From the preseason:

One more note: I expect Mannion’s numbers to go down this year. I realize he’s a senior and that usually bodes well, but Cooks was a huge reason for Mannion’s success, not the other way around. Unless a WR like Jarmon steps up in camp, I don’t see him doing as well.

http://angrybeavs.com/football/10295

Then this one:

Who will replace Brandin Cooks? My candidate is Hunter Jarmon. Jarmon is the better talent. Riley needs to groom Jarmon to take Cook’s role, which means he very likely will not.

http://angrybeavs.com/football/10271

Another player I liked in the spring was Chris Brown, though I can’t find my quotes on him. They’re probably in the comments since it’s not coming up in search. Let’s remember what Riley said about Brown:

Chris Brown is a good football player, and I have no reservations about playing him at all. It’s just not that easy to do and fit it all in together. But I’d like to. And like I said, I have no reservations whatsoever (about) him playing.”

So he has a good football player who he believes in, yet he has a hard time finding time to play him? Here is a clue how to get him on the field, Riley: you sit Woods and put in Brown. Problem solved.

The Beavs offense would be most dynamic with Jarmon, Bolden, and Villiman as WRs. Throw in Mullaney for possession downs or 4wr sets. And with Chris Brown at RB. Ward should be a 3rd down back. Woods just doesn’t click in the offense. Even when his stats are good there’s no flow for some reason, and he never seems to make meaningful plays. I think putting this lineup on the field automatically gives the Beavs +7 points per game and nullifies the “Riley factor”. But to the point: this is yet another example of Riley being very very slow to adapt and make personnel changes.

I’m bearish on the Beavs, but Cal’s defense is just bad enough to make Mannion look good. The Beavs will be angry after last weekend and all the negative talk this week. Angry teams play well. Cal is probably feeling deflated after the Oregon game. Mopey teams don’t play well. I just think the psychology here plays in the Beav’s favor.

Then again, I could be reading it wrong. The Beavs have nothing to play for at this point and a coaching staff out of ideas, all of which are huge obstacles. Still, I think the team rallies within to mentally overcome the adversity and win this game–probably their last one.

38-35 Beavs, and the five remaining fans will celebrate.

It was fun reading the comments and seeing people raging at Riley and BDC. The thing is, didn’t those people see this coming? Stanford has been suffocating everyone, and OSU has only been able to score versus bad opponents. So obviously Stanford was going to win this game barring them handing it away or some other miracle.

Regarding Mike Riley, what can you say at this point that hasn’t been said? And that’s part of the problem. The Cassandras and Pollyannas have both said their piece. This conversation only becomes interesting if the Pollys begin to defect. We’re seeing it begin to happen (rumors PO is blowing up tonight, Mamma Machado getting testy on Twitter a few weeks ago, etc), but not yet en masse. For what are they waiting? Riley to pull his annual upset and add just enough confusion about his upper limit to silence everyone for a week? I don’t see that happening this year since the best opportunity for that was Utah. We see that type of game every year and know it means nothing more than a weird upset. An anomaly. It doesn’t mean he has suddenly “figured it out” or any other straw these people are grasping at. Hint: guys don’t figure things out when they’re 60. If anything the opposite happens.

Getting the bird’s eye view tonight, I saw just how bad Sean Mannion is. Yes, Riley is right some of that is Stanford being good, some of it is OSU’s offensive line, but most of it is Mannion. I saw a guy with plenty of time who failed to scan the field, failed to spot wide open WRs (yet we’re told the WRs can’t get open…interesting), and constantly threw the ball behind, over, and under WRs. When I watched the Chargers on Thursday night, they made the point Phillip Rivers throws under more duress than any QB. Yet, he has a 110 QB rating and 86 QBR. 20TDs and 5INTs, all while throwing behind a shaky offensive line. THAT is what great quarterbacks do. They transcend their cast. We see Tom Brady do this every week. I’m not saying Mannion should be either of those guys. But if people are going to say this guy is a 1st round draft pick and then completely blame the offensive line for his terrible play, then they also need to acknowledge what actually goes into great QB play. It is not a 6″5 frame or throwing a ball 80 yards from his knees. If it were, Browning Nagle would be in the Hall of Fame. Mannion has zero moxy, zero heart, zero leadership, and just doesn’t get what makes great QB play. Four years and it hasn’t clicked. That experiment, like the Riley experiment, should either (a) end entirely or (b) at least be called out for what it is. Need to start looking to next year and benching Mannion should not be out of the equation.

One last point: Hunter Jarmon makes the most explosive play of the game and Chris Brown plays well. Over and over I wrote Jarmon needed to be the guy who replaced Cooks. Over and over I wrote Brown is the best RB on the roster. Riley insists Bolden is Cook’s replacement and Woods/Ward is a legit Pac-12 backfield. It takes him 7 weeks to figure out maybe that isn’t correct? The guy is slower than whale shit. If it is not clock management it is personnel management.

A much shorter version of this post: it is inevitable that a coach wears out his welcome. That time is near.

A sign of a bull market’s end is when good news no longer propels the asset in question. We’ll see how fans react if Riley pulls off his yearly upset. If they forgive him then we’re still stuck with this, but this feels the closest I can remember to fans uniting in opinion. At this point, I don’t see anything but a victory in the Civil War cooling Riley’s hot seat.