Monday Morning Quarterback
Oct 8th, 2007 by alyoung
It is a good time to be bay area football fan, particularly if you are a fan of the Cal Bears and the Oakland Raiders like I am. As I read the sports page this morning over breakfast, the Cal Bears are ranked #2 in the nation, and the Raiders are in first place in the AFC West. They both had a bye week and moved up. Even though their is still a lot of football to be played, the future looks bright. The bye week is a good time to reflect on the season so far, and to look ahead.
Cal Bears: The Bears are now ranked #2 after beating Oregon a few weeks ago, while ranked teams ahead of them fell like flies. They were close to possibly becoming #1 until a late LSU comeback against Florida prevented that. With USC’s shocking loss to Stanford this past weekend, the Bears appear to be the front-runner in the PAC 10, but with so many upsets in college football this year, they can’t let their guard down. There are a lot of tough games still to be played, including UCLA, Arizona State, and the still dangerous USC on Nov 10. It won’t be easy, but I like our chances.
Raiders: The Raiders have won 2 games. That alone is worth celebrating as they won only 2 games all of last year. An added bonus is that they are alone in first place with a 2-2 record. During the bye week all their division foes lost and fell below 500. The Raiders should could be 4-0 or at least 3-1, but lost some tough games they had an opportunities to win. Still, after last year’s disaster, any Raider fan would be happy to be 2-2 and in first place now. The Raiders have a big game this week against division foe, San Diego. A victory would solidify their AFC West lead. An added bonus is that the 49er’s are struggling.
There is a lot of football still to be played, and a lot can happen, but for Cal and Raiders fan, we can enjoy the bye week, before we get back to the business of cheering for our teams.
