SB Nation - Trevor Guyton

Cal-Oregon State 2009 Report Card

TwistNHook — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:00:32 -0000

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score	2.140	2.281	2.167	0.658	0.633	3.267	0.975	1.000	1.883	1.350	1.079
Grade	C	C+	C+	D-	D-	B+	D	D	C	D+	D

A new week. And a new drunk commenter trying to tell the world his thoughts. Last week it was Goldblooded. This week? USAFGoldenBear. Even American heroes aren't immune to the emotional disaster that was Jahvid Best's injury. I've highlighted the best part:

USAFGoldenBear

QB - Just whn i was goin to sau riley doesnt suck...he does.   Unfortunately there was a lackj on the oline as well...

RB - I hape jvid is ok....dude is oo aweme to go downre like that

whhhy cnat we get a runn gng? wttf is up?

WR - Can the not dropp good passe plz? give marvin the balll

Run Blocking - well for th lorve of god......quit suckling...

Pass Protection - ummmm, makkeres me so mad. reley needs the time to throw

Run D - quioss got stopp...nice, bestn jobr\.

Pass Rush - i saw som blitzx...but osu got tu much time. sackls to muccch to ask fr

Pass D - haaaaaaa...cent gert protrec whenn qb get al day

Special Teams - angr did k but to mnyy punts    cnt beart beavres? whyy?

Coaching -    iu thouygt gregoy coulkd stop canfilllesd ....wryoung...my bad

Gameday - i got to watghc the gamre on ZTV...no mare internetz....javid got hert....drank by my sedf...i dtn have a problam

After the fold, see more of your comments on the Cal-OSU football game! GO BEARS!

Golden Rationality Award, which I think is for being rational, a rare occurrence for internet college football fans.

Commenter/alias name	Standard Deviation
Kodiak	1.348
yorzepol	1.527
rickruss	1.764
Berkelium97	1.869
Ohio Bear	1.872

Old Blue Award, for I guess being really really really really really old.

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
rurata	0.515
ososdeoro	0.758
bluehenbear	0.818
iVinshe	1.100
Oaklandishbear	1.364

Golden Sunglasses Award, for spending way too much money on a pair of sunglasses that is going to bend too easily. I mean gold is one of the most malleable substances on earth. Just an imprudent purchase in my view.

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
BTown85	2.333
ajay	2.273
USAFGoldenBear	2.212
Manwich	2.152
MadBum	2.037

And now onto the report cards!

IMG_6971 (via Monica's Dad)

rurata - Riley back to his overthrowing self. What was his final completion percentage, like 35%? This has convinced me that we should be giving the backups more playing time. At least he didn't fumble the ball today.

MadBum - Riley did an okay job. Was I overly impressed? No. Was I incredibly dissapointed? No. Riley was shaken up by a cheap shot, and I think that hurt us. Kevin did what we could hope for: not too many mistakes, an occasional shot down the field keeping the D honest, and giving the run game a chance. He did make a INT throw in the redzone that was called back. But let's address one thing: Riley isn't a quarterback that can lead a team back into games. He's a guy that'll give you occasional shots downfield, and he'll do a nice job mid-range game. But he's not a guy you want attempting 30+ passes per game. He doesn't possess the ability to single handedly bring a team back into the game, and when asked to he'll dissapoint. Riley was passing tonight, and you can't blame him for the loss.

ajay - It's the same problem he has been having all year long. Whether it's a screen pass or a short pass, his passes just aren't on target, and that's what is killing us game in and game out. One thing that I noticed this game compared to others was that he would hesitate on throwing some of his deep balls, and after that slight hesitation, throw it anyways. When doing that, I remember him only completing one pass. It's something I never saw before, and I definitely don't think it's a good thing . . .

oaklandishbear - Why, oh why, can't Riley hit a screen pass? Such a power weapon for the Bears eliminated by the utter failure of Riley to hit Best or Vereen in stride. Absolutely inexcusable. Riley not terribly "on" tonight, and I know the O-line bears most of the responsibility for Riley being constantly hurried, but I'm not seeing Riley step up on a consistent basis.

Ohio Bear - Riley was inaccurate. Being pressured constantly prolly didn't help. It would be nice if he had opportunity to plant has back foot on the last step of his drop and not have someone already there whom he has to elude.

via www.calbearsonline.com

MadBum - Our runningbacks touched the ball 14 times all night. And we weren't falling behind huge early. Play-calling takes the blame. Obviously, Best's situation hampered the team completely. He's the team's biggest play-maker, and without him the running game is severly hurt. Vereen didn't have a chance, 5 carries isn't enough. Poor blocking crushed any hopes of a passable run game.

ajay - Jahvid had a relatively quiet night until the first touch down drive, which was great until he went down (sadly with that second concussion this week). From that point on, we just struggled running the ball, so I can't say anything positive. One thing I do remember us not doing is making a run of 15 yards or more. I'm guessing they just played us well.

BlueHenBear - Jahvid's concussive run was the only highlight of the game (except for the injury). I hope he's OK for his sake...and for his sake I hope he takes the rest of the season off, cuz there appears to be no daylight for him to run to anymore. The beavs forced us into a passing game, so there's no reason to fault the running game, except maybe in the first quarter, but all the holes were plugged.

BTown85 - Unimpressive running, but what can you do without run blocking? Best flew through the air and I was holding my breath for him. I was SO glad to see him move his hand while they put the c-collar on him.

OhioBear - Losing Jahvid didn't help the running game, and certainly not the psyche of the team. Not a film guru, but near as I could tell, we got everything we could out of what the O-line gave us. The fateful play that hurt Jahvid was a testament to Jahvid's courage and tenacity.

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - Too many drops, again. I'm really losing confidence in Ross. Lagemann had some great catches. He has a great presence in the middle. Nyan had a few nice catches too. Sparks made his presence felt a couple times.

MadBum - Pretty meh performance here. Tucker impressed me with his pass-catching ability, and he did make some big plays. He needs to cut down the trash-talking. Verran was our lone star, and I'd say he was very good. Everybody else didn't carry the load. Sorry, Marvin isn't a star quite yet. It was obvious to me that Anthony Miller is one of the keys to this club's success, and he was out.

ososdereo - This receiving corps clearly suffers from separation anxiety.

oaklandishbear - Probably the brightest unit on the field Saturday. Tucker was active and Lagemann had a couple of nice grabs. Only one catch by a TE, though. What's up with that?

kodiak - Generally did okay...Not sure if Riley was missing open guys (again), if the WR's weren't getting open, or if there just wasn't enough time. Disappointing not to dominate an inexperienced secondary. Losing Miller hurt here a lot. Ross had his one crucial drop...He must have a quota or something.

Run blocking

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - I thought OSU was supposed to have a weak front seven, but you'd never be able to tell against the Maginot line of OSU. I don't know why we didn't at least try more outside runs to go around the Maginot line. Even if the O-line isn't athletic enough to block like that out of standard I-formations, we've had success running outside out of the wildcat. I was hoping to see more wildcat.

yorzepol - Once again our O-line was owned by the opposing D-line. I don't know enough to know if it is guys losing their individual battles or our run blocking philosophy in general but something is rotten in Berkeley. We can not run against any team with a decent run defense. No running game makes baby Jesus cry. :(

BlueHenBear - Rodgers brothers got their yards and their TDs. Not spectacular running and we did get some tackles for loss, but OSU was able to execute their methodical clock eating drives that were not quite as painful as getting my fingernails ripped out. Maybe danzig can make a highlight film for the beavs showing our linebacker whiffs.

Pass Protection

via www.calbearsonline.com

rickruss - It's as though we were we missing a lineman tonight during the game, i.e., we were missing a down lineman (4 instead of 5)

yorzepol - Riley was not sacked much but he was hurried. OSU's pass rush got in his head for most of the game and he was in a funk almost all night. I was encouraged by our last drive but sad that we couldn't do it earlier in the game when it might have made a difference.

OhioBear - It was a "huzzah" moment every time Riley could plant his foot on the last step of his drop and actually have a moment to look downfield before throwing. Those moments were too few. OSU was in our kitchen all freaking night.

Run D

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - Except for the one TD run, it was the best performance of the year. No one has been able to shut down Quizz and James like that. I was very impressed. Holding them under 2.5ypc is an incredible feat. Syd had an especially strong presence in the run D.

yorzepol - I thought we did as good as could be expected under the circumstances. The circumstances being that we got owned in just about every facet of the game. With the passing game able to convert first downs at will, it makes it very difficult to stop the times when they do run.

DrBeeper - Very credible job containing Rodgers. The bend-don't-break strategy is pretty consistently undermined by the pass D breakdowns

OhioBear - Excellent. We basically held Quizz down the entire game until he finally broke the 24-yard TD and we had effective defense against the fly sweep. Syd is an awesome DB in run support - best I've ever seen at Cal.

Pass Rush

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - Canfield had all day to throw and unlike recent QBs we've face, he's deadly when he had time. He torched us all night. Gregory tried a few stunts and blitzes, but nothing was getting through.

MadBum - What pass rush?

yorzepol - What pass rush? I think we got one sack. Canfield had time to pick our secondary apart and like most other quarterbacks we've faced, we made him look like a Heisman candidate (of course he was leading the Pac-10 in yards/game before this game but still, he was above his average today.)

JrBear- FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
We should really be in a 4-3 this season.

Pass D

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - As usual, a TE had his draft stock boosted tremendously. Without the pass rush, there's not much to do against a QB like that. Syd had a great day, but everyone else was mediocre to poor, particularly with tackling.

MadBum - What pass defense?

secret Asian man - It was disappointing to see them contain the run and to see them convert on long third down situations again and again. Canfield picked apart the defense like it was a video game today.

BlueHenBear - What was OSUs third down conversion percentage? Seemed like ~75%. 3rd and 6, 3rd and 9, even 3rd and 12, 3rd and 16, etc. Rinse, lather, repeat. I think our opposition has scouted our zones and yet we continue to camp out where the WR/TEs are not. :banghead Oh, and tackling :banghead whiff!

kodiak - Cattouse is getting better and it's good that they're giving him more time. Ezeff should stick to special teams. He gave up another TD and this one can't be blamed on Conte. Johnson blew so many tackles that they should check him for concussion symptoms...maybe he forgot which team he wanted to win. Syd is a flat-out stud that we're really going to miss.

Special Teams

via www.calbearsonline.com

BTown85 - Kickoffs were worse than ever. To the 30??? In warm-ups I thought Tavecchio was trying some sort of pooch/onside thing. Little did I know this was his full leg for the evening. Brian anger continues to impress.

Coaching

DrBeeper - The good news? We only kicked off twice so how bad could our coverage be. Anger was typically great punting.

BlueHenBear - Hey, they didn't lose the game for us! woo hoo. OSU seemed to always have good field position though to go along with their steady consistent drives.

Coaching

via www.calbearsonline.com

rurata - O-line has sucked all year. Right now I'm not sure if this is on Marshall, or the athletes. Maybe both. Very depressed about the state of our o-line.
Alamar's ST killing us again. We can't hope to keep a team like OSU contained if they're consistently starting at their own 45.
I was a little annoyed to see Riley in on the last drive. Sure we scored a TD, but it didn't make a difference. Why didn't Tedford put Sweeney in?

Berkelium97 - I don't know what's going on with the O-line, but Marshall's unit is the worst line we've had during the Tedford era. I understand that we were playing from behind for much of the game, but the play calling was uninspiring after Best was out. No wildcat, little running. I understand the running game wasn't going well, but neither was the pass. I was hoping we'd mix it up a little more.

MadBum - I can't give an honest grade here. The Best injury completely changed the game, and I don't think any coach could've recovered from that. Before that, he did a medicore job. We still abandoned the run game way too often, and I don't know what happened to our pass defense. Liked implementing the WildBear, and it worked pretty well. Our gameplan was to stop Quizz, and it worked to perfection. After Best's injury, there was nothing Tedford could do.

JrBear - Ludwig, I don't know. I can't even see how the play is going to develop if the O-line doesn't do its job. I think the O-line needs another year of growing up to truly judge Marshall. Coach Simmons (DB) had that monster season last year for Syd and Hagan. Thompson (LB) was stolen from San Jose St., so maybe we can do better? Daft (WR) has got the receivers improving slightly, but they're still dropping good balls and having trouble getting open. Of course Gould and Lupoi are absolute keepers. Gregory isn't perfect, but has shown he can run a good defense.

Tedford is Tedford. When it works, it works. When it doesn't, hold on to your seats.

BlueHenBear - Did anyone watch tape of OSU vs $C? anyone? Bueller? They have this position called tight end and they tend to throw to it after clearing out the zone over the middle, but maybe you were busy thinking (not doing something) about a pass rush. The coaches have installed their systems and that is that it seems. Our weaknesses are exposed and it appears we have neither the horses nor the imagination to do anything about them.

OhioBear - We got outcoached, it seemed. Oregon State appeared to have a much better game plan than we did and we did not respond. I suspect that the coaches had a difficult job to do after the Best injury to keep the players focused on the game at hand, and it appeared that they did an okay job with that. But all in all, the game took a back seat to what happened to Jahvid.

Overall

via www.calbearsonline.com

rurata - Another year, another loss to Oregon State. I had hoped to see the team step it up when Jahvid left, but nope. They seemed as let down as me.
Why is it that every time Cal does well enough to just get my hopes up, they find a way to crush them in the worst way possible?

MadBum - Best's injury crippled the team. It took out our biggest decoy, our biggest threat, and our biggest source of yardage. We also simply seemed shell-shocked from his injury, and the intensity and execution reflected that.

secret Asian man -In the end both teams took the field to contain the opponents running game and put points through the air. Cal lacked a functional O-line and there were probably some physical mismatches in the secondary and that made all the difference. If there were fewer false starts in the first half and an actual pocket for Riley, things might have been different.

yorzepol - I honestly thought we could go 10-2. Boy was I wrong! I hope that Jahvid gets well regardless of whether he can play again this season or not, but that could be a season crushing injury for the team. Let's see how they react. I hope they bounce back but, I would not be surprised if we finished 7-5 or even 6-6. Without a running game or a passing game, it will be hard to win many more games. At first I thought that every team we played kept having their best games against us and that it was just luck, but now I wonder if maybe, just maybe, it's us.

ajay - Two things: open field tackling and our passing game.

I don't have the stats on this, but I'd venture to guess that due to missed open field tackles, we gave up an extra 150 yards, and most importantly, let them complete third downs and get into scoring position off of those plays. This happened again and again, and not only ate up time (w/ the new set of downs), but hurt the crowd noise, and caused the D to be on the field longer, which isn't anything you'd want.

The other is the passing game, and again, Kevin Riley overthrowing or throwing passes that don't catch our receivers in stride. On our screen passes, the receivers have to adjust to the football, and can't get their first positive step until the defender is relatively close. On OSU's screen pass, the pass led the receiver perfectly, and the receiver's first step literally his first step with the ball, which is how it should be. Riley's deep balls were okay, but a good repertoire of short range passes leads to drives, which leads to touchdowns and keeping defenses honest. Long passes are only good a few times because you have to catch the D sleeping.

JrBear - All that matters is that Best is okay.

2008 spoiled me. That was a fun season, with sackmaster Follett&Friends and the zany hijinx of our receivers. Every game in Memorial I felt this sense of invincibility that Cal was going to win, and I just loved that team. Now we're in 2009, and I'm very split over how to approach this team. Do I love them for the az st and ucla games, or do I hate them for the sc and or st games? This definitely isn't 2007 though, not nearly as bad.

BlueHenBear - Every time OSU comes to Memorial (under Tedford) we lose the same way. OSU puts together drive after drive, get enough of them into the endzone or between the uprights while our offense sputters after a few (nice, but ultimately meaningless) completions. Rinse, lather, repeat. It's been a long time since I dreaded the Big Game and I'm feeling a little queasy.

kodiak - Tedford loves X's and O's, but Riley has his number and has for years. It's no coincidence that Aaron Rogers had the worst game of his career against the Beavs.

Pawlawski made an interesting observation during the telecast. He said that the Beavers don't run a lot of plays, but do so out of several different looks. This focus on execution and simplicity lets them play fast. I'm wondering if we're over-coaching our guys on both offense and defense. Too many things for young o-lineman to think about. Too many keys and checks for young linebackers. We're certainly not maximizing the use of our talent. Either that, or we're way off base with our recruiting and talent projections.

Gameday

via www.calbearsonline.com

Berkelium97 - Awful. Just awful. I haven't been that disconnected from a game since...I don't know, Tennessee 2006? Once Best was out, I couldn't enjoy it anymore. This was a dark day for Cal fans. I just pray Best will be able to recover fully.

MadBum - I spent 15 minutes in horror watching the same replay over and over again. One of the saddest days in Cal history.

secret Asian man - What gameday experience? I was cleaning parts of my house in preparation for Mad Men party tomorrow so the game was background. Listened to Starkey during the fourth on the way to Fremont to have dinner with the secret ASian dad.

iVinshe - I fell in love with Cal football last year as a freshman. Games were actually fun (it helped that we never lost at home). Now...

ajay - Played bball before the game, so didn't experience the tailgating, but the fans definitely showed up and were behind the team at the beginning. We pulled together and cheered loudly, almost as loudly as for USC. But after incompetence, people started leaving, and our fourth quarter mic man even started to get us to cheer for booze to keep us in the game.

JrBear - -Some alumni definitely ought to be supporters of the other teams if they're going to talk shit about us the whole game.
-Did we really need a hurt Jahvid to get the volume up?
-Hail to California, home of the best armchair QBs!

ososdereo - The result against OSU is exhibit A in why football games are to be used as an excuse to have parties with your friends outside on beautiful Fall afternoons, and that a victory by the team, should it happen, is merely icing on the cake.

BlueHenBear - Stadium attendance is beginning to dwindle. QQ, usually a somewhat rowdy place, was sitting on their hands. Can we stop the card stunts please, cuz they look lame if the students don't bother to show up. And who is Oskette and where has she been all my life? A transfer from ucla perhaps?

oaklandishbear - I couldn't attend the game as I was in DC. Spent the afternoon in Northern Virginia doing some sight-seeing, and then found a sports bar to watch the game. Got them to turn a TV to the Cal game, and proceeded to drink my Newcastle and have some food. By the 4th quarter, I had seen enough and left. I was so sick to my stomach at the Bears performance that I couldn't even bring myself to keep drinking...

BTown85 - Flew down from Portland and took my son and Dad to the game (three generations of BTown85). Walked to Sproul for a rousing drumline performance, which was awesome. Lunch at the faculty club (yummy). Sat in the Alumni section and tried to represent, but boy are they a bunch of lumps on a log. Made as much noise as I could and sometimes a few others came to life. I was impressed by how much noise the student section made. Props to you. I'm tired of the color orange.

OhoiBear - I nearly cried when Jahvid went down. Seeing it on the screen, I was scared. He just didn't move, at least not what I could see. I feared the worst and was ecstatic to hear it was "only" a concussion.

kodiak - I got food poisoning, so instead of quaffing cold beverages from my giant Cal mug, I lay curled in a fetal position while watching the game. It was oddly appropriate.

CGB Report Card: Grading Cal's Performance Against Arizona State

Avinash — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:26:53 -0000

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score	3.520	2.697	3.081	1.470	2.354	2.889	1.970	2.424	2.225	2.828	2.838
Grade	A-	B-	B	D+	C+	B	C	C+	C+	B-	B

Thanks to the 34 people who submitted grades this week, and again thanks to Twist for gathering these.

goldblooded, perfectstrat, MadBum, slaphancock, USAFGoldenBear, GoldenBear 77, JrBear, coolingfan, BTown85, TKE Prytanis 79, BatmanSF, minesweeper, rocksanddirt, CaliforniaCMB, Jake, totallyawesome, jsnell,
Kodiak, California Pete, Berkelium97, BeastMode, yorzepol, beson, bluehenbear, Ohio Bear, oldBear, CALumbus Bear, solarise, HOUSE66, omnizzle, rurata, GBB4188, ikoolykedat, Prd74

Your gameday experience winner goes to inebriated goldblooded, who got bonus points for writing this post drunk.

i drNK LIKE 7 beers in 100 mnutes plus a shotgun fter we won i am heppy also alex gots beers for us hen they were empty and chrius is doing homeworjk and i am pissing him off, ps geeeeeogeeo kicked a fild for ONCE wow

Quarterback--kevin riley for the seahg geneiss is the best quarter back ever/

Running backs--kahvi sstill rules, and shane is tight cause he didnt throw an inT

Receivers--ummm mrvin made me cry once but then he won the game so i hd a beer

Run blocking--i hope that we got bettercause hahivid needs to run feree as a birrd now

Pass protection--jebin riley threwew a shovel pass like tim jesus and he was good, even thoguh the other guys culdnt really helpo him and he got sacked a few trims

Run defense-- that fat guy 26 i hate him a lot i think that mikey mo needs to be better

Pass rush--it was ok, especailly on the last play where we broke the ASU quartererbacks arm haha two penakties

Pass defense--syd uan is so good at everything syd quan, sometiems si se him on the glkf cart, i think i wqill give him a ug nect time i see him he is so good

Special teams--gireeeegeeeo kicked q filed goal over 50 years sthen another one and won it was cool

Coaching--well jeffy bear didnt lose dso he is still kinda tight and alomar was a poop

Overall--we require more vespene beer

The lesson as always? Alcohol is a beautiful thing.

Here's the best of the gameday experiences:

coolingfan - Nothing much, just watched the game at home in my "graduate student" costume.

GoldenBear77 - I missed a couple of minutes of the first quarter -- shopping with my wife. After being gone three days this week on a business trip, didn't think I could just blow it off. She is gone to see her sister next week, so you know where I will be at 4 at when the Oregon State game starts.

totallyawesome - Picked up some KFC and b/c of some unfortunate circumstances (Bay Bridge being closed, GF doing halloween-related errands, friends out of town) I plopped down on my couch to watch the game by myself. Lurched back during Ross's dropped pass and hit my head on the wall. I was shaken up but the wall was ok.

yorzepol - In Hawaii watching in a sports bar with an incredibly drunk and obnoxious bunch of UF fans. They have some pretty lame cheers BTW. As Cal kept making me more and more nervous, those Gator fans kept getting louder and more obnoxious. Fortunately, Riley drove us drown the field and Taveccio redeemed himself and then those Gator fans weren't as annoying (don't get me wrong, they were stil annoying, just not as much.) BTW be very afraid of the Loco Mocos at Giovanni Pastrami's (you Hawaiians know what I mean; they are ginormous!)

rocksndirt - guy in the bar i watched the second half at had a little radio and was listening to starkey....the feed for that was a bit a head of the ABC feed. That and Norrie's kill'n me.

House66 - Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up,Sitting down, standing up, and almost throwing up at the end of the game.

JRBear - Watched the game on ESPN 360. Then I went to Chipotle on Telegraph with a Zack Follett jersey and a tin foil hat with a spike on my head for a free burrito. My costume was "The Space Rhinoceros."

OhioBear - I watched this bad boy on espn360. Unfortunately, I was late getting logged on and missed the first 3 plays of the game. In my zeal to hurry to get the game on, I totes forgot to open a separate window for the first quarter thread on CGB. I was so engrossed in our fine start, that I didn't think about joining the in-game threads until late in the 1st quarter when we were up 14-0. After I opened a window for the threads (and even posted a couple of comments), bad stuff piled up one by one: the Riley fumble at the 3, the ensuing TD, the missed Tavecchio FG, the brutal 80-yard TD pass. So I decided my logging into the in game threads was a reason that we had lost control of the game. So I left CGB and didn't come back until the post game thread, after we'd won. Clearly, I was instrumental in the victory.

BTown85 - Tape-delay viewing of Cal game with a beer. Riley fumbles three times in the first quarter......more beer. Vereen tries to give the game to ASU with 24 seconds left......bourbon !!!!! Line-up for game-winning field goal - knock at the door. Pause DVR to greet guests for Halloween Party. Back to the TV with a beer. 21 seconds of hell after the Field Goal; Party Begins.

minesweeper - My gameday experience began Friday night with some early Halloween partying. To make a long story short, lots of Indian food for lunch followed by an open bar at night does a number on one's stomach. After leaving most of its contents on the streets of San Francisco, my companion (who's smaller than me but can somehow handle much more liquor) helped me stumble home where I promptly passed out.

The main benefit of evacuating ones stomach before passing out is no hangover Saturday morning, and I was up early enough to take in a full 10 hours of college football.

TKE Pryantis 79 - Watched it in a sports bar in Fort Worth TX, with no audio, joined by my wife and colleagues from Scotland and New Zealand, so was put in the interesting role of explaining the rules, strategy and meaning of American College Football...not sure how I did, but the Bears effing won so that's all I cared about

CALumbusBear - I watched it on lo-def. BOOO Time Warner Cable. Why the F did I pay 160 bucks for ESPN Game Plan (aka fleece plan) to watch shit in lo-def? Because I HAD NO CHOICE. Lo-def sux donkeys f'realz

Kodiak - Mother in law came over to babysit, so I got to go fishing for the first time in months. After nailing some nice smallmouth, spotted bass, largemouth, and one really mean trout, I zipped home in time to take the 3 year-old trick or treating for the first time. With the kid safely geeked on sugar, I passed her off to grandma, got the wife to bring me my big mug 'o beer, and watched the game on dvr. Managed not to stroke out while watching it...but holy crap, it's tough being a Cal fan, sometimes.

Golden Rationality Award

Postponed for a week. Data is all screwed up. I'll try and figure out and have the actual answers in next week's report card. So I declare you all winners!

Old Blue Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
prd74	1.939
ikoolykedat	2.000
GBB4188	2.030
rurata	2.091
omnizzle	2.152

Man, the guy who took photos last week seemed the most distressed about our team, and now it's our video guy. Is it going to be danzig next week? NOOOOOOOOOO...

Golden Sunglasses Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
perfectstrat	3.182
MadBum	3.121
slaphancock	3.030
USAFGoldenBear	3.000
GoldenBear 77	2.939

Quarterback

GBB4188 - Some great deep balls once again from Riley. However, he once again through some funky thing into the flat while he was rolling out of the pocket which was fortunately not a pick 6. Combine that with 3 fumbles and you get, despite the nice passes, a pretty sloppy overall game.

That beard is what champions are made of, though.

bluehenbear - Well, Riley didn't make any mistakes and his mediocre completion percentage is on the WRs to had several drops (Ross and Tucker especially). Managed the game and got us in position for the winning FG. Wanted to give + but just couldn't do it with the fumbles.

Jake - When he's good, he looks like Aaron Rodgers, and makes the crowd hold their breath. When he's bad, he looks like Nate Longshore, and makes the crowd hold their breath for reasons. He looked good today, but the offense went nowhere for 2 1/2 quarters. Also: seriously, dude, three fumbles in the first half?

Only reason it's a B is that he came alive that last drive.

jsnell - Riley played pretty well, other than a couple of bad decisions and the fumbling. But really, that last drive... pretty much erases the rest of it, doesn't it?

Running back

ikoolydekat - Both RBs were contained today, but I believe most of the blame should be placed on the OL.

Berkelium97 - There wasn't much they could have done with the lack of holes being opened up. The wildcat wasn't too bad against the stout ASU D (especially that Vereen run called back due to penalty).

totallyawesome - Meow! Moar Wildcat pleez!

No, but seriously, aside from some great catches, our running back couldn't do much against this ASU run defense. Thankfully, the ASU D Coordinator dared us to beat him thru the air and we did (mostly).

yorzepol - Javid had an ineffective running game. Shane was not much better. I saw Jahvid completely whiff on a block and then come back to prevent the sack. The problem was by that time Riley was so out of position he had to throw it away. Then I saw him make some great blocks. Blocking continues to be a problem for him. Maybe if he stayed another year he could work on it? Anybody?

MadBum - Vereen never had a shot. Wasn't given the ball enough, only seeing one rushing attempt. This is unacceptable, as against UCLA he was key in freeing up Best for his big plays. Best did okay with what he had. I'm not thrilled with 3 yards per carry, but Mr. Best came up big in the passing game as well. This linebacking corp is tops in the Pac-10, and Best did what he could. His average relies mainly on big plays, and he didn't get one. ASU refused to let Best beat them, and he freed up Riley.

BatmanSF - I thought the backs played well, given the limited holes available. Jahvid actually showed more toughness and grit and willingness to grind out tough yards than he has earlier. Shane Vereen is just a QUALITY player, all the way around...OK, maybe he can work on his passing! And, BTW, a very nice Brian Holley contribution!

BTown85- Uninspiring at running the ball. Best and Holley catching passes were awesome; let's do more of that. I KNEW Vereen was going to throw the ball at the goal line 'cause he came up there in the WildBear and I thought "Everyone KNOWS you're running....wait, unless THIS is the first time you EVER decide to pass it....against the MAN-CHILD who is Burfict!!!!" I put the call on the coaches ($%##$) and the crap pass on Vereen, who should have tucked the ball and taken a knee and 18 more seconds off the clock. ANOTHER thing the coaches should have prepped him for!!!!!

Receivers

GoldenBear77 - Verran, you made a great catch on the low throw on the final drive, but you owed Riley one. The one you dropped down the sideline hit you in a bad place -- your hands -- and that had six written all over it. Ross, you can't drop the screen when it is third down. We appear to be feast or famine here. Thankfully, there was enough to eat at this banquet.

Berkelium97 - Drops, drops, drops, drops, drops (mostly from Tucker and Ross). Everyone was getting chances, though. Marv made some great catches. Everyone really stepped up (Marv, Miller, Lage(r)mann, and Tucker) for some huge catches on that final drive. I can forgive the drops if they're willing to play like that in the clutch. Miller is really establishing himself as a consistent target. He made big catches today (just like he did in his lone catch against Miami last year).

bluehenbear - Great first half, lousy second half...another case of the dropsies. Way to hang in there on the last drive, though. Wanted to give a B, but but just couldn't do it with the drops.

MadBum - Great job done right here. Mistakes were made, like drops by Ross and Tucker that hurt us. That facemask hurt us as well, and that holding hurt us big by Miller. But Miller made up for that mistake with his catch on the next play, Ross came up with big play after big play, and Tucker had that huge diving catch. Lagermann proved that his studliness on NCAA 09 wasn't just restricted to the video game, and made some catches that we haven't seen in his career. If these guys play the same way they did today minus those mistakes, then we'll be tough to stop.

slaphancock - Two drops nearly cost us the game. But then they caught everything on the last drive. Still, those two drops (the over the shoulder td one and the screen pass on third down) were inexcusable. It looked like both bounced off the receiver's chest protection. Maybe they should find new pads?

beeson - I think Marvin Jones sweats super glue. The ball just sticks to him.

Run blocking

ikoolydekat - No hole, no glory, no fun.

GoldenBear77 - Almost a non-issue in the game. When is the last time you said this at a CAL game?

Berkelium97 - It was mostly non-existent. Matt Summers-Gavin wasn't playing, but I don't think he alone would have made a tremendous difference.

yorzepol - The line was dominated today. Jahvid and Shane had no room to juke. Fortunately we had a passing game to overcome the terrible blocking, but we might not always. Or it could be that their run D really is scary good.

CaliforniaPete - It looked like there were some nice holes created in the line, but the Bears had a hard time carrying it through the second level. In other words, a lot of 3 yard gains. Don't know if this was a scheme issue or guys failing to make plays, but it sure would have been nice to established more of a rushing attack after jumping out to a 14-point lead.

Beastmode - What run blocking? I know teams are stacking the box, but teams do so against Stanfurd and Oregon too. I know, different schemes, but that just means we need to scheme better, even if we have a young line, so does Oregon by the way.

OhioBear - The most frustrating part of the game, by far, was the inability to open holes for Best. ASU was all over our running game and our O-line didn't seem to rise up to the occasion. Credit to ASU, for sure. But I can't believe we're not better than that. Fewer than 100 yards rushing? We're lucky to win a game with that number.

Pass protection

coolingfan - Riley's running ability saved the game -- pass protection was awful, but this was the case pretty much for the whole season so far.

totallyawesome - Pass protection was circumspect, but thankfully, Riley and his happy feet bailed them out on a few plays. They held the line when it mattered, thankfully, especially on that last drive.

yorzepol - I don't remember thinking that they got owned very much. There were sometimes they allowed too many defenders through but mostly they gave Riley the time he needed. Oh yeah, except for the two sacks which led to two fumbles from Riley and made it a much closer game than it should have been. But besides that they didn't get owned much.

MadBum - I was impressed these guys. False starts and holdings derailed some drives but overall very well done. The last 2 drives were executed to perfection, as the only time they got a rush was when Riley took his time. They even held on plays when Riley scrambled around, not holding and letting him keep the play alive. Tepper seems to be a weakspot for us though. He commits too many penalties, but I can't complain too much.

OhioBear - Gave up 3 sacks, and pressure seemed consistently there from the ASU pass rush. I was holding my breath every time a guy got close to Riley, praying to Oski he wouldn't fumble again.

USAF Golden Bear - This seemed like a two faced o-line. Sometimes they were giving Riley a perfect pocket, and then other times it seemed like a minimal rush they were just getting straight beat.

solarise - Riley was running for his life like Neve Campbell in Scream 1 through infinity. It'd be nice to see what Riley could really do if he gets protection a la Matt Barkley.

CALumbus Bear - Dear O-line: Let's talk about that sucking thing. You know, that thing you've been doing a LOT of recently. Please stop doing it. Really. Stop. Like now. Holes are your friends. Please open them. Just push that big fat guy to the side you're supposed to push him. You've been doing it for years. Vacation over, get back to F-ing work.

Rush defense

Berkelium97 - The run D was generally good, but they could still move the chains on us (see ASU's last TD drive). I was surprised ASU's ypc (adjusted for sacks) was only 3.5. I thought it would have been closer to the mid-4s.

totallyawesome - Very solid. Saw Cattouse get in on a few plays. ASU is much improved running-wise from last year but still couldn't manage much against our defense.

JRBear - Defense is so hard to grade for this game. It's hard to give them credit for their first two lucky TDs. I think the Run D did a good job holding back Bass, not so much Marshall.

OhioBear - Statistically, pretty good. But it seemed like Cam Marshall gave ASU a spark in the 2nd half, getting good gains. I would've graded the run D higher had it not been for ASU's run game awakening in the 4th quarter. Props to the D, however, for stopping them when we had to in order to get the ball back.

Kodiak - Did a nice job in the 1st half, seemed to wear down in the 2nd. No question we're more stout with Derrick Hill. I hope he's back soon. For the 1st time in...a month(?) we didn't give up a bone-headed long run from someone being woefully out of position.

Pass rush

ikoolydekat - what pass rush?

GoldenBear77 - CAL was stronger as the day progressed, and that was a good thing. I thought we did not get enough pressure in the first half, but, particularly in the first drive of the second half stepped it up. However, no one is going to mistake Sullivan for Aaron Rodgers.

Berkelium97 - Sullivan generally had a lot of time to pass. Alualu was abusing their O-line in the early third quarter, though. The 4:3 helped get more pressure, but Sullivan still had some time.

totallyawesome - Very pedestrian. Our D-lineman need to get better at shedding blocks and we need to dial up a few more blitz plays. They need enough, however, to force Sullivan into some bad decision making.

Beastmode - No sacks. Not many TFL. Teams obviously know to get rid of the ball quickly against Cal, but it isn't just a matter of that. it's that our guys do not get enough of a push, particularly on the interior.

slaphancock - When we got the QB under pressure, he looked like a normal college QB, not like the hyper-accurate heisman contenders the rest of the QBs we've played have looked like against us.

USAF Golden Bear - This was the most abysmal part of the team, IMO. Play after play, I saw no pressure being put on Sullivan, who was playing poorly in the 1st half all by himself. Unless ASU's o-line suddenly became not-horrible in the last couple of days, Cal's pass rushers need to figure what the deal is and fix it.

Kodiak - Sullivan is a statue with happy feet who makes bad decisions when pressured. Yet, he had enough time to stand there and utilize his scud-arm to some effect. It's becoming pretty apparent that our 3-4 is more than a little gimped without a legitimate pass-rushing threat from the LB's.

Pass defense

GoldenBear77 - What happened on the 80 yard reception in the first half? That simply should not happen, the way we play pass defense. Other than that, OK with two interceptions, one of which led to the half-time lead.

Jake- Syd is a beast. 'Nuff said. The picks were works of art.

BTown85 - There were some SPECTACULAR plays that often will bring a PI call, but didn't 'cause Cattouse and Thompson played 'em PERFECTLY (no hand on receiver's back, etc.). We got lucky that we were able to jar the ball loose a couple of times from receivers who should have held on. Whew.

Totally blown coverage on that deep TD.

solarise - Syd & Josh Hill made some big plays. Cattouse deserved the start. The man produces big hits and provides coverage in the middle. I'd like to see Cattouse w/ even more playing time.

Kodiak - On the one hand, we finally got a couple of ints. The CB's seemed closer to receivers than previous weeks. Cattouse is such an obvious upgrade over Ezeff, it makes you wonder what took the coaches so damn long to make that call. On the other, I can't shake the feeling that the only reason we didn't give up another career day of 300+ passing yards is that Sullivan is really, really bad.

Special Teams

ikoolydekat - NO.

Berkelium97 - Anger quietly had a big day (53.0 average!) Giorgio missed some easy field goals, but also managed to kick a 51(!) yarder and --HOLY CANOLI--kicked the game-winning field goal! Return coverage was serviceable, but I still get nervous every time we kick off.

yorsepol - ALLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAMMMMMMAAAAA

AAAAAAR!

but also:

ALLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAR!

Some decent plays (finally a kickoff in the endzone,) but too few to merit a higher grade. Taveccio would not have had to make the game winning filed goal in the last seconds if he had made either of the other two field goal attempts or better yet, if he had made both. But at least he redeemed himself. Those kick offs and kick off coverage WILL cost us a game though, mark my words.

BTown85 -We squeaked this out. Only one kickoff from the 30 got within the five, two makeable FGs missed, Tavecchio jumping OVER a would-be kick-rougher then falling down to ensure he didn't the call......and then squeaking out the last FG. Dang, I gave up the wrong week to quit doing tequila shots.

Anger was stellar as usual (to the point I'm disappointed if he doesn't get some punts in the 60-70 yard range....now THAT'S not fair), but our kick-off coverage was weak, weak, weak.

CALumbus Bear - Punting was good. KO coverage was mediocre to very poor. Salami's FG grades were as follows: F-, then a most shocking A+, then another fat F, then "why the frig are we sending him out there this is a coaching phail just go for it Tedford O MY OSKI HE ACTUALLY MADE IT WHEN WE REALLY NEEDED IT TAVECCHIO FOR THE GROZA AWARD GIVE IT TO HIM NOW!" So they get a nice + on the end of that medicre C.

Kodiak - Anger punted pretty well. I don't remember screaming while watching our kickoffs or kick coverage in general. You can go half-empty/half-full with Tavecchio. Yeah, he blew a couple of gimmes...But he also nailed on from 51, and had the stones to come through at the end. It does worry me when Tedford waits until gametime to name a starting kicker...and does it by asking Alamar who looks better in warm-ups. We're officially flogging the horse's fossilized skeleton at this point, but we need to do better than our current Mickey Mouse approach to special teams.

Coaching

coolingfan - Didn't get much out of Wildcat formations, but otherwise showed a variety of plays and formations, which we missed early in the season against 'SC and Oregon.

GoldenBear77 - Great confidence in Riley on the final drive. I am torn on the Vereen wildcat toss into the end zone. On the one hand, if it had succeeded we would have all thought the coaches incredible. On the other hand, if it was intercepted, idiots. Was it a lack of confidence in the kicking game? In any event, someone once told me "you can't argue with results", and the result is that we are 6-2, and 3-1 on the road.

Berkelium97 - There were a lot of smart play calls today. From the first play, that took great advantage of ASU biting on the run to the calls on the last drive. I was really surprised that we threw for the first down so often on that last drive (even on 1st and 25). Then that WildVereen pass, I loved that call even though Miller barely missed the pass. They did a great job of moving the ball (on that last drive and others) through the air. The offense still looked competent without Best or Vereen running for chunks of yardage. Gregory's unit made a huge mistake, but was otherwise good enough to keep us in the game. It's too bad we can't find a way to get more pass rush, but our unit just doesn't seem to have the personnel for it. Alamar lives to see another day...by the narrowest of margins.

CaliforniaPete - From a season-wide perspective, I'm happy. This team has really responded well to the adversity of two brutal losses. And for the second time this year, the Bears have won a game, on the road, in the fourth quarter. That's all good.

I'm a big Bob Gregory fan, and with the exception of the debacle in Eugene, I'm generally with the defense. As for Tedford/Ludwig's offense, I'm of two minds. For much of the year, this team has been fun to watch, and the Bears have often jumped out early to sizable leads. Such was the case again today. But when the offense stalls, it really struggles to get going again--or at all in the case of the two losses. All of this leads me to question the coaches' in-game adjustments; what's their response when Plan A is no longer working. Given today's performance, I wonder if we'll see some no-huddle series in the future, even when the clock isn't an issue. The change of tempo really appeared to help.

MadBum - This is where I question. That throw with Vereen on 2nd down and goal was completely unneccesary; he hasn't thrown a pass all year, is inaccurate, and there isn't alot of room for him to work with. Also, ASU knows Vereen is the back in the WildBear that throws. Didn't like some defensive calls, but can't think of specific ones. JAHVID BEST IS OUR BEST PLAYER. GIVE HIM THE BALL. VEREEN IS ALSO GOOD TOO. Both still need touches. Best could use 20 carries, but I guess I'm okay with that. Vereen really needs the ball more. He completely opens the offense up for Best and Riley. Without him, our rushing game is completely onedimensional and ASU keyed completely on Best.

JrBear - I like the WildVereen pass. Were you expecting that? I bet you weren't.
Overall, alright. Coaches aren't responsible for momentum changes, and that's what happened in the 2nd quarter.

jsnell - I wonder if they called for that halfback pass at the end of the game just to make people stop talking about how conservative the play-calling is, and instead let us talk about how reckless the play-calling is.

USAF Golden Bear - Whatever Tedford and Ludwig have done with Riley, its amazing. Keep it up. Gregory on the other hand, needs to get this D on track, and not make inept offenses look servicible. OSU is going to pile up huge numbers if this continues, and I'm not sure Cal's offense will be able to keep up.

solarise - I liked Ludwig's playcalling in the 1st. Aggressive & revealed some plays I haven't seen before. Some adjustments were made in the 2nd half to give Riley more protection. I thought the coaches showed a lot of faith in the players, especially for giving Vereen the freedom to pass out of that Wildbear at such a critical junction of the game.

Cut down those penalties.

Kodiak - 1) I still hate our special teams.
2) I'm skeptical of our defensive playcalling...but at least appreciate that we seem to be trying different schemes and players to get better.
3) I like the diversity and innovation displayed on offense. I hope there's some continuity. I get the feeling that the execution and range of plays will only get better as the players become more comfortable.

Overall

rurata - An ugly game overall, but we won on the road, and are bowl eligible now. Hooray for that.

Berkelium97 - Too many penalties, too many dropped passes, inadequate holes for the running game, but--Bak Bak Almighty--that last drive was incredible. I am as confident in Riley as I have ever been. He puts the ball where it needs to be (just outside of where the defense can get it) and can make huge plays when necessary. I am now confident--and more importantly, so is the team after today--that this team can run the table. It won't be easy, but they can do it.

totallyawesome - This was an emotional rollercoaster, to be sure. A very sloppy performance by both teams (penalty-o-rama). But I like how our team kept their heads in the game, overcame some huge letdowns and managed to escape with a win. Riley's last drive will definitely go in some kind of highlight reel from Danzig. Also, great to see Tavecchio make the game winner. He should have made at least one of the other two field goals, but he's our FG kicker and hopefully will learn and get better from this experience.

yorzepol - Let's face it, we were lucky to come out of there with a win. The worst thing is that IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN THAT CLOSE! I couldn't believe all the lost opportunities I saw. We need to execute better. Still, we didn't play well and still won against what I think is a decent ASU team so that's got to mean something right? (Right?) If we keep playing like this we will be unlucky sometime and lose a game we really should have won. I hope this doesn't happen and we finish 10-2 but only time will tell.

rocksndirt - Just win, baby.

Beastmode - A road win is great no matter how it happens. First win in Arizona since 2004. And, makes Tedford 6-1 against ASU. This win also makes Cal bowl eligible and sets us up for the opportunity at a very good season. That said, the weak running game is troublesome and the passing defense only got slightly better. Both better improve with OSU, Arizona, and Stanfurd in consecutive weeks.

BatmanSF - The team had not been in a close game all season. Therefore, I can't be too disappointed that they rallied when necessary to pull it out. I still have the nagging feeling that coaching is holding this team back as much as anything, but I admit I don't have the answers....its a bit of an odd season, so far, isn't it?

OhioBear - There is no such thing as a bad win, especially on the road against a team that is far from terrible. This is the type of game we would have lost during the Holmoe, Mariucci, and Gilbertson years. Hell, we hadn't won a game on a last minute win or lose FG since Coach Snyder's Citrus Bowl season in 1991 (if memory serves). So we should characterize this one as "good" for grading purposes. But we need to play better. Much better.

minesweeper - Generally an ugly game with lots of penalties, turnovers, and missed FGs, but not every game's going to be pretty, and to win an ugly one is almost more satisfying than a scrimmage win against the likes of EWU or WSU. Riley, Tavecchio, and the rest of the team showed a lot of guts and maturity regrouping after some early miscues and pulling out the victory.

Earlier in the season, when our expectations were much higher, I'd be focusing on everything the team didn't do right in this game. Now that our expectations are more modest, we can focus on what went right, and after all a win is a win is a win, and I'll take 'em any way we can get 'em.

And hey, we have the same record, overall and in conference, as USC now? Say what???

Kodiak - I'm sure there are plenty of fans screaming about how bad we are. Geez. Shut up already. We're Cal fans. Our teams are supposed to give us coronaries every now and then. This is the winnable/favored game that we blow every year...but somehow didn't. I'm happy with the resolve that the team, and in particular, that Riley showed. The ball doesn't always bounce your way, but good teams find a way. We're not a great team, but we're learning to be good. I also absolutely loved the call to pass out of the Wildbear at the end of the game. That's the call Tedford makes in his first year when he was bold, dynamic, and played to win. There's been too much of playing not-to-lose, and playing scared the last few years. As a program, we need to get that mean, hungry, no-nonsense-I'm-going-to-beat-

you-down-and-step-on-your-throat edge back.

Inside the Pac-10: A Day Without Defense + Who's Going Bowling?

Avinash — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:00:17 -0000

More photos » by Reed Saxon - AP

Shane Vereen's TD scamper was the first of many examples of Pac-10 offenses humiliating Pac-10 defenses this weekend.

Browse more photos »

Ponder this question in the comments along with your thoughts on the teams and the conference: How many Pac-10 teams will become bowl eligibile, with already nine teams sharing three wins and seven teams with four? Which ones?

Maybe it was because the Oregon schools were off, but it sure seemed a lot like every Pac-10 team was brainwashed into believing they were playing in the Holiday Bowl. Seven Pac-10 teams gave up a combined 3000 yards of total offense to each other and Emu Jimmy Clausen on a ridiculous 6.3 yards per play clip (only 10 teams in the country have given up that much this season). They also gave up 11 offensive touchdowns of 40 yards or more, including TWO OF THE WORST DEFENSIVE PLAYS I'VE EVER SEEN on the game-deciding drives.

And this was with USC playing and Washington State NOT playing! What happened? We look Inside the Pac-10.

California 45, UCLA 26

Cal got the defensive drubbing started on the first drive. I felt the Bears would win if they got to 30 points, and I was ultimately right, but boy did they make things difficult for themselves.

More on this, the rest of Cal-UCLA, plus recaps of the other three games (with video of aforementioned worst defensive plays ever) after the jump.

Let's look at the bright side--outside of one play (like with USC), the run defense remains excellent. The defensive line played great and the linebackers stepped it up in run control after that Franklin TD run, giving up 2.8 rushing yards/carry. If we can keep this up against better backs like Jacquizz, Nance, the Wildcat platoon, and Gerhart, this bodes well when we face better Pac-10 QBs.

The pass defense was, as expected, a struggle. However, despite the whining and bitching about BBDB and all the talk of how Gregory is a Duck saboteur with chainsaws for hands, the Cal pass defense did a lot more in this game than people will give them credit for. There were a lot of periods during the game where they played straight man up (like "men do", as some of the biggest Gregory-detractors have latched onto as their big phrase). It just happened Syd wasn't there for much of the game, it was poor Josh Hill or Bryant Nnabuife (good tacklers, especially HIll, but he still has a bit to learn about covering man). Still, when you go up against Norm Chow, you can expect him to take advantage of the available mismatches, which in this case were those linebackers. He went right at them on several throws, and it was clear they're going to have their growing pains as the year goes along.

Let's also give credit to Prince; he made some GREAT throws even against man coverage! And yes, you'll say those throws wouldn't have been completed against heavy pressure and a youthful Bruin front. But like I said before, Prince still only completed half of his passes against us, Not an overwhelming performance, but efficient enough.

via calbearsonline.com

Although the weakness of the pass rush saddens me, we should probably accept that Cal blitzing too much could burn them. We don't have a pass-rushing linebacker, and sending two or three guys in leaves too much of a responsibility for the other linebackers to handle at this point. Send in a corner or safety blitz leaves us vulnerable deep. The Bears don't have fast coverage men who can get to the quarterback, just solid ones, and we should be happy with that for now. And we still got three sacks.

Finally, despite the lack of defense impressiveness at the end, there were individual playmakers leaving big marks on this one. Darian Hagan re-emerged and stepped up big with several critical deflections, especially in the absence of Syd'Quan. Trevor Guyton forced a huge turnover that gave the Bears a cushion they would hold for most of the day. And the mere threat of Tyson Alualu was not something UCLA wanted to deal with. His one tackle on the day wasn't surprising because he was double-teamed and held up much of the game, as the Bruins tried to do anything outside of the Vulcan nerve pinch to hold him at bay.

Scoring-wise, the pass D still held the Bruins to 19 points and 1 touchdown out of five trips to Bear territory. And although I know people want us to pitch shut-outs like the Florida's and USCs of the world, I'll trade touchdowns for our team with field goals for their teamall day long. Although I agree that 10 man defense was horrifying.

Ultimately, Cal's pass defense didn't play its greatest, but that's been the norm all season, so I wasn't terribly bummed about it. What WAS surprising was the total folding of UCLA's defense, giving up a handful of devastating plays. Credit a great gameplan by Andy Ludwig (who out-Chowed Chow), which ruled the start of the game and left the Bruins reeling with 35 first half points.

via calbearsonline.com

Alterraun Verner, perhaps the best pro prospect corner in the conference, got burned twice on those Jones touchdown catches, even though Verner did everything right in terms of coverage. Good defense, better offense. Kudos to Ludwig for taking advantage of Marvin's skill, as he seems to be assuming the mantle of #1 receiver.

I do agree with some that say that the Bears did struggle to get any consistency going CBKWit did talk about Brian Price being a major disruptor, and I do agree he should get his dap--he disrupted a good deal of the run plays even when facing constant double teams and totally blew up our inside run. Jahvid Best should be happy this is likely his last encounter with the big 92, because outside of that one run he got nothing on the inside or the outside.

However, some of that goes hand-in-hand with line play. I feel Cal's offensive line is going to be up and down the rest of the season--there was bad run blocking everywhere, something Hydro will get to later in his postgame thoughts. Thankfully, the list of good defenses we face the rest of the season is short--Arizona State, Oregon State and Arizona are the best rush Ds left, but the latter two struggle against the pass, so I'd say the Sun Devils are the stiffest test left for this offense on paper.

UCLA did their job on 80% of their plays. Cal's offense won big-time on the other 20%. The Bruins still have a talented defense that could definitely upset a few Pac-10 squads down the stretch, but they let too much go in this one.

Postgame reactions
Great article from Bruins Nation about the logistics of Neuheisel going for it on 4th and short on three times: "However I do think that we should have gone for at least the first and the last situation, short-yardage deals where the odds of converting are slightly higher (see the gap between 4th-and-1 and 4th-and-everything else on that middle graph). For what it's worth here is their graph of what to do/not do on 4th down, based on these findings. Here is a graph that has all three of the above ones merged, you can clearly see that there were higher expected points at the 6, 28, and 46 yard lines for going for it (colored lines) than kicking (black line). Interesting to note that 4th-and-2 is almost always a better decision than kicking from anywhere on the field, and 4th-and-1 is always a better decision, according to this data."

One commenter seems unhappy with his defense: "The absence of a "team" feeling seems especially apparent on defense. On defense I think we do have some very good players. We have some stars actually. But for all the talent I think we have, I wouldn't put $10 on our ability to stop a decent-to-good team on a consistent basis. It's as if the players can't get past the hype that surrounds them. And unfortunately, this has been going on for years. Walker's defenses were always "the strongest unit" on the team, yet we couldn't expect them to win games for us. And great defenses can win games for teams, even with bad offenses. Sometimes it seems our guys think the UCLA logo on the helmet means they are the real deal. Turns out, its just a logo, and means squat on the field."

Bears With Fangs: "Let’s not fully kid ourselves. Saturday’s win over UCLA has confirmed that this team still has a number of issues preventing it from being an elite team. And it’s clear we still have overestimated talent to a certain extent and have underestimated a number of key deficiencies. And it most certainly doesn’t cover up the fact that this team really for the lack of a better word, faceplanted in their two losses against USC and Oregon. But today’s win sure does feel good."

Bear Insider: There was a lot of apprehension among Cal fans coming into the game about how the team had been affected by the two consecutive decisive losses; this victory did a lot to answer those doubts."We're a lot tighter as a family now after what we went through," said Best. We're doing a lot of team bonding and doing everything together and that's been elevated a lot the next couple weeks.
"Coach Tedford pushed for us, when the defense was on the field for the offense to be engaged, rooting them on and not just sitting on the bench," said Best. "It definitely felt like the whole team was behind us this game."

"It was a team effort," said Tedford. "We made a lot of plays on both sides of the ball and played really well together. That was the main focus coming into this game for the last two weeks -that we need to stick together. "As naysayers and critics step up, the players in the locker room believe in each other. They're playing hard for each other and hung in there and kept battling. When they came back we answered and never panicked."

#6 USC 34, #25 Notre Dame 27

via assets.nydailynews.com (Image from Getty)

Didn't see much of this game, as I doubt many Cal fans did, so I can't comment on this much. All I know is USC had a 34-14 lead with about 13 minutes to go into the 4th, and when I switched over, the Trojans were punting up 7. Say what? (It should be noted the Trojans received the good fortune of a missed Irish extra point. Who's to know how much tighter their team would've played on the final drive if Notre Dame had been going for the win rather than the tie?)

People might not realize it, but Pete Carroll, for all the supposed defensive intensity that some Golden Bears yearn for, plays the exact same schemes as Gregory does--BBDB, just with better athletes. And his version gave up 367 yards (not bad, but far from dominant), two touchdowns in the 4th quarter (although one was after a costly Barkley pick) and nearly gave up the game-tying one. There were two or three questionable calls (a Taylor Mays late hit and an extra second put back on the clock for an extra play at the goal-line are the ones that stand out), but USC showed why they are a vulnerable team this year at the end. Oregon better not start looking ahead to Halloween and take care of business next week, because their shot to win the Pac-10 will come down to their tilt in Autzen otherwise.

Anyway, Clausen made a few errant throws and misreads at the end zone, and it was enough for USC. Crisis averted for the Pac-10 and the BCS (11 win Irish team, bleh), and Catholics are sad. Just the way Martin Luther wanted it.

Postgame reactions
Conquest Chronicles: "There is no question that the USC offense has really come together. Barkley once again went into a very hostile stadium and came away with the win. I can probably count 3-5 plays that Barkley made that I could see where he was still a freshman but he managed the game nicely...I cannot get mad at Matt Barkley over that INT. Not after a 370+ yard passing performance with 2 TD's. The O line did a great job for most of the game in giving him pass protection but my concern is the running game...SC had a very difficult time establishing the run. The red zone offense was also a concern. Even though we did get some TD's in the red zone it just did not look crisp. You can tell we miss Stafon..."

Jeff Miller, OC Register: "What was Pete Carroll thinking at that precise moment? After pulling his players off the field in mid-celebration? Having recalled one giant exhale? Knowing victory now would require goal-line stand, the sequel? "Trying to enjoy the heck out of it," Carroll explained, sounding serious and certainly sober. "It was a great moment. Whether we had to go back again or not, that just doubled the fun of trying to get it done...Unfortunately, we made it real dramatic and fun...Stuff happens. Stuff happened.""

USC-Notre Dame highlights, courtesy of Trojan Wire.

I would link to some excellent Notre Dame blogs (Rakes of Mallow and Blue Gray Sky come to mind), but no post-game reactions exist yet...I guess they're either in mourning or do take Catholic Sunday very seriously.

Arizona 43, Furd 38

Welcome to your Defensive Craptacular.

Yeah, that's exactly what it looks like...and it's exactly what these defenses sucked for most of the game.

71% of passes completed, including 78% by Nick Foles. 8 offensive yards per play. Nearly 10 yards per passing play for the teams combined. When the Wildcats keyed to shut down Toby Gerhart (who still rushed for 123 and 2 TDs), Andrew Luck made them pay by nearly throwing 12 yards per attempt. Almost half of the 3rd and 4th downs were converted, and six of those conversions went for touchdowns. 1,137 total yards of offense.

Give credit to Andrew Luck (who led a valiant but failed comeback attempt in the final seconds, and his receivers like Chris Owusu dropped some critical passes that could've sealed the game) and Nick Foles, who do look like the future of Pac-10 quarterbacks right behind Barkley. I don't envy playing them this season and I wholly dread them in the years to come.

Arizona's pass defense, to be frank, sucked. Nine receivers caught a pass for at least ten yards, seven caught one for at least twenty yards, five caught one for at least thirty yards and three caught one for at least forty yards. These receivers included the quarterback, who caught one on a wide receiver pass. Maybe we should run the Wildcat pass, Best to Riley against these guys.

Furd's pass defense wasn't much better, totally helpless against the Airraid attack and Foles dictating it, giving up an unprecedented 78% completion rate.

But nothing the pass coverage gave up on both sides was as galling than the game-deciding scores at 5:15.

1st play: 3rd and 1, Furd up by 12 defending on their own 43, stupidly stack seven on the line against five (can I just rehinge how stupid you have to be to stack seven this far from the end zone--if they decide to run and Nwoko gets to the second level, he is gone), simple draw play to evade the pass rush from the edges for a 43 yard touchdown. Simple play against a dumb defensive scheme.

2nd play: 3rd and 17, Furd up by 5, defending on Arizona's 43, AND THEY STACK SEVEN ON THE LINE AGAIN!!! I was literally dumbfounded watching this on the screen when they did the second stupid thing and all rushed toward Foles again. And then Arizona nearly outstupids them by RUNNING THE BALL instead of taking advantage of single coverage everywhere. But after Grigsby breaks a weak leg tackle from the Furd edge rusher, since everyone rushed, there's no one standing between him and the first down. And because their defenders are slow at the edge, the Cardinal give up ANOTHER DRAW PLAY for a 57 yard game-deciding touchdown. The Furd gave up 100 rushing yards on those two plays after giving up 38 the rest of the game.

Oh well, guess they aren't the Cardinal for nothing.

Postgame reactions

Ted Miller, ESPN: "We're kind of changing the offense to [Foles]," Stoops said. "He's very comfortable with it. He can distribute the football and make the reads and calls. We look a lot more like Texas Tech than we ever have." Foles has progressed from backup best known for his long, 70s rock star hair to perhaps being the frontrunner for first-team All-Conference quarterback. Yes, his coaches are a little surprised by what they suddenly find themselves with at the position. "Nick is not the best practice player," Dykes said. "He's learning to be one, but he's not as good as he should be. We did notice that when he got into games -- even the spring game -- that he's kind of a gamer. He can improvise well and he has a really good feel for making decisions and staying calm."

Ken Roe, Oregonian: "The play call looked disastrous when the Wildcats came to the line, because Stanford was massing for an all-out blitz. Every gap would be filled. Tailback Nic Grigsby, the designated ballcarrier, was going to be swarmed by white jerseys before he ever got out of the backfield. Arizona center Colin Baxter turned to quarterback Nick Foles and begged him to check out of the play. But Foles, as he told the Arizona Daily Star, figured maybe Grigsby could make something happen. Guess what? Grigsby took the handoff, swerved around a blitzing defender and popped through the line of scrimmage and, because of the blitz, found no second level of defense. He went 57 yards for the go-ahead touchdown . "Really honestly," Dykes told the Daily Star, "it was a bad call that just worked.""

Bobby Stover, Daily Wildcat: "Head coach Mike Stoops — normally stoic and business-like following games, win or lose — strolled into the room with a grin on his face as he took his seat in front of the microphone with the Arizona backdrop behind him. As he began detailing the game from his view, he seemed relieved and elated. The reporters’ questions were more casual and Stoops’ responses more light-hearted than usual. After the head coach finished, defensive and offensive coordinators Mark Stoops and Sonny Dykes, respectively, entered and spoke with similar tones. Mark Stoops got the reporters laughing at one point after telling them he gave all the offensive players and coaches a kiss for bailing out his defense that allowed 584 yards of offense from the Cardinal."

Here is the Furd reaction:

Arizona State 24, Washington 17

Don't let that score fool you. This game had 842 yards of offense. Jake Locker struggled with his accuracy and threw a bad red zone pick, but also threw 8 for 10 for 121 yards and a TD on the two second half scoring drives and by sustaining his drives after the first quarter, made sure that Arizona State didn't have great field position for much of the game (well, until the end, but more on that later).

It was a big help to the weak UDub defense, which simply doesn't have the depth yet to stop Pac-10 teams who can both run and pass. That USC game is looking more and more like two coordinators knowing their old coach's tendencies and Aaron Corp being bad bad bad. They gave up 464 yards in all, 169 on the ground to guys like freshman Cameron Marshall and elder statesman Dmitri Nance. Danny Sullivan is not a great quarterback (ASU is 98th in passer rating and 93rd in completion percentage in D-I), but he completed to seven receivers, all with at least one catch of nine yards or more.

All of this production though, was undone because both teams played mind-numbingly stupid football. There were 21 penalties for 223 yards. 223 yards!!! And most of them weren't even of the negative type--there were at least a half-dozen personal fouls, most on that crazy Sun Devil defense. And Washington's coaching staff got penalized again, leading me to wonder if Pete Carroll let Nick Holt go gracefully because he knew that his ex-DC had recently been released from a mental ward.

There was a hilarious drive in the 2nd quarter by the Huskies which went 82 yards, with six penalties in 13 plays, five of those penalties coming in a six play span, giving the Huskies 45 net yards, yet it still ended with a Locker interception. After the turnover, the Sun Devils went 89 yards, only to fumble it twice, recovering it the first time, and losing the second one into the end zone Cameron Colvin style for a touchback.

Vontaze Burfict might be a beast of a defender, but he also might be legitimately insane--he was involved in about half of those penalties, throwing forearms, trash-talked everyone on Washington, and seemed to be trying out for a part in a 50 Cent music video during the middle of the game. The biggest thing I fear about Tempe is the stupidity quotient, where the relative IQ and inebriation of the Sun Devil fanbase and football team infects the Golden Bears as the game goes along, because as some of our commenters noted, Washington sure seemed like they got dragged down to their devilish level. Thank God we're not playing this on Halloween night.

In one of many curious coaching decisions not involving Mike Stoops, with 1:17 left in a tied game, Steve Sarkisian tries to run out the clock (he gets it down to :13), but also does the second dumbest thing by passing on 3rd and 1. If he runs the ball and gets the first down, you go to overtime, and do you trust Sullivan or Locker more to score a touchdown? Rookie coaching mindfuck. Wonder if Tedford had any in 2002.

All of that led to this. Ladies, gentlemen, I present to you, the worst football defense of 2009.

I have no words left.

Postgame reactions

House of Sparky: "Vontaze Burfict is extremely talented, but he needs to check himself before he wrecks himself: He runs around like he is about to kill whoever gets in his way, and I love having him on our side. But at times last night, he was literally out of control. We cannot have him committing so many penalties. It makes us look bad and ruined several good defense stops. In time, he will be considered one of the best. For now, he needs to realize what is important- making plays before the whistle blows."

UW Dawg Pound: "I listened to the past game show and Bob Rondeau asked all the right questions and Coach Sark gave all the right answers. The thing I really like about Sarkisian is he didn't make excuses and took immediate responsibility for the clock management on that last series.

"Hindsight is 20/20, but if I had to do it again, I would've run the ball," Sarkisian said of the third-and-one play. "That's on me. It eats at me because I felt like I could've managed the ballgame better," Sarkisian said. "I try to pride myself in doing that stuff, but I didn't do it tonight."

On the miraculous Arizona State TD play Sark had these comments:

"We jumped a route, a crossing route, and left the middle of the field wide open."

When you look at that final play on film you see a series of broken assignments and a defense that was confused about what it was supposed to do on what should have been the last play before overtime."

Only Bears fans care about these

Penn State 20, Minnesota 0

Reading the gamethread from The Daily Gopher, people were not happy at all with the gameplan and coaching.

Virginia 20, Maryland 9

Testudo Times: "I like Chris Turner a lot, and I can respect what he's done as QB for the better part of three years, but he's been having a rough go of it lately. Yesterday was no exception. First off, his arm was noodle-y and weak, most evidenced by the Torrey Smithunderthrow. Second, he was rarely on target, even with open receivers. And this wasn't just the rain: Jameel Sewell looked better than he did for most of the game. Worst of all, he rarely even looked Torrey Smith's way. Like I said in the recap, Smith was isolated, one on one coverage, with no safety over the top several times, and he was never even glanced at. Turner's gotta get some of that blame."

Poll

How many Pac-10 teams will make it to bowls this season?

Less than 5

6 votes

5

44 votes

6

84 votes

7

41 votes

More than 7

3 votes

178 votes | Poll has closed

Getting to know the California Golden Bears: Q&A with CGB

jtlight — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:30:13 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

The guys from CGB have a special place in their hearts for Marshawn Lynch. Will Jahvid Best take that spot?

Browse more photos »

With Cal coming to town this weekend, we caught up with the guys from California Golden Blogs and asked them a few questions on their team. Below you'll find our questions, and their answers. Our answers to CGB's questions can be found on their site.

1) Is Jahvid Best the greatest running back to ever play at Cal? More specifically, will he replace Marshawn in that special place in your heart?

That's like asking if the Father is better than the Holy Ghost. And I really hope that my knowledge of Catholic mythology is sufficiently good for that to have made sense.

That said, even if he were to win the Heisman and ride off into the NFL as a National Championship winning back, there's no way he is ever overtaking Marshawn in my heart. Marshawn is Marshawn. He's Marshawn.

That ALSO said, Jahvid Best is big. Gabby Hayes big. He's getting hype that Marshawn never quite did. He's doing it with amazing highlights, the only real currency in college football.

What he needs to do to overtake Marshawn in the minds of the reasonable is to have huge days in the big games. That's always been the critique, not only of Cal, but specifically of Best. If he can lead Cal to victories over Oregon, USC, and/or UCLA, he could really make a name for himself.

2) How has the receiving corp looked this year? While Oregon's secondary is not top notch, it will easily be the best faced by Cal this year. How will your receiving corp (without Nyan Boateng) fare?

HydroTech: HAHAHAHAHA. "While Oregon's secondary is not top notch, it will easily be the best faced by Cal this year." HAHAHAHAHAHA.

TwistNHook: Ya, not doing a great job of respecting the Juju:

jtlight: Let me clarify. It will easily be the best faced by Cal SO FAR this year.

TwistNHook: Seriously, though, each year there is a lot of hype about the Oregon secondary. But each year it seems that they never quite live up to the potential of that hype. I think having a productive passing game is the key to success here. Everyone and their mom (Hi, Mama Ward!) is gonna be on the look out for Best.

If Riley can pass and force the D to be honest towards the pass game, then Best is gonna have a huge game. Losing Nyan Boateng to injury is unfortunate. He is a very talented receiver, no doubt about it. But right now Cal has a lot of good to great receivers, but no amazing ones. There are no DeSeans here (....yet). So, while it is unfortunate to lose Boateng, we do have a variety of other WRs who can step up. WRs like Verran Tucker, Marvin Jones, and Jeremy Ross. Also, let's not forget that Andy Ludwig, noted pinata of the Oregon fandom, likes to put Best and backup RB Vereen out wide. Best scored a TD on a 30 or 40 yard pass play and nearly had a 60+ pass completion in the first game. He can get ahead of all the defenders and then its just up to Riley to heave it to him.

3) On a scale of 1-10, how worried are you that Jeremiah Masoli turns into the quarterback of the end of last season?

10. But thats only because Im an old school "dumbass" Cal fan who has no faith or belief in the success of his team. A more reasonable fan might say that not only has Masoli looked really, really, really, really bad the past couple of games, but the O-Line hasn't done him any favors.

Cal's 3-4 D is designed to suffocate the running game. Notice how Cal is giving up 2.0 yards per rush. They have squelched the running games of all 3 opponents to date completely. Now, Oregon will be the greatest running game they potentially see all year. Their QB can run great and their new starters are great runners also. But Oregon's biggest offensive strength runs right into our greatest defensive strength. We saw last year the same thing. Cal was able to control the Oregon running game (not stop it, mind you, just reign it in) and force Masoli to beat us with his arm. He couldn't.

Will he this year? With a worse O-Line and no more Blount? Oregon does have home field advantage now and it won't be a lake out there, but a better question might be, on a scale of 1-10, how worried are you that Jeremiah Masoli remains the quarterback of the beginning of THIS season?

4) In the ATQ Cal preview, the biggest worry was the Cal D-line. How have they looked this year. Have they been as dominant as expected?

In a word, HELLYESTHEYHAVEZOMGIMNOTSURETHISISONEWORD,BUTOK. In more words, yes. But also, yes. They have 13 sacks already on the year. They were getting pressure against Minn QB Weber last week with 3 rushers at times. Tyson Alualu already has 2.5 sacks.

Plus, they have some great depth. Last year, Tyson Alualu and Cameron Jordan were great. But they can only play so much. They depth wasn't there last year. Now, we have back ups like Ernest Owusu, Trevor Guyton, and Jarred Price. These guys can come in to spell the Jordans and Alualus of the world.

We just teed off on the Maryland QB. Here is a montage.

5) What's up with your secondary? Against poor competition, it has been far from world beating, as was assumed. Has the over-hype, under-perform curse spread from up north?

I disagree with the main assumption here. For two reasons:

1. What does far from world beating mean? It's so vague as to have minimal value. For example, in the first two games, Cal completely squelched the run, forcing the opponents to pass. And pass and pass and pass. And they were able to complete some short passes over the middle, which is more the purview of the linebackers than say the secondary.

Combining the short pass success with the volume of passing, some of the numbers are inflated. But when push came to shove, Cal held strong. Cal, after all, only gave up 1 passing TD in the first two games. So, I disagree in that sense that it has been far from world beating.

2. Regarding the Minn game, Minn definitely had some passing success. They threw for 3 TDs. One of which was on an impressive trick play. Thrown by Eric Decker. The other two were caught by Eric Decker. Essentially, Eric Decker was killing us out there. And when I say "us" I mean, in specific, Darian Hagan. Hagan certainly did not have a great game, no doubt about that.

But instead of denigrating the Cal passing defense, maybe we should instead credit Eric Decker. He is a top notch player. Easily a NFL talent. Any secondary would have their hands full with him. But I guess that's just how you Oregon fans are. Always so negative. Trying to bring me down. Make me feel bad. Let me live my life in peace, woman! Sorry, sorry, force of habit there, sorry.

Anyway, ya, there have been some break downs in the last 3 games. But I credit them to a defensive game plan that said "we'll give you the short pass over the middle, good luck with all that" and the fact that Eric Decker is just a special player.

CGB Report Card: Grading Cal's Performance Against Minnesota

Avinash — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:16:58 -0000

Thanks to the 55 people who submitted grades!

rocksanddirt, rurata, GoldBlooded, HolmoePhobe, rollonubears, SanMateoBear, katster, BleedinBlue, yorzepol, Bears and Ephs, Swamphunter, markdash, beastmode, kodiak, pyunny, VandyImport, JakeDanHarry, Nor-Cal Scott, California Pete, Oaktown123, berkeleychris, BTown85, LEastCoastBears, socalbear, sf49giants, GBB4188, a2bear, CALumbus Bear, Berkelium97, BeastMode, 1988goldenbear, cruidzoid, JerrotWillard45, since1997, nolekdt, CALFANZ, Dexter1715, MoDog, ohsooso, LetUsHavePeace, sec119, rollonyoubearsdad, dchu, drbeeper, Ohio Bear, goldenbeers04, bearlysane, msubeav, royrules22, tonyser, solarise, Norcalnick, highwireact, CaliforniaCMB, forestbear

Here are the final tabulated and averaged grades.

Quarterback: 3.106 (B)
Running back: 3.617 (A-)
Receivers: 3.290 (B+)
Run blocking: 2.917 (B)
Pass protection: 3.164 (B)
Run defense: 3.994 (A)
Pass rush: 3.349 (B+)
Pass defense: 2.427 (C+)
Special teams: 1.148 (D)
Coaching: 2.997 (B)
Overall: 3.075 (B)

Before we get to the comments, here's one interesting angle to tackle about the Minnesota game, expressed by the ever astute California Pete.

When Cal’s offense bogged down, was it b/c of poor play calling—in particular, the dreaded repeated "run up the middle"?

Drive #1 (end of 2nd quarter): 3 runs, 5 yards. Punt.
Looks bad, but in the situation, with Cal on top 21-7, backed up on their 7 with just over two minutes left in the half, I don’t mind the conservative play calling. The strategy backfired, as Minnesota still scored before halftime to get back into the game. But I blame this on Anger and the defense, who simply did not do their jobs, not the offense.

Drive #2 (10 minutes left, 3rd quarter): 3 runs, 9 yards. Punt.
Cal has just got the ball back on a fumble, which was a nice response by the defense following the punt miscue. Maybe something creative on 1st or 2nd down would have been nice, but Best nonetheless gets six yards on two runs to set up a very manageable 3rd and 4. QB draw by Riley on third down comes up a yard short. Maybe this is a series to criticize the play calling. But again, in a game that suddenly has been beset by turnovers, I don’t really fault Ludwig for wanting to reestablish the running game and consume some clock. They just fell a yard short.

Drive #3 (6 minutes left, 3rd quarter): two passes, one run, eight yards. Punt.
After a three-and-out by the Gophers, Cal gets the ball back in good field position. Following an incomplete pass on first down—not a "run up the middle"—a screen pass on second down sets up third and short. But a handoff to Vereen gains no yards. I will never have a problem with running the ball on 3rd and 2. The Bears just need to execute better, and to get their fullbacks healthy.

Drive #4 (30 seconds left, 3rd quarter): four passes, one penalty, minus five yards. Punt.
Minnesota has just tied the game, and Cal’s offense stalls again. But please note, this was emphatically not a case of "running up the middle". Instead, a holding penalty and some missed throws killed this series.

The next two times the Bears get the ball, they score touchdowns to win the game. Yes, the offense failed to produce on these four consecutive series, but I see no obvious reason why play calling is the culprit. And each series it seemed to be something different. A missed throw. A penalty. A failure to pick up a couple of yards on third and short. But then Riley connects on third and long the next series, and the offense is running smoothly again. Football’s a funny game; one play here, another there, and everything seems to change.

So in addition to the report card recap, ponder this in the comments. Was the Bears offense stagnating due to playcalling, execution, or just plain bad luck?

Alright, commenter awards and best of the comments after the jump!

Most people agreed about the run defense, with a standard deviation of 0.229.

For the third week in a row, people disagreed about the special teams the most, SD of 0.822. I guess they were disagreeing about their level of hatred for the special teams.

The Old Blue Award

And this week it goes to...Berkelium97??? WHA??? And by a wide margin too!

Commenter/alias name	Average Score
Berkelium97	2.167
markdash	2.371
Nor-Cal Scott	2.545
rollonubears (T-4th)	2.636
BleedinBlue (T-4th)	2.636

I double-checked, and yep, low marks all around. The Folletariat apparently wanted to Pain Train their team's performance in Minneapolis.

Run blocking (C): The holes simply weren't there for much of the game. The running game looked rather pedestrian because of this. Edge/outside blocking was good when we elected to run those plays.

Pass defense (D-): Hagan was terrible. I'm not sure why, but Gregory refused to keep a man anchored to Decker. Because of this, Decker exploited the seams in the zone and helped move his team down the field. He would cut across the field behind the linebackers and easily pick up a first down. I don't understand why we didn't go man or at least stick to zone with a safety following Decker around. Thankfully, this is probably one of the best, most complete passing games we'll see all season. It's tough to defend a team like this with an experienced QB and a top receiver.

Special Teams (F): This unit nearly cost us the game. Cal had 50% more yardage, yet the score didn't reflect it because kickoffs were so awful. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw D'Amato come in and nail one into the endzone, but on his next kick, he only made it to the 18. I don't think Giorgio made it past the 10 once. Even Anger had a case of the Giorgios and wasn't punting as effectively as he does at home. Letting teams start from the 40 on average is not going to work in conference play.

All very reasonable points. Still, Berkelium, don't grow old on us already!

The Golden Sunglasses Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score
beastmode	3.518
LEastCoastBears	3.424
bearlysane	3.394
nolekdt	3.364
JerrotWillard45 (T-5th)	3.333
Oaktown123 (T-5th)	3.333
Swamphunter (T-5th)	3.333

No, it's not our BeastMode (who also submitted a report card), but another beastmode sporting golden bling. While he did submit direct numbers rather than grades (which probably skewed his data a little bit higher than everyone else), his comments clearly indict him as a total homer. Which we always love; what's a fanbase without its enthusiastic homers? This isn't cricket! We need PASSION!

Quarterback (3.7): Riley made big plays late. Riley did not turn the ball over, though he did put the ball on the ground once. Though he missed some of his receivers, he hit them when it mattered most. The ball he threw to JR late was _beautiful_. I had him around a B, but the fourth quarter, the win, and the 0 turnovers through three games bump him up. It's such a nice change of pace from Longshore's hyper-talented buffoonery.

Running Back (4): Jahvid Best will win the Heisman trophy this year barring injury. Dude had FIVE RUSHING TDs. Though you point out in your post-game that Cal kept pounding it up the middle, in my estimation they _have_ to do that to keep the D honest. In past games I've seen the opposing D run more DE contain plains and zone coverages where the CBs stay in the flat. This sort of set-up is designed to keep Jahvid from breaking it to the outside, and Tedford has been smart to run him up the middle. While we do see Jahvid get tackled right around the line on this runs up the middle, all of his 60+ yard runs occur against these defenses as well, because on the off-chance he does get a great front or squeeze through a hole, the D is often so out of position that by the time he's through the first 10 yards there's no catching him. He didn't have any "home runs" today, but his third TD could have gone for infinite yards. I'd be remiss to not mention that all the pounding inside really set up Jahvid's 4th and 5th TDs at the goal line, where first down they tried to go up the middle and failed, but second or third (don't remember exactly) they were able to have him deke to the inside and race to the corner. All day baby!

Shane was a nice change of pace back, but not much to note on his performance.

Overall (3.7): The offense was great throughout, and if not for Hagan, we could win this game 42-10. Tedford's got us rolling now, and I really think this is our year. It's great to see a noticeable change in the team persona in a familiar situation. Tough road game, early? They come back to tie? No problem in 2009! Resiliency baby!

The Steven Chu Award (Most Rational Bear)

Commenter name/alias	Standard deviation
CALFANZ	0.7426
rollonyoubearsdad	0.8124
katster	0.8172
berkeleychris	0.8555
solarise	0.9013

CALFANZ submitted his grades and went on his way; like normal, functional people, he probably had better things to do with his beautiful Saturday. So let's draw upon rollonyoubearsdad's observations for reasonable insight into Saturday's game.

QB (B-): Impressive leadership in the 4th quarter; questionable accuracy on passes.

RB (A-): What else can be said...

WR (B+): Improving and pleasantly surprised by the receptions of poorly thrown balls.

Run blocking (B-): Let's use the strengths of the o-line...

Pass protection (B+): Well done..

Run defense (A): The Bears' bright spot!

Pass rush (B+): (no comments)

Pass defense (C): Blown coverage and Pac 10 teams will capitalize on this unless it improves.

Special teams (D): This is the Bears's weakness and unless we get kick-offs to go further than to the 20 we will loose a game!

Coaching (B): The play calling in the first quarter was excellent.

Overall (B-): Great to see the character of this team it brought them to a victory.

Simple, direct, to the point. Wish all Cal victories could be like that. Alas.

***

Now, the best of the comments. I hope I got to everybody, sorry if I missed some good ones!

Quarterback

LetUsHavePeace (A-): Riley is better than neurotic Bears fans (the ones who remind me of the people who go to Cubs games) think. He is still learning how to control his throws, but his ball, even when it is high, no longer sails; and his reads are solid. He only made 2 bad throws, and, without the drops, the game would not have been close.

kodiak (B+): 2nd coming of Rodgers, Kevin Riley ain't. But, he executed the 1st half offense very well. All of the drives in the 3rd quarter were killed by execution errors. Penalties. Drops. What-thuh playcalls. Can't really put that on him.

Yeah, he misses a throw here and there...almost always high. Not sure if that's mechanical, nerves, or if he's aiming instead of throwing. Didn't make too many boneheaded decisions except for a notable force into double coverage in the 3rd quarter. But, can you imagine how '08 could have been with this version of Riley?

The biggest deal for me is that he came through when it really mattered. 3rd and 15 to Ross could have been a season-changing moment. Maybe from here, the confidence kicks in and we see a guy who can wins games, not just manage them.

SanMateoBear (B): Some really good throws, especially that last drive (3rd and 16 to Ross!). But during the 3rd quarter, Kevin looked pretty lost, and had some overthrows that could have been picked. Seemed to stare down receivers at times, didn't see wide open Boateng in the 2nd quarter... But, showed leadership and brought the Bears through in the 4th quarter.

goldenbeers04 (B-): The short passing game out of the backfield and on the flats inflated Riley's completion percentage, as his accuracy clearly struggled at times. Minnesota's defense basically played the run all day and they're secondary is unremarkable, so a stronger quarterback performance in this Cal offense would have put up some big numbers. Also, at times Riley appeared to hang in the pocket a little too long and he hesitated to take open running lanes. That said, Riley did a good job of managing the offense and showed he can make a clutch throw or two when the game is in doubt.

dchu (B-): Riley's inconsistency was maddening. There were a handful of beautiful throws and his numbers weren't bad, but he got bailed out by receivers on several occasions and made some terribly questionable decisions (at least two should-be picks undone by stone hands on the Minnesota side). He nearly got Skyler Curran killed on an errant throw that Curran had to adjust to over the middle in the third (which was especially disconcerting because I was sitting behind Curran's family, including his grandmother, in the stands).

Running backs

goldenbeers04 (A-): Jahvid Best effectively carried Cal to victory over Minnesota on Saturday. This was somewhat ironic, though not unexpected, as Tedford appeared to be making a statement about Cal's depth and versatility by giving Vareen and Sofele the first two carries of the game, along with some nifty play calling. That strategy changed quickly, however, once Best got his number called and put the kibosh on any notion that his talent isn't head and shoulders above any other player on the team, let alone any other running back in the country.

So, while it would be absurd to criticize a tailback who carried his team with 131 rushing yards and an Al Bundy besting 5 touchdowns, Best is not without a couple areas to improve on for next week. Namely, there were some missed opportunities to improvise and bounce it outside when there was traffic between the tackles, and it surely would've been nice if he eluded a few of the ankle tackles that prevented a 200 yard performance.

On the running backs not named Best, they were not very relevant in the Minnesota game. Vareen was measured in his touches after the first drive, which should provide some motivation going into next week.

HolmoePhobe (B+): The 5 TDs is a little misleading, as three of them were from the 2 yard line. Best played well but seemed to be getting caught at the line a little too much. Not sure how much of that was play-calling/blocking.

yorzepol (A+): What can you say about 5 freaking touchdowns. A+ (not an A++++ because CGB wouldn't let me, damn you Avinash!) (Note: You're free to put in as many ++++s as you want, it's just going to be averaged in as a 4.333..., not a 5.8 or whatever.)

Nor-Cal Scott (A-): Best was awesome. Your comments about Ludwigs play calling was so obvious to us sitting on the couch here in Cali. Sending Best & Vereen in between the tackles was ridiculous, get those speedsters outside! Seemed like our guys had trouble making cuts on that turf? Curious to hear what the players thought of it.

VandyImport (A): Jahvid Best - seriously, what's left to say? If he played at U$C he would be ESPN's Heisman winner already.

Other backs - I like Vereen inside better than Jahvid, I think. I fault the playcalling more than the backs for the lack of efficacy up the middle.

Receivers

msubeav (A): The receivers really played hard. It was noticeable in their effort on the field..you could see it. You don't rush for 5 touchdowns if the receivers are not blocking well. They caught the ball well, and seemed to run good routes. I thought a solid effort by this group.

solarise (B+): Cal WRs blocked well. Verran Tucker caught a beautifully thrown pass from Riley in stride. Anthony Miller made another incredible play on an overthrown ball. Clearly our TEs could be outlets in the passing scheme. Hopefully Spencer Ladner is not seriously injured.

cruidzoid (B+): great catches by some receivers, a few drops here and there. my roommate and I were watching as they were trying to convert the 3rd and 15 on the final drive and massively screaming when he got 20 yards on it

GoldBlooded (B): They made bittersweet lemonade from the lemons they got. Marvin was double covered or locked down for much of the game. JRoss looked good. Maybe next time Riley will give them some sugar. Verran had that great bomb early.

berkeleychris (B): Nyan will be sorely missed, but Ross filled in to make some big plays. Overall it just seems like the WRs aren't showing up. Where's our go-to Decker-like receiver? Somebody needs to step up.

Run Blocking

JerrottWillard45 (B+): It's a mix of A and C, really. 5 TDs has a lot to do with the O-line, so full props. Couldn't have won the game without you - But if you want an A from me, we get some more 1st downs during that middle stretch. We get more successful plays on 1st down. 2nd and long too much today.

katster (B+): That block by Tepper wasn't a hold. :P

Other than that, it kinda ties into the run game. There were more tackles in the backfield than last game, and I'm wondering if it might have been the line whiffing on a few blocks.

Ohio Bear (B): I'm not a film-breakdown guy, but it just seemed like we had too many lost yards. I'm happy with our short yardage performance, however.

BleedinBlue (B-): Run blocking was great during the first 2 drives. Heck, that's all I can remember us doing. Cal also put a lot of players into motion prior to the snap during these drives and I'm wondering if it caught the Gopher defense off guard. Regardless, the line's ability to open up holes disappeared in the second half as Minnesota defenders regularly penetrated and caught our running backs behind or at the LOS.

drbeeper (C-): we could not deal with the blitz package(s), and the shift to 3-4 by Minn seemed to confuse the O-line (especially on the patented trap blocking)

Pass Protection

norcalnick (A-): Minnesota tried a number of blitzes and rarely succeeded. Two sacks are actually more than usual, but at least one was just as much Riley's fault for staying in the pocket longer than he should - they weren't jailbreak sacks where the QB had no chance.

BleedinBlue (B-); Social psychology teaches that we remember negatives the best, and this case is no different. The series where Riley was caught and sacked multiple times by the Gopher defense stands out and he had multiple close calls with defenders.

rurata (B+): They did a pretty good job of protecting Riley. I remember Kevin getting sacked, but it might have been a cover sack.

markdash (C): Two sacks allowed is fine, but Riley was pressured on numerous other occasions. Tepper was called for two critical penalties on passing plays, one of which was bullshit, but the other legitimate.

SanMateoBear (C+): Riley seemed to have Gophers in his face most pass plays, even though it didn't look like Minnesota did much blitzing.

Run Defense

VandyImport (A++++): P.W.N.E.D.

Seriously, everybody in the stadium knew Minnesota couldn't run the ball by the 3rd quarter. That kind of stopping is going to pay dividends in a big way down the stretch.

Berkelium97 (A+): Once again run defense was excellent. While running is a weakness for Minnesota, you have to respect a 1.8ypc average on 21 carries. The run defense is now 2.03ypc over the three games. Excellent. This is crucial heading into Eugene next week.

Bears and Ephs (A+): Shut them down, sign of a strong Gregory defense. Thompson and the DBs were great in preventing Minnesota's backs from getting outside.

CALumbus Bear (A): Perhaps the best showing by any unit in the game. Take THAT, Big Ten smash-mouth football!

beastmode (4): Any time your opponent rushes for under 40 yards on over 20 carries, you're doing your job really well. Part of the reason for this is that Minnesota was playing serious catch-up from the 2nd quarter on, but besides three ~ 10 yard rushing plays, the run D didn't give up ANYTHING. Did I mention the D line did most of this on their own? There were as few as 5 in the box at times and they still got the job done. A lot of this is circumstantial, but I'm looking forward to them shutting down McKnight / Johnson and making some douchey, inexperienced QB (not) beat them.

Pass Rush

1988goldenbear (B): Does anyone else think we have long stretches where we put ZERO pressure on the QB? Toward the end we got a big push with 3 guys vs. 5 guys, so it isn't all bad.

sec119 (A-): For the most part, Weber had consistent pressure on him and a few sacks to boot. On a couple of plays that the pass rush couldn't bring him down, Weber conspicuously managed to create something out of nothing.

rocksanddirt (B+): TACKLE HEEM

ohsooso (B+): The grass is always greener. I would have graded a bit worse than this until I went on the Minnesota board and they were complaining about Weber NEVER having any time to throw.

kodiak (B+): For most of the game, we were getting pressure on their QB. He made some good plays. And he got bailed out more than once by their stud WR. Yeah, there were some missed tackles that shoulda coulda woulda been sacks, but there were also drives that King Tyce just ended.

There were a few times when we just didn't get any push and their QB had a lot of time. Not sure if the backups were in, or they were just tired.

Even so, it was pretty impressive in the 4th when our 3 man rush was getting through. I would see their big beefy lineman watch helplessly as the Cal lineman ran by them and think "Moooooooooo!"

Pass Defense

ohsooso (B-): Hagen was awful. Minnesota got a few first downs with the patented dump over the middle (although it was satisfying to see them complete one on 3rd and 17 or something). Everyone else turned in a decent game and the linebackers got involved. Decker is such a talent. Nice to see our defense go all USC-like and make their skill players pay dearly for their successes. And without Decker the Gopher passing game was worthless.

royrules22 (B-): Syd did an admirable job but Hagan was the weak link. It reminded me of the second half of the Colorado St game in 2007 and Conte in 2007. Could it be a sophomore slump for Hagan. God I hope not.

One good thing is that I noticed the LBers step in the 4th Q. They defended a screen pass!

Oh yea The Prophet is back!

SanMateoBear (B+): Got burned a few times, but Decker is a stud. Reminds me of Geoff McArthur - he's going to get a lot of catches no matter who the opponent is. The PI call against us was completely bogus.

berkeleychris (C): Look, Decker is a true beast. Like, a complete monster. But he's ALL they have. Are you telling me we can't shut down just one receiver? Decker is probably the most talented receiver we'll see all year, but our woes covering him portend bad things.

Hagan got burned bad and should probably ride the pine for a while. Just awful game for him.

drbeeper (C+): Hagen had a brutal game, and it feels like our zone spacing is off. That said, this was the best WR we'll see all year. I'm also not terribly excited about having Syd on the inside/slot in our nickel packages.

msubeav (C+): I really didn't think it was a horrible performance. Decker is by far the best WR Cal will face this year (Unless they face Julio Jones in the Rose Bowl). However, Hagan must stop the trash talking and convert the excitement into his teammates. His talk is going to cost Cal some yardage this year if it continues. Syd'Quan was honestly stellar in this game. Pass breakups and run support were really good. Decker will make most secondaries this year have B grades.

Special Teams

highwireact (C-): All but one of the kickoffs were poor - the coverage was poor, the punting and punt return coverage were not great either. The punt returns were terrble - not just the constant fair catches, and the fumble... but on one of the fair catches one of the blockers almost knocked into Syd as he was catching the ball.

dchu (D): The only thing I have to say about kick-offs is that when D'Amato pooched that last kick-off, they had the worst starting field position that they'd had all day. Oof.

I am worried about field goals. I rewatched the kick on TV and the telecast doesn't even remotely do justice to how pathetic an attempt that was. It not only sailed FAR right, but it also fell a good 15-20 yards short of the END ZONE. I was hoping that it was tipped or that there was a bad snap, but everything looked clean to me.

Kick returns went well, but I've noticed (as some people in the comments have) that Syd wasn't returning punts. A few times the fair catch signals were absolutely valid, but at times he definitely had a chance for a few yards. I very much doubt that's him worrying about his health for the pros, my guess would be that Tedford has noticed our punt return protection doesn't look that great and he is emphasizing ball security.

For good reason, given the lack of wherewithal on that INEXCUSABLE turnover on a Minnesota punt. Granted, it was a weird bounce, but that absolutely should not happen to a team with this much talent.

And finally, Anger was very inconsistent (for him). He only had one physically "WOW" punt (the 70 yarder I believe) and he also pinned one from midfield inside the 5. But he also had a few other opportunities to absolutely uncork it deep in Cal territory and those were a bit underwhelming. If it wasn't Bryan Anger, I wouldn't be too concerned, but knowing what he's capable of, it was a concern.

This definitively showed me that we need to replace Alamar. We've never been a great team on kick return coverage, but this year we've seen a break down in almost every single facet of special teams except kick off returns. I gave him a pass on last year because of the poor kicking, but this is just comical.

LEastCoastBears (C): Kickoff is still a problem. TO is costly. Thompson needs to attempt to bring back a few more punts. Anger was a bit inconsistent. Sofele needs to learn the halo rule.

BTown85 (D): I didn't grade lower because Anger's punts were good and I LIKED Isi's well-timed hit, but most of our kick-offs were between the 10 and 20, and our kick-off coverage BIT !!!!!! The missed field goal wasn't all that close, etc.

Dexter1715 (F): I agree, special teams is going to lose us a game pretty soon if we're not careful.

We had 1 kickoff inside the 10, terrible KO coverage, terrible punt coverage, and that field goal attempt wasn't much of an attempt at anything.

I sincerely think we need a new special teams coach - it's time.

Coaching

MoDog (B-): The offense sputtered pretty dramatically for about five straight drives where Cal went three and out and they didn't use Best much. Gregory didn't game plan well enough for Decker. I do like how they featured Best around the goal line on national television, though.

sec119 (B+): Cal dominated the first quarter, then Minnesota adjusted a little. Then came halftime, and Minnesota adjusted a lot. But by the fourth quarter, we were back to our winning ways. Yay coaching. This isn't a A grade, though, due to lack of discipline on defense.

solarise (B-): Ludwig's playcalling got Cal off to a fast start on the road. The team took some lumps in the 3rd qt and didn't adjust to MN bringing pressure until the 4th. It's curious that playcalling wasn't even and became predicable in the 3rd as Cal leaned on running plays on 1st and 2nd down. Tedford encouraging Sofele after the big penalty was a welcoming sight. I'd like to see Tedford and Ludwig bring back screen passes into the Cal offense.

BeastMode (B-): I would give this game a lower grade but for the fact that Cal got the proverbial monkey off its back and finally won on the road. i applaud Tedford for changing things up a bit. The first drive was a thing of beauty and I really like the formations and setup plays from Ludwig.

However, this game should've never been tied. It was for two reasons: (1) Special teams; and (2) Not spying Decker with Syd. I'm sick and tired of the excuses for special teams. The players change and the result doesn't. It's hard not to point the finger at Alamar for failing to recruit and develop a kicker that actually knows how to kick the ball off. I'd also note that best was woefully underutilized in the 3rd quarter. I like Shane Vereen, but there is a definite dropoff between the two.

JerrottWillard (B): Or is it a super sneaky A?

Kudos for keeping the guys calm after a blowout. For flying Thursday. For getting the guys to come out FAST.

But where's the halftime adjustment to get us moving after half? Took until the 4th quarter...

And what's up with so much Best up the middle? Did Ludwig briefly get possessed by the spirit of Keith Gilbertson? Send the FB up there!

The sneaky thought is if it was a ploy to set our Pac-10 foes off the scent. Knowing we could beat Minnesota with all those 0-2 yard gains, we toughened ourselves up - felt what it's like to try to move a 325 DT off the line, and faced real challenges.

We challenged the passing game to step up...and it did?

Genius? Or just conservatism? Or a let down?

F for not going for it on the first 4th down over the 50. F F F. Grrrrr....but lots of the rest was better.

Did you notice that in the other 2 games when we won the toss we deferred? That's what great coaches do...thank God we're there now.

kodiak (B): For the sake of fairness, I'm not counting special teams in this coaching evaluation. That would be a lower than an F, lower than a Z. In fact, we'd have to invent a brand new letter just to define the epic badness of our special teams coach. Maybe we could borrow that weird symbol that Prince decided to use as a name. It's appropriate. It's ugly, a failure, and you really have no idea why it's still around.

Playcalling in the 1st half was masterful. I think the D was generally solid, too. Without special teams screw-ups, it's not a close game.

I worry a little about halftime adjustments. They won the coaching battle scheme-wise and with playcalling on both sides of the ball in the 3rd. At least we got our act together in the 4th...started using our huge speed advantage to attack the edges on offense. I can see what some of those Oregon and Utah posters were talking about when they complained about how Ludwig can sometimes get stubborn about running it up the middle.

I'm not sure if it was scheme, execution, or just "damn he's good" that let Decker keep getting open. I think Gregory preferred to play base defense without selling out to cover one guy...kind of like how doubling in bball usually ends up as an open jumper. But, I did see a switch to Syd with man on Decker at least once in the 2nd half. My suspicion is that our safeties won't grade out too well on film.

In a big picture-sense, the team was clearly ready to play. And, when things got tight in the 4th, they rallied and made the plays they needed to on both offense and defense. This is a team that hasn't had a lot of success in big games, especially on the road, so it's a step in the right direction.

Overall

California Pete (B+): Room for improvement, to be sure, but I think this was the Bears' most impressive game to date. I know it was tied in the 4th quarter, but this still felt like an easy win, on the road, against a quality opponent. And facing some adversity but nonetheless making plays in the 4th quarter to win the game--that's a huge step for this team. We can all find things to pick on, but this is a really good Bears team, capable of developing into one of the "Best" ever.

Swamphunter (B): It would have been a B+ had we not have lost the lead and had given the Gophers a chance to get ahead of us.

A road win is what the team needed and they earned it. It was not pretty and some fans are lashing out irrationally as a result, but when the tempers cool down they will look back and note that the Bears pulled out a win while getting out of the Twin Cities alive.

pyunny (B-): We had a strong showing in the beginning of the game. Then our passing game became inconsistent, our zone defense didn't do great against the pass, and we had our clump of 3 and outs. Our place kicking was horrendous. Still our run D was solid, our D-line gave consistent pressure, and our RBs did a good job of carrying our team. Overall a fair but moderately disappointing performance by our golden bears.

royrules22 (B+): Copied from a comment I posted:

I’m generally HAPPY with the game. Were there flaws exposed? YES. Could we have done better? YES.

But I’m happy for one reason: We faced adversity ON THE ROAD and pulled away with a win. This wasn’t a clutch McKnight-style drive against OSU, it was just a Cal team saying "enough is enough" against a opponent that’s beneath them in talent and just getting it done.

yorzepol (B-): Cal looks like a top 15 team but I think we might be overrated at #8. If we can improve the Special Teams before Oregon, and get decent Kickoff coverage by U$C, we might have a chance.

katster (B): In the end, I can't give them an A, as this game was sloppy. But this Bears teams showed heart in finding a way to a victory. I don't know if we can say that this was a good game, but most other Cal teams I've seen would have folded, and this one didn't. This will be good for us in the future. On to Eugene!

Ohio Bear (B+): I'll take a 14-point win on the road any day, and twice on Sunday. But the way we seemed to dominate this game, we should not have been in a tie game in the 4th Q. We have to put teams away sooner.

Gameday Experiences

rocksanddirt: I'm sick. my nose is running, my head hurts, i watched it on 360, which was ok. goodnight.

HolmoePhobe: If my Phd student roommate asks me any more questions about football, I might just stab him.

rollonubears: I lost my voice by screaming at the TV in frustration. My dad was worried about me.

SanMateoBear: I wish! ESPN coverage was horrible - have they cut expenses by getting rid of instant replay machines?

katster: Watched on TV and had Ken Crawford and Jason Snell's commentary up in a web window. Watching that comment section was fun.

BleedinBlue: Not cool experience: holding my bladder for the whole second half because I didn't want to miss a thing. I think the adrenaline from watching our O tank in the second half helped. That rush just wore off, so, TIME TO GO PEE.

Swamphunter: Was watching at home. After the BS Pass Interference call, I got up in a huff to try and go to the bathroom but rammed my foot into the lower left leg of the nearby coffee table.

Ouchie.

I was afraid for a couple minutes there that I had broken my second through fourth toes on my right foot. Luckily the pain and swelling had subdued at the moment of this comment. Tylenol also played a major factor in helping the foot feel better.

beastmode: I've been studying like a maniac for my qualifying exam, and haven't watched many sports recently. After a tough week, it was nice to get up, have a cup of coffee, lie back down immediately on the couch, and yell at the TV for few hours. So no, no cool experiences.

kodiak: Interestingly enough, my 3-month old daughter threw a massive crying fit during the less-than-stellar 3rd quarter. When Cal turned things around and seized control in the 4th, she settled down and drifted into peaceful slumber.

Nor-Cal Scott: Watched at home in the peace and quiet of my home with my 17yo son. We are looking forward to the USC game!

California Pete: I had to watch the game on tape delay, but it was because I spent the morning judging beer. And it's the first day of Oktoberfest! Go Beers!!

Oaktown123: I watched at home in Minnseota. I want to go to Berkeley. Any advice, if any? I am in 9th grade, thanks.

CALumbus Bear: I received a package that morning, and to my great pleasure it was a JT-autographed football! Late birthday present from the wife FTW!!

Berkelium97: Big thanks to norcalnick for keeping everyone sane and reasonable during the open threads.

BeastMode: I got drunk.

JerrotWillard45: I blame myself for our letdown in the middle - I was thinking about T-shirt designs for U$C after we went up 14-0. That's LOOKING AHEAD, and it's not allowed.

Our next game is Oregon. Focus.

2nd - I nearly lost my mind when I realized I was not taping ESPN, but ABC, which was showing "You are so Raven". My DVR was schizo today...I missed Best's 2nd and 4th touchdowns - while taping 99% of the game. That's what I miss? 2 TDs!?!? How about 2 failed 3rd down conversions!

PLEASE post the torrent soon, so I can watch the whole.

dchu: I'm currently a grad student at the UMN. I sat with a few other Bear alum friends (from school and from elsewhere in the midwest) in the stands near the Bear families, which was a really cool experience. It reminded me that most of the guys on the fields are just kids.

Various notes: Trevor Guyton's dad is HUGE. Mama Holley has a 33 jersey marked "MAMA HOLLEY" which is rad. I started a "WHOSE DOMICILE!" chant with my friends and Skyler Curran's grandma told me I was a good cheerleader, which was equally rad.

TCF Stadium is nice, although Minnesota purposely split up the Bears fans (I think to keep them from making too much noise), and placed the majority of them in such a place that we couldn't see the massive jumbotron. Not cool. The place got LOUD, which bodes well for our boys' ability to deal with hostile crowds (they'll need it next week).

Also, Minnesotan are too nice. The students are assholes, but I'm sure that holds true anywhere. The alumni were genuine sweethearts and it made it impossible to talk trash. A handful of comments I heard:
- "You guys go and beat SC now."
- "Great game!"
- "Great finish!"

WHAT?!

In all, fantastic experience.

drbeeper: The new UM stadium was a joy - hopefully the travelling UC administrators took away many good upgrade ideas.

In the end, we got tested and passed the test with a W. Go bears!!!

royrules22: I traveled to Minneapolis. I liked their stadium a lot. I still think Cal can get louder but they had some sustained cheers. I hate the Minnesota spell out cheer. Their fans were really gracious.

Varmit Cong: How Cal's Defense Should Stop Minnesota's Offense

Avinash — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:00:24 -0000

We'll look at Cal's offense versus Minnesota's defense tomorrow. (Big ups to danzig for cutting the Minnesota videos for the two part preview!)

Force Minnesota's quarterback Adam Weber into obvious passing down situations.

You know how we talked yesterday about opposing defenses wanted to force Riley into 3rd and long situations? I couldn't come up with a better way to describe what Cal's defense should do to Adam Weber.

Weber is an excellent precise, accurate passer...on the first two downs. He threw around 58% in the first two games this season on first and second down, but on 3rd down dipped to 48%. That isn't just an isolated occurrence. Last season he completed over 67% of his passes on 1st and 2nd down, but only went for around 48.7% on 3rd down. The Gophers have been an awful team on 3rd down these past few seasons, going from 36th in D-I schools in 2007 to 96th in the country in 2008, to around 87th in the country through the first two games. Not a promising sign for a team with its toughest games ahead.

Let's take a look at the gametape of Weber from the first two games this season. Based on the video below, what do you see?

One thing I see is Weber throws his passes a little too early. Whether he's rushing the throw, whether he feels the pressure is coming, or whether his throwing motion is a little off...all of those factors lead the receiver to being a step short on his route, and forcing him to lunge for the ball. See how many times in the clip above the receiver has to lay out to try and make a play on the ball on 3rd down, and contrast that to the other downs where the receiver catches the ball in stride.

What do you guys feel like Cal's defense should do to break down Minnesota's offense?

Danzig's thoughts on the video, plus more things Cal fans should look at are after the jump.

Danzig noted: "Weber doesn't look off receivers... I mean, never. Really... never. He's got a cannon of an arm, but I guess he's only accurate when he can track his receivers." Indeed, you can see a few defensive backs getting plays on the ball and the route. On 1st and 2nd down, Weber has time because the defense is half expecting the rush, half expecting the pass, so they can't fully commit to the receiver until they're sure it's a pass. On passing downs, with Weber telegraphing his throws, defenses have a definitive edge to counter the limited QB mechanics of Gophers.

With those two things in mind, I see Gregory doing several things we didn't see in the first two games.

Cal should try their best to force Weber not only into 3rd down situations, but also to guard tightly against the 1st and 2nd down throws. Weber is deadly accurate here because either run or pass is a likely possibility, completing his passes at a 66% clip the past two seasons. So the Bears will have to be more aggressive in how they defend the pass theree; they can't play the straight zone they utilized versus Eastern Washington or Weber should pick them apart given the opportunity.

Also, expect a lot of three man rushes in passing situations and dropping our linebackers into coverage. It has never been Gregory's tendency to blitz on 3rd down, and I don't see that changing up Saturday. He might shade a linebacker into medium coverage for the screen passes that have SHREDDED Cal's defense in the first two games, but we'll probably see plenty of zone coverage, although it shouldn't be as soft as we saw on Thursday. If the Bears are going to get anywhere against some of the West Coast/pro-style offenses in the Pac-10, recognizing the screen and swing passes is crucial.

Want one more interesting stat on Weber? After completing about 60-65% passes in most of the field, in 2008 and 2009 he's completed only 42% of his passes in the red zone (although he has the majority of his TDs here). Look for Cal to defend against the run and dare Weber to test his accuracy in this area.

via ladiesdotdotdot.files.wordpress.com

Will Squid go one-on-one against Decker?

There's a third thing I didn't mention that Cal's secondary and linebackers could utilize to their advantage. The receiver in that video was always Eric Decker.

danzig sent these additional notes on the Weber-Decker relationship.

When Weber rolls to his right, he always throws to Decker who is coming back for the ball. 99% of the time. In these two games, this rule was broken only once.

When rolling to his left, he doesn't go to decker... but it is very rare that he rolls to his left. Seen this twice.

When Web is in duress, he will just throw it to decker... no matter what the coverage. Any rush or penetration... he will just throw it up for decker. They look just like Rudy [Carpenter]/[Chris] McGaha.

Decker caught about a third of Minnesota's passes last season, and he's caught about a half this season. That doesn't include all the times he's been thrown to. Now, we shouldn't take anything away from Decker, who has been one of the most productive receivers nationwide (2nd in receptions, 3rd in receiving YPG this year, 21st in receptions & 17th in receving YPG last year). But even Daily Gopher seemed worried about Weber's tendency to lock onto his main man.

Adam Weber is going to get Eric Decker killed in the Big Ten season. HE HAS GOT TO STOP THROWING TO HIM ALL THE TIME. Worst indication of this: Hayo Carpenter (another wide receiver) came in in the second quarter and BLOCKED FOR DECKER ON A SCREEN PLAY. Anyone else see something wrong with this? There is no way teams with solid secondaries, such as NU, UW, OSU, PSU and Iowa are going to let Decker beat them, so it's imperative to develop Stoudermire, Green and Carpenter more than we are.

Syd'Quan Thompson did not have his best week against the Eagles, so he could be looking for redemption against Decker. However, Thompson is giving up SIX INCHES to Decker (5'9" to 6'3"). That's a huge disadvantage for a corner. We could Weber try a lot of fade routes or elevated throws over the middle that could take advantage of this weakness.

So how well Cal's safeties play will be critical in defending against Decker's abilities. Expect either Ezeff or Johnson to be shading Decker a lot, especially if Weber is staring down his favorite target or moving on the go. They have to do their best to keep him from breaking into open field, and also to make sure they don't provide him too much of a buffer for him to catch passes in the flat.

Hopefully we'll see the secondary and the linebackers monitoring whether Weber is staring down Decker, or if he gets rushed or flushed out of the pocket, in turn leading to a likely throw to Decker. If they can do all of that, we might get a few more of those interceptions they've been missing from the first two weeks.

Attacking the strong right side.

You might be able to see above the dominant part of the Golden Gophers is the right side of their front, with Matt Carufel (Notre Dame transfer) and Jeff Willis combining for nearly 700 pounds. It's safe to say Cameron Jordan has his hands full this week, and we might see plenty of Trevor Guyton and Ernest Owusu alternating to that side to give Minnesota all the fresh bodies they can handle. On the touchdown run against Syracuse and the long run against Air Force, you see those behemoths open up the side through containment and leave the running back with the inside hole or the outside lane.

Thus, it'll be crucial for Tyson Alualu and Derrick Hill to get penetration on the more vulnerable left front. If Hill is able to push Minnesota's center Jeff Tow-Arnett around (Hill does have 14 pounds more on Tow-Arnett), that'd allow for linebackers like Kendricks and Holt to get inside and stuff the holes the right side opens up. Mike Mohamed (who has been playing a lot along on the right side) will play a big role in trying to seal the edge.

Wrinkle: The Wildcat. Minnesota has used the Wildcat this season, with a mixed bag of results (two first downs, one decent carry, one huge loss, and a fumble). Marquis Gray is usually lining up at quarterback in this formation. Unless he hands it off, he's either asked to run up the middle or off tackle depending on which way the blockers are moving. We might find out if the Bears have better lateral speed this season, since it looks like the Gophers like running to the corners.

Beware the second half adjustments.

If Cal jumps to an early lead, don't start planning for Eugene. Decker and the Daily Gopher both concur on this one.

I think offensively, coming out in the first half and getting more consistent drives put together. Obviously putting points on the board will help. You know, we finished well in both games; (we) had to come back from behind to win those games. That shows a lot of character about this team.

So how about the offense?:

Stat

1st Half

2nd Half

Total Yards

225

421

Points

17

19

Interceptions

1

0

Indeed, Minnesota has been a strong second half team this season; they seem to start slow before getting on track. If Cal is spotted an early lead, the Bears not only need to execute their defensive gameplan. They'll have to be ready to adapt to whatever the Gophers come up with coming out of the locker room.

And if they fall behind? Well, it's up to the offense. That's for tomorrow.

Poll

How concerned are you with Minnesota's offense?

Extremely

39 votes

Definitely

65 votes

Somewhat

137 votes

Slightly

69 votes

Not at all

29 votes

339 votes | Poll has closed

Cal v. Maryland Photo Essay

TwistNHook — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:46:32 -0000

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I'm back for another season of Cal football, snapping away. And away. And away. The bad news is that I'm a mediocre photographer. Our truly great photographers, TheNick and TrisWeb, both moved away from the Bay Area. So, I'll do my best to help give a better feel for what the Cal gameday experience was, but I fear that I will not be able to provide as solid game action photos as TrisWeb and TheNick can. I'm always working on getting the best quality photos for you, the readers (save for rollonubears, who I hate...), so if you are an aspiring game action photographer interested in gaining the exposure that the 3rd best Cal sports blog has to offer, don't hesitate to email us at the contact email.

Of course, even if I can't offer the highest quality photos, I still take my job very seriously. Taking our jobs seriously is something important to ALL Cal fans, whether it's taking photos, rooting on our teams, or preparing an alcoholic beverage to be explosively shotgunned down ones throat.

Yes, we take it all very seriously:

But perhaps I should back up. All weekend long I was getting good feelings about this game. Positive omens were popping up everywhere. Like getting a chance to walk behind a taller, thinner, blonder version of Steve Levy!

Even the stores were broadcasting their allegiance to us.

But enough about the pre-pre-game action, let's talk more about the pre-game action. Of course, the pre-game action at Cal starts hours beforehand. Game started at 7, but by 2 PM, the BART trains were packed. By 3, the tailgates were going off. You always want to have a filling meal beforehand, so you will have the energy to put your hands up on 3rd down. Tedford forbid we have poor fundamentals due to a sugar low.

That worked out quite well in this case, because not only is important to get the right pre-game foods, but it's also very important, as Yellow Fever can attest, to EAT THE ENEMY.

Next week, we face off against the Eastern Washington Eagles. Anybody got any good Eagle recipes?

So, fun times were had at the tailgates. Eating food. Booing random Maryland fans aimlessly wandering by. Calumbus Bear was in town and had emailed me asking requesting that he be within honking radius of me. So, he and his lovely wife came by. They seemed, more than anything, happy to be out of the great state of Ohio. I can't disagree. A chance to leave Ohio and go straight to a Cal game? That's like going from Holmoe to Tedford!

I think if there is one thing we can take away from the tailgating experience, whether you are at a frat party or on memorial glade or in a parking lot or just meandering through the streets of Berkeley, it's that the desire to consume alcohol and steaming meat brings people together in ways no political leader or organized religion ever can. Yes, from now on, I renounce my Judaism and will be forever part of a ethnicity/religion for which this is our slogan:

We even have our own national sport!

After all the tailgating fun, we went up on the long trek to to the peak of Mt. Berkeley, Memorial Stadium. But finally after our long trek, we got down into the stadium. It was a mad house entering the stadium, because they funneled everybody through the North tunnel entrance. They had some sort of special entrance for people, not sure who. Nobody would give me a straight answer on that. But I need to figure out how to get through this special entrance and dodge the crowds.

We got into the stadium and came down right by the North Tunnel. Jamal Boykin was there and now looking at this photo again, I see that Coach Boyle was there, too. Perhaps hosting recruits:

The players were warming up and came together for what I can only assume was a motivation koan. Or, potentially, series of koans.

Jahvid Best was strolling the end zone, working on his moves.

Trevor Guyton and Co. were practicing on the left, getting ready to crush that Turner kid.

And then who should emerge but Sandy B and her entourage. I wonder which one is her Johnny Drama!

The QBs were throwing the ball around:

And at least two Tedfords were getting ready to go:

The band was getting prepared the only way it knows how, by having two of its members run maniacally towards each other hoping four inches of metal hanging off their chest manage to touch:

They managed to pull that amazing feat off and Drum Major David Nagle was a happy camper:

SydQuan was out and about:

And D'Amato was practicing for his first ever game:

Soon, the practice was over and it was time to come in. All the players come running in and I discovered an unfortunate situation with my camera. It was just dark enough that taking photos without the flash would lead to blur. And with the quick movement of the players, many non-flash photos would come out blurry. But using the flash would have been useless, because you only have a few seconds. This is a lesson you'll see over and over today.

But I got a few solid shots:

I am not sure if people could read what the Rally Commers were spelling out with body paint. It was the entire Bear Will Not Quit line:

If it was too difficult to read, maybe they should stick to shorter things like "GOBEARS!" or "WINNINGISNOTEVERYTHING;ITISFARBETTERTOPLAYTHEGAMESQUARELYANDLOSETHANTOWINATTHESACRIFICEOFANIDEAL."

So, anyway, ya, that's a solid start. In part 2, we'll look at some blurry game action shots that were really awesome in person. And their even better in night snapshot form! GO BEARS!

Bear Down: How Cal's Defense Should Stop Maryland's Offense

Avinash — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:02:20 -0000

(This is the first of a two part series; offense today, defense tomorrow. For all the latest SBN stories on Cal-Maryland, click here!)

Maryland could actually be more stacked at the skill positions than they were last season. Their quarterback is entering his senior campaign. Shouldn't we be a little bit more afraid of the Terps's offense, knowing how their offense slashed and dashed their way around us this season?

I'd say the answer is yes and no. Here are several key factors to this game that I'll elaborate on after the jump.

Don't spot Maryland an early lead.
Don't change up the pass defense strategy against Maryland too much.
Why the younger running back might be Cal's primary concern over the incumbent.
Maryland dominated the line of scrimmage last year. It's our turn.

What do you think Cal's defense should do to stop Maryland's offense?

via media3.washingtonpost.com

Don't let Chris Turner break you down: I wrote this after last year's game.

I don’t know what was up with surfer dude turned quarterback Chris Turner, but he played out of his goddamned mind. He was six for six on 3rd downs, getting five first downs (including on a 3rd and 9, 3rd and 12, and a 3rd and 16). Either way, it reflects badly on the defense.

His excellent performance against Cal though, appeared to be an anomaly--against ACC competition he averaged a 56% completion rating, which is barely passable. After looking at the stats and his overall season numbers, I'm getting a clearer picture as to why he was so good against Cal.

Turner was extremely confident playing from ahead. Cfbstats.com shows that he completed a whopping 67 percent of his passes when his team was up 8-14 points, which was pretty much the entire Cal-Maryland game (it drops slightly to 63 percent when you include even larger margins into that set).
In fact, Turner's numbers were fairly mediocre in all other cases. He completed about 56 percent of his passes when his team was barely up, but that number dipped to 52 percent when the game was tied. He threw seven touchdowns and eight interceptions when the game was tied or when Maryland was behind. It'd have been very interesting to see how Turner would've performed if Cal had scored first.
On average, he converted about 40% of his 3rd down throws into 1st downs. Average numbers (I think the mean is like 45-46%), but compared to Kevin Riley's 2008 campaign (25.8%), they look practically sparkling.
Testudo Times claims he plays to the level of his competition; I'd say they're about 80 percent right. He played ACC champs Virginia Tech and Cal very well, he destroyed a solid Wake Forest team. he was mediocre against an 8-5 North Carolina team, was up and down against Boston College (58% completion rate on 57 passes and 2 scores, but 2 picks too). The exception was a poor perfromance against a strong Florida State squad, which ambushed him into a two interception, 53% completion rate, 149 yard game. Considering how good Cal is going to be this year, look for Turner to come out especially confident that he can knock off the Bears.

Thus, it is imperative not to spot Maryland an early lead. Turner becomes a more efficient quarterback and he gets more comfortable with taking risks. I guess the analogous term would be being the chipleader at the poker table, a lot of people would relax and be a little bit more dicier having the edge. Turner went all in against Cal last season and it paid off.

Force him to come from behind, Cal defense. Then see what he's capable of.

via www.yardbarker.com

Zone in, or zone out? As stated before, a lot of Maryland's success came over the middle. Hydrotech talked about this after last year's game.

Zone coverage. Our zones were getting picked apart pretty darn well today. But there's not a lot we can do really other than get a faster pass rush, and perhaps have better anticipation on passes. Because we got picked apart in zones necessarily mean we should switch to man? Not really. There seems to be a huge dislike of zone coverage by many Cal fans. The reasoning seems to be that zone coverages don't work. Well, today they didn't, but zone does work and has in the past in previous years. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if more than 50% of our INTs in the past 3 years were from zone coverages rather than man coverages.

Despite the loss of Darrius Heyward-Bey and Dan Gronkowski, Maryland's receiving corps is deceptively deep. Torrey Smith will be Maryland's primary weapon, having caught 29 passes last season, tied for 2nd on the team.

Smith flashed his potential last year as a redshirt freshman, starting the season’s final six games. In addition to setting the ACC single-season record for kick return yards, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Smith caught 16 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown over the season’s final five games, including eight catches for 115 yards and a touchdown in the regular-season finale against Boston College. Smith has also consistently tested among the fastest receivers on the team, with a 4.36 time in the 40-yard dash, behind only Lee-Odai and McCree.

Also, Adrian Cannon seems to be the best Terp at short-range. So if we're looking for a short-range target who will be targeted to break down the zones, he could be the one.

Thus, due to the deep receiving corps, I wouldn't drastically change the approach we used in defending the pass. Turner's performance in breaking down the zone was, as Charles Barkley likes to say, "better offense beating good defense". Tip your hat, shake his hand and move on.

What I might recommend is occasional shifts in personnel. Mychal Kendricks and D.J. Holt are unknown commodities and we don't know how good they are in defending the pass at this point. Expect Cal to occasionally shift into a 3-3-5 on passing downs, utilizing the talent of the deep secondary, bringing in someone like Chris Conte or Sean Cattouse to try and disrupt the zones Turner was so effective at breaking down last season.

Another possibility is trying to turn Turner away from the middle and into the teeth of the experienced secondary, either by going in the flats or progressing deeper downfield. Although Maryland's receivers are probably talented, outside of Smith they lack the experience to deal with Thompson or Hagan on one-on-one coverage. Heyward-Bey and Gronkowski. However, the downside to this is that the Terps have plenty of speedy receivers who have the ability to break the coverage.

Hence, it's unlikely we'll see a huge difference in the way Bob Gregory approaches this game. They'll just have to count on Turner not being perfect again. Probabilistically, the advantage is with Gregory.

via www.dailycal.org (Image from Nathan Yan)

Who's the back? Da'Rel Scott did most of his damage early on (89 yards on 19 carries, 2 scores). Even though he settled down as the game went along (half of his yards came on the first series of the game), he set the tone on offense for his team. Without his contributions, Cal doesn't play tougher to defend the run, and doesn't make the back eight more vulnerable to Turner's probing. So I'd say he was just as valuable in the victory as Turner.

However, there is one thing worth mentioning. Scott has been a TERRIBLE road running back.

In his four conference games last season he rushed for 105 yards combined, averaging out to a woeful 1.84 yards per carry. His lone 100 yard rushing game on the road came in that infamous loss aganst Middle Tennessee State. To be fair, he was playing pretty good rushing defenses (Boston College was 6th at rushing defense YPC, Virginia Tech was 17th, Virginia 40th, Clemson 42nd), although his numbers were still well below the average rushing performance against those opponents. Considering that he'll be playing on the road against a very good rushing defense, these are positive sticking points for Cal in being able to settle him.

Which is why I'd focus on stopping Davin Meggett. Once Scott went down with an injury in the third quarter, Meggett took over and ran at an even faster pace (82 yards on 13 carries). Given that they'll both be splitting snaps, we should keep a close eye on whether he can be more elusive and able on the road than his counterpart.

Davin Meggett has virtually pulled even with Da'Rel Scott, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season, in the race to be Maryland's starting tailback, offensive coordinatorJames Franklin said Thursday night after the team's final preseason scrimmage.

Franklin's comments were surprising because Scott rushed for 1,133 yards last season and was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection.

It's not that Scott hasn't played well, but rather that Meggett, who had a solid freshman season with 457 rushing yards, has improved, according to Franklin.

"Meggett has improved probably as much as anybody," Franklin said. "I think we've got two No. 1 tailbacks, and we're going to use them as such."

That's why in this game I'm more concerned about Meggett than Scott. Although his numbers aren't great on the road either, the sample is far more limited, so you can't really draw any conclusions. I'd prefer the enemy I know over the one I don't.

via a.espncdn.com

Return the favor: All that being said, Cal fans should be optimistic about their chances to stop Maryland's skill players. Why? Their offensive line from a season ago is gone.

[Senior center Phil] Costa, who moves over from left guard, is one of the Terps' few known quantities. Another is hulking left tackle Bruce Campbell, whose academic issues from the spring are no longer a concern.

Elsewhere, there is uncertainty. The right tackle battle features an undersized technician (Paul Pinegar), an inexperienced option (redshirt freshman R.J. Dill) and a promising player with an extensive history of foot injuries (Tyler Bowen).

Redshirt freshman Justin Lewis is favored to win the right guard job, and Andrew Gonnella and Lamar Young begin camp splitting reps at left guard.

The three have combined to play in three career games, almost exclusively after the outcome was decided.

Thus, we have an inexperienced right front going up against the seasoned Cameron Jordan and the talented Trevor Guyton. I like the sound of that.

Costa and Hill will probably be tangoing most of the game, so that leaves us with how Alualu will handle Campbell. I'd be surprised if the Bears didn't try any of these things.

1) Take Campbell out of the picture by rushing a linebacker or a d-back to the blind side, forcing Campbell to pick up the blitz and putting more pressure on the young Lewis to go one-on-one with Alualu.

2) Selective pressure on the right front. Maryland's Achilles heel on offense is right here. You can expect the Terps won't be running much right off-tackle like they did last season.

3) Drawing from (2) force the Terps toward the middle and away from the edges. Expect Maryland to employ a Cal 2008 strategy of running up the middle behind their veteran center and hoping to bust open some holes. Hopefully the new linebacking corps will be up to the challenge of taking down Scott and Meggett.

4) You actually might not see much additional pass rush. Cal's D-line did an excellent job causing havoc last season on their own, sometimes mixing in a linebacker or two to overwhelm offensive lines. Even against Maryland's experienced o-linemen, Cal managed four sacks on Turner and seven tackles for a loss. It's likely you'd see similar, perhaps better numbers this season, even with Follett gone.

Remember when the Maryland defensive line took advantage of an inexperienced Cal front? It's time to return the favor.

Behind Enemy Lines: Interview With Cal Golden Blogs

Ben Broman — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:03:54 -0000

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

For being ridiculously fast and talented, Jahvid Best never impresses me with his helmet off. Don't know why.

Browse more photos »

We've hit game week. Less than six days away, the first game - the long-awaited Cal-Maryland matchup - is right around the corner. While we'll probably do a full preview eventually, the folks at California Golden Blogs were nice enough to virtually sit down with us and exchange some questions. So, for your second look at Cal, without further ado, I give the floor to the interview:

How confident are you with Kevin Riley at QB? I saw he was officially named the starter, but I never knew there was even a battle for that spot. Was there really a competition?

Last season Riley never fully earned the starting spot. He was always looking over his shoulder at Nate Longshore, wondering if he'd get the hook from Tedford. Also there's evidence indicating that he never got on the same page with his offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti.

That isn't the case this year. From the beginning of camp Riley was the clear #1. Cignetti is gone, replaced by Andy Ludwig, who by all accounts has meshed far better with the junior quarterback. He had far more experience over the two QBs he was battling (Brock Mansion had taken only a few garbage-time snaps last season, Beau Sweeney hadn't seen the field at all). Given the extra year of experience under his belt

Remember, for all his struggles, Riley still managed to go 7-2 as a starter last season. And he did turn what looked like a blowout in College Park into a fairly tense game in the late stages. The potential was there in 2008, and given the favorable conditions in coaching and confidence, we feel this is the season he'll finally put it all on display.

On a similar note, Maryland's defensive strategy last year was basically "stop Jahvid Best at all costs". As it so happened, Cal couldn't beat Maryland through the air on that day. If the Terps adopt that strategy again, do you see Cal's passing game as good enough to win this time around?

Let's be honest, our passing offense, in specific our WRs, were bad last year. Near the end of the year, Best and Vereen were the primary receivers for the team. In that afore-mentioned Big Game [ed's note: actually, it's below, but whatever], all but one of Riley's passes went to a RB or a TE. Vereen actually ended up with the 2nd most receptions on the team.

Again, having a fresh set of legs in Vereen could be very beneficial. And having Vereen as a receiving threat certainly can't hurt Cal's chances at winning this one.

Alex Mack was one of the best centers in the game last year, and he's now in the NFL. As Maryland fans already know, a poor offensive line can ruin even the best talent at RB, so how's Cal Mack-less OL looking?

Sadly for you guys, better. Let me qualify that. Chris Guarnero is a step down from Alex Mack, but the word out of camp as early as two years ago was that Guarnero would've been ready to start if Mack hadn't already been established in the center position.

Additionally, the Bears were a revolving door at left tackle last season with Mike Tepper missing all of last season. Thankfully for us, Tepper was granted a sixth year of eligibility and will return to protect the blind side. Talented sophomore Mitchell Schwartz (who played both tackle positions last year as a redshirt frosh) will guard up the right side.

The only questions might be at guard, where neither has seen much PT, but starters Matt Summers-Gavin and Justin Cheadle have been touted for sometime as the future at guard, and their backups Chet Teofilo and Mark Boskovich have plenty of game experience. Add in capable Donovan Edwards and the Bears run at the least nine deep on the O-line.

Sooo...I'd say we feel better about our O-line this season.

For more on the Cal O-line, check our O-line preview: http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2009/8/21/983710/cal-2009-position-previews, and additional o-line player analysis from The Bear Will Not Quit: http://thebearwillnotquit.blogspot.com/2009/08/offensive-line-preview-2009.html

Cal's defense was less than impressive last year [ed's note: meant to say against Maryland]. Of course, any number of factors - jetlag, humidity - could've influenced that, but that's what I have to go off of. Will it be better this year?*

If you only saw Cal's defense vs. Maryland, you're probably underrating what was a pretty darn good D the rest of the year. They held three opponents to a touchdown or less, and nine opponents (including USC, Oregon and Miami) to less than three TDs. That first quarter-plus at Maryland, however? 3 drives, 3 touchdowns, probably the second-worst quarter of football they played all season (exceeded only by a 28-point 3rd-quarter meltdown at Arizona, and even that included a pick-six that you can't pin on the defense).

Statistically, the Cal defense doesn't actually look that bad against Maryland: just 19 first downs (Cal had 26), only 297 yards given up (Cal had 461) and two fumbles recovered. And after the Bears fell behind 21-3, their defense held the Terps to fewer than 30 yards on 6 of their next 7 drives, giving the offense a chance to get back into the game (a chance the offense would squander).

My sense of the Cal defense was that, for whatever reason (the humidity is my guess), they were playing somewhat slower than normal. Defenders took bad angles to the ball carriers, turning medium-sized gains into big ones, and wide receivers were able to create just that much more separation. Cal just looked sluggish out there. Of course, I'm certainly willing to concede the possibility that players like Scott, Meggett and Heyward-Bey made the Cal defense look slow.

Overall, though, the Cal defense was pretty good last year (26th in the NCAA in total defense, 23rd in scoring defense), and they return a number of quality starters, including their entire defensive line and their entire secondary. They do have to replace three senior linebackers, but the feeling around camp is that the new guys are pretty talented, and that a second year with Cal's base 3-4 defense will pay additional dividends. I don't expect that Maryland will score five touchdowns again this year.

Everybody knows about Syd'Quan Thompson and Jahvid Best, but who's one Golden Bear (on either side of the ball) that fans don't really know about that could cause Maryland trouble?

Trevor Guyton is a sophmore on the team with a lot of promose. He currently is set as a back up Defensive End. He briefly supplanted starter Cameron Jordan during fall camp, although that may have been a motivation ploy for the apparently too relaxed Jordan. Nonetheless, it shows that Cal is very high on Guyton. Look for Guyton to get solid playing time and could potentially make some hay in the trenches there.

Over the course of a long game, depth is key. Having a fresh Guyton come in could be beneficial for Cal's chances.

On the offensive side, keep an eye out for Shane Vereen. Again, a back up, but one that could probably start in many, many, many other places. He is, after all, backing up Jahvid Best.

Vereen is also really good at catching the ball out of the backfield or even well downfield. Last year, Kevin Riley hit him in stride last year in the Big Game against Stanford for a 59 yard TD reception.

If you had to gameplan against Cal, what is the biggest weakness would you look to exploit?

Despite Cal being known as a passing team due to the whole Pac-10 stereotype and the whole Jeff Tedford QB guru stereotype, that's not true. Cal is a running team. Running the ball is Cal's strength and it's no secret that Cal's passing attack is suspect due to Riley's shaky play last year and the abundance of inexperienced wide receivers. So, if I were to play Cal, my main focus would be on stopping Jahvid Best and making Cal beat you through the air.

Cal will most likely try to zone block against Maryland as since Cal had tons of success with zone blocking last year. Maryland's defense should actually be more concerned about not giving up openings on the backside of the zone blocks. Jahvid Best does the most damage on zone blocking runs by hitting the cutback lanes. Maryland should not over-pursue on the zone blocks. In other words, they should not flow too quickly to the point of attack otherwise lanes will form on the backside of the zone blocks and Best will go for big gains. So as long as Cal maintains good gap protection on the backside of zone blocks, it will force the Cal OL, and Jahvid Best get their rushing yardage at the point of attack. Best will have more blockers and defenders ("trash") in front of him at the point of attack than on a backside cutback lane and will be less likely to run for big gains.

On passing downs I'd try and press the Cal WRs. The Cal QBs and WRs have been practicing a lot without defenders to get their timing with the QB down. By pressing the WRs and getting their timing off, Maryland can make things a lot harder for Kevin Riley. I would also be willing to bring pressure on Riley early on to test the pass blocking abilities of Cal's OL. Cal is starting a few relatively inexperienced players on the OL, so they may not be quite up to speed on the blocking assignments.

Cal Fan Appreciation Day 8.29.09 II

TwistNHook — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:00:11 -0000

Cal Fan Appreciation Day 8.29.09 I

So, last time I left off, it was so hot that everybody was complaining their feet were on fire. I think it had to do with the heat coming off of the turf, I don't know. We had just finished up with the Defense line and realized that we probably were never going to get Best or SydQuan's autography. We were depressed, but soldiered on. Just in time to see somebody who could maybe stand in for SydQuan, the other #5, Alex Laggeman:

The most fun parts of the day and generally the easiest were just chatting with the players milling about on the field. Often times they were just as renowned and popular as the players at the tables. Just Tyson Alualu here:

But some were young red-shirt guys. I try to get their signatures, too, because you never know when a young freshman (like Best 2 years ago and Trevor Guyton last year) will supernova. Here, we have Deandre Coleman and Austin Clark, both young talented guys, who could be key players on the team in the years to come.

And if Laggeman is the OTHER Syd, here is Chris Little, the OTHER Best. It was like being in the middle of the sun on July 4 weekend covered in a parka, so I have no idea why he decided to go all hobo chic with that thick cotton beanie hat. He must have a really, really, really, REALLY cold head or something, I dunno.

Here is redshirt freshman Aaron Tipoti:

Interestingly enough, Alualu had his own line. Like I mentioned above, very popular player. So, we patiently waited in the Alualu line. Much better than Best and Syd!

He is a large, large, LARGE fellow. His kids are cute, too. Most D players were milling about near Alualu. For example, here is DJ Holt and Cameron Jordan chatting with a fan:

When reading the stories about Cameron Jordan's brief demotion, he was often described as "laid back" and "relaxed." I can't speak to how that relates on the football field, but I could definitely see those being accurate descriptions. He was joking around with the fans and mugging for the cameras. Fun, fun guy.

He was confused about why I was being so professional towards him and I said it was because I knew he was gonna be making NFL millions one day and I needed a loan. BAD! We joked around briefly about that.

Next up, the Prophet, Mike Mohamed:

Then, my favorite Cat-House of all time. Sean!

I don't have a good photo of this, but I did run into and get an autograph from Kendrick Payne. He is a massive beast of a man, but I made a fairly large faux-pax at this point. I asked him, jokingly, whether if he were to marry Michael Kendricks, would he take Kendricks last name. I thought I was being ever so witty, but he told me he had heard that one a lot or even the KendrickSquared. Ai! I'M UNCREATIVE! UNCREATIVE!

And then we can to him, the man I'd been waiting all year to see, Giorgio Tavecchio!

Like I said before with Isi Sofele, he is the other player that doesn't seem so otherworldly. He also look like he came straight from Moraga, no joke. I went up to him and said "Mr. Tavecchio, it is a pleasure to meet you, I know you know Italian here, I have a little proficiency here, let's see, how do I say this Donde Esta El Bano? Did I, did I get that one right there?" Much hilarity was had. I also asked him if he was in the cadet band in high school with Harvey "The Harve" Benstein. Unfortunately, he was not. :(! He does seem cooler than Cadet Band, I would say. Funny guy, may he kick us several key victories this year!

Then, from one extreme to the other, Michael Constanzo. This man is big, he's got fiery tattoos:

I explained away my professionalism by noting a man with as many colorful tattoos as him MUST be really professional. And, of course, he was. Jeremy Ross was there. Goldblooded kept saying "Let's go see Jeremy Ross. I see Jeremy Ross." But we kept getting side tracked by other players on the way over. We finally made it to him, though.

Jeremy Ross was so nice and professional back, I told him "I hope you aren't this nice on the field. I hope it's not like Permission To Catch Ball Requested, Sir." He assured me, it was not.

We saw Covaughn Deboskie wandering the field and ran over. He seemed really nice and has a head in the shape of a geometric shape.

Look at that thing, it's all angles! He could be a model!

Often times, you interact with the players individually. It's always interesting to see how the players interact in a group. Here are 2 young, young, YOUNG guys Allan Bridgford and Isi Sofele joking around and taking photos together. 3 years from now, they could be the starting battery for an amazing Cal team, who knows?

I know Sofele looks short there, but Bridgford is a tall, tall man, too.

Then, guess who would show up but Tosh Lupoi.

We were waiting in the line for the Seniors Offense at this point, but I would run out from time to time to greet other players. I did run over to talk to Tosh briefly.

I thanked him so much for being a Golden Bear. I said I hoped he would stay a Golden Bear for a long, long, long, LONG time. I told him they should pay him whatever he wanted. He told me to talk to Coach Tedford about that. Does anybody have Coach Tedford's number? I don't. :(!

But he was not the only one to wander by the Seniors Offense line. DJ Campbell made an appearance:

As did Darian Hagan:

Ryan Davis was joking around with the fans and having a fun time.

And Bryant Nnabuife showed up:

Soon, I had made it up to the front of the line for the Seniors Offense.

Tepper was there with Chet Teofilo. Tepper was telling some story about a game in 2007 from Tom Schneider's book. I said "Wait do you mean 2007 or 1997?" I am not sure how well he took this, but did joke around about how he saw where I was going with that. I told him I was gonna make a Methuselah joke, but after how well that 2007 or 1997 joke went over, I didn't want him to beat me up. He said that he doesn't like to fight, because all he does every day 80 times a day is just beat people up. I said "Sounds like my marriage." He expressed happiness that he had yet to get married.

Then, on to Chet Teofilo. I told him I had a great business venture that we should both go in on. A French Restaurant in Berkeley called Chez Teofilo. It's like Chez Panisse, but with more Teofilo! And much less Panisse. This is a can't fail opportunity! We could get a loan from Cameron Jordan to do it, too.

Brian Holley and Tad Smith were up next:

One of the people I was with drives the players around in a golf cart and was friendly with them. They asked him if he was doing it again this year. He said ya. I told them that they should call him if they were drunk at Kip's or something for a ride home. Apparently Mike Leach at TTU does that to his freshmen QBs.

Then, the final table which was packed with players. There was Nyan Boateng and Verran Tucker on the left end.

And Kevin Riley and Dasarte Yarnway on the right end.

But Riley and Yarnway aren't seniors! Yet there were at the Seniors table! I told them that I felt like they were lying to me in autograph form and was very disappointed in them. Riley said he was just told to sit there and so he sat there. Clearly, Tedford's influence is strong on him.

We took bets on how many more years Tepper would play with Cal. I predict 5.

So, then we rushed over to the Best/Syd line. Hoping against hope that they would let us in so we could grab those last 2. But there was a security guard guarding the end of the line. Wouldn't allow us in. I tried to plead our case, saying I had the rest of the team and needed those two autographs to complete the set. But he was unwavering. Also, just doing his job. :(! So, I never got to interact with Best and Syd. Given the problems they had with that line, that was probably for the better.

If the choice was Best/Syd and nobody else or everybody else, but not Best/Syd, it worked out for the best. I did go over a snap a few shots, though.

We thought about waiting at the tables until it was all over and then trying to get their signature when they left. But it probably woulda taken another 20 minutes of waiting and it was hot, we were tired and hungry. Oh well.

On the way out, we did chat briefly with Ernest Owusu.

And, thus, yet another Cal Fan Appreciation Day was over. Fun time had by all. Dodged a MAJOR bullet by choosing to get into the Tedford line over the Best line, although I didn't realize it at the time. Got to see Isi Sofele and Spencer Ladner in person. Got to annoy/joke around with many players. And was all professional to prove that once I get out of my mother's basement and take off those pajamas, I, too, can be a regular person in society. GO BEARS!

Stat	1st Half	2nd Half
Total Yards	225	421
Points	17	19
Interceptions	1	0