Cal Completes the Impressive Collapse

A matter of seven weeks ago, the Cal Golden Bears were on top of the college football world. Sporting a #2 ranking and healthy 5-0 record, a BCS bowl was not in question; it was only a matter of whether or not they would reach the National Championship game. Matter of fact, a buddy of mine even tried rescheduling a surgery so he’d be ready to travel to New Orleans come January 7th. So much for that. The once mighty Golden Bears quietly dropped six of their last seven, starting with the disappointing loss to Oregon State.

Until my mentioning here, you probably didn’t even realize how poorly Cal finished. They just dropped off the radar screen with a meteoric thud. They lost their last three, including back-to-back road losses to Washington and Stanford. I can understand stumbling against Oregon State and losing to ASU and USC, but come on, also falling to UCLA, Washington, and Stanford? Are you kidding me? All for a team that torched Tennessee to start the year? How is it possible that a team goes from being one of the top five in the country (which they clearly were) to one of the worst in the Pac-10 a few months later? It’s mind-boggling. Please, someone, explain to me how something like this happens. Was it the curse of the tree hugger?