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  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  2. <feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xml:lang="en">
  3.  <title>California Golden Blogs -  All Posts</title>
  4.  <subtitle>The OG CGB team moved to WriteForCalifornia.com. Cal Golden Bears coverage by SBNation.</subtitle>
  5.  <icon>https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48267/cgb-fave.png</icon>
  6.  <updated>2023-02-15T03:00:00-08:00</updated>
  7.  <id>http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/rss/current/</id>
  8.  <link type="text/html" href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/" rel="alternate"/>
  9.  <entry>
  10.    <published>2023-02-15T03:00:00-08:00</published>
  11.    <updated>2023-02-15T03:00:00-08:00</updated>
  12.    <title>UPDATED: Jake Spavital is rumored as an option for the Houston OC gig</title>
  13.    <content type="html">  
  14.  
  15.    &lt;figure&gt;
  16.      &lt;img alt="NCAA Football: Youngstown State at West Virginia" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/647NTffxf4BaJIXHVrqSOnmDBEc=/448x0:4043x2397/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71977949/usa_today_11229297.0.jpg" /&gt;
  17.        &lt;figcaption&gt;Hold up—those aren’t California uniforms. | Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  18.    &lt;/figure&gt;
  19.  
  20.  &lt;p&gt;Is that the sound of the coaching carousel creeping forward again?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="lq9Mbs"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update:&lt;/strong&gt; According to Mark Berman (&lt;a href="https://www.fox26houston.com/person/b/mark-berman"&gt;30 years as Sports Director at FOX 26 in Houston&lt;/a&gt;), Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen has filled their vacant OC role with... no one.&lt;/p&gt;
  21. &lt;div id="iULaLb"&gt;
  22. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  23. &lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;College football source: &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/UHCougarFB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@UHCougarFB&lt;/a&gt; will not add an offensive coordinator. The UH offensive staff is complete, with Dana Holgorsen continuing to be heavily involved with the offense.&lt;/p&gt;— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/1627475346026012673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;February 20, 2023&lt;/a&gt;
  24. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  25. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
  26. &lt;/div&gt;
  27. &lt;p id="eiYArG"&gt;Instead, it seems like his offensive staff will cover the OC duties, including Holgorsen himself. Similar moves have been done by Mike Leach at Washington State (where he was head coach and offensive coordinator) and none other than &lt;a href="https://www.statesman.com/story/sports/college/2022/03/04/texas-state-opens-spring-football-practices-new-coaches-players/9380195002/"&gt;Jake Spavital at Texas State, where the staff split the OC responsibilities after OC Jacob Peeler—another former Cal coach—left the team&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  28. &lt;p id="3ValYO"&gt;Looks like we will indeed get to see Spavital run the offense at Memorial Stadium in 2023!&lt;/p&gt;
  29. &lt;p id="cMuSgS"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Original:&lt;/strong&gt; Before he’s even had a chance to prove himself in a game, the newly acquired offensive coordinator Jake Spavital might be leaving the &lt;a href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com"&gt;California Golden Bears&lt;/a&gt; for the same role with the Houston Cougars.&lt;/p&gt;
  30. &lt;p id="FxCWA0"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.texasfootball.com/article/2023/02/14/houston-cougars-lose-oc-shannon-dawson-to-miami-hurricanes?ref=article_preview_title"&gt;Dave Campbell’s Texas Football&lt;/a&gt; has listed Jake Spavital as a name to watch for Houston’s OC vacancy. The biggest connection is Spav’s &lt;em&gt;extensive&lt;/em&gt; history working with now–Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen dating back to 2009 when the former was a grad assistant for offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Holgorsen at none other than... Houston. After a year there, they continued with those roles for another year at &lt;a href="https://www.cowboysrideforfree.com"&gt;Oklahoma State&lt;/a&gt; (2010); when Holgorsen got his first job as a head coach the next year at West Virginia, he chose Spavital as his quarterbacks coach, where the apprentice stayed for two years (2011, 2012) before leaving for a co-OC position. When Spav returned to West Virginia for two years (2017, 2018) after Sonny Dykes’s firing, guess who was still the head coach there?&lt;/p&gt;
  31. &lt;p id="MvGd8T"&gt;Since this is now a renegade blog, I don’t have to do the responsible thing of telling you all about Spav’s past accomplishments and why he’s an exciting prospect for the future of California Football. Instead, I’ll just ramble about some of the differences between the two jobs without citing any sources.&lt;/p&gt;
  32. &lt;p id="PsxwbI"&gt;California and Houston are pretty diametrically opposed in the modern landscape of college football—beyond all the culture and cost of living stuff. The Bears are cofounders of a dying conference that might be wheezing its last breaths; the Cougars will likely struggle as they transition from a Group of Five school to the Big XII next year, but I’m betting most would feel more comfortable and more stability in the Big XII than the Pac-12 as realignment continues to mine the conferences in the foreseeable future until we get to the Power Four (and ultimately, the Big Ten vs. the SEC).&lt;/p&gt;
  33. &lt;div class="c-float-left"&gt;  &lt;figure class="e-image"&gt;
  34.        &lt;img alt="NCAA Football: Stanford at California" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZkKI5dvi88GzZ3A4PC2PBsNSkL0=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24433034/usa_today_19540810.jpg"&gt;
  35.      &lt;cite&gt;Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports&lt;/cite&gt;
  36.      &lt;figcaption&gt;Can HC Justin Wilcox sell Jake Spavital on staying in Berkeley?&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  37.  &lt;/figure&gt;
  38. &lt;/div&gt;
  39. &lt;p id="MEI7E6"&gt;Our head coaches are also in two radically different places. Justin Wilcox is a defensive-minded coach, which means the offense would presumably be nigh entirely in Spavital’s hands to shape and execute. Dana Holgorsen is one of the pioneers of the Air Raid, so his fingerprints will likely be all over the offense and he might even call plays. (Again, I’m gonna be irresponsible by not researching and throwing out pure conjecture.) On the flip side, this would be a tremendous learning opportunity for Spav to return to his former mentor and an Air Raid genius, but is he at the point in his career where he wants that or does he trust in his own system?&lt;/p&gt;
  40. &lt;p id="GVP4AT"&gt;As we turn to head coaches, another factor in stability is their success—a losing coach probably gets fired and most of their staff has to find new jobs. If you’re on this site, then you know that Wilcox is struggling with a 30–36 overall record, but has regressed to 9–15 in the past two years. Holgorsen has more success on the gridiron with an 88–61 record. He was poached by the Cougars from the &lt;a href="https://www.smokingmusket.com"&gt;West Virginia Mountaineers&lt;/a&gt; and spent his first two years rebuilding, but went bowling in the past three years—three years in which we’ve been bowl-less—and spent the past two years going 20–7 with two bowl wins and a #17 finish in 2021. And speaking of his time at West Virginia—remember when we talked about Houston’s upcoming transition to Power Five being a struggle? Holgorsen has already lived that life when he helped West Virginia navigate their jump from the &lt;a href="https://www.bigeastcoastbias.com"&gt;Big East&lt;/a&gt; to the Big XII.&lt;/p&gt;
  41. &lt;p id="dLpAmA"&gt;Houston represents more stability, but it also may better represent home; Spavital spent four years at West Virginia, just one year in Berkeley, and a whopping ten years in Texas and Oklahoma—he was also born in Tulsa, OK! Houston is also a great opportunity to reunite with a former mentor. In true Berkeley form, California Football represents the challenge to stand on one’s own, innovate, and lead.&lt;/p&gt;
  42. &lt;p id="9olukt"&gt;With Spav’s history of success, he’s certainly an intriguing option to lead our offense. My biggest concern this late in the cycle is whom we could replace him with. Thanks for always staying interesting, California Football.&lt;/p&gt;
  43.  
  44. </content>
  45.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/football/2023/2/15/23599888/california-golden-bears-spavital-houston-cougars-pac-12-big-12-air-raid-wilcox-holgorsen"/>
  46.    <id>https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/football/2023/2/15/23599888/california-golden-bears-spavital-houston-cougars-pac-12-big-12-air-raid-wilcox-holgorsen</id>
  47.    <author>
  48.      <name>Leland Wong</name>
  49.    </author>
  50.  </entry>
  51.  <entry>
  52.    <published>2023-02-14T10:48:48-08:00</published>
  53.    <updated>2023-02-14T10:48:48-08:00</updated>
  54.    <title>ESPN’s preseason SP+ has California ranked 58th nationally, 8th in the Pac-12</title>
  55.    <content type="html">  
  56.  
  57.    &lt;figure&gt;
  58.      &lt;img alt="NCAA Football: UCLA at California" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BPImrN5M7NS4JTkXDfyGrzlRmu0=/0x0:6279x4186/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71975914/usa_today_19501445.0.jpg" /&gt;
  59.        &lt;figcaption&gt;Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  60.    &lt;/figure&gt;
  61.  
  62.  &lt;p&gt;ESPN is projecting another bleak year in Bear Territory...&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="6M16iy"&gt;Three CGB posts in three days? Is CGB back??&lt;/p&gt;
  63. &lt;p id="SayJB6"&gt;No. Just the perfect storm of news, the piqued interest of a homeless writer, and a site that hasn’t otherwise been touched in nearly two years.&lt;/p&gt;
  64. &lt;p id="6EDBu1"&gt;Speaking of homeless writers and things that haven’t been touched in two years, it’s me—your writer. Thanks to the dozens of bots and readers who are still clicking on dead sites following suggestions by our friendly overlords at search engines.&lt;/p&gt;
  65. &lt;p id="ztlznf"&gt;Today’s news of interest? &lt;a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/35651872/2023-college-football-rankings-every-team"&gt;ESPN released their SP+ for the 2023 season.&lt;/a&gt; Bill Connelly’s SP+ predictions are outlooks for every team based on returning production, recruiting success, and on-field success from the past two to four years. With this, Connelly ranks the teams from A–Z (or in this case, from the &lt;a href="https://www.dawgsports.com"&gt;Georgia Bulldogs&lt;/a&gt; to the Kent State Golden Flashes).&lt;/p&gt;
  66. &lt;p id="VXnUPP"&gt;As shown below, the &lt;a href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com"&gt;California Golden Bears&lt;/a&gt; are ranked 8th in the Pac-12, 58th nationally.&lt;/p&gt;
  67. &lt;div id="n0Xeo8"&gt;&lt;div data-anthem-component="table:11765890"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  68. &lt;p id="VXY5Hv"&gt;The Pac-12 is pretty top-heavy this year, with five teams ranking in the top 25 (and the &lt;a href="https://www.buildingthedam.com"&gt;Oregon State Beavers&lt;/a&gt; peeking in just outside at 31st). The worst team in the Pac-12 is shaping up to be the &lt;a href="https://www.ruleoftree.com"&gt;Stanfurd Cardinal&lt;/a&gt;, but even &lt;em&gt;that &lt;/em&gt;stings a little these days with a Golden Bear at the helm.&lt;/p&gt;
  69. &lt;p id="hgPr1y"&gt;There is an alarming spread between top and bottom halves of the conference. (Nostalgic flashbacks to writing about gaps in &lt;a href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/cgbs-pac-12-power-rankings-2019"&gt;our Power Rankings&lt;/a&gt;.) Nationally, there is the same span of teams between the sixth- and seventh-best Pac-12 teams (Oregon State and &lt;a href="https://www.cougcenter.com"&gt;Washington State&lt;/a&gt;, respectively) as there are between the Pac-12’s second- and sixth-best teams (USC and Oregon State, respectively) at ~20 national teams.&lt;/p&gt;
  70. &lt;p id="512h1e"&gt;As for our beloved for California head coaches, we’ve got a sandwich going with one ranked above us and one below. The story of 2022 was Sonny Dykes taking his first-year &lt;a href="https://www.frogsowar.com"&gt;TCU Horned Frogs&lt;/a&gt; on a Cinderella run to the national championship, but suffering a loss in the Big XII Championship game and getting humiliated by Georgia in the national championship game; they’re shaping up to kick off the 2023 season ranked 19th in SP+ against Deion Sanders’ &lt;a href="https://www.ralphiereport.com"&gt;Colorado Buffaloes&lt;/a&gt;. Jeff Tedford has had two recent runs with the Fresno State Bulldogs (with a two-season pause for health reasons) where he has enjoyed rampant success—36–18 overall and three seasons with 10 or more wins. Despite ending 2022 with 10 wins and ranked 24th, they’re projected to take a big plunge in 2023 and are ranked 67th in SP+.&lt;/p&gt;
  71.  &lt;figure class="e-image"&gt;
  72.        &lt;img alt="UNLV Rebels against the California Golden Bears" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ysaj1NiFTvcd7fiSMEiMD1K06bg=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24432567/1422665115.jpg"&gt;
  73.      &lt;cite&gt;Photo by Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images&lt;/cite&gt;
  74.  &lt;/figure&gt;
  75. &lt;p id="YhujiQ"&gt;Bringing things back to California, our 2023 schedule skips the &lt;a href="https://www.azdesertswarm.com"&gt;Arizona Wildcats&lt;/a&gt; and the Colorado Buffaloes—both teams are ranked below us in SP+, but Arizona has only gotten feistier since upsetting us in 2021 and Colorado is recruiting like crazy and probably a bigger unknown than they are a definitive #94.&lt;/p&gt;
  76. &lt;p id="rloc8P"&gt;If we take SP+ as gospel, then things are looking bleak in 2023. Seven games are looking like pretty sure losses to teams that are ranked 20 spots or higher than us (Oregon, USC, Utah, Washington, UCLA, Auburn, and Oregon State); two games are looking like toss-ups against teams that are 5 spots away from us (Washington State and &lt;a href="https://www.houseofsparky.com"&gt;Arizona State&lt;/a&gt;); and three games are looking like they should be wins (North Texas, Stanfurd, and FCS Idaho). If we steal those two toss-ups, that would put us at 5–7 for another bowl-less, losing season. Wilcox teams are traditionally pretty good at stealing a big upset here or there, but it would be pretty disappointing in Wilcox’s seventh year if he needs an upset just to get to a bowl.&lt;/p&gt;
  77. &lt;div id="8xWYw9"&gt;&lt;div data-anthem-component="poll:11766432"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  78.  
  79. </content>
  80.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/football/2023/2/14/23599527/espn-2023-preseason-sp-california-golden-bears-wilcox-ott-oregon-auburn-colorado-football-usc-utah"/>
  81.    <id>https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/football/2023/2/14/23599527/espn-2023-preseason-sp-california-golden-bears-wilcox-ott-oregon-auburn-colorado-football-usc-utah</id>
  82.    <author>
  83.      <name>Leland Wong</name>
  84.    </author>
  85.  </entry>
  86.  <entry>
  87.    <published>2023-02-13T21:00:00-08:00</published>
  88.    <updated>2023-02-13T21:00:00-08:00</updated>
  89.    <title>All-time great Cal Football RB Coach Ron Gould is headed to San Diego State</title>
  90.    <content type="html">  
  91.  
  92.    &lt;figure&gt;
  93.      &lt;img alt="NCAA Football: Michigan State at California" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1Hcx29ao3-JE8gJmwl0mVse7ZWI=/342x0:3960x2412/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71973729/usa_today_3215626.0.jpg" /&gt;
  94.        &lt;figcaption&gt;Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  95.    &lt;/figure&gt;
  96.  
  97.  &lt;p&gt;Will we ever see Ron Gould return home?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="HXcukB"&gt;Better (one week) late than never, right?&lt;/p&gt;
  98. &lt;p id="FUR60d"&gt;When the unthinkable happened—and the despicable &lt;a href="https://www.ruleoftree.com"&gt;Stanfurd Cardinal&lt;/a&gt; sentenced once–proud Golden Bear Troy Taylor to its role as Alistair H. Smarmsnobbery Director of Football-Related Operations and Activities—I immediately feared the prospect of a union between Taylor and then–running backs coach Ron Gould. Gould is one of the greats in the history of &lt;a href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com"&gt;California Golden Bears&lt;/a&gt; Football, having coached legendary California luminaries like Joe Igber, Adimchinobe Echemandu, J.J. Arrington, Marshawn Lynch, Justin Forsett, Jahvid Best, Shane Vereen, Isi Sofele, and C.J. Anderson. The two together at that godforsaken Taco Bell would make an unholy union—both in terms of football IQ and the emotional pain of having two Cal greats soiled by their garb in that disgusting hue.&lt;/p&gt;
  99.  &lt;figure class="e-image"&gt;
  100.        &lt;img alt="NCAA Football: California at Washington" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZNuYbaUYoNACrZquLX4bb07pmZw=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24431250/usa_today_8826441.jpg"&gt;
  101.      &lt;cite&gt;Jennifer Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports&lt;/cite&gt;
  102.      &lt;figcaption&gt;Red can make even a Golden Bear look awful.&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  103.  &lt;/figure&gt;
  104. &lt;p id="B7IIjl"&gt;However, Taylor announced he would be &lt;a href="https://stanford.rivals.com/news/new-coaches-for-rb-wr-s-c-join-troy-taylor-s-staff-at-stanford"&gt;condemning some schmuck named Malcolm Agnew to the role of running backs coach at Stanfurd&lt;/a&gt;, freeing Gould from his cardinal captivity. This left me hoping without hope that we would find some creative way to reshuffle our staff and welcome Ron Gould back home—back to Berkeley.&lt;/p&gt;
  105. &lt;p id="S3DRbu"&gt;That won’t be the case as Gould finds himself so close, yet so far and so red by joining another maroon-ish Californian school. Ron Gould has joined the San Diego State Aztecs as their &lt;a href="https://goaztecs.com/news/2023/2/6/football-san-diego-state-names-ron-gould-associate-head-coach.aspx"&gt;associate head coach and running backs coach&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
  106. &lt;p id="LY1v0k"&gt;While this won’t be as complicated as having him coach for our archrivals, there’s certainly still some potential for things to get sticky—if San Diego State does indeed join the Pac-12, as rumors suggest may be a possibility, this means we’ll still be subjected to the sight of Gould (and his awe-inspiring running backs) on the other sideline.&lt;/p&gt;
  107.  
  108. </content>
  109.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/football/2023/2/13/23597686/california-golden-bears-san-diego-state-aztecs-ron-gould-hoke-wilcox-lynch-vereen-best-forsett-cj"/>
  110.    <id>https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/football/2023/2/13/23597686/california-golden-bears-san-diego-state-aztecs-ron-gould-hoke-wilcox-lynch-vereen-best-forsett-cj</id>
  111.    <author>
  112.      <name>Leland Wong</name>
  113.    </author>
  114.  </entry>
  115.  <entry>
  116.    <published>2023-02-12T15:25:46-08:00</published>
  117.    <updated>2023-02-12T15:25:46-08:00</updated>
  118.    <title>California misses back-to-back Super Bowls for the first time in over 50 years</title>
  119.    <content type="html">  
  120.  
  121.    &lt;figure&gt;
  122.      &lt;img alt="NFL: USA TODAY Sports-Archive" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DvPnfjL_REtNNQ4XdeBVmCwnY9M=/0x150:2700x1950/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71969246/usa_today_9248704.0.jpg" /&gt;
  123.        &lt;figcaption&gt;Joe Kapp was among three Bears to first represent California in the Super Bowl | Tony Tomsic-USA TODAY Sports&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  124.    &lt;/figure&gt;
  125.  
  126.  &lt;p&gt;A less-than-ideal accomplishment for the Bears in the Pros coincides with our struggles at Memorial Stadium.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="Qtclmq"&gt;Despite the struggles of the &lt;a href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com"&gt;California Golden Bears&lt;/a&gt; to be ranked or relevant in college football, we’ve had a puzzlingly rich history of success in the NFL. For instance, for the 21 NFL seasons from 1999–2019, 14 of those &lt;a href="https://www.sbnation.com/super-bowl"&gt;Super Bowl&lt;/a&gt;s featured a Golden Bear on the winning team (two-thirds!). In that same timespan (which should be very generous for California as it features Jeff Tedford’s tenure as our all-time winningest head coach and cuts off Justin Wilcox at his peak performance in the &lt;a href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2019/12/10/21004150/redbox-bowl-california-golden-bears-cal-state-uc-berkeley-illinois-university-urbana-champaign-uiuc"&gt;Ripblix Bowl&lt;/a&gt;), we’re a perfectly bland 129–130 (which actually includes four wins from Tom Holmoe in the 1999 season that were vacated).&lt;/p&gt;
  127. &lt;p id="AdzSi4"&gt;But, I digress. (After all, I’m quite rusty on writing and no longer familiar with how to present a cogent message.)&lt;/p&gt;
  128. &lt;p id="h11sIa"&gt;The Bears have been quite successful recently in Super Bowl–y things! Here’s a &lt;a href="https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/nfl-super-bowl-mitchell-schwartz"&gt;snippet from two years ago&lt;/a&gt; from when we last had a Bear—Mitchell Schwartz—playing in the Not–As–Big–As–The Big Game where we were in the midst of a streak in which 20 of the past 21 Super Bowls featured a Bear on the roster or on the coaching staff of at least one team. Little did we know at the time that this would be the end of the streak.&lt;/p&gt;
  129. &lt;p id="wcPuvI"&gt;California has officially gone two consecutive Super Bowls without a representative.&lt;/p&gt;
  130. &lt;p id="QSeFiq"&gt;This got my curiosity going and I started to wonder when is the last time we went back-to-back without a Super Bowl appearance. I figured there had to be something not too far back, right? I &lt;em&gt;almost&lt;/em&gt; got tricked into thinking it was Super Bowls XXXIII and XXXIV—until I caught former California head coach, former California player, and Berkeley native Mike White was an offensive assistant in Super Bowl XXXIV for the &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_St._Louis_Rams_season"&gt;1999 St. Louis Rams&lt;/a&gt;, making him a Super Bowl champion.&lt;/p&gt;
  131. &lt;div class="c-float-right"&gt;  &lt;figure class="e-image"&gt;
  132.        &lt;img alt="Mike White - Illinois Fighting Illini" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jRUWOo8w1X0aNTOB3jaBvV4J3jA=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24428074/453027877.jpg"&gt;
  133.      &lt;figcaption&gt;Mike White from his time as head coach of Illinois (1980–1987), which was sandwiched between his time as California head coach and his year as a Super Bowl–winning offensive assistant (1999 season).&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  134.  &lt;/figure&gt;
  135. &lt;/div&gt;
  136. &lt;p id="8yd2mG"&gt;By my research (with a big help from the utterly infallible Wikipedia and &lt;a href="https://www.statmuse.com/"&gt;StatMuse.com&lt;/a&gt;), I think you have to go back to the beginning of time for the last time Cal failed his miserably. Or at least back to the beginning of the Super Bowl.&lt;/p&gt;
  137. &lt;p id="Gt4C2f"&gt;I can’t find any records of a Golden Bear on the rosters of the teams in any of the first three Super Bowls. Records from back then are shoddy, so it’s possible that a reserve player was a Bear who didn’t persist on rosters available today. Or maybe a Bear got cut before the final roster and wasn’t listed in modern records. Or maybe a coach (or assistant coach or assistant), which weren’t easily findable—let alone easy to search for alma mater.&lt;/p&gt;
  138. &lt;p id="Kr29ew"&gt;The Bears started appearing in the Super Bowl in the 1969 season (Super Bowl IV) and missed a game here and there, but never missed consecutive games until Super Bowls LVI and LVII. In all, there seems to be been nine games without a California representative. We started with three misses and currently have two misses, so there were four single games without a Bear somewhere in between.&lt;/p&gt;
  139. &lt;div id="GnDDc2"&gt;&lt;div data-anthem-component="table:11763154"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  140. &lt;p id="34o14m"&gt;With a potential of four quarterbacks in league next year, a strong corps of talented contributors holding strong from the Tedford era, and a recent influx of defensive talent, let’s hope that we get back in the Super Bowl next year.&lt;/p&gt;
  141.  
  142. </content>
  143.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2023/2/12/23596938/california-golden-bears-football-super-bowl-lvii-rodgers-lynch-kapp-gilbert-goff-wilcox-please-click"/>
  144.    <id>https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2023/2/12/23596938/california-golden-bears-football-super-bowl-lvii-rodgers-lynch-kapp-gilbert-goff-wilcox-please-click</id>
  145.    <author>
  146.      <name>Leland Wong</name>
  147.    </author>
  148.  </entry>
  149.  <entry>
  150.    <published>2022-11-19T18:55:26-08:00</published>
  151.    <updated>2022-11-19T18:55:26-08:00</updated>
  152.    <title>THE AXE IS STAYING IN BERKELEY</title>
  153.    <content type="html">  
  154.  
  155.    &lt;figure&gt;
  156.      &lt;img alt="NCAA Football: Stanford at California" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eb6tfpKzqthkO_J7skRHHIo_1Y8=/0x0:6570x4380/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71651584/usa_today_19469603.0.jpg" /&gt;
  157.        &lt;figcaption&gt;Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  158.    &lt;/figure&gt;
  159.  
  160.  &lt;p&gt;Cal wins the 125th Big Game, 40 years after The Play.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="iYchsI"&gt;Go Bears.&lt;/p&gt;
  161.  
  162. </content>
  163.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2022/11/19/23468683/california-golden-bears-wilcox-scott-sirmon-plummer-lol-shaw-ott-sturdivant-big-game"/>
  164.    <id>https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2022/11/19/23468683/california-golden-bears-wilcox-scott-sirmon-plummer-lol-shaw-ott-sturdivant-big-game</id>
  165.    <author>
  166.      <name>Leland Wong</name>
  167.    </author>
  168.  </entry>
  169.  <entry>
  170.    <published>2021-06-23T18:09:29-07:00</published>
  171.    <updated>2021-06-23T18:09:29-07:00</updated>
  172.    <title>Cal product Alex Morgan named to U.S. women’s soccer team for Tokyo Olympics</title>
  173.    <content type="html">  
  174.  
  175.    &lt;figure&gt;
  176.      &lt;img alt="Nigeria v United States - 2021 WNT Summer Series" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4qNw6BM7aIO1C3nAlodEaKBvnf0=/0x0:4000x2667/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69496769/1323977762.0.jpg" /&gt;
  177.        &lt;figcaption&gt;Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  178.    &lt;/figure&gt;
  179.  
  180.  &lt;p&gt;The USWNT stalwart’s inclusion is no surprise.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="ewcxbB"&gt;We know there will be Cal Bears at the Tokyo Olympics, and on Wednesday, one of them was revealed, as Alex Morgan was named to the 18-player roster for the U.S. women’s soccer team for the upcoming Olympic tournament.&lt;/p&gt;
  181. &lt;p id="vDlqla"&gt;Morgan will be making her third appearance at the Olympics, after playing a vital role in helping the United States win gold at the 2012 London Olympics and featuring at the 2016 Rio Olympics as well.&lt;/p&gt;
  182. &lt;p id="mFIrMw"&gt;It’s been a busy several months for Morgan, who after delivering her first child last year, returned to action with a short-term loan at English club &lt;a href="https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com"&gt;Tottenham Hotspur&lt;/a&gt;. Morgan did score a few goals in the FAWSL while with Spurs, but her arrival was credited with helping Spurs and the league overall raise their standards as the influential star pushed for positive change behind the scenes.&lt;/p&gt;
  183. &lt;p id="sesAgZ"&gt;Following her loan in London, Morgan returned to her normal club, &lt;a href="https://www.themaneland.com"&gt;Orlando Pride&lt;/a&gt; in the &lt;a href="https://www.allforxi.com"&gt;NWSL&lt;/a&gt;, and she’s got four goals in six games, so she’s on a roll at the moment. Perfect ahead of a big tournament!&lt;/p&gt;
  184. &lt;p id="Q2YOtZ"&gt;The U.S. will be opening their group stage play on July 21 when they face Sweden, followed by games on July 24 against New Zealand and July 27 against Australia.&lt;/p&gt;
  185.  
  186. </content>
  187.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2021/6/23/22548045/cal-product-alex-morgan-us-womens-soccer-team-tokyo-olympics"/>
  188.    <id>https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2021/6/23/22548045/cal-product-alex-morgan-us-womens-soccer-team-tokyo-olympics</id>
  189.    <author>
  190.      <name>Alicia Rodriguez</name>
  191.    </author>
  192.  </entry>
  193.  <entry>
  194.    <published>2021-05-14T13:06:00-07:00</published>
  195.    <updated>2021-05-14T13:06:00-07:00</updated>
  196.    <title>Cal Signee Lu-Magia Hearns earns POY honors</title>
  197.    <content type="html">  
  198.  
  199.    &lt;figure&gt;
  200.      &lt;img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Samjmc6bYwcJtYTmrHR_x9ylILs=/0x76:820x623/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69289554/hearns.0.jpeg" /&gt;
  201.    &lt;/figure&gt;
  202.  
  203.  &lt;p&gt;Hearns was selected as multiple outlets Player of the Year&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="DSNHRH"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com"&gt;California Golden Bears&lt;/a&gt; defensive signee Lu-Magia Hearns earned some significant end-of-season honors this past week, being selected as the San Francisco Chronicle and Bay Area News Group’s Defensive Player of the Year for the high school football season past.&lt;/p&gt;
  204. &lt;p id="4Irugp"&gt;From a story posted May 8, Hearns was nabbed as the &lt;a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/De-La-Salle-s-Lu-Magia-Hearns-is-The-Chronicle-16162595.php"&gt;San Francisco Chronicle’s Metro Player of the Year&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  205. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  206. &lt;p id="SHLk4g"&gt;Hearns, The Chronicle’s 2021 Metro Player of the Year and a Cal commit, makes quite an impression. A fast one.&lt;/p&gt;
  207. &lt;p id="jwF5Gu"&gt;A sprinter on the track team, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior defensive back, receiver and returner revs to top-end speed instantly. He changes directions in a flash. He closes on the ball in a snap. He makes tacklers miss.&lt;/p&gt;
  208. &lt;p id="YlS5FR"&gt;Head coach Justin Alumbaugh said the third-year starter is like having a coach on the field. He was a unanimous choice as a team captain who calls defensive plays and checks.&lt;/p&gt;
  209. &lt;p id="WysEeG"&gt;He arrived at De La Salle never having played defense. But now, with the influence of defensive coordinator and conditioning coach Nate Kenion, prefers it. The three-star recruit will likely play both cornerback and safety at Cal and likely contribute as a returner. “Special teams are special,” Hearns said.&lt;/p&gt;
  210. &lt;p id="h1rgXN"&gt;Alumbaugh says Hearns is special in all regards, flashing sparks during an abbreviated 6-0 spring season in all facets, including as a quiet but thoughtful and confident leader.&lt;/p&gt;
  211. &lt;p id="b3rd9N"&gt;He had two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, averaged 42.6 yards per eight kick returns, and turned three of his four receptions into touchdowns. “He was electric and dynamic on the field, and a strong presence off of it,” Alumbaugh said.&lt;/p&gt;
  212. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  213. &lt;p id="OwqOAV"&gt;This came just after the &lt;a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/05/de-la-salles-lu-magia-hearns-bay-area-news-group-defensive-player-of-the-year/"&gt;Mercury News&lt;/a&gt; nabbed him as their defensive player of the year.&lt;/p&gt;
  214. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  215. &lt;p id="Hpr5Ij"&gt;Hearns is the Bay Area News Group’s defensive player of the year after the Cal-bound standout did it all this spring for the area’s top team.&lt;/p&gt;
  216. &lt;p id="Lk50eY"&gt;He intercepted two passes as a defensive back, was electrifying on kick returns, and stood out when he played offense, which wasn’t often this spring because his reps were limited as the coaches aimed to give other seniors and underclassmen a chance to play in the abbreviated season.&lt;/p&gt;
  217. &lt;p id="ZS7Yut"&gt;Hearns also mentored younger teammates.&lt;/p&gt;
  218. &lt;p id="R7remo"&gt;“He’s one of the best players around,” De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh said. “He played as the best guy on our team. He was the team leader.”&lt;/p&gt;
  219. &lt;p id="mULxfg"&gt;Hearns caught four passes, three for touchdowns, and averaged 42.6 yards on eight kickoff returns. He also returned an interception for a touchdown.&lt;/p&gt;
  220. &lt;p id="oltOjz"&gt;“He was calling all of our defenses, throwing our checks,” Alumbaugh said. “He played multiple positions on defense. He would come up and make tackles. He’d play deep safety, cover man-to-man. Across the board, he’s just really good.”&lt;/p&gt;
  221. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  222. &lt;p id="PKLqvt"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  223. &lt;div id="wOiZxk"&gt;
  224. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  225. &lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;All   on &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/Hearns_21?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@Hearns_21&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;He’s the &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/sfchronicle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@sfchronicle&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/BayAreaNewsHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@BayAreaNewsHQ&lt;/a&gt; Player of the Year! &lt;a href="https://t.co/eySIbzh4a4"&gt;pic.twitter.com/eySIbzh4a4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;— Cal Football (@CalFootball) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/CalFootball/status/1391915578512662531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 11, 2021&lt;/a&gt;
  226. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  227. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
  228. &lt;/div&gt;
  229. &lt;p id="r1guj0"&gt;Safe to say, Cal has a good one on their hands with Hearns.&lt;/p&gt;
  230. &lt;p id="3ZGdqc"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  231. &lt;p id="OGgprh"&gt;Congrats, Lu-Magia!&lt;/p&gt;
  232.  
  233. </content>
  234.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2021/5/14/22436297/cal-football-signee-lu-magia-hearns-earns-poy-honors"/>
  235.    <id>https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2021/5/14/22436297/cal-football-signee-lu-magia-hearns-earns-poy-honors</id>
  236.    <author>
  237.      <name>Cam Mellor</name>
  238.    </author>
  239.  </entry>
  240.  <entry>
  241.    <published>2021-05-12T11:01:00-07:00</published>
  242.    <updated>2021-05-12T11:01:00-07:00</updated>
  243.    <title>Camryn Bynum continues Cal’s NFL Draft trend</title>
  244.    <content type="html">  
  245.  
  246.    &lt;figure&gt;
  247.      &lt;img alt="NCAA Football: Senior Bowl Practice" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3J3TuFlOmkFNoopsQteoO-q38xA=/0x23:1704x1159/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69275667/usa_today_15497975.0.jpg" /&gt;
  248.        &lt;figcaption&gt;Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports&lt;/figcaption&gt;
  249.    &lt;/figure&gt;
  250.  
  251.  &lt;p&gt;Bynum was the only Bear selected in the 2021 NFL Draft&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p id="ud9ax8"&gt;The &lt;a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nfl-draft"&gt;2021 NFL Draft&lt;/a&gt; didn’t hear quite as many &lt;a href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com"&gt;California Golden Bears&lt;/a&gt; as any fan may have hoped, but that wasn’t that big of a surprise for any of those who watched the team the past few seasons. With the amount of talent they’ve produced into the league, mainly from the defensive side of the ball and in the secondary, it’s actually quite amazing they can keep producing top-notch players in such a short amount of time.&lt;/p&gt;
  252. &lt;p id="dpfI7e"&gt;The past four seasons have produced six NFL draft picks from the defensive side of the ball and almost the entire starting defensive backfield from the 2019 secondary will now be playing on Sundays.&lt;/p&gt;
  253. &lt;p id="Bu1Dxa"&gt;Camryn Bynum was the only player drafted from the 2021 NFL Draft but he joined Ashtyn Davis and Jaylinn Hawkins as members of that famed 2019 secondary to hear their names called on draft weekend.&lt;/p&gt;
  254. &lt;p id="Rffwit"&gt;Now, a few weeks removed from the draft, we can take a look at just where Bynum projects in the NFL. Bynum was selected in the fourth round by the &lt;a href="https://www.dailynorseman.com/"&gt;Minnesota Vikings&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  255. &lt;p id="wIaX7r"&gt;First things first, it looks as if some off-field issues in the secondary for the Vikings may push Bynum to the field earlier than anticipated. Jeff Gladney is undergoing some off-field legal issues but was the team’s starter at right cornerback a year ago. With Patrick Peterson’s signing to man one side as a temporary stopgap, former first-round pick Mike Hughes is the other logical selection to start for Minnesota. But the Vikings did not pick up Hughes’ fifth-year option recently, stating their perhaps intent on letting him go if this year doesn’t pan out. &lt;/p&gt;
  256. &lt;p id="dotGw0"&gt;Other than Peterson and Hughes, there’s seventh-round pick Kris Boyd and fifth-round pick Harrison Hand in the cornerback room to push Bynum for spots. Cameron Dantzler and Mackensie Alexander seemingly have the slot locked down for the Vikings while Xavier Woods and Harrison Smith are entrenched as the team’s starters at each safety position.&lt;/p&gt;
  257. &lt;p id="u7s2jy"&gt;So for Bynum, he’ll have his work cut out for him to topple a first-round pick as well as Boyd and Hand, each of whom has a few years of NFL experience on him. But for Bynum, that is actually one of his strongest assets: his experience. The longtime Cal starter should have no trouble fitting in and picking up the scheme and if things continue negatively for Gladney, expect to see more and more of Bynum come the preseason for the Vikings.&lt;/p&gt;
  258. &lt;p id="3edzzh"&gt;He was just recently featured in the Vikings ‘&lt;a href="https://www.vikings.com/news/camryn-bynum-nfl-draft-5-things-to-know"&gt;5 things to know about&lt;/a&gt;’ series as well.&lt;/p&gt;
  259. &lt;p id="80kBGk"&gt;The sky is the limit for the talented cornerback and if somethings continue to bounce his way, he’ll join both his former teammates in making an impact early and often with his NFL franchise.&lt;/p&gt;
  260. &lt;p id="F1Zac2"&gt;Good luck, Cam!&lt;/p&gt;
  261.  
  262. </content>
  263.    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2021/5/12/22432526/cal-football-camryn-bynum-continues-golden-bears-nfl-draft-trend"/>
  264.    <id>https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2021/5/12/22432526/cal-football-camryn-bynum-continues-golden-bears-nfl-draft-trend</id>
  265.    <author>
  266.      <name>Cam Mellor</name>
  267.    </author>
  268.  </entry>
  269. </feed>
  270.  

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