leave little or no time on the clock for FSU
- Cal drives the ball down the field, converting on 3rd and 14, and even 4th and 13, to give Cal's offense a feeling of inevitability that had been lacking all game long!
- Jadyn Ott, and the Cal run game punches through what looks like a finally tiring FSU defensive front, on 1st and 10 from the FSU 17, for a 5 yd gain, with just 1:20 left!
- With all the momentum on their side, Cal fans are filled with more excitement than they have felt in years! They can see Lucy putting the football down for their Charlie Brown program to finally kick!
- As they eagerly anticipate what Cal has called for this 2nd 5 play from the FSU 12... FALSE START, for Cal's what, FIFTH such penalty of the game?
- OK, no worries, it's still 2nd and 10, three more chances to put the ball in the end zone. Let's ****ing do this!!!!
- Mendoza drops back, but can't get rid of the ball before he is sacked for a 6 yd loss. It's now 3rd and 16, and it is looking grim.
- But this is Hurricane Fernando in the house! He's got the magic Cal has lacked for too many seasons to count.
- Mendoza takes the snap and a few steps back before lofting a pass to the end zone to a Cal WR behind the defense!
- He had been right on target with all his downfield passes in this game, and OMG, it's looking like he might actually be on target again!
- For a few milliseconds, Cal fans watching around the globe had the thrill of anticipating a go-ahead TD with just :56 left on the clock, until seeing the ball graze off the receiver's fingers...
- Still one more play, but it was like the Football Gods. said, "nah, we've seen enough, you've had so many chances, Cal, we're done," as Cal gave up an almost immediate sack to end the game, with a whimper, on 4th and 16.
And to add injury to insult, Cal had its best OL taken off on a backboard after being knocked out trying to block a DB on a poorly executed WR screen pass.
My initial reaction to this game, after watching Cal fart around with SDSU last week, was that I don't think Cal can win because the FG kicker sucks. Then, I bought into the stupid feel good nonsense from Wilcox and some fans on this board about the Kicker, and saw Stanford beat Syracuse with 4/4 FGs. If Stanford could eke out a win at Syracuse, I thought for sure Cal could do the same at Florida State, because I thought Cal was better than Florida State, than Stanford was better than Syracuse, marginally, but still better.
I've watched a lot of football games in my life, and I can't remember seeing any team making so many pre-snap penalties and missing so many makable FGs. Cal also gave up 7 sacks to a team that had only had 7 in its first three games.
What's maddening is Cal has players doing great things on the field. With even mediocre OL play, they win easily, even with a terrible FG Kicker! I mean Mendoza threw for over 300 yds and Cal as a team ran for over 100, and they couldn't even score a TD because the OL couldn't stop committing pre-snap penalties in the red zone. Wilcox emphasized needing to play a clean game, and what did his team do? I don't think the Defense committed two penalties, and the Offense was responsible for 8, with 5 being false starts. Just unforgivable, and an indicator the coach is not inspiring execution from his team. I don't know why.
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