There's no sugar-coating it.

Bakersfield College's 31-28 loss to Pasadena City College Saturday night is a case of (choose one): been there, done that; or same-old, same-old.

Poor tackling. Defense unable to consistently stop drives. Offense that is pretty much one-dimensional. Those nagging, frustrating mistakes (poor kicking execution, whether it's having field goals or PATs blocked, which is becoming a weekly occurrence, or having short kickoff that are returned into BC territory; lack of focus--how else do you explain the weekly 2-3 times having 12 men on the field?)

BC coach Jeff Chudy challenged his team to win out; winning out is the only way to make the playoffs, he told the team and the media after Saturday's game.

But this team hasn't shown its capable of stringing wins together. The only victory thus far was a blowout of a very poor Santa Monica team. And no one on the BC schedule the rest of the season is as bad as Santa Monica. BC has played its two weakest teams, going 1-1 vs. Santa Monica and L.A. Valley.

In 1986, BC started 1-4, then improved somewhat in Western State Conference play to finish 4-6.

This new conference BC is in, the Northern National Conference, is much stronger than the  WSC of 1986. This new conference is made up of teams that have been successful in recent seasons. That's why those teams were lumped together. You won't see 0-10, 1-9 or 2-8 teams from the last couple of years in this conference. For a team struggling like BC, it makes running the table next to impossible.

At this point, pride's at stake for BC. The challenge is to get better and get a few wins, even if the playoffs are a longshot. The effort is there, but the execution hasn't been. That must improve, or a truly horrendous won-lost record (2-8? 3-7? lucky to go 4-6?) is likely.

Since the 1972 Renegades went 3-6, BC has had two losing seasons: 4-6 teams in 1986 and 2002.