Is Cal Worth It?

Nov 9, 2013; Berkeley, CA, USA; USC Trojans linebacker Quinton Powell (52), linebacker Scott Starr (47) and linebacker Charles Burks (45) sack California Golden Bears quarterback Zach Kline (8) during the fourth quarter at Memorial Stadium. The USC Trojans defeated the California Golden Bears 62-28. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Is there a reason to care about Cal football anymore?

The enter this weekend’s conference match up against the Buffalos 1-9 and a ridiculous 0-7 in Pac-12 play. They were going to be a bad team this year, maybe if they overachieved and things broke well for them this year, they’d find themselves hovering around .500. They were never going to be great or even really good. And yet, this seems like one of the more exhausting teams to watch. I repeatedly try to sit down and pay attention to the game, and find my mind wandering off to another world, before having to rewind the game or asking the guy next to me at the bar what just happened.

Cal’s team is bad. Partially due to bad luck, partially due to the lack of talent Jeff Tedford built up heading into this year and partially due to the extreme depth in the Pac-12 this season.

I thought Cal would win this weekend. I really did. I thought Cal had the opportunity to beat USC, because I don’t think USC is that good. I think they have the name factor going for them, I also think they have the skill players that dazzle analysts, but as far as them being a good team…I think they’re beatable and nowhere near the Trojan teams of years past. I thought they’d come it cocky and underestimate Cal.

What I seemed to forget when thinking about this game is just how bad Cal is. How horrible they are. Watching them and then watching the UCLA game or comparing the Cal Bears with the Stanford Cardinal team that brutalized Oregon is mind-numbing. It makes me realize how far we are from watching a passable product on the field.

I don’t blame the players or even the staff. I blame bad luck and a poorly built foundation.

That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t consider packing it in for the year. Hell most of you probably don’t want to talk about Cal football anymore. You guys are already on to Basketball and whichever other fall sports you follow. I just am not sure how to feel about Cal football anymore.

I am not saying this program is doomed or will never be able to put out a good team. I don’t believe that, and I honestly thing Cal will have a division championship team within the next ten years. How good that team really is depends on too many variables to get into right now.

What I am saying is, is this team worth covering for the last two games?

Cal’s best shot at a Pac-12 win comes this weekend against the Buffaloes. The will get smashed in two weekends against a Stanford team that could (in theory) be playing for a National Championship bid. I hate to say it, but this season has been one of the worst seasons of college football I’ve watched. The sports nut in me doesn’t want to quit watching…

But the normal guy in me doesn’t know if this team is worth the hours of bad football we have to go through in order to see the final whistle.