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Regarding 1 and some other game-day comments. by G.K.Chesterton
1 and 4. Pyne was awful in Q1, throwing short balls at feet and knees. Mayer was hardly targeted except on the TD. Didn't look to see if we was being kept in for blocking or because Cal was focusing on him. Pyne was like the Statue of Liberty at times. He stood in the pocket (good) but seemed focused on only one part of the field. I think we are now seeing why Buchner is ahead of him on the depth chart.
2 and 3. We had the Cal QB dead to rights on one play in the backfield but our defender completely whiffed.
5 we were silent because Cal became that close to catching the TD *and* because on two previous good plays we had made, the calls got (correctly) reversed. Being at that end of the stadium at the end, we couldn't believe it hadn't been caught, including the Cal fans I was with. We had dodged a bullet.
6. At least one time, the scoreboard was being used to drive a message by one of the players that could considered controversial, depending on how the message was interpreted. I didn't notice it but a member of our party did. They need to steer completely clear of anything remotely controversial during the game.
7 and 8 I had less problem with the stadium announcer than I had with previous stadium announcers. You're right that there were no announcements about other scores but (a) it's all there on smartphones now (b) there weren't any major upsets (c) they probably want to keep people from hitting their smartphones except for QC code look-ups for the song of the day.
It was interesting that you could only choose between two songs for song of the day.
Other random comments:
- Manti T'eo got a great reception 25-30 minutes before game time when introduced, so loud that toward the end of the preamble by the announcer, you couldn't hear what he was saying. T'eo was moved to tears by the reaction he got.
- I sat in a Cal section (Section 115) for 3/4 of the game with my Cal grad cousin and two of his Cal grad friends (both of whom had fathers that went to USC). They are a long-suffering fan base and have seen Cal piss games away in every way possible over the decades. It's a good fan group and there was no swearing, no fighting, etc. Lots of good spirit among them. Thumbs up on this group while I was wearing green in their midst. I got to realizing that maybe ND chose this as a "green" game because of Cal's colors being blue and gold as well.
It was a great day weather-wise and the Cal folks I was with had a great time walking the campus and taking in the tailgaters (we tailgated in the Joyce lot). They have nothing like that back in Berkley.
By the way, in sitting in the visitors sections, it's amazing to realize how clear the videoboard is even at the angle.
- No snafus with the ticketing, though I wondered if I could screenshot tickets to others in case they didn't get to the stadium at the same time. My tickets were in Google Wallet when we whipped through them.
- Very glad they raised the bottle limit. Really, I'd like to suggest they make it permanent but the bean counters will probably vote it down. Meanwhile I saw long lines at one of the lemonade stands during the game.
- Post-game Mass at the Basilica was great. Even with a church packed with people in green, it was said very well and perhaps because we'd been in the sun for hours, being in a cool church out of the sun really helped me focus on the Mass. Only lasted 60-65 minutes even with a packed house. The doors were closed at one point because it was jammed, so some on our party attended Mass in the crypt (which ended sooner, if time is of the essence).
- There was one replay when Cal was at the north end-zone and thought they had scored (they scored on the next play) For reasons unknown, the stadium did *not* show a replay.
- At the end of the first half, my Cal cousin immediately wondered why ND hadn't gone for a Hail Mary. Pete Sampson wondered the same on Twitter and I know it was brought up here during the game. Does Pyne have not the arm to heave it?
- Before the final play of the game, the ref was explaining what happened, but because the crowd was so loud, I think most didn't hear him explain the 10-second runoff that was needed.
- By the way, the Cal folks I was with were NOT happy Wilcox went for it earlier on 4th and 10 deep in our territory. They though he should have kicked the FG.
- I don't know what to think of the pom-poms that were handed out within the stadium. I don't care if I ever seem them again but I wonder if other fans like them (they were definitely used by the students).
It was a great day - let's see if we can starting building momentum.