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This has to be placed in its full context. The 1991 Cal team was pretty good, and they weren't afraid tell anyone. Most of the year, they spent time talking on the field and in the press talking about how good they were. These were the kind of guys who would celebrate after routine receptions. The key culprits were quarterback Mike Pawlawski and WR Brian Treggs. Our coach at the time, Dennis Green, noticed this tendency and instructed the players to keep their mouths shut, which isn't easy Big Game week.
Treggs came out with all these pronouncements about how we didn't have anybody who could him, who could get to Pawlawski, or who could cover the other receivers, Mike Caldwell and Sean Dawkins, who was actually good. He made his now famous pronouncement about how Cal was not going to lose to Stanford, and that if they did, he would move to Palo Alto.
Cal came out of the bus fronting, strutting and talking smack, even before they stepped onto the field. When the game started, the refs started throwing flags. Pawlawski bent over one tackled Stanford player and talked smack. Even the kicker was flagged.
Our players kept about their business, blocking for Tommy Vardell, who ran through them "like crap through a goose."
We won 38-21 (and Pawlawski even blamed the refs on the loss.)
Treggs never beat Stanford. His junior year, we beat Cal in one of the most fantastic finishes in Big Game history.
Oh, and I know one person who hasn't forgotten about this. It's the guy whose father used to find out who the biggest bully was when he went to a new school, and then "popped him in the mouth" so his siblings wouldn't be bothered.
