How UW and Cal stat up
Some unbearable statistics
By: Richard Linde, Posted 13 November 2003

This story is about a Hun who slew the mightiest of the mighty, Carroll-the-Trojan. Jeff-the-Bear has recruited an army of Huns in Berkeley hoping to smote an army led by Gilby-the-Dawg, making it two victories in a row over the canids, while keeping bowl hopes alive in a pole-axing effort. Indeed, Gilby, the former Hun of Berkeley, hopes to rearrange Jeff's army quite quirkily.

A revenge-minded Keith Gilbertson, who is sometimes grumpy after losing, needs a win over Cal to wipe the smile off the face of the Grid Club. When he coached at Berkeley, the members of  the high-falooting organization ignored him after his game-losing laments, leaving their somber coach to drink alone. Gilby was 20-26 at Cal and fired after four seasons. Furthermore, Bay Area writer Glenn Dickey has said that Gilby is not head-coaching material.

These guys are nasty.

Win one for the Gilbber, should be the mantra of Husky players, especially since Hugh Millen, former Husky quarterback, wonders if players think "Rick got screwed, (and) now they’re getting this program that is thrown upon them they didn’t sign up for."

Let them set the record straight, or am I tilting at a windmill?

In the table below, the UW wins in 11 of the 20 categories of measure. Washington has an average ranking in the Pac-10 of 4.85, compared to California's ranking of 5.25, where least is best.

Collegio Football gives California (5-6, 3-3) a 54% chance of beating Washington (5-5, 3-3). The Bears are six-point favorites.

Washington's overall record against Cal is 45-33-4. The average score in the series favors the UW 19-17.

Cal tailback Adimchinobe Echemandu's ankle continues to improve, and he could play against the Huskies.

In the off-season, Jeff Tedford, 12-11 as Cal's head coach, recruited the second best class in the Pac-10 according to Gurus. He has a $1 million buyout in his contract. 

Does Gilby's contract carry a buyout? Nobody is talking about it anyway. As far as I know, AD Barbara Hedges was the only one who had asked him to dance when once more he was dressed in tux, albeit somewhat wrinkled after the Berkeley Ball. She even let out the seams before introducing him to the media, a mike shoved in his face, with a "smile, damn it" tracing her lips.

Fans, not fooled, read them a mile away.

A wallflower gets a $700 thousand pay raise because the homecoming king dives in a pool, lies about it and stiffs the chaperones? Only when you're dancing on the Dubya. J

The team that runs the ball best will win the game, so take my prediction below with a grain of salt. Go Gilby.

Some statistics from the Arizona game.

As Dick Baird, the loudest of the Honks, said on the last Honk Show, the easiest way to win football games is to run the ball effectively, and then stop the opponent’s running game.

If a team can do that, its coaches, assuming they are competent, can play a cat-and-mouse game the rest of the way, pun intended. Meanwhile, the benefiting quarterback, the cat, increases his passing-efficiency number, and the bad guy, the mouse, has his lowered.

Against the ‘Cats, Cody Pickett had little or no running game in the second half to keep the ‘Cats’ defense honest. Some of his play-action passes fooled no one, not even Larry Smith. In the first half, the UW posted 85-yards rushing, a number tracking its season average, then 135.7 yards per game. The Huskies ended up with 101-yards rushing on the game, lowering their rushing number to 132.2 yards.

Yet Pickett’s pass efficiency for UA was 131.5, a number that is based on the completion of 31 of 51 passes for 351 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Interceptions tend to kill that number since they subtract from the rating. For the season, Pickett’s rating is 123.8.

Other than his game-killing fumble, which he’d love to have back, statistics say he performed quite ably considering the lack of a running game in the second half.

Some fans say Pickett should sit out the next game. To them, the only meaningful stat is Score Board, Baby.

Maybe they’re right, considering all the intangibles necessary for playing QB.

Personally, I think Pickett’s the man, and I support him all the way, stats notwithstanding.

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No Live Telecast: Time 12:30 PM, PST (Psst, if you're not going to the game, listen to Bob Rondeau's live internet broadcast via KJR and watch a rebroadcast on Fox Northwest (e.g., DirecTV).

Our prediction, Huskies, 32-29

 Table 1. How they stand in the Pac-10