[Spiny_Norman]

Has a bye week ever been helpful to us against a formidable opponent?  It's human nature to recall the bad more often than the good, but I recall being shocked on more than one occasion by a poor performance following a bye week.

One of the most egregious I remember was in 1980, when with a bowl game on the line following a bye week we travelled up to play a 2-8 Kal team.
Despite having John Elway, we managed to lose.
It sort of set the tone for the Wiggin era.

This demands a comment about another AYFKM Big Game after a bye, in 1986.

To summarize 1980:
Stanford
- was 6-4 and had a Peach Bowl game in its grasp with a win
- had big stars on offense.  Elway, Nelson, Margerum, Nabor
Cal
- was 2-8
- their head coach, Roger Theder, was expected to clean out his office
- had lost its starting QB (Rich Campbell) for the season, and his replacement had never started a game
- never had a running back rush for 100 yards in a game

After a porous defense that allowed Cal to march down the field to open the game, and two Stanford turnovers inside the 10, the final score was 23-28.

Six years later, after a bye week:
Stanford
- was 7-2, and this time already had a Gator Bowl game invite
- had big stars on offense.  John Paye, Brad Muster, Jeff James
Cal
- was 1-9 
- their head coach had already been fired
- lost their starting QB to injury (Troy Taylor), and his replacement had never started a game

Yep, you guessed it.  The team read the press clippings and saw the spread.  Final score, 11-17.

Embo, the asterisk next to the 1986 game should read that John Paye's shoulder was so painful he could barely throw. It was still a horrible game to see in person. I almost never went back to Berkeley after 1980, 1982 and 1986. Glad that my friend talked me into returning for the 1990 Big Game.

[Spiny_Norman]

Has a bye week ever been helpful to us against a formidable opponent?  It's human nature to recall the bad more often than the good, but I recall being shocked on more than one occasion by a poor performance following a bye week.

One of the most egregious I remember was in 1980, when with a bowl game on the line following a bye week we travelled up to play a 2-8 Kal team.
Despite having John Elway, we managed to lose.
It sort of set the tone for the Wiggin era.

This demands a comment about another AYFKM Big Game after a bye, in 1986.

To summarize 1980:
Stanford
- was 6-4 and had a Peach Bowl game in its grasp with a win
- had big stars on offense.  Elway, Nelson, Margerum, Nabor
Cal
- was 2-8
- their head coach, Roger Theder, was expected to clean out his office
- had lost its starting QB (Rich Campbell) for the season, and his replacement had never started a game
- never had a running back rush for 100 yards in a game

After a porous defense that allowed Cal to march down the field to open the game, and two Stanford turnovers inside the 10, the final score was 23-28.

Six years later, after a bye week:
Stanford
- was 7-2, and this time already had a Gator Bowl game invite
- had big stars on offense.  John Paye, Brad Muster, Jeff James
Cal
- was 1-9 
- their head coach had already been fired
- lost their starting QB to injury (Troy Taylor), and his replacement had never started a game

Yep, you guessed it.  The team read the press clippings and saw the spread.  Final score, 11-17.

Embo, the asterisk next to the 1986 game should read that John Paye's shoulder was so painful he could barely throw. It was still a horrible game to see in person. I almost never went back to Berkeley after 1980, 1982 and 1986. Glad that my friend talked me into returning for the 1990 Big Game.