Bottom Line: Both California, Oregon Were Cheating

The big controversy in the Pac-10 this week has centered on assertions that California defensive players faked injuries to slow the Oregon offense in Saturday's game at Memorial Stadium. Such assertions aren't new. Tennessee is said to have employed the strategy, and this video shows several questionable stoppages of play in the Ducks' games against Arizona State and Stanford.

The Oregonian also reported that a source within the Cal program said faking injuries to slow down Oregon was a big part of the defensive gameplan, although not all Golden Bear coaches were on board with the strategy.

This week, ESPN picked up on Cal's fakery and amplified the practice even more. The Bears' strategy was highlighted on Jim Rome Is Burning, First Take, Pardon The Interruption and ESPNews, the clip of which is shown above.

Technically, there is no NCAA rule against faking an injury, but the rulebook does mention feigning injury under "coaching ethics,'' calling the teaching of it "indefensible.''

But Oregon was not alone in bending the rules in Saturday's game. Check this pick play the Ducks run in the second quarter, just behind the unsuspecting umpire. This is in the rule book and it's illegal.

Comments

[Kurt]

A pick play...they happen ALL the time. Rub routes, they occur in every NFL game. It's a basic flag, like holding. There were flags thrown in the game for pass interference too. Are you actually going to equate that as wholeheartedly cheating totally on par with guys faking injuries?
The fact that a flag occurs, or the refs in this instance fail to flag a play, totally justifies guys flopping around like fish out of water? I don't think so...

[Sam]

Oregon committed a penalty. Not the same as Cal's premeditated, systematic cheating.

This headline is a total joke.

[Sam]

Oregon committed a penalty. Not the same as Cal's premeditated, systematic cheating.

This headline is a total joke.

[Tiff]

Penalty missed doesn't equal blatant cheating. Good try.

[Andy]

The Oregon receiver on that play, Lavasier Tuinei was injured on that play and did not play another snap in the game as a result. I'd say he more than paid the price for that borderline hit.

[Janus09]

So Oregon can only complain if they committed zero penalties in the game?

You could write the same stuff above and show a lineman blatantly holding and the ref missing it. Yeah it was a pick play and it shoulda been flagged. That's not remotely the same.

Apples meet oranges.

[Sean]

Illegal picks right behind the ref were a strategy... as Maehl admitted after the game.

So, how exactly were these "not remotely the same"? Oh yeah, one involved fake injuries, the other involved real injuries. The pick shown gave that DB a concussion.

[Spinseeker]

Illegal picks right behind the ref were a strategy... as Maehl admitted after the game.

That is a blatant lie. Maehl never said that. If you look at that play again, you can see that Tuinei can't see that defender until the last second because of other players moving deeper down the field. He knew running at full speed he couldn't change his trajectory so he turns to the side as a protective maneuver.

[GoBears58]

that scumbag should have been suspended for the next game. Oregon whines about "fake injuries" because Cal's D toook their "genius" offensive system to the woodshed and laid a vicious beating on them.

[duckfan97402]

A vicious beating???? You lost! Doesn't matter if it was by 2 or 20.... Cal lost the game.

[Dustin]

That play is something that happens in football every game, every damn quarter. Its like holding onto a jersey as a db and trying to get away with it. These Cal fans on here are a joke and so is this article. 'Scumbag should be suspended', a 'Vicious beating' mna lay off grandpa's medicine for a bit and grow a pair and learn the game of football. You lost, it could have been my more than two, you did not come a missed FG away from winning, we missed 2 so that point is kaput and we drove down the field after that miss and were in scoring position when we took a knee. The miss was not with no time on the clock. Go hug a tree

[FootballFan]

This is the biggest joke of a headline I've seen all season. How is an uncalled penalty "cheating," and how can anyone compare that to being coached to take a seat and fake a cramp so your defense can take a breather and make substitutions?

Also, these Cal fans are clueless and useless. Penalties happen on both sides of the ball every play. Not all are called. That's not cheating. And forget the idea that you "had us beat." Anyone watching the game knows better. Go wear your long sleeved polos and eat your hormone-free, preservative-free, pesticide-free, taste-free vegan waffles.

[Monty0000]

Please point me to the article quoting Maehl saying "Illegal picks right behind the ref were a strategy". You are trying to compare penalties which happen by all teams in every game to a coaching squad who was educating players to lie in order to win a game.

Why not toss in all of the pass interference non-calls that Cal had on Maehl as cheating, too? Your argument is an outstanding example of reductio ad absurdum. It is the equivalent of a shoplifter saying that what they did was okay because there are people who accidentally do not get charged for items. If it makes you feel better about the Cal coaching squad degrading the integrity of the game, so be it, but the argument is ludicrous.

[sfduck]

The whiz of odds, the site for whiners

[SOTBD]

In summary:

1. Looks like it was unplanned and the guys just ran into each other, the WR simply saw the DB at the last second and ducked. Just because the announcers go it wrong doesn't mean it was really intentional. They were horrible announcers btw, constantly getting players mixed up, so I don't really trust their eyesight.

2. Cal lost. Let me repeat that Cal lost.

3. Cal coaches implemented a gameplan, as admitted by an inside source in the Cal program, that is specifically called unethical in the rule book.

4. The Wiz of Odds got a number of clicks due to an outrageous headline that isn't supported by the article. So everyone won, oh, except for Cal.

[Tom]

Let me know when faking an injury involves targeting a defenseless player, then we will talk about these acts being "equal."

[WashingtonDCduck]

THIS TITLE IS A JOKE. Oregon cheated? Hahah, way to discredit yourself.

[Sam]

Regardless, the game was not nearly as close as the score indicates, or the media has reported. Remember UO downing the ball to run out the clock in your red zone? Cal played a great game (with questionable integrity), Oregon played poorly. Oregon still won. If moral victories are what you are looking for, congrats.

[Sean]

Yes, Maehl admitted that picks were a strategy. Post-game quote on his TD catch:

"Just a great play call by Chip [Kelly], scheming it up coming out of halftime. They were playing man the whole game. It was just a crossing route to try and get a pick and Darron [Thomas] put it on me."

[Tom]

"anonymous source within the Cal football program"

Sounds like a solid source to me.

[Sam]

Lose with a little class. Oregon has moved on to our next game, I suggest the same.

[will]

Nothing like a disingenuous title to stoke the fire and get a few blog hits, huh wiz?

[5$]

Oregon is known for owning the 2nd half of games. The "pick" play happened while the game was still in the 1st minute of the 2nd quarter, with the score ONLY 0-7. At this point, who didn't think Oregon wouldn't still blow Cal out? Oregon is thin at WR. Ergo, it's highly unlikely that the "pick" was coached to be run by the WRs at full speed. More likely #80 was eying Darron Thomas on his route and didn't see the defender until it was too late.

Since there entirely lacks any evidence of any nefarious mens rea behind the so-called "pick" play (coaching a pick under the circumstances, really?), this isn't just Apples to Oranges, this is Apples to Dump Trucks.

[sfduck]

Cal is gonna play in the Tostitos Toilet Bowl this year. They deserve it.

[Eric]

Might as well call too many men on the field cheating as well.