After the QB battle between incumbent starter Nate Longshore and redshirt sophomore Kevin Riley had seemingly been slammed shut after Longshore's second interception in the Michigan State opener, the door has been pried open a bit after Saturday's game. Despite an efficient performance against Michigan State, and a stat-popping 4th quarter against Maryland, Kevin Riley has struggled the past number of weeks, and more importantly, has struggled to lead the offense to any level of consistency through the first few weeks of the season.
Riley continued to struggle on Saturday, going only 6-14 for 51 yards and one touchdown. And to be clear, the receivers aren't making Riley's job any easier. Drops by LaReylle Cunningham and a surefire TD drop by Sean Young took away a few of Riley's potential big gains. Coach Tedford has stated though that Saturday's struggles were more on Riley than on the receivers this time around, and made it clear that Riley was benched because he was "missing too many open receivers."
In a reserve role, Longshore came in midway through the third quarter. With the exception of a few errant passes, Longshore was again sharp in mop up duties, and passed 9 for 13 for 100 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
So what to do now?
I for one, believe you still have to have Riley as your starter. While Riley has struggled, he will continue to need game time for this team to see long term success. As a coach, you want to work with him, help him get better, and shore up whatever issues he's having with his receivers, rather than abandon them. Riley is still a young QB, and has shown flashes of brilliance when pushed to put everything on the line.
However, I think the leash on Riley has gotten, and rightfully so, much smaller. Tedford obviously has not been pleased with Cal’s passing game thus far, and has the incredible luxury of having the winningest Cal QB of the last 50 years as his backup, and has a QB he can trust to come in and manage the game should Riley falter. Conventional wisdom states that Riley start in the Arizona State game, and bring in Longshore in the second half if Cal is down by a good chunk AND if they're down because of Riley.
Although…knowing how both QBs play, it might not be a bad idea to flip it. That is, let’s drink some crazy juice, some strange brew if you will. We all know Longshore is efficient, and at times outstanding in the first halves of games. And we all know how much he struggles in the 4th quarter, in crunch time with the game on the line. On the other end, Riley becomes a man possessed when his team is down, and goes on to rip off huge numbers when trying to rally his team from behind.
So…why not try and start Longshore, let him manage the offense in the first half, and if Cal is down, bring in Riley to clean it up? Ridiculous I know. And to be honest with you, I actually wouldn't want to see this. I’m just trying to wrap my head around the current conundrum, and at least have some fun with it.
Oh, and for the record, any conspiracy theories about Coach Tedford and Offensive Coordinator Frank Cignetti setting Riley up to fail with play calling so that Nate Longshore could win back his starting role is absolutely ridiculous. You think that either would jeopardize their season or the team’s success, just so one player can get back in the spotlight? Please. Don't start.
Well, Cal wins big 42-7 over Colorado State, but few Cal fans will tell you like they’re feeling very big after the weekend. Despite excellent play from Cal’s defensive, and some big plays from Special Teams, Cal struggled to move the ball on offense on numerous occasions, and lost a few key players to injury. Let’s dive right into it.
Injury Update The most notable story is Jahvid Best being out with a dislocated elbow after awkwardly falling to the turf on a tackle in the third quarter. The question is how long he’ll be out. While X-ray results turned out negative, meaning there isn’t a fracture, we will have to wait for the results of Best’s MRI today to get an idea of a time table for his return. Coach Tedford has said that the Best case scenario (hahah BEST, get it? Get it?! ah nevermind) would be that Best would miss one game, but a dislocated elbow could potentially be trickier than that, so it wouldn’t be surprising to hear Best be out of action for the next 6-8 weeks, which would put him out until the back end of November.
While the exact injury isn’t known, Rulon Davis was seen in a walking boot after being injured on the last play of the 1st half, and is expected to miss the next six weeks. It’s a shame after Davis had his breakout game of the season, absolutely being a wrecking force on the line.
Left guard Chris Guarnero is out for the season after a toe injury he suffered during the Maryland game. While it was thought that Guarnero could possibly play during the Colorado State Game, the latest tests showed that the injury was a bit more severe than initially thought, with test showing a torn tendon in his big toe.
Ouch, Charlie!
Offensive Struggles Let’s start off with the good: Cal ran the ball very well on Saturday. It was fairly evident early on that the Rams weren’t going to be much of a match for Cal’s offensive line that was constantly opening up huge holes for our backs to run through. Vereen and Best (and Slocum for that matter) were very patient in waiting for their gaps, and followed their blocks well. The running game production helped to mask the two fumbles from both Best and Vereen that halted any early offensive momentum.
Now to get the bad and the obvious: I don’t want to hear any talk about our Cal’s offense being “explosive” for a while. The fact is, at times Cal couldn’t move the ball, period. And much of it comes down to Cal’s passing game, or lack of it. Five weeks into the season, and QB Kevin Riley has yet to develop any real connection with his receivers. While one had hoped coming off a late rallying passing performance during the Maryland game, that Cal would show some offensive consistency in the air on Saturday before getting into the bulk of conference play, this would not be the case.
Cal had a weak 159 yards passing for the game, with most of those coming from Nate Longshore late in the game. This coupled with the meager 114 yard passing performance Cal had at Washington State, is troubling to say in the least. Furthermore, no receiver has yet to step up as a “go-to” guy. Not one receiver had more than 30 yards receiving, or more than 2 catches in the game. Clearly, a lot of Cal’s offensive woes come down to the fact that Cal is breaking in a brand new receiving corps. But a good part of it does come on Riley. As for the Quarterback controversy, look for my post on this a bit later, as it merits its own writeup.
(Redemption never tasted so good)
Defense Steps Up So let’s get this out of the way: Colorado State isn’t very good. Or at the very least, didn’t play very well on Saturday. They were outmatched in every facet of the game, and a few of Cal’s scores were just gimmes.
With that said, I thought Cal’s defense played a good physical brand of football on Saturday. Although it was CSU, holding any team to no points until late in the game is still impressive, no matter how you spin it. That's what good defenses do. They come up with big plays and they shut out lesser teams. And that touchdown came against Cal’s second team defense who gave up a few long passes late in the game.
With the running game, the defense rarely missed their assignments, and did a good job containing the run. While neither CSU Gartrell Johnson or Kyle Bell are blazers, they’re still big bruisers who could pound out tough yards, but Cal did very well to contain both, holding both backs to under 100 yards combined, and a 3.5 ypc.
Cal also eliminated the long pass from CSU’s arsenal, forcing the Rams to try different screens and hooks to get any production in the air. Cal held Rams QB Billy Faris, who had been the second leading passer in the Mountain West conference, to 96 yards on 48% completion, and 2 interceptions.
What made me happiest however, was Cal’s ability to get pressure on Faris. You thought Nate Longshore was immobile? Man, at least Longshore doesn’t lock up in the pocket and at least tries to side step the rush or throw it away. The pressure came in Cal’s dominance on defensive line, and the multiple blitz packages. While a few of the sacks came from blitzes coming from different directions, most of them were straight up coverage sacks with the pocket simply collapsing on Faris. Cal’s defense recorded 4 sacks on the day.
I remember telling my friend during the game while the student section started the “Iron Man” clap after the second sack, “Man, I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve seen that happen more than once in a game."
The question is whether Cal will be able to do it to some of the conference’s stronger offensive lines, such as Oregon, USC, and most immediately, ASU.
Desean Nnabuife Anyone who follows the NFL and watched Bryant Nnabuife return his second blocked punt for a touchdown on Saturday thought the same thing as they saw Nnabuife flip the ball as he ran into the endzone, “NO! Wait one more second!”
I went ahead and watched the replay in slow motion, and I’m convinced that that wasn’t a touchdown. While it was close, Nnabuife clearly let go of the ball before the ball broke the plane. By a good yard or two in fact. His teammates were smart enough to recover the ball just in case before celebrating with Nnabuife, but you would think that with all the media talk surrounding the infamous Jake Locker toss and Desean Jackson’s blunder, that one would remember to just hold on to the ball a few more steps.
I miss Justin Forsett politely tossing the ball to the ref before taking a knee for a quick prayer. Classy.
Special Teams is Definitely “Special” Cal’s special teams continues to be a mixed bag. Like a can of nuts. You get some delicious ones like cashews, such as Syd’Quan’s punt return. You could tell the crowd had been aching for an dynamic punt return, having been deprived of one for over a year, as they absolutely exploded when Squid broke out of the tackle and found a seam down the sideline before cutting back in for the score. It was not Desean-esque, as I don’t remember Action Jackson breaking too many tackles. Let’s just say it was “Squid-esque."
Then there were some other tasty bits like peanuts, in Bryan Anger’s continued impressive leg and kick-off coverage. After struggling for most of the season, the kickoff coverage on Saturday was absolutely fantastic. They contained all of CSU’s returners from breaking off any big ones.
But then, there were some nasty pieces like unsalted almonds that made me nearly vomit. The blocked field goal. And more disgustingly, the kick offs. Not only were most of them short, there were three out of bound kicks. THREE. Are you kidding me? The field is 160 feet wide! THREE!? Blah. I’m going to grow a goatee like Pete Alamar and refuse to shave it until kickoffs improve.
Overall All in all, it was good to see Cal come out and get a big win, but it wasn’t quite worth the cost of the injuries. Also, Cal won’t be able to survive in the Pac-10 with 50% of their points coming from special teams and defense. Cal will need to fix whatever’s wrong with their offense. And not having Jahvid Best and potential QB switch isn’t a good start. It will be an interesting week of practice.
Alright, I'm back with my keys to the game. Cal has a number of things to address coming off a bye week and a disappointing upset loss to Maryland. Let's see what the areas of focus will need to be tomorrow.
Confuse Farris.
Senior first year starting QB Billy Farris is heating up at the right time. Farris is coming off of an excellent game against Houston in which he completed 73% of his passes for 276 yards, 2 TDs and no INTs, and is currently second in the Mountain West Conference behind pass heavy-BYU in passing yards per game.
The Rams like the long passes. I mean they practice it all the time. Who can forget this?
This probably won’t be a dink and dunk passing game. Many of CSU’s receiver routes take a while to develop, but can be deadly once they’ve had the time. The added time Farris will need in the pocket for his receivers to beat Cal defenders will give Cal an opportunity to get to him. While CSU Head Coach Steve Fairchild has experience with 3-4 defenses from his experience coaching in the AFC East, Farris doesn’t. It will be important for the Cal defense to give Farris different looks and send pressure from different packages and directions.
More than half of Cal’s sacks (7) this year have come from linebackers, and even a CB blitz. Also, considering Cal’s issues at safety, Cal has to prevent Farris from finding a Rams WR on an island all alone. There’s no better way than confusing Farris by getting to him in different ways.
Also, for the record, I’m not dismissing the importance of stopping CSU’s rushing game, as they do show a pretty balanced offensive attack. However, I’m strangely feeling a bit more confident that Cal will step up to contain the Rams’ run game. Senior running backs Gartrell Johnson and Kyle Bell are both big physical backs (both topping out over 6 feet and 225 pounds) who can put some hurting on some defenders, but neither appear to be the threats that Javon Ringer or Da’Rel Scott were for us. If the Cal defense shows up to play, I don’t expect Johnson or Bell's combined yardage to top out over the century mark.
Big Plays Colorado State doesn’t give up big plays. The Rams have only allowed one play to go more than 40 yards all season.
Cal on the other hand, seemingly only shoots out big plays as opposed to consistently sustained long drives. Consider this: Cal has had 20 plays of more than 20 yards so far this year.
While I would see some good old fashioned chain movement, Cal will need some big explosive runs/passes/kickoff returns/interception returns. When one considers their victory over CSU last year, what really decided the game in an overall sluggish performance for the Bears last year (other CSU’s back breaking tendency to turn the ball over), were the 14 points that Jackson and Best put up in long runs of 73 and 64 yards, respectively.
Don't remember? Here are some quick reminders.
No other player better illustrates this point that Jahvid Best. Best is a bit of an all-or-nothing kind of back. What makes Best so special is his explosive ability to rip off long runs once he hits the open space. Take that away however, and Best puts up marginal numbers. Think about this—in Best’s performance against WSU this past year, Best put up a whopping 200 yards on only 14 carries. 166 of those yards however, came on 2 ridiculously long runs (80 and 86 yards). The remaining 34 yards came on 2 carries, resulting in an unimpressive 2.8 YPC. Maryland bottled up Best from ripping off any long runs, holding him to 25 yards on 10 carries. Michigan State was the only real exception in which Best did more of a pound it into contact for 3 to 4 yards at a time kind of rushing performance.
I’m not saying this to downplay Best’s ability as a runner. Rather, it’s to highlight his strengths, the ones that Cal will need to ensure they see a good level of success against the Rams on Saturday. My guess is that CSU will key in on Best though, forcing Cal to create those big plays in the air. And considering CSU features a conference worst pass D, this just might be the right bet.
With that said, I would still like to see some nice long complete drives. Not necessarily Washington State 2007 long, but enough to instill a sense of confidence that the team will be ready to consistently move the ball in crucial situations as we continue with the season.
Kickoff Coverage It was either this or Cal’s red zone efficiency, which was terrible for most of the Maryland game. But this could be the final factor to really hurt the Bears.
Cal has struggled in kickoff return coverage all year. It all starts with the Cal’s inability to boot the ball into the opponent’s end zone. Or inside the 10 yard line for that matter.
I briefly touched upon this yesterday in my look at the Rams yesterday, but given that CSU averages nearly 30 yards per return this year, it doesn’t take a Nobel Prize Laureate to predict the Rams offense constantly starting near midfield. A first down or two, and they might already be knocking.
The Cal coaching staff has addressed this heavily in the past few weeks, but the amount of improvement remains to be seen. Again, it all starts with where the return man begins with the ball, but Cal will have to be disciplined in their coverage lanes to prevent from CSU from ripping off any huge, or at worst, average runs.
In closing
Alright, that about wraps it up. Since I’ll be at the game tomorrow, don’t expect any live blog notes. BearsNecessity usually does a pretty good job with that on gamedays anyway, and the homies at California Golden Blogs typically have a live thread available as well.
Here’s hoping for a win, and a big one at that. Cal needs to build some confidence entering conference play, given that the conference race has been busted wide open after what happened yesterday. Prediction? Ahh…38-17. Yeah.
Since we’re coming off a bye week, I thought it could serve everyone a little bit of good to freshen up or in most people’s cases, learn about our upcoming opponent, Colorado State. Stay tuned for my normal Keys to the Game feature tomorrow, which will hone in on areas Cal will have to be successful with, as well as some of the Rams’ special players.
Season so far... Colorado State comes into the game riding a two game winning streak (impressive for a 2007 3-9 team), with both wins coming in nail biters that came down to the last plays of the game. The Rams recovered a late fumble and hit a 20 yard field goal to lift themselves over Championship Subdivision team Portland State, and picked off a driving Houston team with seconds to go to preserve a 28-25 lead over Conference USA team Houston. The Rams’ only loss came to rival Colorado, which was close through most of three quarters of the game.
While I for one, am not overly impressed in close victories over cupcake teams, the Rams enter into Memorial Stadium riding a huge wave of confidence, as they appear to have turned the corner on losing close games, after having dropped 4 games last season by a TD or less. New Head Coach Steve Fairchild has warned against getting too excited, as even he anticipates a few more losses to come this season.
Offense The Rams try to feature a fairly balanced offensive attacked, being pretty much 50-50 in their pass to rush ratio, (averaging 35 pass attempts per game vs. 32 on the ground). The Rams are averaging 22.7 points per game, and 365.3 yards in total offense.
CSU’s rushing game doesn’t appear to be anything to be really scared about. The Rams average only 104 yards on the ground per game, with an average 3.3 YPC. They’ve also only recorded 3 rushing TDs for the season, with their longest run going 24 yards.
On the flip side, CSU knows the strength of their offense lies in their passing game. Quarterback Billy Faris leads a CSU passing game that ranks second in the Mountain West conference in passing yards per game at 261.3, right behind BYU’s impressive passing game. While CSU has thrown for a good chunk of yardage, they’ve only hit pay dirt 4 times versus their 3 interceptions. Farris may be heating up at the right time though, completing 73% of his passes for 276 yards and 2 TDs against Houston with no interceptions.
Meanwhile, Colorado State’s offensive line has given up 7 sacks on the season.
Defense Colorado State ranks 7th in conference in scoring defense, giving up 27.7 points per game. It actually gets worse for the Rams in terms of yardage allowed, as they rank 8th in the Mountain West, giving up 383.3 yards per game. Most of those yards come from the air, as CSU ranks last in the conference with 266.3 yards given up in the passing game. While the Rams do sport 4 interceptions on the season, 3 of those came in their 28-25 win over Houston, including the Klint Kubiak’s (yes Gary Kubiak’s kid) INT to seal the game.
Miscellaneous
As the least penalized team in the Mountain West, Colorado State appears to be a disciplined squad, with a meager 12 penalties on the season for only 91 yards.
On Special Teams, while their punt return unit isn’t anything to write home about with only 10.5 yards per return, their kick-off return unit leads the conference in averaging nearly 30 yards per return. And considering that Cal’s struggling kickoff team is usually unable to kick the ball off inside the opponents ten yard line…ummm...let’s see 10 plus 30…yeah…carry the one..take the square root, yeah I think we can expect the Rams to consistently starting from their 40 yard line, only needing to move the ball about 30 yards to get into field goal range…yeah…that could spell trouble for the Bears.
One miscellaneous area working against the Rams though, is that CSU has averaged only one road win a year for the last three years. Will Memorial Stadium be that one win? Eh, me thinks not.
Coaching First year Coach Steve Fairchild brings his NFL offensive mind after stints with both the Buffalo Bills and the St. Louis Rams. Fairchild is beginning to see improvement in a Colorado State squad that has put up some points early in the season, with a marked improvement in the passing game. Fairchild also certainly has had his experience facing 3-4 defenses from his time in the AFC East which had most of the teams using that defensive base package.
Overview Again, check back tomorrow for more details as to what we'll need to do to secure a win. With that said, I think Cal has gotten its non-conference trap game out of the way with Maryland (although that statement alone could be the indication of another trap game-dah). Colorado State, while improved, is still not as talented as the Bears, and will have to face an even hungrier Bears team eager to get the taste of the Maryland loss out of their mouths-at home.
So for the first time ever, Cal will produce and sell custom Cal jerseys. Ironically, they decided to do this the year they removed all the names from the players' jerseys. I suspect Kevin Riley will be getting in line for his own custom made Kevin Riley jersey.
The only caveat is that no names of current student athletes or coaches can be used. So if your last name is Longshore or Tedford, you're out of luck buddy.
Ahhh, no wonder Running Wolf was trying to get in those trees.
In separate cases, the tree-sitting protestors are getting slammed in court. Of the 16 protestors, five were found in contempt in August and ordered to pay $1,000 each. The remaining 11 will have their cases heard in coming months. Potential attorney fees for all the protestors may range from $3,000 to $10,000.
University lawyer Michael Goldstein isn't making any apologies. "We've asked the judge to throw the book at them," Goldstein said flatly.
Meanwhile, an attorney for some of the protestors, Dennis Cunningham said, “It’s really vindictive. They don’t have this kind of money.”
Ummm, I think everyone is well aware of that. I don’t think any of the protestors were leaving 10,000 square foot mansions to live in trees for months in the first place.
The university has estimated that it has spent more than $800,000 on police and other security measures during the protest, and $40,000 alone on the scaffolding to bring the protestors down without anyone breaking their necks.
$1,000 seems like chump change when you take that into account, no?
Another benefit to a Cal bye week, is an added opportunity to check out how some of our Bears did in the pros this weekend. An enjoyable week in the NFL with my Niners crushing the hapless Lions, despite my fantasy teams choking big time this weekend...
Marshawn Lynch churned out another strong performance with 83 yards on 23 rushes, and 2 TDs in Buffalo’s come from behind win against the Raiders. Lynch also caught 4 passes for 31 yards. Lynch has yet to rush for over a 100 yards in a game, but I don’t think Bills fans will complain in his 4 rushing TDs and more importantly, Lynch’s strong role in contributing to Buffalo’s surprising 3-0 record.
Aaron Rodgers suffered his first loss of the season against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. While Rodgers put did up decent numbers (22-39 for 290 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 rushing TD), the Green Bay offense struggled in the red zone, having to settle for 3 field goals on its first three trips to the red zone. Rodgers was also sacked 5 times, and spent much of the night escaping pressure.
There were no showboating opportunities for Desean Jackson, as he fell short of the opportunity to be the first rookie to catch for over 100 yards in his first three games by only pulling in 5 catches for 40 yards against Pittsburgh.
Justin Forsett continued in his kickoff return duties for the Colts, returning 2 for 49 yards…Deltha O’Neal had 2 tackles in New England’s embarrassing and shocking loss to Miami…finally, Tony Gonzales netted 4 catches for 35 yards for the Chiefs.
Again, Cal finds themselves out of both the AP and USA Today Polls coming off their bye week. Not surprising at all, althought it is worth noting that a number of teams on the cusp of the Top 25 mark faced losses this weekend, creatiing a bit more parity among one loss teams.
It's a bye week, and for most Cal fans, this means more opportunities to enjoy other college football games. For me, no Cal football for the weekend means more opportunities to attend to the other important areas of my life. So this weekend, I hopped on a plane to head out to New Haven, Connecticut to visit my girlfriend who's currently attending Grad School at Yale. Bulldogs, blech.
Speaking of the Bulldogs (Yale not Georgia), did you know they have a football team? Seriously, and they play in this conference, called the Ivy League. Cute. Yale apparently is played Georgetown today. And they kicked some major Hoyas ass 44-7. My girlfriend asked me, "Man, is Georgetown THAT bad?" I replied, "No, I think Yale is THAT good." Switch 'em out with Syracuse and throw 'em into the Big East. Booyakasha.
Anyway, here's how the weekend started off:
Girlfriend: So why'd you pick this weekend to come and visit me? Me: Because it's a bye week. Girlfriend: ... Me: ..And because I wanted to see you of course. Girlfriend: *Bruce Lee shot to the collarbone.*
Ultimately, I found out it didn't matter much which weekend I decided to visit, because it turns out that my girlfriend has a midterm nearly each week, beginning with this one. And since she decided not to get a t.v. for her place, I find myself I'm sitting in Public Cup Cafe, trying to connect to ESPN360 while my girlfriend studies fluid and electrolyte balance. I think she has it better off. Trying to connect to ESPN360 in a public cafe is like trying to get a Muslim to eat bacon. For the most part, it just ain't happening.
So, checking box scores and forums it is. Let's take a quick look at some box scores:
Penn State just crushed Temple, 45-3. Penn State is looking pretty good so far. I know they haven't really played anyone yet (including Oregon State, who year after year doesn't really develop a pulse until late September), but with Ohio State looking as vulnerable as it does right now, the Nittany Lions could make a real strong bid for a Big 10 title this year.
What the heck? East Carolina just lost to N.C. State? Man, there goes that Cinderella story.
Clemson is rolling over lowly South Carolina State. After getting embarrassed by Alabama to start the season, the Tigers have rebounded well, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them roll through most ACC competition before sputtering again late in the season.
Missouri only up by 6 at the half against Buffalo? C'mon Mizzou, don't do this to me. I got on the Missouri bandwagon last year, before you guys were rolling 50+ on teams this year. I've got you guys pegged as my sexy pick to make the National Championship game. You guys can't falter now. Don't you dare Chase Daniels.
The Terrapin Train is picking up speed, as Maryland is on top of Eastern Michigan 43-24. I'm sure the Fridge would like to not see Maryland give up 24 points, but has to be happy with an offense that is putting points after squeaking by teams in their first two.
Colorado State is up 7-0 on Houston. Keep an eye out on what the Rams do, as we don't want another team to sneak up on us this year.
Arizona is up by 10 over UCLA in a real important game for the Wildcats and the Bruins. While neither are in contention for the conference title this year, both are going to be battling it out to above the middle of the pecking order in the conference. The losing team today could find themselves joining the bottom feeders of the conference.
Who else is going to be cheering on Kyle Reed and his San Jose Spartans as they took the Sputtering 'Furd tonight? Seriously, I'm really glad Reed is getting his chance to show off what he can do. And a chance to beat Stanford in the South Bay Bowl? Let's just say there will be a little bit of Spartan in me tonight as I check the box scores.
Anyway, I should get going. I'm getting more evil eyes from my girlfriend, and she's beginning to flick her nose Bruce Lee style, which means it's time to be boyfriend.
Before I leave, I'll end with this thought: I hope Arizona State wins today. I know, I never really want to cheer for the Sun Devils, but anything that will make our game with them all the more important in two weeks, the better. Should the Sun Devils lose today however, a loss to Cal the following week might trigger a 5 game losing streak for Erickson's squad, with Oregon and and USC following right after. Eesh.
If I'm good, I'll be allowed to enjoy the game at a local bar with buffalo wings, a cold pint of Guiness, and my lovely girl at my side. If I don't get off this laptop soon though, I'll be spending my evening helping her frame pictures in her apartment. Fun.
Georgia agrees with Tedford's Travel Plans? "Ron felt like everybody he talked to didn't feel like another day there would acclimatize the team to the type of temperature and humidity level," Richt said. "I didn't want to bring the team there an extra day too early just to get too anxious and just to get bored out of their minds. Plus, we would have had to miss class."
It looks like George Coach mark Richt has taken a page from the Tedford script about making a long road trip. Maybe the results will be the same for the Bulldogs as well…
...Or not. Granted, Georgia hasn’t been as impressive as I thought they would be, especially at the defensive line, which I had expected would give ASU fits in Saturday’s game. Also, who knows what a surprise loss to UNLV will do for the Sun Devils. Motivation? Or despair? We shall see. As much as I’d like to see the Pac-10 salvage some national reputation and have the Sun Devils come into Memorial Stadium on the 27th with a Top 25 Ranking, I still think the Bulldogs win it…
Injury Updates As per the Daily Cal, here are some quick injury updates. Jahvid Best appears to recovering well from his bruised sternum, as he was running full speed, but will sit out of live drills to prevent any chances of getting in his chest again.
Shane Vereen was seen in a walking boot due to a high-ankle sprain, similar to the one he incurred during fall camp. He should be good to go for Colorado State though.
Michael Calvin will sit out of all drills this week to continue to allow his toe to heal. While Calvin played at Maryland, the plan is and has been to allow him to continue to rest the toe to hopefully get the receiver to 100 percent and avoid any discomfort and soreness.
I haven’t heard yet whether LT Mike Tepper is fully recovered from his torn pectoral injury. Tepper was seen a few weeks ago doing some light individual drills but did practice with the team. Junior Chet Teofilo has filled in reasonably well, though struggled a bit against Maryland.
Not guilty? What do you plead not guilty about? That they weren’t actually in the trees? That they weren’t actually trespassing despite an October court order stating that they had to come down or face a $1,000 fine and 5 days in jail? Not much of a surprise considering they chose to drag the protest out this long anyway.
Oh and in semi-Cal-related news... Javon Ringer has absolutely exploded since the Cal Game. The Michigan State back has 498 yards and 9 touchdowns. This includes a 5 TD performance against Eastern Michigan and 282 yards against Florida Atlantic. Granted the teams after Cal were quite the definition of cupcakes, but those are still some huge numbers. MSU might be running Ringer into the ground though, with 77 carries in the 2 games since their opener. 77 carries against cupcakes? Wait, QB Brian Hoyer only completed 5 of 15 passing for 88 yards against FIU? Oh ok, yeah Javon, you carry that rock.
It’s not as fun to pick the players of the game in a loss, but sometimes, it's a bit more comforting to pick out the bright spots. Let’s switch things up and award the defense first today.
Defensive Player of the Game: Zack Follett It was nearly a toss-up between linebacker Zack Follett and DE Tyson Alulau. Alualu had a career day with 8 tackles (5 solo), and also recording his first sack of the season. It was also the defensive line’s first sack of the season.
Alualu has emerged as the defensive line’s most consistent player, constantly creating pressure on the QB and leading the line in tackles.
In the end, I had to give the helmet sticker to Follett however, because he provided the biggest plays on the defensive side of the ball. The Zack Attack was in full force with 5 total tackles, 1 sack, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. Follett may not be the most consistent player on the defense, but he most consistently provides the biggest plays on that side of the ball.
Offensive Player of the Game: LaReylle Cunningham Dah. I was really tempted to go with Kevin Riley. I mean the kid had the 3rd highest total for passing yards in a game (423), and attempted a record 58 passes. He also had 3 touchdowns and helped rally the team back in the 4th quarter. He was a big reason the box score didn’t look as bad as the game really was.
But then you have to remember his inconsistencies earlier in the game, being sacked 5 times, completing fewer than 57% of his passes, and leading an offense that didn’t convert a 3rd down until the 3rd quarter.
In the end, I had to give it to the best offensive player of the game yesterday, LaReylle Cunningham, who notched up a career high in 138 receiving yards on 7 catches and led the way for the best performance by the receivers all season. Granted, the receivers were mostly quiet and struggled to get open for the first half, but Cunningham exhibited extraordinary hands, catching nearly everything thrown his way.
Honorable Mentions: Kevin Riley: 33-58, 423 yards passing, 3 TDs, 1 INT. Michael Calvin: 5 catches, 69 yards Cameron morrah: 5 catches, 49 yards, 1 TD Nyan Boateng: 4 catches, 64 yards, and laid a Maryland defender the F out.
Play of the Game Jahvid Best doing his best Reggie Bush impression.
Unfortunately, I have to go with the play that actually went against the Bears, simply because it was that job dropping. And stomach churning…
They don’t call him Reggie Bush for nothing. It’s eerie how similar they look:
It was a tough week for most Bears fans, having to stomach the inner contents of Jahvid Best’s stomach (what he eat by the way?) and Cal’s disappointing loss to Maryland. On the pro level though, a number of former Golden Bear players were having lighting it up in the NFL.
This morning, the biggest talk surrounds Desean Jackson’s performance on Monday night. The rookie Eagles receiver again led the team in receiving yards with 110 yards on 6 catches. The most notable play however, involved Jackson’s first NFL touchdown being taken away when he prematurely flipped the ball as he was going into the end zone on a 60 yard TD strike from Donovan McNabb.
You can watch the play here:
Describe the play in one word? Idiotic. This is the same Desean Jackson who decided to flip into the endzone in his High School All-American game—only to land on the one yard line. Yesterday’s play highlights the best and worst sides of Desean—an incredible talent with a streak of cockiness. I know Desean was probably just excited to have his first NFL TD catch come in a game on Monday Night Football, but he intrinsically thought first to begin celebrating before securing the ball going into the end zone. I love Desean, but he's got to knock that stuff out-especially as a rookie-if he wants to avoid being strapped with the label of being the next T.O. or Ocho Cinco. At least those guys make sure they get into the endzone before getting ridiculous.
And what was with that Urkel dance?
Desean is lucky that the Cowboys didn’t notice the blunder and run after the ball. He’s also lucky that Westbrook was able to score on the subsequent play. And he is super lucky that I didn’t end up losing my fantasy game this week by 4 points. I am starting him after all. *Shakes fist.
The most impressive performance was probably the one that QB Aaron Rodgers churned out in Green Bay’s thrashing of Detroit. Rodgers was 24-38 passing for 328 yards, 3 TDs and no INTs. Rodgers also showed off his mobility, rushing 4 times for 25 yards and scrambling to create numerous plays with his feet.
It’s still way too early to say, but as for now, Green Bay fans have to be feeling a lot better about Brett Favre’s replacement. Even if Rodgers struggles down the line, they at least know they have someone who has all the ability.
3 days after being cut by Seattle, Justin Forsett was already in uniform for his new team, the Indianapolis Colts. Forsett handled kickoff return duties, with 4 returns for 84 yards including a long of 27. He also contributed 30 yards on 2 punt returns including a long of 25. Pretty impressive for a guy who has only been on the team for 3 days.
I promise you, if the Colts decide to hang on to Forsett, Seattle will be kicking themselves.
Brandon Mebane had another solid outing for the Seahawks with 3 tackles including one sack. Mebane has established himself as a solid starter on the defensive line for Seattle. This guy has the potential to be great.
Oh, and Money Lynch rushed 19 times for 59 yards and another score. While Lynch’s YPC is down a bit from last year (4.0 to 3.6 YPC), he’s on pace to exceed his TD total from last year (2 so far, versus 7 in 2007).
(The scene of our living room while watching the game.)
The catalyst? Watching Jahvid Best puke on the field after that nasty hit he took in the second quarter. And to clarify, after watching the replay, that was definitely not green Gatorade coming out of the Jet’s mouth. That was knocked-the-F-out juice.
Blech.
Strangely enough though, that play single-handedly exemplified what was likely going through most Cal fans’ minds: a gut check of reality.
Many of Cal’s deficiencies were exposed in the loss and a few more popped their ugly heads out as well. For a team that had touted a rout over a conference opponent on the road (albeit a bad one), and a solid win over a BCS conference team, it was knock in the gut to see Cal sputter, and sputter badly, in a team widely regarded to be inferior to them.
So as Cal fans begin to pick themselves up off the proverbial field, with pools of green vomit still fresh in our mouths, we take a look at reasons why the Bears lost a game they should not have, and more importantly, what it means for them for the rest of the season.
“It’s so damn hot!”
It was evident that the Bears were not ready for their game against Maryland. The extent to which the early start time affected the Bears can be debated (although the Bears were obviously clicking more on both sides of the ball in the second half than in the first), the heat and humidity were also large factors as to why the team was so sluggish in the game as a whole. It was simply something they had not experienced before.
Also, it’s important to recognize that Maryland wasn’t quite as bad as many thought they would be. The talent was always there, it was just a question of whether they could put it all together and execute. The Terrapins came in to the game with a chip on their shoulder, and had a lot to prove to the fans, a nationwide audience, and to themselves. In many ways, Maryland was much more ready both mentally and physically than the Bears were on Saturday, and it showed.
Cal Lost the Battle in the Trenches
Maryland was more physical than Cal on Saturday. Plain and simple. Cal was beaten in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
The Cal offensive line also gave up 5 sacks in the game, the most in nearly 3 years. While a number of those were on Riley holding on to the ball a bit too long, there were still several instances in which Cal either was simply beat on the line.
Even more scary than the sacks though, was the O-line’s inability to open up any holes for our backs. Shane Vereen and Jahvid Best combined for only 48 yards on the ground after coming into the game averaging over 200. Best’s 25 yards on 10 carries is particularly worrisome. It was arguably the worst rushing performance by a Cal squad in years. While Best and Vereen are never going to be move-the-pile backs, the O-line will have to improve if they expect to see a consistent level of success against more aggressive run defenses in order to get their explosive backs out into the second level where they are most dangerous.
The defensive unit struggled as well. After two solid weeks of run defense, the Bears allowed 168 yards on the ground to Maryland. Not only were the Bears late in getting to the ball, the Cal defense was also pushed back on a number of occasions, allowing backs to get extra yards after initial contact. Terps running back Da’Rel Scott ran for 89 yards on 19 carries before a shoulder injury sidelined him for the rest of the game. His backup Davin Meggett however, rushed 13 times for 82 yards. Dah.
While Cal's run defense wasn’t atrocious, it certainly was impressive. What was atrocious however was…
Cal’s 3rd Down Defense
Again, Cal’s zone coverage on 3rd down was absolutely wretched. If there was any aspect of yesterday’s game that reminded me of last year’s version of the Cal squad during the 1-6 slide, it was Cal’s 3rd down defense. I may not be astute enough to understand defense to the extent that Bob Gregory does, but I know enough that when your defense is unable to get off the field because they are constantly allowing the opposing team to convert on 3rd and 16, then something isn’t quite right.
I’m not sure if it’s an issue of execution or game planning. My guess is that it’s a little bit of both. I haven’t been a fan of the soft zone coverage on 3rd downs for a while, and there was definitely a little hitch in the defense’s getup as they were very late on closing in on the ball and left too many receivers (particular at TE) open on critical conversions. I don’t believe they forced a three-an-out until midway through the second quarter.
Kevin Riley and Red Zone Blues
Much has been debated on QB Kevin Riley’s performance in the game. While the stat sheet is going to show impressive fairly numbers (33-58, 423 yds, 3 TDs, 1 INT), it’s fair to remember that more than half of those numbers came in the 4th quarter alone in Maryland’s prevent zone coverage.
The most glaring issues were Riley and the offense’s struggles in the first half, specifically in the red zone. The Bears had three opportunities to even things up early in the game, as Riley looked sharp marching the team down the field each time to put themselves in good scoring position. Both times though, the Riley and the Bears sputtered in the red zone, having to settle for three field goal attempts, with David Seawright’s last attempt clanking off the left upright.
Riley showed a lot of moxie to avoid the pass rush, scrambling to make plays happen. He did get lucky on a number of passes however, as a few of those throws ill-advised and nearly picked off. Riley will have to learn to rein it in a bit to avoid any crucial turnovers later in the season. Also, while Riley showed a lot of savvy in being able to buy time to make a few critical passes, a number of the sacks were on Riley, as he held on to the ball a bit too long. He will have to better develop that internal clock that lets him know that if nothing is there, it’s better to get rid of the ball than to push his team back another 6 or 7 yards.
As inconsistent as Riley was in certain spots of the game, you could still see what makes Riley so special. It’s almost as if he works best in those high-pressure, rally-the-team back type of situations. He appears to be a bit off the mark on some of his throws when he has the time to do a simple 5 step drop rhythm pattern with his receivers, but will show his incredible ability to often pull something out of nothing on critical downs.
Riley is going through his growing pains, as is the rest of the team, and despite uneven parts of his performance, overall, you had to like what you saw in his ability to lead the team back into striking distance late in the game. And the wide receivers?
This was one of the few bright spots of the game. While the receivers may have struggled to get open early on in man coverage, it was good to see the receivers really make the most of their opportunity of the 58 passes thrown their way, especially in the second half. All of our wide receivers (with the exception of Jeremy Ross who had a carry for 13 yards) caught at least one pass, with a few of the receivers catching the first of their careers (Marvin Jones, Verran Tucker, and TE Tad Smith).
LaReylle Cunningham had a monster day catching everything thrown his way, and Michael Calvin showed a glimpse of why he just might end up being the best receiver for the Bears this year. While you would have liked to have seen the receivers be more productive earlier in the game, it was good to see them get experience pulling down critical passes in late game, 2 minute rally situations.
Where dost we go from here?
The biggest question at this point is how the team responds to the loss. It’s been pretty easy for us to forget just how young the team is. With the proper leadership and motivation, the loss could prove to be a blessing in disguise for the Bears. While the bye week will undoubtedly leave a sour taste in their mouths, the Bears will hopefully go into the rest of their games better prepared and more cognizant of the issues they need to shore up to be successful in the Pac-10, where it counts.
It’s also important for Cal fans to carefully assess their expectations for the remainder of the season. Very few Cal fans, if any, were expecting a National Championship this year. Even an at-large BCS bid seemed to be a stretch for a team that had so many questions coming into the season. I still maintain that an 8-4 season would be successful one for the Bears, and a 9-3 one would make me ecstatic. These goals are very much possible, as well as a solid finish in the conference, as long as the Bears rebound from this loss, something they could not do last year.
In terms of takeaways, no one should be hitting the panic mode just yet. Worry a little bit, sure, but don’t lose any sleep over it (as I have the last few nights). In the end, it was a bad game on the road in tough conditions to a team better than most had expected. Learn from it, get hungry, and move on. There’s a lot of football left to be played. Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
Unsurprisingly, Cal has fallen out of the Top 25 polls after being upset yesterday at Maryland.
After cracking the Top 25 poll for the first time since last November, Cal did not receive any votes in the AP poll, and fell to 39th in the USA Today Poll with 7 points. Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
12:28 - Game's over. Too little, too late, and that decision to go for the onside kick ends up really hurting Cal.
Wow. 12:13 - Another score. Score is still not yet respectable.
Man...these are some weak onside kicks. 12:05 - Case in point, a big run and they're already at the 1 yard line. And there's the score. Bad bad idea. 12:03 - A lot of people might disagree with me, but the more I think about it, I'm really unhappy with the call to do the onside kick. I know you need a spark, but I think it's a bit too early to go for that onside kick. 11:59- At least we prevented the first TD-less game by the offense in 8 years. Riley to Morrah for a TD strike. 11:42 - Yeah, that just about does it. Has there ever been a Tedford game where we've gone without a TD? 11:25 - Maryland is beating Cal in nearly every phase of the game. That's the 4th sack of the day for an O-line that only gave up 11 last year. You have to ask yourself it's a question of our o-line having issues or Riley holding on to the ball too long. 11:13 - That may have just sealed the deal. Ok, not really. But I know it's really early to say, but seeing that Cal hasn't been able to score a single TD thus far in the game, it's looking grim.
11:02 - To not get anything out of Follett's second forced fumble of the day might be my 7th kick in the nuts today. Blech.
10:38 - The half could not have come soon enough. Cal has a number of issues to shore up on both sides of the ball.
A few quick issues:
Is Jahvid Best okay? Even if he is, Maryland has absolutely shut down Cal's running game, and Cal will have to dig deep to begin opening up some better holes for their backs.
Cal needs to shore up their 3rd down defense. They began to show flashes of improvement of this towards the end of the second half, but up until that SQT sack, Cal was absolutely atrocious on defense on 3rd downs, allowing Maryland to convert on many 3rd and longs.
Improve in the red zone. Cal has yet to score a TD in the first half. I think this is the first time this has happened since the Cal Oregon game last year. Cal has had plenty of opportunities however.
Everything good with Riley? Riley's best throws are coming on his scrambles. His simple rhythm throws leave a lot to be desired however, as he's been overthrowing on plenty of passes still.
That missed field goal was pretty huge as well. To not get anything that drive was painful.
Just remember everyone:
10:25 - THAT WAS A SAFETY. 10:20 - Best got lit the F up. @_@.
Anyone else see Best puke on the field? Or was that gatorade? 10:15 - Thompson comes off the edge for the first cornerback blitz for the first time in a while. Came at a really good time.
SQT nearly unredeemed himself though, bobbling his first punt return of the season.
By the way, that was NOT a facemask. 10:05 - Follett with the strip and recover!
And Cal gets absolutely nothing to show for it. Something is not right with this offense.
Oh and Best has been absolutely shut down. 5 rushes for -0.5 yards.
9:55 - Not scoring on that drive is pretty big. You certainly have to kick the field goal to make it a 2 score game, but the Cal's defense has been playing, not being able to get a TD on back to back drives is pretty critical. Riley still hasn't shown any touches on any of his passes just yet. 9:46 - Maryland scored. Again.. 9:41 - End of the first quarter, and Cal has sputtered out of the gate in about the worst ways possible. Maryland is knocking on the door again, mainly due to Cal's inability to give up pretty huge 3rd down conversions. Not good...
9:29 - Cal gets on the board with a Seawright field goal after starting out with excellent field position on a Jahvid Best return. The Bears sputtered in the red zone however, and a busted screen play finished off Cal's drive. 9:20 - Wakeup! A nightmarish start for Cal, down 14 with not even 7 minutes into the first quarter. Maryland gets great field position after a Riley interception. No one should panic just yet, but definitely not how you want to start. 9:11 - About the best possible start for Maryland outside of a turnover. Hold Cal to a 3 and out, and put a 60 yard drive together without doing anything fancy. Not a good start for Cal. 9:04 - It's a kickoff and we have to ask if today is the day Jahvid gets his first ridiculous triple triple of the season. Best with a 34 yard gain to start the game.
And a three and out to start offensive series for Cal...
I seem to be doing well with this whole Keys to the Game thing. I think I’ve had a pretty good gauge of what’s going to be most important for Cal to focus in on in their upcoming matchups.
Let’s see if we can keep it going though:
3 Keys to the Game
1) FOCUS! Really, this is probably really the biggest key. One paper, Maryland doesn’t stand much of a threat to the current Cal team. BUT…
Cal will be jetlagged. And sleepy.
And they might be flying high after scoring 66 points last week.
And the Terrapins, are like, super pissed after losing to a Sun Belt team.
So Cal needs to like, totally focus and stuff.
…
Just don’t stub your toe, Cal. Get your heads in the game, focus and execute. Remember what Coach Eric Taylor says: “Clear eyes, full hearts, CAN’T LOSE!”
(Friday Night Lights – Best sports show ever.)
2) Do unto Da’Rel you have done unto Javon Cal’s test against Maryland running back Da’Rel Scott will likely be the Bears’ best and final prognosticator of how well they will defend the run before they face premier Pac-10 offensive lines and backs.
And what a test it will be.
For as much hype as Jahvid Best attention has received with West Coast media pundits, Da’Rel has received the same on the East Coast, and rightly so. Scott has already amassed 320 yards on the season on only 37 attempts, breaking out a long run of his own, in a 63-yard against Middle Tennessee State. The guy is the real deal. Like Best, he’s an explosive back who can make opposing teams pay dearly for taking the wrong angle on him.
If the Bears can shut down the run as they have been able to do the last two weeks, they will force QB Chris Turner into passing situations on third down. Considering the inconsistencies the Terrapins have had in the passing game the last two games, containing Scott will allow the defense to focus the rest of their attention to the Terrapins’ only other offensive threat…
3) Key in on Darrius Hayward-Bey Imagine Desean Jackson, but bigger. And stronger. That’s what you just might have in wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey. Sporting impressive measurements, (6-3, 206 lbs), the preseason All-American just might be one of the most physically talented wide receivers in the country, and potentially one of the first receivers taken in next year’s draft. Blah blah blah. All you need to know is the guy is dangerous.
If Cal can contain the run, AND get pressure on Chris Turner, who struggled in last week’s game against Middle Tennessee, it will help to negate the level of talent on the split end. Quite frankly, I feel okay with SQT pairing up with Darrius Heyward-Bey. SQT may not completely shut DHB down, but may be able to break up a few key passes.
If Maryland shuffles their receivers enough to match DHB against Darian Hagan however, I expect a few big plays, and perhaps a few more points.
And if I see Chris Conte across from Heyward-Bey in any situation other than a goal-line jump ball situation, I’m going to freaking blow a gasket and kick the closest puppy I see.
Beware the screen pass. Beware the hitch-n-go. And watch the end arounds. Don’t arm tackle the guy. Other than that, Cal’s defenders should be fine.
(The man is dangerous I tell yers.)
In Closing… To be quite honest with you all (as I always am), it’s very difficult for me to see us losing this game. It would be a shocker and would be bitingly painful to lose to a team that has exhibited the level of inconsistency Maryland has the last two weeks.
While Maryland certainly has some talent on both sides of the ball, Cal should have too much offensive firepower for the Terps to handle. Case in point: Cal scored more points in less than two quarters against Wazzu (42) than the Terrapins have in their entire first two games (28). Just think about that.
With the Terrapins hungry to redeem their season, and Cal coming into the game both elated and jetlagged, there’s always the chance for an upset. But even if Maryland gets everything clicking offensively, I don’t see them keeping up with Cal in a shootout.
Prediction? Geez, if I HAVE to, I’m going to say 41-17, Cal (of course). I’m sure you’ve seen that somewhere before.
As the Cal team prepares themselves for Maryland on Saturday, mainly by sleeping (for the 9AM start time), we prepare ourselves as fans by tempering our expectations. It’s easy to expect a blowout after a 66-3 win over WSU, but most longtime Cal fans know better than to do something as silly as get excited after big wins.
The current spread is 14.5 and an overwhelming 96% of the voters in this week’s poll feel we should have no problem beating the Terrapins by 14 points or more.
(Fear the "Fridge")
Here’s what some “experts” are saying:
Bruce Feldman – ESPN Cal 35, Maryland 17 Kevin Riley has a lot of firepower at his disposal, and his confidence is soaring. The Terps' QB situation isn't as optimistic. Maryland has a dangerous RB, Da'Rel Scott, and one of the country's best WRs, Darrius Heyward-Bey, but unless it can get some consistency from the rest of its offense, it'll be a long day.
Ted Miller – ESPN California 41, Maryland 17: No need to fear the turtle! Bears should roll against a team that struggled against Delaware and lost to Middle Tennessee State. But it's still a road game against a BCS conference foe. And it will be worth watching just to see what TB Jahvid Best does next.
Sporting News (What’s with Spencer Hall’s profile pic?)
California Golden Blogs Yellow Fever: 55-3TwistnHook: 4-2 (don’t ask)HydroTech: 24-21Ragnarok: 31-17CBKWit: 24-17
Takeaways? It appears nearly everyone is pretty confident we should roll over Maryland this weekend. Most have us scoring anywhere from 5-6 TDs and limiting Maryland to under 20 points. Check back in tomorrow for my weekly Keys to the Game feature to see what we’re going to need to do to ensure as dominant of a victory as more are expecting.
More quotes in regards to thoughts wrapping up Cal's performance against WSU and Saturday's contest against Maryland.
On preparing for the time difference: “I don’t think it will be too much of a challenge. I think we will rise to the occasion.” – Sean Young
Get it? RISE to the occasion!? GET IT? Haha!
["Not funny."]
Coach Tedford has reportedly decided not to fly the team out a day earlier as some had anticipated. Instead, the team will travel on Friday morning as they would for any other away game. Tedford believes that a day isn’t going help the team acclimate to the time difference any more so than simply adjusting their own internal clocks during the course of this week by waking up earlier than usual to prepare for the 9 AM start time.
Here’s hoping the Jahvid Best is a morning person.
"We are a way better team than what we looked like. I don't know what it was. That was not the Cougar team that we are." - WSU Offensive Tackle Vaughn Lesuma.
Funny enough, that quote was taken BEFORE their game against Cal in reference to their 39-13 loss to Oklahoma State. A 26 point loss on the road doesn’t look so bad now does it?
Okay okay. That was the last shot I’ll take at WSU. Enough is enough. Way to kick a team when they’re down. What a punkass I am.
"We have to do a lot better than that if we want to be a contender." – Coach Jeff Tedford
To clarify, Tedford was referring to the passing game specifically. While Coach Tedford has maintained that the entire team as a whole needs to continue to improve, Tedford recognizes our passing and receiving game as a current weakness in Cal’s offense. While it’s not yet a major area of concern, when your starting quarterback only passes for 51 yards in the first half, both the QB and receivers will certainly need to improve if the team plans on contending for a conference title as they hope to do.
"He does special things. You see him break some run and say, ‘I just wish I could do that.’ " –Kevin Riley
Don’t we all? I also wish I had 10.3 100-meter dash speed, but hey, it just ain’t happening. It didn’t stop Riley for trying on Saturday though, as Riley rushed twice for 45 yards including a 27 yard score. His other carry led to a fumble however. Hmmm…maybe we leave it more to Best…
“It didn’t register right away until I ran back to the sideline and thought this is what I’ve always been waiting for. I told my dad and myself that it was going to happen. I was expecting it and I was dreaming it. It was a signature moment to have come this far and to have been through so much, and I always wanted to say before I ended my career that I got to score at least once. Just to have that happen, it was all worth it to come back and really give everything I had to make it happen. I called my dad after the game and told him that [touchdown] was for you.” – Sean Young
Really good to see and hear for Sean Young. For those of you who don’t know the full dealio, Sean Young is a SIXTH year senior who was granted an extra year of eligibility because he’s been injured every season he’s been here. Every freaking season. To give you some context, Young played with former Cal receivers Geoff MacArthur, Burl Toler, and Jonathan Makonnen. Yeah. That was a long freaking time ago.
So for Young to come in and have a great season thus far, and live his collegiate dream, truly is a great story.
Last week, I posed the question as to whether or not it was wise to start Desean Jackson as my 3rd receiver in my Fantasy Football League rotation: Fantasy Football: Desean or No Desean?
It came down to whether or not Desean would be able to make an impact in his first game as a pro. Keep in mind, it takes most rookie wide receivers at least a full year before they can make a significant impact, let alone a fantasy one. Calvin Johnson, I'm talking to you buster. My other option was to go with veteran receiver Bernard Berrian who had 951 yards catching the ball from Rex Grossman. Yes Rex-freaking-Grossman.
At the end of the day I decided to go with my boy Desean, mainly because: 1) I had to have at least ONE Cal Bear in my starting rotation and 2) Tarvaris Jackson really really sucks.
Update: The protesters descended peacefully and were immediately detained after getting to the ground safely. I'm sure many would have like to have seen the protesters forcibly removed (by the use of a potato launcher perhaps), the whole incident has been resolved fairly safely.
Really entertaining stuff nonetheless. Major props to UCPD for taking the high road in all this, and more significantly, dealing with the smell. Remember, those protesters were up there for over a year. A YEAR. I feel gross not showering after a brisk walk. Blech.
1:10 - THEY'RE COMING DOWN!
1:05 - I think they're coming down. I'm seeing one protester step down and voluntarily go into police custody? Can anyone confirm? [Update: NBC has a REALLY good feed here:
At this point the four remaining protesters have moved to the very top of the tree to be out of reach of the platforms. It's only a matter of time though.
I must say, those tree huggers sitting in that small tub at the top of the tree are in a crap load of danger.
Man...just start poking them with a stick. Or easier yet: Tranq darts.]
Or I should say, being "forcibly removed." They've brought in a cherry picker and are setting up scaffolding to remove the sitters. Kick back, relax and and enjoy the Live Feed here. Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
For a game full of studs, this week's selections were a bit tricky for all the good reasons. But when you really think about it, the choices were fairly obvious.
Offensive Player of the Game: Jahvid Best Was there any real surprise? For the second week in a row, Best takes this week’s honors, although this week’s performance might have been even more impressive than last week’s. Best had 200 yards on the ground on only 14 carries, averaging a ridiculous 14.3 YPC. Oh and he also had 3 scores on the day. Two of the scores came on runs from 80 and 86 yards out.
Best already has 311 yards (which leads the conference) and 4 TDs on the season, well on his way to ensuring Cal has a consecutive 7th 1000 yard rusher.
Honorable Mentions: Shane Vereen: 9 carries, 80 yards, 1 TD The Entire Offensive Line: 0 sacks and 391 yards rushing. Nyan Boateng: 4 catches, 44 yards (led Cal receivers)
Defensive Player of the Game: Syd’Quan Thompson
I know, I know. It’s a bit of a cop-out to have the same two players as the players of the week back to back, but can you really blame me? Coming off the best game of his career, Syd’Quan out did himself with 2 interceptions, returning one for 90 yards before being tackled at the WSU 5 yard line. Thompson set a school record for INT return yards in a game.
This is the first time a Cal DB had 2 interceptions in a game since Daymeion Hughes did it against ASU in 2006 (remember the horse leap and kick over Rudy Carpenter?).
So the question is: Can Syd’Quan end up being BETTER than Hughes? He seems farther along than Hughes did at this point in his junior year. Scary.
Honorable Mentions: Mike Mohamed: 7 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss (led team in tackles) Zack Follet: 3 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, and returned a blocked FG for a TD
Play of the Game C’mon man, there were 9 TDs and 4 interceptions (one taken for 90 yards) in that game and you’re asking me to pick just one?
Man…at this point it’s just drawing a name from a hat, but I guess I have to go with Best’s opening 80 yard TD run. Yeah, his 86 yarder in the 3rd quarter was longer. Yeah, Shane Vereen’s 39 yard run looked arguably more impressive. But no other play really set a better tone for what the game was going to be like. Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
(Yes, that's me with the cell phone.) (AP Photo/Dean Hare)
Wow, a lot can be said from Cal’s 66-3 rout of Washington State on Saturday. It was pretty surreal to see Cal score in countless ways at such a rapid pace. It’s saying something when you find yourself asking, “Wait, is that Peter Geurts running the ball? Dang…he looks pretty good.”
It’s been quite some time since a game has shown so much and so little at the same time. On one hand, you got to see nearly the entire team get some extensive playing time due to the blow out, at the same time you have to take into consideration the level of Cal’s competition this weekend.
Here’s what we learned this weekend.
Washington State is really bad.
And by bad, I mean REALLY really bad. I’m not trying to trash talk here. There would be no need after what happened on Saturday. But seriously, this is one of the poorest on-field performances I’ve seen by a Pac-10 team in years. There were mistakes all around on their end, which ended up making Cal look a lot more dominant than they probably are at this point. I believe in evaluating Cal’s performance this past weekend, it’s important to really take into Washington’s performance into very strong consideration.
Riley and receivers need to continue to work
There’s really no other way to say it, Cal’s passing game is still a work in progress. After an efficient performance against MSU opening weekend, Kevin struggled in connecting with his receivers against Washington State.
It may have been a combination of imprecise route running, or a Riley putting a bit too much on his passes, but Cal missed out many opportunities in the passing game. It looked as though Riley was constantly overshooting wide open receivers. Riley finished the game 6-14 passing for only 51 yards, and a TD. Riley has yet to throw an interception so far this season, but I don’t think anyone is too pleased with only 51 yards through the air from their starting QB.
Keep in mind, I expect Cal to have a lot more opportunities to open it up in the next few weeks as teams eyes’ have undoubtedly opened up to Cal’s running game and will be loading up on defending the run. The question is whether Cal will be ready to take advantage of it.
On the bright side, Riley did gain 45 yards and a score rushing. On the not so bright side, Riley fumbled the ball on his second run. Hmm, maybe a quick post-it-note to throw in Riley’s play book: “slide.”
(AP Photo/Dean Hare)
What did I say about those kickoff returns?
So I saw a lot of good things with our special teams unit with Saturday’s game. Specifically, the kick offs were much better this week. David Seawright seemed to handle the kick off duties a bit better this week, able to at least get the ball inside the 10 yard line fairly consistently. It’s a bit sad that I’m excited by something as mediocre as that, but hey, it’s better than last week when MSU return men were fielding kickoffs at the 15.
Oh, and let’s not forget another huge Special Teams play, coming in another blocked kick returned for a TD. This time, a Wazzu FG was blocked and returned 65 yards by Zack Follett. Loved the grin and little shrug by Follett after the score.
The bad? Pretty obvious choice here, the kick off returns. Cal gave up 296 yards on kick off returns, including returns of 66 and 68 yards. This, coming right after I had ragged on how poor WSU was in their special teams coverage. The Cougars’ first big return set up their only score for the day, and it nearly goes without saying that Cal would have pitched a shut out had it not been for this return.
Cal dodged some major bullets with WSU being unable to capitalize on their good field position, but this will be not be the case with tougher opponents. Cal will not be able to stay in games consistently allowing opponents to start their drives in Cal territory.
Run Defense
Cal’s run defense continues to impress. Again, I’m excited to see how Cal does against some of the stronger running opponents (Oregon comes to mind), but still, the 3-4 is still looking very good against the run. Cal limited WSU’s starting running back Dwight Tardy to 20 yards on 14 attempts, and kept the entire team to only 59 yards. Wow. So far, me likey.
Shane Vereen…Better than Best?
I know, what you’re thinking. Uh…Mr. Bear with Fangs, in case you didn’t notice, Jahvid Best had 200 yards on 14 carries. P.S. Douschebag, he also had 3 TDs.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Best is special. He may be one of the best the school has seen when it’s all said and done, but I really like how Vereen runs. His 39 yard TD run in which he bounced off a WSU defender, spun and blazed into the end zone left me really impressed. Vereen finished his short day on 9 carries or 80 yards.
Right now, I can’t even decide who I like more. It’s like having to choose who you’d want to date between Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johannsen. You can’t go wrong with either. But, my very initial observations appear to be this: Best is a bit more explosive running into his holes, and has world class speed which makes him one of the most dangerous backs in the game. Vereen is a pinch slower, but looks like a slightly more natural back, showing a little better balance and vision.
I'm just glad that both are paying for the Bears.
(Yeh, Norris, I couldn't stop from laughing myself) (AP Photo/Dean Hare)
Other quick hits
Want to know the one of the main reasons for all the big runs? Start off with the big uglies up front. Granted WSU didn’t have a really daunting D-Line, but the holes they were opening up for the backs on Saturday were huge. Red Sea huge. The Bears amassed a whopping 391 yards on the ground.
The notorious Cal secondary notched up 4 interceptions on Saturday, the most in quite some time. Syd'Quan had 2, Bernard Hicks dove for one, and Brett Johnson notched up the final. Hmm, talented free safety and explosive special teams player. Could Johnson be the next DeCoud?
Good to see Nate Longshore get some playing time and an opportunity to regain some confidence. Without any late-game pressure or much of a need to prove himself, Nate turned in a much better performance than his debacle against MSU. Longshore avoided pressing any throws, settled down, took his time, and played more to his game. Simple hooks and out routes let Nate finish 7-8 passing for 53 yards, and more importantly, NO turnovers.
Same can be said for Nyan Boateng, who bounced back from a rough debut as a Cal receiver, when he dropped both passes thrown his way. Boateng led the Cal receivers in catches and receiving yards this week with 4 catches for 44 yards. Good to see for Nyan, who has all the talent, and just needs to the confidence to begin building some consistency on the field.
Oh and Cameron Morrah, where did you go?
Wrapping Up
That's about it for now. Check in tomorrow when I award my helmet stickers to the best performances and plays of the game. Can you guess who?
Looks like I've experienced a pretty epic fail with trying to hook up my Cover It Live Blog with Bears Necessity. I'll just have to do my regular updates.
6:57 -Game's over, and in some ways I feel there's more to say about this game than last week's. Man, what a shalacking. Go Bears, and look for the writeup sometime tomorrow.
6:46 -So who feels bad for the Cougs?
I don't, but if the Cougs can't score on this drive after starting on Cal's 26 yard line, I might. I MIGHT.
Just found out this is the worst loss in school history for the Cougs.
And WSU just turned the ball over on downs.
Hmm, yeah I feel kinda bad for WSU.
6:40 - These announcers are killing me. They're wondering why Tedford hasn't redshirted Mansion with the depth Cal has at QB.
To clarify, Mansion is a REDSHIRT freshman.
6:38 - Brett Johnson just picked off WSU's third string quarterback for Cal's 4th pick of the day. When was the last time that happened in a game? In a season?
6:32 - Mansion has got his first completion of his college career with a small little hookup with FB Zack Smith on a bootleg. Drive still ends in a 3 and out, but still good to see for Mansion.
6:30 -Brock Mansion is in the game. Perfect Call. Let Nate come out of the game after two good series, and give Mansion his first collegiate playing time. Let's see how the kid does.
6:28 -The one area of the game that has been nearly non-existent for the Bears has been the punt return game. I know Young is supposed to have the surest hands, but he even bobbled one. He just lost his balance on the last one.
6: 21 -I want Cal to go for it. Give it to Slocum and let the daddy score.
Hory crap, they're doing it.
YEAH BABY!
6:17 - It's the end of the 3rd Quarter, and Nate continues to hook up with his receivers for short catches on the field. Good for our receivers. They'll need to get their hands on the ball as much as possible in real game time situations. Too bad these balls aren't coming from Riley.
But this could be real good for Nate as well if he can keep it up. He needed a bit of a rebound game after last week's disaster. I don't believe he's missed so far. Correction: He's 6 of 7.
6:08 - Bears fans having to sighing a breath of relief. Longshore put a nice long drive together that ended in a 37 yard David Seawright field goal. He did everything you would want in a backup QB. Managed the game, put some nice drives together, and most importantly:
NO PICK SIXES. Keep it up Nate.
6:04 - Sucking in my breath each time Nate throws, but he's putting a drive together. Longshore hooks up with Nyan Boateng three times for Boateng's first receptions of the season.
6:01 - Longshore is in! Longshore is in! My mind is reeling.
5:53 - My goodness...Jahvid Best is out of control. For every few plays Best gets stuffed, he breaks off for a huge one. Another 86 yarder for Best, and another score.
Best has 200 yards on 14 carries and 3 TD.
Wow.
Oh and Tedford, get Best out of the game. Give it to Vereen and Slocum for the rest of the game.
5:49 - After allowing new WSU QB Lopina to march the Cougs down the field. It appears that Bernard Hicks picked Lopina off at the Bears' 10 yard line.
And of course...the play is under review.
...And the play stands! Geez, nice change of pace from what happened last week.
For the record, the crew got most of plays right both weeks though. Hicks got his hands underneath the ball.
Second half Thoughts: You can't be unhappy with a 42-3 score. Or can you? Overall, incredibly pleased with what I'm seeing in the defense. They only really gave up those 3 points off that huge kick off return.
Riley still has yet to develop any really chemistry with his receivers, leading them a bit too far on a number of occasions. He's also going to have to learn to avoid contact when running the ball, turning the ball over on a designed run.
Let's see how the second half develops. It'll be interesting to see how much of the starters continue to play in the second half. It is a conference game, but how much will your risk in what is looking like a blow out win?
And will we see Longshore?
...Probably not.
5:03 - Could Squid be better than Dante Hughes? He looks to be further along than Hughes was at this point in the junior year. Thompson just notched up his second pick of the day. Doesn't that match last year's total for him?
4:59 - Riley is also showing why he's still young, fumbling on a QB keep. Dah...
4:51 - Broken Play? Who cares?! Riley shows off what one of the reasons he might so special, taking off for a 27 yard rush into the endzone. He didn't even look that fast, but made it look really easy against the Cougs' defense.
4:41 -Not sure if it's miscommunication with his receivers, but Riley isn't quite that sharp at this point in the game. He's floated quite a few passes and led them a bit too far on a handful of occasions...
4:30 - After a little bit of a lull in scoring, Follett provides another explosive play by returning a blocked field goal for a TD. Bears up, 28-3.
4:09 - Very impressive defense with sack by Follett to finish WSU's drive. A nice FG puts WSU on the board 21-3. Really liking what I'm seeing with Cal's run D so far.
4:04 - I can't keep up. Cal is on a scoring spree. Shane Vereen for a huge run to put the Bears up 21-0.
And...Cal gives up a huge kick off return to bring Wazzu down to Cal's 22. Jeezus...no arm tackling guys!
3:49 - No sooner did I speak did Syd'Quan Thompson pick off WSU QB Rogers after Alualu flushed Rogers out of the pocket...
...And Riley hooks up with Sean Young for a 15 yard score. Man, I've barely had time to hook up my laptop.
3:47 - Great way to start the game with Jahvid Best breaking off an 80 yard run. Once he hit the hole, it was all she wrote for Best. Let's see how the defense responds.
1) Keep Javon Ringer under 100 yards. Check. I thought this was the biggest reason that Cal was able to stay in control of the game, by taking away MSU’s biggest weapon on offense.
2) Limit Turnovers Both of Nate Longshore’s interceptions could have been potential back breakers had they happened later in the game. But solid defense and a sustained drive following the second interception stopped the bleeding.
3) The Big Play Boom. This came in the blocked punt returned for a TD. While one can argue that Shane Vereen’s 81 yard TD run later in the game was more significant of a play, Brent Johnson’s block and Bryant Nnabuife’s subsequent diving return for a TD energized the crowd and the team, and put Cal up for the rest of the game. Remember, Cal only won by 7. That TD was critical.
3 Keys to the Game This week, Cal travels to Pullman, Washington to face new head coach Paul Wulff and the Washington State Cougars. The Cougs are projected to finish last in the Pac-10, and did very little to dispel any of those notions with their 39-13 loss last week to Oklahoma State. Still, Cal’s first road trip and atypical early conference game of the season should provide enough tests as it is for a mostly young Bears team. If Cal wants to be 2-0 come Saturday evening, here are the 3 keys to the game:
(AP Photo)
1) Be Special on Special Teams While the Bears don’t quite need to play Beamer Ball, they are going to have to step it up on Special Teams, especially when playing the Cougars who struggled in this facet of the game last week. In last week’s loss to Oklahoma State, Washington State allowed 252 yards in punt and kickoff returns including punt returns of 42 and 68 yards and a 90 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. The Cougs’ place-kicker Wade Penner missed on an extra point attempt, and converted quarterback Dan Wagner was pushed into punting duties because of an injury to their punter Reid Forest.
Converted quarterback? At least we now have some ideas for other ways Nate Longshore can contribute if Riley remains as the starter all season. Wait, Wagner was constantly line-driving kicks allowing the Cowboys to average nearly 25 yards per return? Nevermind.
The Bears will have to take advantage of a young and struggling Washington State special teams squad. While the Cougars will undoubtedly be better on special teams after having Reid Forest back and another week of practice, solid returns will be critical in setting up Bears in good field position to keep them in the game. And these returns will hopefully come in someone other than Jahvid Best. Excluding Best’s returns, which averaged 25.8 yards on 4 kickoff returns for 103 yards, the Bears weren’t exactly shining in the return game: Sean Young (2 returns, -3 yards), Devin Bishop (1 return, 15 yards), Tracey Slocum (1 return, 0 yards), Brett Johnson (1 return, 5 yards).
Another X-factor will be Bryan Anger’s sprained knee. While the x-rays came back negative, and Anger will travel with the team, Bear fans should keep an eye on whether Anger will still be able to boom the balls into Canada with his injury.
Oh and Bears, don’t allow any big returns. Please, I loved what I saw last week. Solid tackling. Please keep it up.
2) Get Pressure on Mr. Rogers Despite Washington State’s offense only managing 198 total yards last week, it will be important for Cal to take the Cougars squad seriously. They had better, after giving up 321 yards in the passing game last week against Michigan State.
Wazzu quarterback Gary Rogers is huge—6’7 in fact, and moves much better than his size would indicate. Rogers rushed for TD and threw for only 82 yards in the first start of his career, although receivers dropped numerous balls. It will be especially important that Rogers doesn’t develop a rhythm with his star receiver Brendan Gibson.
Nothing will disrupt that rhythm better than creating havoc at the line. It all starts in the trenches, and Cal will have to take advantage of a shuffling WSU offensive line that is missing starting left guard Andrew Roxas. While Cal showed last week they can defend the run, and put some pressure on the QB, Cal will need more pressure on Rogers to force errant throws.
Oh, and a few sacks would be nice.
3) Air it Out Washington State’s defense may surprisingly be the strength of a typically offense focused team. I’m feeling a bit more confident that Cal will continue to run the ball decently well. WSU gave up 174 yards on the ground to OSU last week, and Cal will be touting an offensive line and 2 running backs that both went over the century mark on Saturday.
While the running game will be critical to Cal’s success, I’m much more intrigued as to how our passing game will look. With Riley set to play all snaps as the starting quarterback, who will emerge as his go-to targets? Cameron Morrah seems to be the obvious choice after he hauled in 5 passes for 93 yards and a TD last week. Backs Best and Vereen will also get a significant number of catches coming off screens and swing passes. But a number of our wide receivers will have to step up, specifically in the red zone.
WSU’s undersized secondary was abused last weekend on high lobbed passes to 6’2 OSU receiver Dez Bryant. That could prove to be a bright omen to a Cal wide receiving corps. that features all of its wide receivers (minus Sean Young) topping out over the 6 foot mark.
Hopefully, Riley will have the time to throw and develop his chemistry with his receivers. The Cougars lack a proven pass rusher on the defensive line. DE Kevin Kooyman recorded the only two quarterback hurries against Oklahoma State, and linebacker Greg Trent posted the lone sack. Even more damaging is the news that WSU’s best D-Lineman A’I Ahmu will sit the first half after missing a court date over minor drug charges.
The time is now to start airing it out.
Alrite, that's about it. Some people are predicting this might be closer than most fans might think, but I'm hoping that's not the case. It'd be nice to see a decisive win over what is projected to be an inferior opponent. If all goes well, I'll try and post throughout the game tomorrow. Cheers and Go Bears!Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
"A California Appellate court in San Francisco said today that it will not issue an injunction banning construction at the site of proposed development near UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium.
The decision by the three-judge panel allows the campus to begin the construction it has been seeking to begin since December 2006."
So while the plaintiffs will try and ask for an emergency injunction from the California Supreme Court tomorrow, that looks to be all but unlikely, considering the plaintiffs have so resolutely gotten their asses kicked in nearly every phase of this legal process.
Long story short: The trees are coming down. The University hasn't announced when they will begin "escorting" the tree-sitters down and beginning construction, but the good news is that they can do it whenever the hell they please.
So, my starting lineup is stacked. And by stacked, I mean Pam Anderson stacked. Domination. Check it out: Yes. It’s true. Your eyes do not deceive you. I’ve got Desean Jackson pegged in as my third starting receiver. Why? A combination of factors, but the gist is that I thought I was better served drafting Jason Witten as my TE a round earlier, than reaching for a not-so-good receiver. So when the round came to draft a 3rd receiver, and Action Jackson was on the board, I thought: “Championship!”
But as I looked at this week’s matchup, I found myself projected to lose this week despite my all-star team. And the discrepancy between my expectations and Yahoo’s became glaringly apparent: Desean Jackson’s project 3 fantasy points. That means Yahoo! is predicting 30 receiving yards for Desean.
…
So I gots a quick Fantasy Football Question to all of my loyal readers: Am I better served benching Jackson and starting my only other option, Bernard Berrian?
Here are the pros and cons of each:
Starting Desean Jackson Pros - Productive and explosive. (See: entire career at Cal) -Has led the Eagles in the Preseason in both catches and receiving yards. -Injury to Kevin Curtis opens up a spot for Jackson as a starter. Cons: - Opening day jitters. Even the most poised of rookies go through it. - His small frame indicates he’s one hit away from decapitation and subsequent incapacitation. - Andy Reid doesn’t like playing rookies.
With Bernard Berrian it’s a bit simpler. Pros -Hauled in 951 receiving yards and 5 TDs with Rex Grossman as his QB. That alone could be enough to seal the deal. But… Cons -Tarvaris Jackson is his QB. Yes, the Tarvaris Jackson who posted a 70.8 pass rating, and 1,911 passing yards last season. I GUESS it’s better than Grossman’s 1,411 yards, but I’m not sure… -Plays against a salty and veteran Green Bay secondary in the season opener. -Has not played any preseason games due to a toe injury (Michael Calvin says “hi”), but expects to play on Sunday.
Ahh conundrum. The Bears side of me screams “Desean you idiot!” But the competitive fantasy football side of me (defending champion mind you) says I’m better served going with a more veteran receiver, at least for the first week. Why gamble with an unknown to start the season?
Maybe because a part of me feels like Jackson might explode. Who knows? I need your guys’ help. Leave a comment or shoot me an email with thoughts. Desean or no Desean?Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
A few quick quotes and thoughts from yesterday's Cal media luncheon:
"We don't want to just get sacks; we want to put people out of the game. We're not nice guys on the field. Maybe off the field, but on the field, we plan on putting guys out of the game and making plays. We've tried to take on a whole new attitude and make a whole new identity." -Derrick Hill
Me likey. I’m never one to cheer for players getting injured, or any talk about intentionally injuring players. And I don’t think Hill is either. Hill appears to be talking about the new attitude that the Cal defense is attempting to create as a defense hoping to strike fear in the hearts of opposing offenses. It would be a refreshing change from the pass rush (or lackthereof) from last year’s squad.
"Kevin's our quarterback. He's earned that right with his last two performances and a solid camp." -Jeff Tedford
It’s been settled. Kevin Riley will play the entire game against WSU, and there are no plans for Nate Longshore to play any series. The QB competition appears to be settled for now, and as I had mentioned in my previous post, this is a good thing. The offense needs its face, and it needs to begin working around having one exclusive quarterback. Tedford made the somewhat obvious decision, but undeniably, the right one.
"I think Nate did an awesome job in the second half (against Michigan State), staying involved, suggesting plays," Tedford said. "He's such a team-above-self guy." -Jeff Tedford
I’m impressed with what I’m hearing about Nate. Not surprised, but impressed. After being yanked after back-to-back interceptions, and having to hear a chorus of boos from restless Cal fans, you could have expected to see Nate moping on the sidelines, or sitting by himself on the far end of a bench.
Instead, Nate was consistently involved in the sideline offensive huddles, and the above quote indicates that he was still looking to find ways to contribute as a backup.
While the news of essentially having the door shut on his career as a starter at Cal was no doubt a blow to Longshore, it’s encouraging to hear that Nate is still attempting to put the team’s needs above his own. Again, I can’t reiterate enough how much Cal will benefit from having an experienced senior QB (second winningest QB in school history) as a backup. Ken Crawford had a very telling stat in his most recent podcast. 8 of 10 starting Pac-10 QBs last year were out with injury at some point in the season. We may most likely need Nate at some point in the year, and hopefully a positive Nate will be better than a broken-spirited one.
Even Kevin Riley pretty much said it himself. “Nate is a great teammate. It's a tough situation. He's a team guy. I think he understands it's the coaches' decision and if he gets a chance, he has to be ready." Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
The new AP and USA Today Polls are out and Cal has moved up a few spots to rank just out of the Top 25 at 28th and 27th respectively. Cal received 91 votes in the AP Top 25 behind Clemson and East Carolina. In the USA Today Poll, only UCLA, coming off a stunning upset over Tennessee, stands in the way of Cal cracking the Top 25.
It’s worth remembering though, that the only ranking that matters is the one at the end of the season. Still, it’s still good to see Cal get some positive momentum in the polls after what was viewed as a solid win over the weekend.
Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
As we begin to wrap up our thoughts on Cal’s season opening victory over Michigan State on Saturday, and look ahead towards Saturday’s conference opener with Washington State, BearswithFangs would like to take a moment to recognize the star performances of Saturday’s game.
Offensive Player of the Game: Jahvid Best Best had a workhorse performance on Saturday, nearly matching the number of carries he had all of last season. Best got it done in nearly every facet of the game. The “Jet” had 111 yards rushing on 24 carries, including a 2 yard run in which he simply outran Spartan defenders on his way to the pylon. He also had 63 yards receiving on 5 catches, and returned 4 kickoffs for 103 yards. Best came into the game amidst major durability questions and concerns on whether he could be an every down back, and certainly responded with his 289 all-purpose yards. As Lee Corso would say, that’s worth a “Yo.”
Honorable Mentions: Kevin Riley: 17-24, 202 yards, 2 TDs. Cameron Morrah: 5 rec, 93 yards, 1 TD. Sean Young: 4 rec, 81 yards. Shane Vereen: 9 carries, 101 yards, 1 TD, 4 rec, 16 yards. Defensive Player of the Game: Syd'Quan Thompson This one was arguable tougher as there were a number of solid performances for the defense on Saturday. The newly jacked up Anthony Felder led the team in tackles with Zack Follett and Marcus Ezeff not far behind. Although it didn’t show up in the stat books, Tyson Alualu was constantly being called upon by the announcers and was solid in creating pressure and havoc on the line.
Still, you have to like what Syd’Quan did in the opener. Squid has developed into one of the most polished defensive backs in the conference and essentially shut down his side of the field. Thompson was impressive in his open field tackling, and deflected passes left and right. While Syd’Quan’s interception came on a wounded duck after Hoyer threw off his back foot to avoid the defensive pressure, the replays show the difficulty involved in the interception, as Syd’Quan had to acrobatically maintain his feet in bounds as the ball looked to be floating out of bounds. Syd’Quan is off to a good start.
Honorable Mentions: Anthony Felder: 12 tackles, 1 TFL Marcus Ezeff: 9 tackles, 2 pass break ups
Play of the Game Got to go with Shane Vereen’s 81 yard TD run late in the game. Not only was it executed properly (with Will Tau’fo’ou crushing a MSU defender to open up a block), but it was the longest and most explosive play of the game, and proved to be the winning score. It was also nominated as a Pontiac Game Changing Performance for the week. You can check out a fan’s video of his run below.
What a game and what a weekend. Opening game has come and gone, and boy was it a sight to see. For what it's worth, the moment it finally hit me that the season had started was when I made my way up to Memorial Stadium with some friends, and found myself engulfed in a sea of Cal fans dressed in blue and gold on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Ahh. It nearly brought a tear to my eye.
There are a lot of things that can be said about Cal’s opener on Saturday. All in all, I was fairly pleased with how Cal played. I thought they had a solid first game against a competitive Michigan State squad who I think will finish in the top half of the Big Ten. There were plenty of mistakes for the team to learn from, and the team is certainly still a work in progress, but most Cal fans had to feel pretty good about what they saw with their team’s opening performance.
Here are a couple of the highlights and takeaways from Saturday’s game: You got to go with Kevin Riley.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
You have to feel sorry for Nate Longshore. Coming off a rough 2007 season, Longshore knew he would only have a few series this game to make his continued bid for the starting job. Things started off well for Longshore, hitting three straight completions to march the offense down the field in a hurry, only to kill the drive by throwing an interception into the endzone. It only got worse on the very next possession, after Longshore threw an inexplicable pass into the triple coverage that was returned for a TD.
Look, I'm a Longshore fan. I’ve been a strong supporter for Nate for a while. I think he can still be a great QB, is a quality kid, and I won’t ever forget his incredible contributions to the Cal program. But Riley has to be the man going forward. It’s time for the entire team, including the coaches, to unequivocally throw their support behind Riley and move forward with developing the offense.
Riley was efficient on Saturday, going 17-24 for 202 yards and 2 TDs. More importantly, he moved the ball well and avoided any turnovers. His most brilliant play of the game came on a 26 yard pass to Cameron Morrah on a 3rd down as he was being taken down by a Spartan defender. While that play doesn’t define Riley, it highlights the playmaking ability that Riley possesses that sets him apart from other QBs.
Nate will prove to be an invaluable resource as a solid backup for the remainder of the season, and will be a strong veteran presence for the team, but Riley has to be starter without any fear of losing his starting position.
Cal’s got 2 quality backs. We all knew what Jahvid Best brought to the table in terms of speed. And while I don’t think Best will be moving any piles any time soon, he showed he was at least capable of hitting his hole and gaining positive yardage, and being a VERY explosive back.
The bigger story thought, may be Cal fans' introduction to Shane Veereen. I don’t think many Cal fans who don’t follow the message boards were aware of the talent that they had in Vereen. Well if they didn’t before, they do now. Vereen rushed only 9 times for 101 yards and including a huge 81 yard TD run that would prove to be the winning score late in the game.
It’s still too early to predict two 1000 yard rushers, but most Cal fans have to think that it’s at least very much possible after Saturday. Our Defense Looks Pretty Good Look, I know we gave up over 300 yards passing. I also am somewhat aware that we gave up 31 points. But when you can keep Javon Ringer, one of the premier backs in the country to 81 yards on 27 carries and a 3.0 average, you have to feel pretty good about Cal’s new 3-4 defense. Saturday night’s game was set to be a true test for how the new defensive scheme would match up against a strong running game, and I thought the defense answered the call pretty well.
Keep in mind that 7 points came off Nate Longshore’s pick six, and another TD came when MSU began their drive inside Cal’s redzone off of the blocked punt.
Much has been said about Darian Hagan’s first performance as Cal’s starter at cornerback. For the most part, I thought Hagan played fine. With the exception of a few passes, Hagan wasn’t caught out of position, and closed on the ball quickly with solid tackles. Hagan will have to take advantage of his opportunities better however, as he was unable to capitalize on numerous chances at interceptions. All in all, though, it was a decent debut as a starter for Hagan.
Special Teams needs to tighten it up.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
It was truly a mixed bag with our Special Teams. There was the good: the blocked punt return for a TD and Bryan Anger. And there was the bad: kickoffs, the roughing-the-kicker penalty and Bryan Anger.
Let me explain what I mean about Anger. First off, I agree with Jonathan Okanes’ statement that Anger will be an All-American when his time at Cal is done. The guy has fantastic talent, and his first two punts averaged 57.5 yards. Absurd. Anger, a redshirt freshman, showed his youth however, bobbling a high snap from Nick Sundberg and getting his subsequent punt attempt blocked which set up Michigan State’s next score. I have little concern though that punting will prove NOT to be an area of concern as the season progresses.
As for the kickoffs, neither David Seawright or Giorgio Taveccio showed they were capable of kicking the ball off inside the 10, or even the 15 for most of the game. Maybe they were trying to keep the ball away from Ringer. Maybe none of them have the leg to do it. If it’s the latter, I’m not really sure how to remedy this. Practice more onside kicks? Get really good at squibs? This could potentially be a bigger issues later on in the season.
Other Quick Hits:
TE Cameron Morrah is going to have a big year. Nothing assures more passes thrown to a tight end than a brand new crop of wide receivers, and a new starting quarterback. And thankfully, Morrah has the talent to know what to do with those passes.
Good acting job by Alex Mack to earn that personal foul penalty late in the game. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mack get pushed out onto his backup. That was Manu Ginobili flop-esque.
Good show of sportsmanship and team camaraderie by Kevin Riley who signaled to the crowd to stop booing Longshore after Longshore’s second interception. Good to see that support. It would be even better to see more Cal fans follow suit.
All in All... It’s strange. I feel like Cal fans felt more excited about the team coming out of Saturday’s game than they did after Cal’s victory over Tennessee last year. That’s what a year can do in terms of expectations. The game hasn’t changed any of my previous expectations though. I still think an 8-4 season will be a successful one for Cal. We can’t get too excited just yet, as it’s only been one game. But remember, every game counts.Read the rest of the post and comments here >>
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