SB Nation - Giorgio Tavecchio

Golden Nuggets: Prediction Thursday

Berkelium97 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:15:10 -0000

Congratulations to all the members of the football team who made the Pac-10 All-Academic team! The first team included Mark Boskovich, Alex Lagemann, and Mike Mohamed. Ernie Owusu, Matt Summers-Gavin, and Giorgio Tavecchio made the second team, and Skylar Curran, Chris Guarnero, and Mitchell Schwartz made received honorable mention. At a school like Berkeley, it is even more impressive that they made the list.

Despite thinking that one or both teams may come out playing flat, Ted Miller anticipates a big Cal victory.

California 35, Washington 21: The Bears have steadily -- and quietly -- risen in the Pac-10 since suffering those embarrassing consecutive losses to Oregon and USC. It seems like things are clicking on both sides of the ball, and the Bears certainly have the athleticism on defense to handle a scrambling Jake Locker. Moreover, Cal seems to have an advantage coming off a bye week while the Huskies might not be focused after winning the Apple Cup last weekend.

All five CBS experts predict a Cal victory.

All five Yahoo experts predict a Cal victory.

After the jump, we have player quotes from Tuesday's press luncheon (including some humorous remarks from Tepper), injury updates for Cal and Washington, motivation for both Cal and Washington to win this weekend's game, recap/analysis of basketball's loss to New Mexico, 20 questions with DJ Seeley, and a preview of the weekend in Cal sports.

Cal Football

JO has quotes from a few players from Tuesday's luncheon. They talk about preparing for the December weather in Seattle, the loss to Washington in 2007, bowl game possibilities, bouncing back from the losses to Oregon and USC, and preparing to take on Washington. Tepper had some funny quotes that are too good to pass up:

On bowl experiences

It’s gotten to the point with me that I don’t know where we’re going to go. I’ve been to Vegas, I’ve been to Holiday, I’ve been to Texas before – I’ve been a lot of places. I’ve kind of learned over the years that bowl games are what you make of it. Even though I was under 21 in Vegas, I made the best of it. You find ways. In San Diego, they have the whole gaslamp district and the whole party scene down there. Texas, Dallas had its own little scene down there. It’s what you make it. If you want to sit in your hotel room, like previous centers (Alex Mack), and sit there and do nothing, that’s fine with me. But I don’t think I’m ever going back to Dallas unless I’m playing for an NFL team there, or I’m transferring flights there. So I’m going to go have fun. That’s part of the bowl game. You realize you’re playing a game, but you also realize you’re traveling somewhere and you want to have fun with it. I don’t really care where I go. Vegas is always fun, but I’ve had fun in San Diego and I’ve had fun in Texas.

Tedford seemed quite proud of all the players who made the All-Academic team and made a point to talk about it before any reporters even had the chance to ask about it. In a surprising development, it seems MSG sustained a concussion against Stanford and he may not play against Washington.
No one has forgotten the loss to Washington in 2007, what many considered to be the low point of the season. Holley, Mohamed, and Riley were especially bothered by the loss and are committed to coming out of Seattle with a win.
Most everyone on Washington has seen the clip of Best's concussion-inducing fall and that got the team thinking about whether or not to hurdle defenders. While the players are not prohibited from attempting to jump over a defender, their running back coach makes a point to tell them "If you are going to leave your feet, you are on your own."
Washington's starting center and team captain Ryan Tolar will likely miss Saturday's game after it was determined that he suffered a concussion against WSU. This seems to be a major blow to the O-line, as it was riding momentum from a great performance against the Cougs.
After last week's shutout, Washington DC Nick Holt is especially excited about playing this week. He believes his unit is finally starting to develop into an effective, cohesive group. He thinks Cal will be a great test for the D and he and his players embrace the challenge.

Cal Basketball

Farudo has another segment of 20 Questions; this time, DJ Seeley answers the questions. He talks about his dream team, which historical figures he'd like to have dinner with, best and worst Pac-10 fans, and more.
Injuries, foul trouble, the mile high elevation, and a rowdy home crowd all proved to be too much for the Bears as they lost to New Mexico despite leading for most of the game. With injuries and illness hurting the Bears, guys ran out of energy by the end of the game. Monty's post-game comments indicate that he thought the team played with great effort, but not enough energy. It didn't help that New Mexico switched to a zone D--which has really hurt Monty's team this year--with just under ten minutes to go.. In his post-game notes, Farudo says the Bears have to heal up and play better if they hope to challenge for the Pac-10 title.
No. 19/20 women's bball hosts the Colliers International Classic this weekend, featuring Colorado State, Southern Illinois, and no. 10 Texas A&M.

The Rest of the Weekend in Cal Sports

Women's volleyball opens the NCAA tournament with a matchup against Lipscomb at 4pmEST on Friday.
Women's swimming and diving sends its swimmers to the AT&T Short Course National Championships today through Saturday while the divers will compete at the Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame Invitational today through Saturday. On Sunday, the swimmers will head to the U.S. Long course Timed Final National Invitational.

Arizona Quarterback Nick Foles Inappropriately Double Dips The Chip

TwistNHook — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:30:12 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

If at first you don't succeed, Nick, go right ahead and try again. Please. Pretty please??

Browse more photos »

Although the final score was an 8 point differential (24-16) at Saturday's Cal-Arizona game, it was really more like a 2 point game. Cal tacked on an extra TD on an exciting Shane Vereen scamper at the tail end of the game. Ironically, that gave Arizona slight hope that they could come back into the game, but that is a different post.

When you have what amounts to a 2 point differential, almost every play seems like it could have changed the balance of the game. Certainly, there were many plays where the game seemed to hang in the balance. But, in my mind, there was one play that completely and totally changed the complexion of the game. One play where the entirety of the momentum shifted from Arizona to Cal. One play that, in my mind, almost decided this game: The Double Pass penalty against Arizona QB Nick Foles on 3rd and short at the tail end of the 4th quarter.

This one stands out to me as being the key game-changing moment. After the fold, follow me through the sequence of events that was the Double Pass.

To see this play in its fullest picture, we need to start before that Arizona drive. Well before. From the ESPN Play by Play.

After a drive starting on their own 20 (touchback from Riley throwing a pick in the end zone), Arizona, aided by 2 Cal PI calls on 3rd and long situations, scores a back breaking TD:

1st and Goal at CAL 8	Nick Foles pass complete to A.J. Simmons for 8 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.	16	15
	Two-point conversion attempt, Nick Foles pass FAILED.
	John Bonano kickoff for 58 yards returned by Jeremy Ross for 11 yards to the Cal 23.

This put Arizona up 16-15. Thankfully, they missed their 2 point conversion as we had before. That means a field goal puts Cal ahead instead of tying it. Still, plenty of time left. Just gotta put the ball into the hands of our play makers and get a time-killing, long drive. Which is kinda exactly what we did:

California at 12:26		ARIZ	CAL
1st and 10 at CAL 23	Shane Vereen rush for 10 yards to the Cal 33 for a 1ST down.	16	15
1st and 10 at CAL 33	Shane Vereen rush for 4 yards to the Cal 37.
2nd and 6 at CAL 37	Shane Vereen rush for 3 yards to the Cal 40.
3rd and 3 at CAL 40	Kevin Riley pass complete to Shane Vereen for 10 yards to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 50	Shane Vereen rush for a loss of 3 yards to the Cal 47.
2nd and 13 at CAL 47	Kevin Riley pass complete to Verran Tucker for 20 yards to the Ariz 33 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at ARIZ 33	Shane Vereen rush for no gain to the Ariz 33.
2nd and 10 at ARIZ 33	Shane Vereen rush for 10 yards to the Ariz 23 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at ARIZ 23	Covaughn DeBoskie-Johnson rush for 12 yards to the Ariz 11 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at ARIZ 11	CALIFORNIA penalty 5 yard False Start accepted.
1st and 15 at ARIZ 16	Shane Vereen rush for 5 yards to the Ariz 11.
2nd and 10 at ARIZ 11	Shane Vereen rush for 2 yards to the Ariz 9.
3rd and 8 at ARIZ 9	Shane Vereen rush for 4 yards to the Ariz 5.
4th and 4 at ARIZ 5	Giorgio Tavecchio 22 yard field goal GOOD.	16	18
	Giorgio Tavecchio kickoff for 70 yards returned by Travis Cobb for 38 yards to the Ariz 38.
DRIVE TOTALS: CALIFORNIA drive: 13 plays 72 yards, 07:40 CALIFORNIA FG

Looking at this drive, a few things jump out at me. One is that there is no clear way for the ESPN Play By Play guys to signify the WIldBear position. However, at least 4 of these plays came out of the WildBear. I believe the 1st and 15 at the Arizona 16 and 2nd and 10 at the Arizona 11 came out of the WildBear. I think two of the previous ones also came out of the WildBear, although I cannot remember off the top of my head here.

At the time, I was complaining about over ruse of the WildBear. Especially since we literally ran the exact same play every time. Isi Sofele comes running across the field, doesn't take the ball, Vereen fakes a few ways, then runs up the middle for minimal gain. Considering we did manage to:

a)move the ball

b)take gobbles of time off the clock

c)put Cal in the position for a game-winning field goal

I guess it couldn't have been that bad. Then again, perhaps with a few more passes from Riley, we might have scored a TD. But the coaches seemed incredibly hesitant to call Riley's number on this drive. Especially as we got closer to the goal line. He throws 2 passes, completing both for 30 total yards. Not bad. The Tucker pass was REALLY impressive. He threaded the needle perfectly. Tucker took a huge hit, but managed to hold on.

Perhaps after Riley threw 2 goal line picks, the coaches wanted to avoid a 3rd. Playing it really, really, really, really safe. It worked, so hard to complain. Nonetheless, it is just surprising that they wouldn't call his number once after getting inside the Arizona 33!

But, there we go! Cal scores! Yay! 18-16. Cal is up. We just need a stop and to get the ball and wind down the clock. Just need a stop.

Then, this drive starts:

Arizona at 4:46		ARIZ	CAL
1st and 10 at ARIZ 38	Nick Foles pass incomplete.	16	18
2nd and 10 at ARIZ 38	Nick Foles pass complete to Delashaun Dean for 15 yards to the Cal 47 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 47	Timeout CALIFORNIA, clock 4:08.
1st and 10 at CAL 47	Keola Antolin rush for 3 yards to the Cal 44.
2nd and 7 at CAL 44	Nick Foles pass complete to David Douglas for 12 yards to the Cal 32 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 32	Keola Antolin rush for 3 yards to the Cal 29.
2nd and 7 at CAL 29	Keola Antolin rush for 4 yards to the Cal 25.

Ok, firstly, Delashaun?? We can add that to our Sean/Shaun/Shawn library of names. Marshawn. DeSean. Knowshon. LaShuan. And now Delashaun. Thank you Dean family!

Secondly, this was not exactly the stout defensive stop we were looking for. They never even made it to 3rd down. Cal fans were starting to get nervous. Arizona with that impressive Air-Raid offense. We had held it down for most of the game, but man just when it counted they were gonna hit the go-ahead FG with just a handful of seconds on the clock. This was gonna be a classic Cal stomach punch loss. Ugh.

So, after that 2nd and 7 up there, Arizona had the ball at the Cal 25 on a 3rd and 3. Tack on the 17 yards for a field goal and this is a 42 yarder. This is out of the range of the Arizona kicker, it appears:

FIELD GOALS     FGM-FGA  Pct 01-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-99 Lg Blk
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Zendejas, A.     13-16  81.2  1-1   7-8   5-6   0-1   0-0  37   1

Alex Zendejas is not a great kicker, but he's still pretty good. Of course, at the time, I had no idea what was going on. Being the Cal fan, I assumed they had the greatest kicker on the other side. We were freaking out, thinking that we had to stop them then, because it was right out of the range. Considering Forza Italia hit a 47 yarder earlier in the game, anything was possible! Zendejas previous stats in the 40s are minimal, just 0-1. His numbers in the 30s look good 5-6 So, if they get a few more yards, hit the kick, we're screwed.

BASICALLY, IT'S THE BIGGEST 3RD DOWN OF THE GAME! GOTTA GET UP, FANS!

And we did. The place was going impressively crazy. Of course, then this happened:

3rd and 3 at CAL 25		Timeout CALIFORNIA, clock 2:06.
3rd and 3 at CAL 25		Timeout ARIZONA, clock 2:06.

Ok, a bit of a set back. Cal fans had to stay up for like 5 minutes straight. But, they did. GOTTA STOP THE WILDCATS! GOTTA STOP THE WILDCATS! GOTTA STOP THE WILDCATS!

Then, this happened:

3rd and 3 at CAL 25 Nick Foles pass complete to Nick Foles for a loss of 9 yards to the Cal 39, ARIZONA penalty 5 yard Illegal Forward Pass accepted.

Thanks to CalGBear's heady goodness, here is a YouTube video of it. It is of fairly crappy quality, but is viewable sort of:

Ok, let me break this down for those who didn't see it live and are a bit confused. Foles stands there in the pocket having all the time in the world (as he did for much of the game). He throws the ball forward, but it bounces off of a player and back to him. I couldn't tell who it hit in the blur of the game, but I was later informed from the SF Chronicle that Tyson Alualu blocked the pass:

Foles' pass was deflected by defensive lineman Tyson Alualu - and Foles caught the deflection, rolled right and threw another pass (which he completed).

Basically, Foles got Alualued! As it states there, he rolled to his right and threw a pass. The refs immediately threw every flag in their arsenal. There were like 400 flags on the field. I think at one point, the line judge covered himself in yellow paint and dove in the general direction of Foles. In the stands, people started saying "wait, can you can throw a second pass? no..no, you can't throw a second pass!!! YOU CAN'T THROW A SECOND PASS!"

The only question was how many yards and did you lose the down. The down was the key one there and as soon as the refs announced loss of down, my section erupted into a spasm of cheers. But the best was yet to come. Because they started to march the ball back. And back. And back. At the time, we thought it was a 15 yard penalty, because a 3rd and 3 turned into a 4th and 17 and we can't do math. No sir, we can't do math at all. It's not like we went to the #1 public school in America or anything!

Reviewing the play by play, it appears that it is only a 5 yard penalty. However, it is called from the spot of the foul. Which, apparently, was 9 yards behind the line of scrimmage. That's how 3 turns into 17. 3 plus 9 plus 4. I actually can't crunch that in my head right now, so I am going to trust the refs on this one.

That puts them into a crazy 4th down situation. At this point, the stands just went beyond crazy. Everybody started jumping up and down on the benches and screaming. I think NorCalNick nearly sprained his ankle, landing incorrectly. He is getting a MRI and could be out for 4-6 posts. And then this:

4th and 17 at CAL 39 Nick Foles pass incomplete.

He almost hit this, but a Cal defender managed to step in front of the pass at the last moment. Great defense there.

"GO BEARS!" via imgs.sfgate.com

In the span of a few game seconds, but an interminably long real-time period, Arizona went from moving down the field quickly to score the game winning TD/FG to throwing an incomplete pass on a 4th down to give Cal the ball. Of course, Cal immediately scored and missed the XP, which gave Arizona another chance to potentially tie the game. Vereen woulda been better off running around in circles than scoring that TD! ;)

Anyway, so, again, like my post about the Arizona State WildBear pass attempt, I have no overarching point here. No TEDFORD IS GREAT! or FIRE GREGORY! Just a closer look at a situation that coulda gone either way and how the momentum can shift so drastically in one play. What are your thoughts on this Double Pass penalty play? GO BEARS!

Cal 24, Arizona 16: Bears Play Spoiler. Can They Do It to The Furd?

Avinash — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:59:14 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

The Golden Bears spoiled Arizona's rosy outlook this season. Can they do the same to their hated rivals across the Bay next Saturday?

Browse more photos »

After five home duds, we finally had a winner. The Bears avenged their 2006 defeat to Arizona with a game strikingly similar in its flukiness and heartbreak.

An upset goes two ways. Cal had a lot of lucky breaks, from dropped passes, to Nick Foles missing streaking receivers downfield, to surviving two really bad Riley interceptions (one on the offensive line, one on him), to Mike Stoops and Sonny Dykes calling a curious amount of runs to Keola Antolin on 1st and 2nd down, to MVP of the game Giorgio Tavecchio playing the game of his life on special teams defense (2 big tackles), to Foles catching his own pass and throwing it again...anything else swings the other way, Arizona walks ahead to an epic showdown with Oregon unscathed. Oh well, at least they know how we felt three years ago.

But Tavecchio hit clutch field goals, the defense stepped up, Shane Vereen played the game of his life, and the Bears held on. The question now is, can they replicate that effort against their cross-Bay rivals?

CBKWit will have more detailed postgame thoughts later. But I want your guys's thoughts. Based on what you've seen of us, and what you've seen of the Furd, how do you feel about the Big Game?

Poll

How do you feel about the Big Game?

TIMBERRRRRRRRR!!!!!

117 votes

We have a good shot, Tedford will have something planned.

184 votes

Probably losing, hope Harbaugh goes to Notre Dame.

135 votes

Drop a tree trunk on me. It's gonna get ugly.

102 votes

538 votes | Poll has closed

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.

The Monday Morning Wash

John Berkowitz — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:53:39 -0000

More photos » by Rick Bowmer - AP

about 1 month ago: Oregon's mascot is hoisted into the air by fans following their game over Southern California during their NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009, in Eugene, Ore. The No. 10 Oregon Ducks ran past No. 4 USC 47-20 for the Trojans' worst loss since 1997. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

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The bye weekend always gives you a chance to look at other conference teams a little closer. What we saw this weekend was more balance than I expected and a stunner in Eugene which paves the way for a new league champion this season.

Just about everyone picked USC beacuse of their defense to win a very close game with Oregon on the road. History was on the Trojans side. They tend to take care of business and be almost unbeatable this time of year. The experts were wrong and the Oregon offense rolled for 613 yards of total offense and a 47-20 thrashing of the #5 Trojans who fell to 6-2 on the season. That loss effectively eliminates USC from championship contention because the Ducks would have to lose three of their final four conference games for USC to pass them up.

When the season started we all thought the wheels were about to fall off in Eugene after a disasterous loss to Boise State which cost the Ducks their potential All- American running back. After stumbling for a couple of weeks and pulling out last second wins against Purdue and Utah the Ducks have been on fire. Nobody has been able to figure out how to stop their offense when Jeremiah Masoli is at the reigns.

Chip Kelly did a great job facing the challenges of holding this team together early in the season. The key to this team in comparison to Duck teams of the recent past is these guys can play defense. Special teams have also been a source of pride for this squad. The Ducks are playing as well as any team in the country right now. Chances are very good they won't lose another game.

Next up UCLA

With most of the conference now playing for second place the Huskies travel to Pasadena this week with hopes of keeping their bowl hopes alive. Washington has a 15 game losing streak on the road and until the team breaks that horrible streak they will be pretenders not contenders.

UCLA is the perfect place to get that all turned around. The Bruins have struggled on offense all season and are enduring a five game losing streak of their own. A defense which was supposed to carry them past the offensive struggles has had problems of their own.

This is a very winnable game for Washington. The Huskies need to win three of the next four to even their schedule and become bowl eligible. Coming off a bye week the Huskies should be a lot fresher than the Bruins. With two on the road and two to finish the season at home this is must win if the Huskies are going to accomplish that goal.

Around the Pac 10

Oregon 47 USC 20

Jeremiah Masoli threw for 222 yards and a touchdown and ran for 164 more yards with another score and the 10th-ranked Ducks trampled Southern California (No. 5 BCS, No. 4 AP) 47-20 Saturday night, the Trojans' worst loss since 1997. Redshirt freshman LaMichael James ran for 183 yards and a score as the Ducks (7-1, 5-0 Pac-10) racked up 391 yards on the ground against the Trojans, who came into the game with the fifth-best rush defense in the nation (79.9 yards a game).

California 23 Arizona State 21

Giorgio Tavecchio kicked a 24-yard field goal with 21 seconds left, and California (No. 24 BCS) rallied for a sloppy 23-21 victory over Arizona State on Saturday afternoon.Tavecchio's kick capped an 11-play, 74-yard drive that began at Cal's 19 with 3:16 to go. Golden Bears quarterback Kevin Riley was 5-of-6 on that march, and he finished with 351 passing yards and two touchdowns. The Golden Bears (6-2, 3-2 Pac-10) have won three straight.

Oregon State 26 UCLA 19

Jacquizz Rodgers had 112 yards rushing, 96 yards receiving and a touchdown pass, his brother James Rodgers ran for the winning score, and Oregon State had to scramble for a 26-19 win over UCLA on Saturday. UCLA tied the game at 19 after Prince threw for two touchdowns and two two-point conversions, but the Beavers marched down the field for a 70-yard drive that James Rodgers capped with a 17-yard run on a fly sweep for the go-ahead touchdown. That left Prince and the Bruins with 44 seconds and only one timeout to make a final drive, but time ran out after a completion to Taylor Embree at the Beaver 27. Sean Canfield was 25-of-34 for 305 yards for the Beavers (5-3, 3-2), who beat the Bruins at in Corvallis for the first time since 1999.

Notre Dame 40 Washington State 14

Jimmy Clausen threw two touchdowns, including a desperation heave that Golden Tate spectacularly pulled down to end the first half, and Notre Dame clobbered Washington State 40-14 on Saturday night. The Irish who beat Washington earlier this season have now proven to be the best team in Washington State. Perhaps we should just ship them the Apple Cup Trophy? The first half ended and the Irish were up 30-7 after three TDs in the second quarter...ouch!

Pac Ten Power Ratings

1. Oregon...The Ducks have the championship about wrapped up but keep in mind they still have four more conference games to get through. Pac 10 champions are made in November. Up next is a tough contest with Stanford on the road in Palo Alto.

2. USC...The Trojans hold on the Pac 10 championship trophy is pretty much over. There is still quite a bit to play for and up next is ASU in Tempe. If two loss teams are considered for BCS games the Trojans are always a big draw. Don't expect them to drop too much in the polls.

3. Arizona...The Wildcats are still in the race with only one conference loss so far this season. This coming weekend they get to beat the crap out of Washington State.

4. Oregon State...The Beavers weren't that impressive against a struggling UCLA squad. Once again the defense was suspect and almost let the Bruins get close enough to pull it out. This week the stakes are a lot higher since they hit the road to play a Golde Bear team that has won three in a row.

5. California...The Bears were even less impressive than the Beavers in squeeking out a last second win on the road against ASU.

6. Stanford...The Cards had the week off which is always a good thing at this point of the year. The bad thing is they get the Ducks at home. On paper these two teams match up pretty well so expect a closer game especially if Stanford can control the clock with their running game and Oregon has a USc hangover.

7. Washington...The Huskies need to win three of their last four to become bowl eligible. They head to Pasadena to take on a team that has lost five in a row and is in the same position.

8. Arizona State...The Devil defense put together a close but no cigar finish against Cal. This week they get to host some very angry Trojans at home.

9. UCLA...Rick returned to Seattle last season and picked up a W against a crippled Washington football team. His after the game antics were kind of pathetic considering the circumstances. This week Sark returns to his roots in LA trying to get his second win in his first season against the LA schools. Win this one and UW is back in the bowl picture and even more importantly it will make an impact in recruiting.

10. Washington State...WSU picked up $1.5 million of needed cash by playing Notre Dame at a neutral site. You have to wonder why then ND AD picked the Coug's and not a team from Texas for this one. Next loss is on the road in Tucson this coming weekend.

Pac 10 Offensive Player of the Week

QB Jeremiah Masoli of Oregon who threw for 222 yards and ran for another 164 in the victory over USC.

Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Week

The entire Oregon defense for shutting 327 total yards and only 20 points.

Quote of the Week

TJ Simmers of the LA Times:
The Bruins still stink and remain a disgrace, a big-time school with a small-time football program. They are winless in the Pacific 10 Conference like Washington State, losers of five straight games and if you're starting to count moral victories, then why did they ever get rid of Karl Dorrell?

Thoughts On The Playcalling On The Final Cal Drive Against ASU

TwistNHook — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:00:23 -0000

More photos » by Paul Connors - AP

about 1 month ago: Arizona State linebacker Vontaze Burfict, left, breaks up a pass in the endzone meant for California tight end Anthony Miller, right, in the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009, in Tempe, Ariz. California won 23-21. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)

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Wow! What a game. Cal wins on the road in dramatic fashion, coming from behind. Something that, unfortunately, we've seen all too rarely from Cal recently. After the initial rush of excitement subsided, many people started to discuss the game in further earnest as they are wont to do. There was much consternation over the play calling at the tail end of the game. In specific, there was both a strong negative and strong positive reaction to 2 play calls in the last drive: A run out of the WildBear formation and a surprising pass out of the WildBear formation. While some instantly decried these controversial calls, others immediately praised their ingenuity and aggressiveness.

I do not pretend to be a final arbiter for these plays. My knowledge of football analysis comes mostly from reading HydroTech posts. But I did want to try to dig deeper and take a closer look at the context of the plays. Perhaps get into Tedford/Ludwig's head regarding the play calls and see what the thought process was. I use Tedford/Ludwig, because, although Ludwig is calling the plays, I feel confident in assuming that Tedford was involved. Especially with key plays such as these. After the jump, watch the video of the plays (thanks to TouchedTheAxeIn82) and then take a journey deeper inside Cal football.

The most important thing to do before reading this is to watch the video. Thanks to TouchedTheAxeIn82, we already have a YouTube video of the game winning drive:

Before we can really get into the specific plays at the end there, we have to take a step back and see what preceded it in the drive. From the ESPN Play by Play, here is the drive up to the tail end:

California at 3:16		CAL	ASU
1st and 10 at CAL 19	Jahvid Best rush for 4 yards to the Cal 23.	20	21
2nd and 6 at CAL 23	Kevin Riley pass complete to Anthony Miller for 22 yards to the Cal 45 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 45	Kevin Riley pass incomplete.
2nd and 10 at CAL 45	Kevin Riley pass complete to Verran Tucker for 10 yards to the ArzSt 45 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at ASU 45	CALIFORNIA penalty 15 yard Face Mask accepted.
1st and 25 at CAL 40	Kevin Riley pass complete to Marvin Jones for 26 yards to the ArzSt 34 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at ASU 34	Kevin Riley pass complete to Alex Lagemann for 16 yards to the ArzSt 18 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at ASU 18	Kevin Riley pass complete to Verran Tucker for 11 yards to the ArzSt 7 for a 1ST down.

Jahvid Best apparently injured himself on that running play there. He later said that it was not that bad and felt as if he could have come back in if need be. Apparently, the coaching staff was holding him out for precautionary purposes.

Kevin Riley was absolutely dealing during this time period. There was 1 incomplete and an unfortunate facemask, but he was also hitting various receivers. He actually hit 4 different receivers, including Tight End Anthony Miller, who seems to always have at least 1 clutch catch a game. In 5 pass completions, Riley moved Cal from the Cal 23 to the ASU 7. Riley is 5-6 on this drive for 85 yards (which is slightly off, since he had to deal with that facemask penalty setting him back), slinging the ball with authority.

If you actually look one drive earlier, you'll see that Riley was dealing there, also. From the above Play by Play link, here is the preceding drive:

California at 10:21		CAL	ASU
1st and 10 at CAL 31	Jahvid Best rush for 3 yards to the Cal 34.	20	21
2nd and 7 at CAL 34	Kevin Riley pass complete to Alex Lagemann for 12 yards to the Cal 46 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 46	CALIFORNIA penalty 10 yard Holding on Anthony Miller accepted.
1st and 20 at CAL 36	Kevin Riley pass incomplete.
2nd and 20 at CAL 36	Kevin Riley pass complete to Nyan Boateng for 12 yards to the Cal 48.
3rd and 8 at CAL 48	Kevin Riley pass complete to Anthony Miller for 22 yards to the ArzSt 30 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at ASU 30	Kevin Riley pass complete to Jahvid Best for 8 yards to the ArzSt 22.
2nd and 2 at ASU 22	Jahvid Best rush for no gain to the ArzSt 22.
3rd and 2 at ASU 22	Timeout CALIFORNIA, clock 5:55.
3rd and 2 at ASU 22	Kevin Riley pass incomplete.
4th and 2 at ASU 22	Giorgio Tavecchio 39 yard field goal MISSED.

There, Riley is 4-6 for 54 yards. Again, throwing the ball very well. Unfortunately, Tavecchio missed a key 39 yard field goal, causing one red faced man at Manny's to go absolutely ballistic!

Despite that unfortunate incident, if you look at Riley's 4th quarter stats, he is, by my pathetic math attempts, 9-12 for 139 yards. Again, it's slightly off, because he had to throw for several yards twice thanks to a facemask penalty on Verran Tucker. Nonetheless, it is to Riley's credit that he was able to deal with that setback and continue marching down the field.

So, at this point with Riley absolutely slinging it, what do Tedford and Ludwig do?

Take the ball out of Riley's hands.

There are some reasons to do this.

1. Cal is on the ASU 7 yard line. So, with any reasonable kicker, you are playing with house money.

2. There is still a lot of time left on the clock (like 1:30ish). Assuming an accurate field goal is the end result of this drive, you want to bleed the clock of time. Runs bleed clock time much more than passes do.

So, what is the immediate next play call?

1st Down Play Call

1st and Goal at ASU 7Shane Vereen rush for 2 yards to the ArzSt 5.

This was out of the WildBear formation. While watching it live, I was incredibly frustrated by this call. That was because I did not believe Tavecchio to be a reasonable kicker. I know that is harsh to say and I duly apologize for it. But having seen him lo these many games and the attempts earlier in the game, I just didn't trust him. I realize that if your kicker can't hit a field goal from the 7 yard line, you might as well not have one. Nonetheless, I didn't have the confidence in Tavecchio that Tedford did. Tedford was right, so hard to squabble there.

Forza Italia via imgs.sfgate.com

My perception of this play call (besides the time bleeding aspects) was to catch the defense off guard. They were anticipating a throw, so to run might be sufficient to squeeze in a TD. Plus, runs, in my experience, tend to have fewer failure rates than passes. So, Tedford/Ludwig are going into a very conservative mode here. Again, in their mind they are playing with house money. Take the least risky play and if it works, great. If it doesn't, it is OK, because the likelihood of fumble is low and the Field Goal is there. I understand that, although, running out of the WildBear seems to tip the D that they are going to see a run.

Then again, the ASU run D is remarkably sick, giving up fewer than 3 yards per carry. Perhaps Tedford/Ludwig felt the advantages of the additional blocker was greater than the element of surprise. Having faith in the talent of their players over some sort of sleight of hand.

I offer no answers to some of the questions that I've raised. Merely the concept that it seems there are MANY different things to discuss in how to make a play call. And makes me feel incredibly unqualified to ever pass judgment as to playcalls. Yet, I continue to write unabashedly!

So, that fails, kinda. We don't get a TD, optimal result. We also don't lose the ball, negative result. But we do burn time off the clock. And we gain a few yards to make the field goal attempt slightly easier. So, overall positive result.

That brings us to this next play. And this one; well, it's a doozy.

2nd Down Play Call

2nd and Goal at ASU 5Shane Vereen pass incomplete.

HydroTech often speaks of specific tendencies. That offensive coordinators call certain series of plays to set up later plays. The specific example here is that although Cal has run the WildBear innumerable times this year, I don't quite remember them ever throwing out of it. Or, in the alternative, they rarely, rarely, rarely throw out of it.

Now, the ASU Defensive coordinator now believes that Cal has gone into conservative mode. They are in the WildBear again. Riley is nowhere to be seen. They are going to run again, right? They've never passed out of that damnable formation before. And passing, especially with a running back, in this situation, is extraordinarily dangerous. Some might even say foolish.

Time to set the trap?

Now, I cannot pretend to be inside the mind of Tedford/Ludwig. But this is, to me, the most reasonable theory I can figure regarding this play call. It was a remarkably ballsy call.

And yknow what, it almost worked! It also didn't work. Disastrously. That is generally what happens when you execute an aggressive play like that. The optimum and negative spectrum is much greater. So, here the TD is nearly scored, but also an interception is almost made. That play took about 4 years off my life.

3rd Down Play Call

After this, Tedford/Ludwig go into incredibly conservative mode and, I believe, took a knee. HydroTech informs me that Riley centered the ball. I don't quite remember, I was in full on panic mode by this point. At the time, I was extraordinarily pissed that we didn't take an honest shot at the end zone with the red hot Riley there. But, like I said, I didn't have the faith in our kicker. Tedford/Ludwig did and, seeing the near disaster on 2nd down, wanted to run down the clock and ensure the best situation for our kicker occurred. After I calmed down (i.e. after Tavecchio made the kick), I saw the wisdom in Tedford/Ludwig's 3rd down call.

via imgs.sfgate.com

Conclusion

I honestly have no overarching conclusion here. There's no TEDFORD IS GREAT! or TEDFORD IS STUPID! in my mind here. By this post, I am not trying to really make a determination as to whether or not they were good or bad calls. An argument could be made that, considering we achieve the optimum result in the end, a game-winning field goals, the calls were good. That argument, to me, seems to lack some context, in specific, the high rate of failure for the Vereen throw. Nonetheless, some credit has to be given for the win. In the end, I merely wish to provide some context to what I perceive to be the reasoning behind the play calls. I'll open it up to you:

What, dear readers, are your thoughts on these two play calls?

Poll

What are your thoughts on the 2 play calls at the end of the ASU game? In specific, the 1st down WildBear run attempt and the 2nd down WildBear pass attempt.

I agreed with both play calls

100 votes

I agree with the 1st down WildBear run attempt, but disagreed with the 2nd down WildBear pass attempt

166 votes

I disagreed with the 1st down WildBear run attempt, but agreed with the 2nd down WildBear pass attempt

15 votes

I disagreed with both calls.

30 votes

311 votes | Poll has closed

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.

Four Questions To Ponder About Our Golden Bears

Avinash — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:10:43 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

Jahvid Best's health is something to worry about, but should we also be worrying about his production?

Browse more photos »

(Quick reminder: don't forget to fill out the report card! Need those ballots in by midnight!)

As we enter the heart of our season, we still have a bunch of issues to address about our team. Our community raised some of those excellent points in the postgame thread, and I added a few more. Ponder these questions in the comments.

1. Has the secondary regressed? Syd'Quan Thompson and Darian Hagan looked like lockdown corners last season. Yet now on two straight weeks, both the Squid and the Barbarian have been caught staring and given up crucial scores. Hagan was especially brutalized last week.

Although Bob Gregory has always favored zone schemes to stop attacking offenses (and for the most part, it's worked), you have to wonder if it frustrates his talented corners to not be playing more straight man coverage. Other than Thompson, the secondary looked totally discombobulated trying to defend passes, getting called for penalty after penalty. I have to say that of the three areas of defense, pass defense worries me the most.

2. Will Cal again struggle to run the football in Pac-10 season? Now you're probably going "Whaaaaaa? We've gashed everyone we played." Well, Minnesota's front seven pretty much stuffed the run from the middle of the second quarter to the middle of the fourth (why we didn't take advantage of the outside, I don't know). And this is just an appetizer to the real meat of the schedule.

Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Oregon State all have fast and physical defenses that can seal the edges as well as they can contain the middle, which means our blocking will have to drastically improve. We've seen it plenty of times in the last few seasons that if you stop Cal's ability to run the ball, you can take them down. Based on what I saw against Minnesota, they aren't ready to open up the front for a sixty minute game. So color me concerned.

3. How do we cope with the bad kicking? The special teams has reached crisis point. Although Bryan Anger is still doing his thing, and the punt coverage was great (Isi Sofele's hit was legal from the replays I saw), the kicking game has never been in a more wretched state of affairs. We're having such trouble kicking field goals that if the Bears had 4th and 10 on their own 25, I wouldn't hesitate in putting Riley under center and letting it ride.

dballisloose summed it up well.

Seriously, the special teams is sickening…….

why can’t Syd get enough protection to run back the punts?

why can’t we get decent kick-offs? 12 yard line, 15 yard line, 20 yard line, out of bounds…..wtf?! this is a top 10 team and one position (kicker) is fucking this up for us. we can’t let the other team start at their own 40 every time. against the better teams its going to really hurt us.

Minnesota started the first half on average their own 47. Cal was on their own 20.

4. Are we going to unleash Kevin Riley early? TedfordIsGod noted a certain conservatism to the strategy after Cal took the lead.

We really should have been throwing more – guys were open. Riley wasn’t great, but was hitting enough guys down-field to keep the defense on their heels – that is all we need from the passing game. I know some people will get freaked out by a couple of his bad throws, but I feel good about the fact he just doesn’t seem to put his bad throws in places where defenders are going to catch then (except that pass that Tucker had to break up – seemed that was on Tucker though.)

As I said in the pregame preview about our offense versus Minnesota's defense, I was really hoping the Bears would establish the pass to get Best going, but I also didn't expect Ludwig or Tedford to let loose the artillery until they absolutely needed to (which as it turns out was the 4th quarter). Thus we still don't know about his capabilities early on in this game.

Maybe it will happen this week. Maybe.

Anything else you want to ponder about our Golden Bears? Discuss in the comments.

Poll

What question leaves you the most concerned going into Pac-10 play?

Secondary

40 votes

Inside running

16 votes

Kicking

273 votes

Establishing the pass

30 votes

359 votes | Poll has closed

California 35 Minnesota 21: Postgame Thread + Grade the Bears

Avinash — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:30:16 -0000

via img.wonkette.com

In the words of Jean Paul Sarte, 'au revoir gopher'.

This is solely for postgame discussion of the Cal game. If you want to discuss the rest of the Saturday games, go to this thread by clicking here! We'll have more formal writeups from our Marshawnthusiasts about the game later this weekend.

Quick thoughts on the game, I'd suggest you do the report card before reading this.

Kevin Riley had an up-and-down game. Yes his completion percentage was high, but some of his throws were elevated, others weren't on target. I recall Tucker having to come back and catch a pass instead of catching it in stride, Miller had to make a spectacular grab on an elevated throw. Good job by the receivers adjusting to make those throws.
But he delivered when it mattered, making the big throws of the game to Ross and Miller down the stretch. He also made the correct read and quick-snapped/rushed it straight up on that 4th and 1. Nice job there.
I was surprised with how much Cal ran the ball up the middle. Jahvid Best is not a down and distance guy and they kept on putting him into the hole. And Minnesota was stacking the box; the O-line didn't have the ability to seal them off late like they did in the second half. I see the Bears having lots of trouble with Pac-10 defenses who can seal the edge and the middle (Oregon State, UCLA, and of course USC come to mind).
I thought Ludwig had a great first two or three drives, then kind of got lost with his playcalling near the end. You could see the sort of things that Ducks and Utes fan got frustrated with, lots of running up the middle and not utilizing his talent in the way you would've liked him to use it.
Darian Hagan had his worst game as a Golden Bear. He was directly responsible for ALL of Minnesota's touchdowns. And I'm not even sure if it was his injury; he was faked out playing the run, played an intermediate receiver when he should've been on Decker and got beaten by Decker on another.
On the flip side, Cal's zone coverage wasn't very impressive either. Weber was smart enough to find the receivers on 1st and 2nd down, and he was precise enough to break the zone, using the elevated throws and relying on Decker and other receivers to bring them down in the middle of the field. It nearly paid off with an upset.
Okanes reports that Boateng has a fractured foot, which is why he didn't play much in the second half. Jeremy Ross stepped up big in his absence though.
If they keep on playing the way they've been playing, the special teams is going to lose us a game this year. We need to prepare ourselves for that.

Since the game ended earlier then the last two weeks, we're going to move up the report card deadline just a little. Get your grades in by Sunday night at midnight for them to count in the final stats. That way we can get your thoughts about the game summed up a little earlier than Wednesday, when most of you have probably already moved on. You can click the link here or go through the jump and fill out the form right out on the site!

Poll

What did you learn from our battle with the Gophers?

We are a dangerous team to be reckoned with.

38 votes

We are a fine team, even with a few flaws.

215 votes

We did okay, but I'm really uneasy about the Pac-10 schedule

208 votes

We are in deep trouble if we keep on playing like this.

64 votes

This season is over to me.

6 votes

531 votes | Poll has closed