SB Nation - Jeremy Ross

Golden Nuggets: That Which We Call A Poinsettia. By Any Other Name...

Berkelium97 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:00:17 -0000

...would still cause temporary blindness if its sap gets in your eye. So let's keep the poinsettia champagne cocktails away from Oksi, okay?

In case you missed it, Cal has accepted an invitation to the Poinsettia Bowl where it will play Utah on Wednesay, December 23rd at 5pm.

Here's a sampling of what Tedford had to say in today's press conference.

On how the relatively short time until the Poinsettia Bowl affects preparation and schedules
"It makes it pretty tight. There's a lot going on. There's finals, there's recruiting weekends, there's home visits that need to be made. What this does, it takes away a recruiting weekend, so we have to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time and so that makes it very challenging. Preparation for the game, we should be fine. I don't remember the dates as of right now, but this week we're going out recruiting. Next weekend, we have practice, which will be a generic practice, offense vs. defense. Then we will game plan through the first of that next week, practice starting on, I believe, Wednesday, that will go through until Saturday, and then I think our departure date is Saturday if I'm not mistaken, and so we will practice down there Saturday, Sunday, and then the game is on Wednesday, and we'll get a practice on Monday."

On the travel itinerary and practices after arrival in San Diego
"Most likely we'll fly out early that morning [Saturday], get there, get organized in the hotel, and then practice there. But we're trying to tighten those things down right now to see if those are absolute times."
...

On the use of Isi Sofele as a kick returner against Washington and whether he filled that role because of any injury to Jeremy Ross
"J-Ross was dinged up and Shane [Vereen was] dinged up, and so we were trying some different depth there. We put [Chris] Conte back there as well because Isi was banged up through the week as well, so last week, going into the game, we had quite a few questions of who was going to do what because we had quite a few guys banged up. He did a great job, it was very promising."
...

On the results of Best's examination in Pittsburgh
"That was all positive. I think they're looking toward having Jahvid do some working out this week, whatever the extent of that, I don't know, and I think it's completely on how he feels from day to day on how much he will do. The feedback I got from the medical staff was that he can start progressing and doing some physical activity, but I don't think anyone knows how he's going to respond until he does it."

After the jump we have plenty of recaps for you sadists who want to relive last night's game. To put you in a better mood, I have plenty of stories on men's basketball's great win last night, volleyball's impressive march through the NCAA tournament, and more.

Cal Football

Last night's loss created even more confusion about this team. Naturally, Riley said he was very frustrated, and Vereen suggested that they overlooked Washington (how you can overlook a team with a top-ten draft pick is beyond my understanding). Daily Cal recaps the loss. JO also recaps the loss.
While many fans will remember the 8-4 record, SFGate says many will also remember being outscored 145-30 in four lopsided losses.

Cal Basketball

After the football team was dismantled in Seattle, Monty's team gave Cal fans a reason to go to bed smiling. With an 82-63 win, Monty says his team is starting "to get our swagger back." From PC's 20 points to Amoke's domination on the boards to Max Zhang's block party (and did you hear his roar in the first half?!), this win helped make up for football's performance. NBA scouts from 10 different teams who came to watch ISU's Craig Brackins saw him repeatedly frustrated by Zhang.
While not as thorough as his usual game threads (due to print deadlines), Farudo's game thread is a good barometer for last night's game.
In his post-game quotes, Monty seemed very pleased with Cal's performance. He said they were playing with more energy than they had in recent games and believes they are starting to break out of their mini-slump.
The women took care of business too, routing Colorado St 78-44. Boyle was pleased with their second-half adjustments as well as the defensive pressure they applied. Today they narrowly lost to no. 7 Texas A&M. Too many turnovers and missed free throws kept the Bears from notching an impressive upset.

Women's Volleyball

The ninth-seeded Cal women's volleyball team put an end to Lipscomb's 25-game winning streak and knocked them out of the tournament by sweeping them in three sets. They followed that up with a win over Ohio St, which sends them to the Gainesville Regional semifinal next weekend with a matchup against Baylor on Friday.

Was Jeff Tedford Too Passive? Was Jim Harbaugh Too Aggressive?

Avinash — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:47:35 -0000

Who's a better head coach, Jim Harbaugh or this 5th grader?

There've been a lot of hand-wringing about the playcalling by the coaches by Cal fans, about how Jeff Tedford nearly gagged away the Big Game with ultra-conservative playcalls that would've made Pat Robertson shudder. It could certainly be argued that taking one or two extra risks would've ended the game instead of leaving the door at open for the Furd to climb back into it

What was lost in the shuffle though was the absolute badness of Jim Harbaugh's aggressive calls. Unlike Tedford's calls, where there's some debate as to whether they were prudent or imprudent, there's not much debate about Harbaugh's playcalls.

Twist and I discuss the following calls after the jump.

1) Tedford choosing to punt on 4th and short rather than going for it--next drive led to a quick Furd TD to cut the lead to 3; we both agree it was an ok call, although we wish

2) Harbaugh going for it on 4th and 8 deep in his own territory--led to a Cal FG that made it a touchdown game; we both agree the call was stupid.

3) Tedford choosing to kneel and center the ball on 3rd and goal--prevented a chance for a Cal TD, settled for the FG; we both agree the call was a little conservative, but again had merit and did make the Furd's chances of winning much longer.

4) Harbaugh passing the ball on 1st and 2nd down with Gerhart available--led to the game-clinching interception. As this 5th grader above us says, very questionable.

Twist: These calls were certainly controversial. To fully understand the situation, let's try to look at them in context at the time they were made. I wanted to take a closer look at the 4th and 1 call.

Here's the thing. If it was up to me, I probably woulda gone for it. But I'm also the person who does fake punts in Madden on 2nd down and has a "No Kicking" policy, too. I'm an imbecile. I realize that here in the blogosphere, we are supposed to have extreme opinions that create a lively, if oftimes redick discussion and, most importantly, hits galore. That's never really been my style, per se. Like I said, with my limited knowledge, I probably would have gone for it, but instead of talking about what I would have done or even what one *should* have done, what I want to do was take a closer and clearer look at the situation that Tedford faced. Try to get a better understanding at the decision that Tedford faced at that time, instead of after the game or days later.

I fear that there has been a lot of miscommunication based on faulty remembrances about Tedford's decision. Personally, I have seen people say things like:

"Tedford shoulda gone for it to ice the game."
"Tedford shoulda gone for it, because we couldn't be stopped."
"Tedford shoulda gone for it, because after they punted, Stanford was right back there just a few plays later."

via calbearsonline.com

Based on the ESPN Play By Play, here is the drive.

California at 12:47		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at CAL 27	Shane Vereen rush for 4 yards to the Cal 31.	31	21
2nd and 6 at CAL 31	Shane Vereen rush for 5 yards to the Cal 36.
3rd and 1 at CAL 36	Timeout CALIFORNIA, clock 11:07.
3rd and 1 at CAL 36	Kevin Riley rush for 1 yard to the Cal 37 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 37	Shane Vereen rush for 3 yards to the Cal 40.
2nd and 7 at CAL 40	Shane Vereen rush for 6 yards to the Cal 46.
3rd and 1 at CAL 46	Kevin Riley rush for no gain to the Cal 46.
4th and 1 at CAL 46	Bryan Anger punt for 41 yards, fair catch by Michael Spanos at the Stanf 13.
DRIVE TOTALS: Cal drive: 6 plays 19 yards, 03:34 Cal PUNT

The first misconception that I've seen is that this play happened much later in the game. However, this drive starts with nearly 13 minutes left in the 4th quarter. It ends with a little over 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter. The play, in specific, took place with probably about 10 minutes left in the 4th, although it is slightly unclear to me exactly when from this play by play. So, to me, the concept that Tedford could have "iced" the game here seems laughable. You can't ice a game with 9-10 minutes left. Period.

I realize that the counter argument is that if Cal successfully continues the drive, they can a)take more time off the clock and b)go up either 34-21 or even 39-21! Certainly, 39-21 with 9 or fewer minutes left in the 4th does seem unbeatable, no matter how much Cal Cal is. And Cal is fairly Cal, let's not forget that.

But that seems to assume a lot. If Cal converts here, they are at their own 47 yard line. Not Stanford's 22 or something like that. They still have 53 more yards to go to hit pay dirt. So, to me, attempting and perhaps even successfully converting the 4th down conversion does not an iced game make. So, hopefully, looking at the play by play can clear up that conception.

The second thought I've seen out there is that Cal shoulda gone for it, because they've been doing really well in the running game and could probably have just pounded it home there. That is a fair point to me. We had been performing really well in the running game.

But we had also been performing really well on defense. After Stanford jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead in the early part of the 1st quarter, Cal's D had held Stanford to merely 1 Touchdown since. If my math is accurate, Stanford had gained 110 total yards between scoring their 2nd TD with about 5 minutes left in the 1st quarter and the play call in question here. 69 of those yards came on their sole TD drive in the 3rd quarter. Basically, that's roughly 38 minutes of game time, 2+ quarters, with a grand total of 110 yards given up by the Cal D.

Any way you cut that, that is incredibly impressive. Luck goes 4-14, which is......not good. Just the drive before, Stanford had showed wild desperation, throwing long on its first 2 passes and going 3 and out quickly and quietly. So, the concept of forcing them to drive 80 yards to pay dirt after holding them down for so long doesn't seem so bad to me. Tedford was banking on his defense being able to hold Stanford down at that point.

via calbearsonline.com

Avi: CBKWit mentioned in the podcast he disagreed with this decision more than the 3rd down kneeldown one (which we're building up to). I'd say this call was very similar to the Belichick playcall (2 minutes, up a score at your own 30 seems about the equivalent as being up 10 points at midfield). Unlike the Patriots coach, Tedford chose not to take the risky decision and trust his defense, which up to this point had shut them down.

Now as Smart Football and Advanced NFL stats pointed out, going for it on 4th down at this range isn't that bad a call. The stats seem to favor going for it--at that range, the success rate is around 75-80%. However, there's still a 20-25% chance that it fails, and given how hard we've been pushing Vereen, and the fact that we couldn't pick up 1 yard on a 3rd and short on a quarterback sneak (which is usually a sure thing), I can see that Tedford would be heistant to go for it and hand the Cardinal any momentum. As Bill Simmons said, statistics can only tell you so much; you have to assess the situation too.

The referees had been handing out questionable spots throughout that drive, and the possibility you get screwed again always factors in.
You're on the road (yeah I know, the least intimidating road stadium in the world, but it's still the road) trying to protect an upset bid.
The crowd had been dead most of the game, but give them the first down and there's a chance you rev them up for the remainder of the 4th quarter.
You've been holding Furd's offense in check the entire game.
You don't want to hand the Cardinal a short field and give them a quick chance to cut the lead to a one score game.

Twist: Of course, I would be remiss if I did not point out that the Cal D was not able to hold Stanford down at that point. I have seen many people claim that Stanford was right back at the 50 just a few plays later. It wasn't actually even just a few plays later. It was merely one, the big 37 yard play where Luck hit Owusu. Certainly, I'm MUCH happier that Stanford hit this 37 yard pass from their own 13 as compared to Cal's 46.

Stanford at 9:03		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at STAN 13	Andrew Luck pass complete to Chris Owusu for 37 yards to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down.	31	21
1st and 10 at STAN 50	Andrew Luck pass complete to Chris Owusu for 12 yards to the Cal 38 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 38	Andrew Luck pass complete to Ryan Whalen for 12 yards to the Cal 26 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 26	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Ryan Whalen.
2nd and 10 at CAL 26	Toby Gerhart rush for 21 yards to the Cal 5 for a 1ST down.
1st and Goal at CAL 5	Toby Gerhart rush for 5 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.	31	27
	Nate Whitaker extra point GOOD.	31	28
	Nate Whitaker kickoff for 66 yards returned by Jeremy Ross for 24 yards to the Cal 28.
DRIVE TOTALS: Stanf drive: 6 plays 87 yards, 01:44 Stanf TD

In 1:44, they travel nearly the length of the field, gaining over 2/3rds of the yards they have gained in the last 38 minutes of the game. Andrew Luck is 3-4 and Gerhart averages 13 yards a carry (kind of a skewed stat there). Certainly frustrating after it looked like Cal might gone for it on 4th and taken more time off the clock and even gotten up by 18 points!

Was the Stanford O hyped by the Stanford D stopping Cal on 3rd down? I don't know. But they woulda been, it follows, even more inspired if Stanford stopped Cal on 4th down. And only had 47 yards to go instead of 87.

Yes, it is a lot of fun to imagine Cal performing the best case scenarios. And it is frustrating to compare the reality of the situation with what could have been. It's also important to look at the worst case scenarios that Tedford was attempting to avoid and compare those to what might have been. Here, my frustrations lie less with the call, although I am not sure I necessarily agree with it, and more with the fact that the Cal D allowed the Stanford O to go 87 yards in 6 plays and 1:44.

I think people are viewing the call as a negative call, because of the negative result (the following Stanford TD) that did not have much to do with that call per se. And if the Cal D had stopped the Stanford O on the next drive, nobody would have much discussed the 4th down punt. Although, certainly if the 4th down attempt had failed and Stanford had quickly scored and gone on to win, people would have lambasted Tedford for that odd 4th down call, claiming the D was playing great and it woulda been better to just trap Stanford deep in their own territory.

Hopefully, this has cleared up the situation and will allow us to look at the decision making process with the facts that existed AT THE TIME OF THE CALL as compared to the 20/20 hindsight and misconceptions that I think many are currently laboring under. Again, the idiot that I am, I probably woulda gone for it there, but, being the risk adverse person that I am, think I have a grasp of how Tedford's decision making process went.

via calbearsonline.com

Avi: Indeed, that's the outcome bias working--we're judging Tedford for decisions made based on what happened afterwards as opposed to the value of the decision at the time it was made. It's human, but it's erroneous to blame Tedford for this decision because the Furd happened to score.

Twist: Let's go one drive before that:

Stanford at 4:27		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at STAN 21	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Coby Fleener.	31	28
2nd and 10 at STAN 21	Toby Gerhart rush for 2 yards to the Stanf 23.
3rd and 8 at STAN 23	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Chris Owusu.
4th and 8 at STAN 23	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Jim Dray.
DRIVE TOTALS: Stanf drive: 4 plays 2 yards, 00:50 Stanf DOWNS

This is the drive preceding. Luck not looking so good on there. But the key portion here is the 4th down play. Stanford is on its own 23. Roughly 4 minutes and change left. All 3 time outs. In the previous two Cal drives, we had gone 12 plays for a total of 35 yards. Most of which came on one 18 yard pass completion. Two punts. Clearly, the momentum had shifted back to Stanford at this point. So, if you punt and can hold Cal, you got another great shot. Certainly, if Tedford was in this situation, he would have punted. But Harbaugh decided to go for it. On 4th and 8. On his own 23. With 3 time outs and 4 minutes left in a 3 point game.

Avi: Unlike the 4th and inches, which you could consider either good or bad, this was a truly atrocious call. There's a small chance Luck succeeds here and scrambles for the first down, but only the remotest possibility that he throws for one (9 for 26 on the game up to this throw). It's 4th and long too, so the odds of a run are totally minimal, leaving the defense likely to play mainly the pass, and maybe a Luck scramble.

More importantly, YOU ARE HANDING CAL POINTS IF YOU FAIL. A field goal means you now need to drive down the field, likely without the majority of your timeouts. A touchdown ends the game. If Tedford had made a decision like this I'd be tearing my hair out. You punt the football and trust your defense, which has stopped the Bears from scoring the last two times (with some home town reffing helping them out, but whatever). Get the ball back and all you need to do is drive for a field goal, which given Furd's quick strike offense is totally feasible.

Imagine if the Furd had gotten to the red zone down 3 instead of down 6--think that the playcalling changes bigtime for Harbaugh? I feel that way.

Some Cal fans out there might prefer Harbaugh's aggressiveness because it's manly. It's ballsy. It sticks it to other opponents, it makes you feel awesome if it succeeds, it reinforces all the cliches of a football coach. It's just more social biases at work--we feel better because he played to win rather than playing not to lose. It doesn't excuse the fact that it's a bad decision the same way Les Miles's decision to dial up a throw to the end zone with 7 seconds left in field goal range. Ballsy, but literally fucking stupid.

Twist: And his ultra-aggressiveness does not pay off. Of course, when Stanford turned the ball over on downs, Cal fans in my section and, assuredly, other sections started to believe that the game was done. Cal would punch it in, make it a 2 score game with a minute or so left and we all go home happy.

Then, this happened:

via calbearsonline.com

California at 3:32		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at STAN 23	Shane Vereen rush for 12 yards to the Stanf 11 for a 1ST down.	31	28
1st and 10 at STAN 11	Shane Vereen rush for no gain to the Stanf 11.
2nd and 10 at STAN 11	Timeout STANFORD, clock 02:55.
2nd and 10 at STAN 11	Shane Vereen rush for 2 yards to the Stanf 9.
3rd and 8 at STAN 9	Timeout STANFORD, clock 02:48.
3rd and 8 at STAN 9	Kevin Riley rush for a loss of 2 yards to the Stanf 11.
4th and 10 at STAN 11	Timeout STANFORD, clock 02:46.
4th and 10 at STAN 11	Vince D'Amato 28 yard field goal GOOD.	34	28
	Giorgio Tavecchio kickoff for 42 yards returned by Josh Catron for 14 yards to the Stanf 42.
DRIVE TOTALS: Cal drive: 5 plays 12 yards, 00:46 Cal FG

Let's take a deeper look here. Vereen starts off with a killer rush. However, his next two attempts net 2 total yards. Cal does not in any way attempt anything close to a pass in this situation.

Many people were greatly concerned about this lack of killer instinct. Maybe it is a lack of killer instinct, I don't know. But, in my belief, the downside of a pass attempt is FAR greater than the downside of any rush attempt. Forcing Stanford to use all 3 time outs limits Stanford's offensive playcalling on their next drive.

I know what you are saying here. But if we score, their next drive don't matter. A salient point. Here, Tedford is going for the least risky plan. Especially considering that they IN NO WAY trust Riley in the red zone. We saw it in the Arizona game and we saw it again in the Stanford game. After Riley throwing 3 picks in the red zone and fumbling once there also, once they get near the goal line, they would rather take 3 then risk a pick. Considering that Vereen had had an amazing day to that point, they put it into the hands of the man they trust the most. I believe they even used a WildBear or two, to try to mix it up. This is a point lost in all the "TAKE A SHOT AT THE END ZONE!" lines. The upsides of the plays called seem limited not because they have low upsides, but, because they just plain didn't work.

So, Cal decides to drain Stanford of time outs, force them to have to go the length of the field in roughly 2 minutes with no time outs. To ensure that, he decides to center the ball. At the close range, centering the ball becomes epically more important. The angles are much harsher the closer in you go. And Cal has certainly had its fair share of kicking troubles this year. So, I see no problem with this play.

IMG_9968 (via Monica's Dad)

Avi: There's also the matter of Riley's red zone struggles. This season, he's only completed 45% of his passes in the red zone. Worse, he's thrown three interceptions, one of which destroyed early momentum against USC, another which could've cost us the Arizona upset (the other was earlier in the Big Game and was not Riley's fault). Although he threw a TD early in the 4th quarter, it wasn't an easy throw. Plus with a 3rd and goal at the 8, Furd's defense will probably play hard to guard the end zone on a pass.

Imagine if the Bears had thrown an incompletion that stopped the clock and left the Cardinal with one timeout, or worse, thrown a pick with the Cardinal likely playing the run. You'd probably feel much worse waking up Sunday morning.

No, the only decision here is to run the football a la Arizona, preferrably up the middle to center the ball and hope that you find the crease to the end zone. I find it quizzical that in this situation (like on 4th and inches) you don't trust Vereen to secure the ball, considering he's not fumbled all game long. I would've liked to see a run, but I guess when they got nothing on the first two runs they figured Vereen was spent and decided not to get too fancy at the end and do something totally mind-blowing (and there've been plenty of mind-blowing finishes in college football before).

Leave the Cardinal with no timeouts and they have no choice now; score a touchdown or lose the game. You're limiting Harbaugh's options, and that might've helped force the last questionable decision of the game.

Twist: Of course, after hitting the field goal and kicking off, Stanford then proceeds to march the length of the field VERY quickly.

Stanford at 2:42		CAL	STAN
1st and 10 at STAN 42	Andrew Luck rush for 12 yards to the Cal 46 for a 1ST down.	34	28
1st and 10 at CAL 46	Andrew Luck rush for 4 yards to the Cal 42.
2nd and 6 at CAL 42	Andrew Luck pass complete to Toby Gerhart for 29 yards to the Cal 13 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at CAL 13	Andrew Luck pass incomplete to Coby Fleener.
2nd and 10 at CAL 13	Andrew Luck pass intercepted by Michael Mohamed at the Cal 3, returned for 6 yards to the Cal 9.
DRIVE TOTALS: Stanf drive: 5 plays 45 yards, 01:06 Stanf INT

The bulk of the drive is the one pass to Gerhart for about 30 yards. A frightening moment for any Cal fan. But one that we might have seen more of if Cal had attempted a pass and failed. Luck had looked terrible all day, going 10-30. Gerhart had certainly killed us, but Tedford's plan to drain Stanford of all 3 of its timeouts had limited Stanford's ability to use Gerhart. When you have the ball at Cal's 13, you want to go to your stud RB first, right? He averaged 6.8 yards on the day per carry. Give it to him twice and bam, you score the potential game-winning TD. But with no time outs, Stanford could NOT do that. They had to throw throw throw. And when you throw throw throw, what happens? Well, just the series before, you have 3 incompletes and fail. Here, Luck threw another incomplete and then a pick to the Prophet.

As a final thought, I know Cal fans love ballsy aggressiveness. I get that. They want to see stirring sacks and long bombs (although once you start at the 23, you can't really long bomb). But there are considerations other than proximity to goal line that come into effect here when choosing a play.

Tedford didn't necessarily see it as a difference between a 38-28 game and a 34-28 game, like many fans do. He saw it as a difference between a 34 (maybe)-28 game where Stanford had 1-3 time outs and roughly 3:30 left and a 34 (for sure)-28 game where Stanford had 2:42 and 0 time outs left. When viewed from that prism, I, the risk adverse person that I am, have to agree with the game management here. Sure, the otherworldy talent of Toby Gerhart nearly gave us all heart attacks. But when you have a limited playbook and have to rush your plays because of no time outs, bad things happen.

And a bad thing did happen. To Stanford! Especially compared to if Stanford had punted on the 23, stopped Cal, driven 30+ yards and hit a field goal to tie the game. This may be controversial, but I fully support Tedford's calls here.

Avi: I was baffled by Harbaugh's playcalling on 1st and 2nd down in the red zone. You have two minutes on the clock, and probably five-six plays to go. At this point, all you can do is score (turning the ball over ends the game), so why not run the football? If you score a touchdown immediately, you leave TWO MINUTES on the clock for Riley and the Bears to march downfield on a pass defense he's torched all game long.

More importantly, Andrew Luck is even worse with his accuracy in the red zone than Riley (after the Big Game, he's barely at 40%). Whether it's due to his receivers dropping passes or him making bad decisions. Although Cal held him down for much of the game, it was clear to almost any Cal fans we were more terrified of Gerhart running it up on us than Luck throwing it on us.

To be honest, I'm not sure Harbaugh should've even called that final timeout. You let Cal run the clock down to two minutes, keep that timeout in your back pocket, and in case you get to the goal-line (Furd's been a quick-hitting team all year, and their last drive only took 90 seconds), you have it ready so you can still factor Gerhart's running ability into the equation.

I hate to say it, but I feel the perfect college football coach choked a little under the spotlight. Just a little. (Actually, what the hell am I saying, I LOVE to say it.)

via calbearsonline.com

Who cares about us though, what were your thoughts on these calls?

Poll

How many of the playcalling decisions above do you agree with?

All four of them

22 votes

Three of them

27 votes

Two of them

60 votes

One of them

52 votes

None of them

22 votes

183 votes | Poll has closed

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!

Roll On: What Will Cal's Offense Look Like Without Jahvid Best?

Avinash — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:00:25 -0000

I wish I could come up with something optimistic to write, but the fact is Cal's offense was pretty screwed up even with Jahvid Best back there. At this point it all boils down to blocking. The run blocking and pass protection stink. It's been stinking all year, it hasn't improved from week-to-week, and it's wishful thinking to expect anything to change during these last three weeks. Coming up? Arizona, 23rd in sacks, 11th in rushing defense, 37th in passing defense. Oh yeah, I'm totally hot for this. Dipping myself in cocoa butter right now.

If Cal's going to beat Arizona, the offensive line is going to have to play way better than they've been showing through conference play. Steve Marshall's going to have to coach these guys up, really make them play this game for Jahvid, and try to finally open holes for Shane Vereen and Covaughn Deboskie-Johnson. If these guys aren't talented enough to execute the sets they're given, adjust accordingly. What's been the most frustrating thing about this season has been the lack of adjustments on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. I understand losing these games, but to get blown out in each game? It's just hard to sit there and take the same plays being called when they haven't been working not just for one game, but ONE MONTH.

Well, the Bears are going to have to adjust now; without Jahvid Best this is a drastically different team. Find out more about what Cal might look like after the jump, and why the Wildcat might be used quite a bit.

The rushing burden is on Shane Vereen. I doubt Tedford and Ludwig feel Deboskie is ready to handle anything more than 15% of the snaps at this point, so a lot of the burden will be put on Vereen to play a Forsett 2007-type role. Vereen did a manageable job against Arizona State last season, and the same thing will be needed (probably more) from him to pull off a victory against Arizona. Unfortunately, he's not going to have any more leverage getting through no holes as Best did.

Less inside zone please? Hey Coach Ludwig. Everytime you run inside zone between the tackles just so our poor running backs can get levelled for a one yard gain, you're taking days off my life. Arizona has a running defense that is very good, on the rise, confident in themselves, and is certainly going to play Cal the same way every defense has played Cal since the start of the season. Please try something somewhere.

The Bears can no longer run two running backs in a multitude of ways. That kind of eliminates the double threat of having one of either Best and Vereen line out as a receiver. So now Cal loses some of the unconventionality they were showing the previous three weeks (and who knows how the Oregon State game turns out if Best doesn't get injured) and they probably return to the conventional sets typical of a pro-style offense, since Deboskie or Sofele aren't going to be lining out wide or forcing defenses to stack the box.

Without the great receiving threats our running backs offered...

This will put more pressure on the receiving corps. Outside of Jones, no receiver has really played two good games in a row. Lagemann has shown promise, Tucker has vacillated between brilliant and bad, Ross can leap a lot, Calvin hasn't really been heard from, nor has Boateng. These guys are going to have to start playing well to help Kevin Riley out by getting separation from their defenders, not quitting on their routes, anything to adapt to the bad O-line play.

Anthony Miller is also sorely missed here--he'd become Riley's go to option in bad spots. With Jarrett Sparks or Skylar Curran you just don't know what you're getting.

More rollout options for Riley? Given how bad the pass protection has been, you'd have expected more of this even before Best's injury. But Kevin does seem to be more effective out of the pocket than in it--it might be worth considering just getting him going with play action fake bootlegs. Or something of the sort.

Best's absence doesn't diminish the Wildcat option. Many people think that the Wildcat is used primarily to put another blocker on the field, but in this case I feel that the Wildcat hasn't been used this season just because the blocking has been so porous, no matter how many guys you put out there to block. It's also to get the ball into the hands of the runner more quickly.

Why is that? When you direct snap to your running back and quarterback, that gives them an extra few seconds that would've been otherwise used to hand off the ball. This time allows your blockers to get in place and open up the holes for the running back to cut through. But the blocking has been so bad this season though that you're often seeing defenders penetrating the line of scrimmage at the time it takes the Bears to handoff the ball (the Bears have allowed 78 tackles for loss this season, and that number's probably greater if you add in 0-2 yard gains). Hence you put it in the running back's hands quicker to just let him take off before defenders can anticipate it coming.

(Notice that the quarterback draw has also been used in previous weeks to surprising success. It's a pretty damning indictment of your offensive line if your best running plays are quarterback keepers and direct running back snaps.)

Is it time to go back to the book of tricks? Around this time last year the Bears were totally flummoxed by the passing ineptitude that they had to resort to flea-flickers, hook-and-ladders, running back lateral/wide receiver passes. Although I've seen signs of unconventional plays, they've been for the most part snuffed out or failed due to execution errors. This next two weeks are the difference between a 6-6 disaster and an alright 8-4/9-3 season. Might as well try and throw everything out of the playbook.

In the end though, unless Riley has a monstrous game, this one's probably coming down to blocking again. The fact is the Bears still have to run the ball. Going straight to the pass and expecting the receivers to make good catches is a recipe of quick 3 and outs, and leaving one of the worst passing defenses in the country out there for Foles to pick apart. Sounds reallly enticing.

If no one blocks well, the offense is going to throw up another turd sandwich. And we could see something we've never seen at the end of a Tedford-era Cal football game--an empty Memorial in the 4th quarter.

(For those wondering why I didn't write anything about the defense...they are what they are this point. Smarter people than me said we'd miss our senior linebackers, and they're right. Plus I haven't watched enough defensive gametape this season to know how much of this is on Gregory for putting them in the wrong positions to make plays on the ball, so all I can do right now is hope they play better.)

Poll

Cal's offense will be __________ without Jahvid Best.

clicking even

11 votes

surprisingly pleasing

36 votes

making me groan a lot

80 votes

unbelievably bad

31 votes

forcing me to drink more

65 votes

223 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 Washington State

Avinash — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:00:36 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Shane Vereen was pleased with his performance last Saturday. Were Cal fans pleased with their team?

Browse more photos »

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score	3.125	3.827	3.125	3.573	3.427	3.375	2.353	1.013	2.4	2.958	2.958
Grade	B	A	B	A-	B+	B+	C+	D	C+	B	B

Here's the list of graders from this week!

secret ASian man, Rocksanddirt, Swamphunter, JakeDanHarry, Calbearfan, rurata, USAFGoldenBear, Ohio Bear, CaliforniaCMB, GBB4188, omnizzle, atomsareenough, BeggarEd, tommyelee7, bowlbasaur, iVinshe, carp, beson, calbearfan, JrBear, Monica's Dad, Kodiak, Berkelium97, Haas8388, JerrottWillard45

Thanks again to the 25 who took out their time to put in their opinions on the game, and big thanks to Twist for gathering the best comments.

The best gameday experience...goes to secret ASian man, who will soon post it on the Internets.

I have an epic video of an old, cracked out white guy do a keg stand on Tightwad Hill. I will load this on YouTube when I get the chance. Cal win+booze on Tightwad Hill equals good times.

Rest of the gameday experiences after the jump!

Calbearfan: It wasnt a packed stadium, but the atmosphere was there from the beginning

USAFGoldenBear: Its really hard to keep my concentration when the game is only on radio. I swear, I go into ADD mode...so I didnt listen to the entire game...

Ohio Bear: I stuck with Starkey the whole broadcast. Despite not knowing where the ball was at various points throughout the day, I didn't mind him too much. Unfortunately, because I was listening to the game instead of watching it, I may not have been paying the best attention when Mrs. Ohio Bear was trying to tell me things during the game. I hope I didn't agree to do something I don't want to do.

CaliforniaCMB: I just hope there is some video of this game, some where, save us Sandy, save us!

GBB4188: Half my face is burned, the other half is not. Damn you late October sun. My sister and her BF came down from Portland for the weekend/game so they enjoyed the burning at least.

omnizzle: It was kind of hot

BeggarEd: Great day in Berkeley (Sunny and 70's). Crowd was light, but parking was easy and I could stretch my legs in the stadium. Crowd was also a bit lethargic, but once you go up 21 points in half a quarter, it's kind of understandable.

iVinshe: Got up at 8:00 am, sped down from Davis to work concession stands (turkey legs - South Rim!!! They're massive; basically a meal for $8). Crowd was painfully small at kickoff; and the alumni side really is a graveyard. I think I like the visiting section seating better than the low rows of the student section simply because you can see both horizontally and vertically as plays develop. Am I weird?

carp: Outside the student section I saw Brian Holley's mom. At least I assume she was because she was wearing a #33 jersey with "Mama Holley" on the back. Let me tell you something, I know why Brian Holley has a big ass. Let's just say if she had eligibility left, she'd be starting.

beson: As this game was not televised, I had the interesting task of convincing people to come over for a Cal football listening party. As might be expected, the turn out was not as robust as usual, however, I did not let that ruin an otherwise awesome Saturday afternoon. I set up a TV in my backyard and spent the game bbqing and listening to the Cal game while watching the UO/Washington game from our jacuzzi, followed up with the OSU/USC game. 8 plus hours in a hot tub sure makes you prune-y.

JrBear: Anybody complaining about the student section did not endure what I did. This was just as bad as the ucla game in my opinion because the sun was directly on us the whole time. As for complaints about noise hey guess what? We were up by three touchdowns. If the rest of the stadium were louder than us you could have some beef, but without the students it was dead silent.

Kodiak: Got to listen to the game on radio while messing with my fishing tackle. My wife was good natured enough to respond to "Beer Wench!" and kept my thirst at bay. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Berkelium97: It was the first Cal game I didn't watch in I don't know how long. I even went up to Memorial for the Slingbox game in 2006. I'm very thankful for the clips that have been posted to give us an idea of what was going on. Listening to Starkey was...interesting. He always has some bizarre tidbit to say about everything.

JerrottWillard45: Great to hear the cannon so many times. Reminded me of old times having a regular afternoon game time. If you thought it was too sunny/hot, get a freakin' hat and sunscreen. Please - you are such a pussy, Twist. Our cheerleaders are hot this year. Several are All-Pac-10 contenders, so nice job on the recruiting there (who is our cheerleader coach, by the way?). Students didn't show enough, and left too early.

Alumni, though staying a bit longer (mostly the ones in the shade), were so pitifully quiet it was shameful.

Nice to have an offense again. Miss having defense.

Golden Rationality Award

Commenter/alias name	Standard Deviation
tommyelee7	0.728
Ohio Bear	0.970
USAFGoldenBear	1.033
Swamphunter	1.075
beson	1.406

tommyelee7 wins the award for reason this week! Here's his unedited report card.

QB: Good overall, but Riley still made some pretty bad decisions on the interception and another ball thrown in heavy traffic. He still tries to force things too often.

Sweeney looked good on his 3 pass attempts.

RB: As usual, Best and Vereen were solid. Loved the Covaughn hurdle over a defender and a stiff-arm at the end of the play. Had he broken that last tackle, that would've been the best college football play this year not shown on TV!

Receivers: Ross dropped a pass, but solid otherwise.

Run blocking: 8 yards per carry is pretty good.

Pass protection: No sacks allowed is pretty good.

Run defense: Limiting them to 2 yards per carry was pretty good.

Pass rush: From the AP game summary:

"Tuel had his best game yet in his third straight start, getting much more time than he did the previous game when the Cougars allowed 12 sacks against Arizona State."

Pass defense: The last few minutes of the first half were terrible. Corners were just running with their man instead of looking for the ball. Tuel looked OK, but we were giving him way too many options. We didn't take anything away from them. They were throwing short, medium, and long passes. There were several opportunities that WSU wasted with poor passes, miscommunication on routes, and drops.

Special teams: Kickoff distance remains an issue, our only field goal attempt was blocked, and Anger wasn't great. But we did score on a nice punt return by Ross and had some nice kickoff returns too.

Coaching: Glad Beau Sweeney got some reps throwing the ball. We were again conservative at the end of the first half, settling for a long field goal attempt even though we had timeouts and time for at least 1 more play.

The coaches made some adjustments at halftime. We responded after a poor end to the first half by pitching a shutout in the 2nd half.

Overall: Blowout win and no major injuries (that I'm aware of), so we did what we needed to do. We haven't played in a single game decided by less than 14 points, but that figures to change soon. At least we are relatively healthy going into that stretch. Our pass defense is going to really hurt us if it doesn't improve quickly.

Old Blue Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
Monica's Dad	2.182
JerrottWillard45	2.212
GBB4188	2.364
calbearfan	2.515
atomsareenough	2.545

Monica's Dad took great photos of the game, but he also didn't like all that he saw.

Quarterbacks: Riley was mostly on-target, but the interception was unforced. You wonder what will happen when we face Arizona and Oregon State and their better defenses.

Receivers: Jones is a solid player who will be great, and I was impressed with his blocking. He's an all-around fine player. But the rest of our WRs disappear for long stretches. Ross is exciting from time to time, but we lack a consistent pass catcher. Maybe Lageman should get into the game more.

Pass rush: Blowout win and no major injuries (that I'm aware of), so we did what we needed to do. We haven't played in a single game decided by less than 14 points, but that figures to change soon. At least we are relatively healthy going into that stretch. Our pass defense is going to really hurt us if it doesn't improve quickly.

Pass defense: Syd is playing OK (just OK), but Hagan is really struggling on the other side. I'm not an expert, but look at the stats these past four games. Our secondary is getting torched. You'd have to say it's our greatest weakness.

Overall: I'm scared to death that, unless the D starts showing up, we may have just won our last home game of the year. How are we gonna stop the Rodgers brothers? Or Foles? Or Antolin? The trips to Stanford and Washington are no walks in the park either. The ASU game is the only one left I feel at all confident about.

Golden Sunglasses Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
Calbearfan	3.545
BeggarEd	3.455
Berkelium97	3.394
JrBear	3.303
omnizzle	3.273

There were two Calbearfan's this week! One of them soured on what he saw, but the other really liked what he saw.

Quarterback: Riley made good decisions, except for the 1 interception and a couple of minor mistakes, where he could've ran for the first down instead of trying to throw it in.

Running back: Overall a great day for the backs

Receivers: Jeremy Ross came up big today

And finally, the best of the report card. Tried to include everyone in on it, sorry if I missed anyone!

Quarterback

JakeDanHarry - Kevin Riley had a few glaring mistakes and misses (forcing the pass on a roll-out and throwing the INT; overthrowing Jahvid Best in the end zone) but he was once again on the money for big throws. The touchdowns were cool, accurate passes, and the 61 yarder was a show of faith in Jeremy Ross that just dropped into his arms.

Riley was also good running the ball, and blocking on the edges in the Wildcat set.

USAFGoldenBear - 3 passes, 3 TDs...nice! He gets a B+ because a int to freakin Wazzu?!?! Thats been the one thing he hasnt sucked at.

iVinshe - Alas, if only Riley had kept his 1st quarter streak going... Not sure if the 1st and goal overthrow of Best was entirely his fault; Best looked like he took a bad angle into coverage before curving out for Riley's pass.

GBB4188 - Riley started off strong and threw some beautiful deep balls today. However, there were two poor choices made when he had an opportunity to pick up yards on the ground and instead forced passes into coverage, one incomplete and nearly picked, the other picked. So, Riley continues to be an enigma, able to make some great deep throws, unable to make the "easy" stuff underneath.

Sweeney came in and made some passes. I don't know that you can take anything away from that.

Running back

Swamphunter - Best and Vereen did a great job again this week. 328 yards on the ground total averaging 8.2 YPC. We also saw some great runs from the young-uns as well, including an amazing run by DeBoskie in the fourth quarter when he totally hurdled a WSU defender.

JakeDanHarry - Huge day for the running backs, who slashed through the Cougar defense with ease. The running game made it easy on the offense, with Best seemingly picking up a first down with every carry, and Shane Vereen putting in a solid game to supplement.

The 61-yarder from Best was bad-ass. The crowd was noticeably on edge for Best to get a signature touchdown-drive-in-a-single-

sprint and they got another from Jahvid today.

carp - Best had a great game. His ususual critiques (too damn fast, doesn't wait for blocks, doesn't "break" tackles) were also present today.

Vereen had a nice game as well. While he's no Jerome Bettis, I like how he gets forward momentum, can absorb a hit, and keep going.

Debo hurdled a sucka (aka pulled a Russell White).

I love the Sofele fly sweeps. He should get at least a few carries a game.

jrBear - 金色熊 #1!!!
Everyone was good, even the backups. The wildBEST was pretty good and I thought they sold the fakes quite well.

Receivers

Omnizzle - Marvin Jones is a beast. Jeremy Ross needs to learn how to catch (specifically, the 5-10 yard hitch route that he dropped that killed a drive at the end of the 1st half, which subsequently led to a Wazzu touchdown)

BeggarEd - Jeremy Ross and Marvelous Marvin are stepping up to become Go To guys

JakeDanHarry - Dropped balls were what knocked 'em back. Tucker, Ross, and Calvin all dropped balls.

But the Bears had deep threats for much of the game. Marvin Jones had another big play, as did Jeremy Ross. They have a much easier job when it's just, "Block the edges until we tell you to go deep."

Swamphunter - Eleven guys touched the ball today. When you have a team with that many receivers to throw to, the other defense will have a hard time trying to find someone to key on. Not a perfect day as there were a couple of drops, but as a whole the receiving corp did a good job.

Run blocking

USAFGoldenBear - Couldnt see it, but given 309 rushing yards, I'll give em the benefit of the doubt

beson - I assume it must have been good because we ran all over them.

GBB4188 - On more than one occasion toss plays were blown up 5 yards deep due to missed blocks that have to be made, the toss is too valuable a tool with Best to allow it to be mucked up by poor blocking.

Pass protection

JrBear - Adequate. I only remember a couple of times where the pocket truly broke down.

Kodiak - Don't remember seeing Riley getting pressured...
...
Yeah.

Berkelium97 - No sacks and Riley didn't seem to be hurried too much. I can't complain.

Rush defense

Omnizzle - Held Wazzu to under 100 yards, pretty solid. D-line played well.

BeggarEd - Only 55 yards, seemed to shut down the running game up front

JrBear - Always the strong point of the defense. Truly resembles a steel curtain in how opposing backs have to run into a wall of LBs and linemen.

Monica's Dad - If we didn't jump out to a big lead early, we might have seen the Cougs running it more. When they did run, they had some success against us. And past games have shown we can be gashed.

Pass rush

Swamphunter - Five sacks, coming from a team that has had a recent problem trying to find some. This should be the game that will get the defense back into sniffing out the enemy QB.

OhioBear - Five sacks, but it didn't sound like we pressued Tuel consistently. Would love to know from witnesses what the pass rush was like. His 385 yards passing suggests to me that it wasn't consistently good.

JrBear - Adequate only, but I welcome the return of Cam Jordan. A good job by the defense to get a sack on fourth down in our territory.

Berkelium97 - It was alright given the LBs we're working with. As usual, D-lineman came up with all the sacks. It was nice to see Cam get some confidence heading into ASU, where he'll surely want to make an impression in front of his family and friends.

Pass defense

Secret Asian Man - While I was still sober I felt that our Bears played too muc soft zone, par for the course. But I can't really be a judge of this because I was wasted on Tightwad Hill for much of the second half.

rurata - It wasn't there all day.
SQT probably wasn't 100%, and the rest of the backfield couldn't stop anything either.
Making sure you get the tackle is great and all, but you GOTTA be able to get some pass break-ups.

OhioBear - So Tuel may as well have been Bledsoe, Leaf, Brink, or any of those WSU QBs throughout history who have torched the shit out of us. Yet another freshman QB whom we make look good.

carp - I was shocked to come home and see Teul threw for 385 yards. However, our pass defense looked similar to the kind we trotted out vs E-Wash when the game was well in-hand. The zone works when there's havoc in the backfield and I think that has to happen 50-66% of the passing plays to be effective. The sit back n wait bullshit requires fast, smart players. The other concerning thing is that the DBs don't turn their heads to find the ball. They played the receiver and didn't really do that either. I do like that Johnson is a big hitter.

Special Teams

Swamphunter - We returned a punt for a TD! Ross should be the go-to guy for the rest of the season.

Our kickoff coverage still needs some work though. And Anger needs to find his rhythm again, he seemed a bit off.

USAFGoldenBear - Nice return by Ross. Tavecchio continues showing that he is capable of kicking the long ball, but for some damn reason he can only do it enough to just piss you off all of the other times.

Omnizzle - J-Ross' return was sick. Giorgio needs to kick higher and not get blocked. Giorgio also needs to get kickoffs deeper. D'Amato isn't much better, but oh well. Anger needs to gain some consistency.

JrBear - Gregory needs to tighten up the D for arizona and or st.

Alamar rating last week: ALLLLAAAAMMMAAARRRR
This week: allllaaaaaMMMMMAAARrrrrrrr

Coaching

Swamphunter - Ludwig went with a lot of wildcat calls again, but unlike against USC it worked well. It really can work when you have a team with a lot of speed against a defense like WSUs. This week Gregory's only problem was pass defense, and it comes from having a lack of seasoned DEs and coverage LBs.

Alamar was ALAMAAAAAR.

And Tedford was usual Tedford... which in my book is a good thing (I know there are some out there that would disagree).

JakeDanHarry - Loved the direct snaps they were calling, though Best seems to do this much better than Vereen. When the Bears used this setup so early, I was hoping that meant the coaching staff was going to use a variety of plays from a similar look. I was not disappointed.

OhioBear - The most formidable enemy was complacency, which bit us in the 2nd quarter. The coaching staff must have done something right motivation wise and adjustment wise, as we shut them out in the 2nd half.

BeggarEd - I liked the kneel down to end the game. Tedford is getting flack for not showing the "killer instinct" but in all seriousness, the outcome of this game was NEVER in doubt whatsoever.

Tommyelee7 - Glad Beau Sweeney got some reps throwing the ball. We were again conservative at the end of the first half, settling for a long field goal attempt even though we had timeouts and time for at least 1 more play.

The coaches made some adjustments at halftime. We responded after a poor end to the first half by pitching a shutout in the 2nd half.

CalBearFan - AGAIN CAL FANS ARE STUCK WITH A CONSERVATIVE COACH. FOR SOME REASON TEDFORD REFUSES TO RUN UP THE SCORE AND CREATE STYLE POINTS. NO IM NOT ONE TO DO THIS EITHER BUT AT THIS STAGE IN THE SEASON CAL NEEDS ALL THE HELP IT CAN GET. OPEN UP THE OFFENSE AND LET LOOSE. TIGHTEN UP ON DEFENSE BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE WE FACE ANG GIVE UP 440 YARDS TO WILL LOSE.

Overall

USAFGoldenBear - The offense seems to have gotten its mojo back. I'm really wondering how this defense is going to handle an offense with a pulse in the coming weeks. Hopefully theyre just in a funk, and were fortunate to have 2 inept offenses in a row, and make them look good btw.

OhioBear - The win is great. And a big win at that. But seriously...385 yards passing to Jeff Tuel? A freshman QB at WSU working with a patchwork offensive line? It might be time to just call a spade a spade: our defense just isn't good. We are who we are, and we seem to be a team you can throw the ball against at will.

Monica's Dad - I'm scared to death that, unless the D starts showing up, we may have just won our last home game of the year. How are we gonna stop the Rodgers brothers? Or Foles? Or Antolin? The trips to Stanford and Washington are no walks in the park either. The ASU game is the only one left I feel at all confident about.

Kodiak - Well, I feel like the blind lookout from that bad Mel Brooks flick "Men in Tights"...It's all clear, I think. Sounds like we pounded them early, lost focus and got really sloppy when the backups went in. Then, re-focused and kind of held serve for the rest of the game. I'm sure we'd love to have a start to finish dominating game, but we're just not that good.

The more I think about it, the more I think Ludwig is doing a really good job. Each week, I think he's tailoring the gameplan to accentuate Riley's strengths and hide his weaknesses. The whole feast or famine, big plays over meat n' potatoes approach is the result. I think Ludwig/Tedford know they can't rely on Riley to methodically march us anywhere. So they play the percentages and try to get our speed athletes in space. It's almost like building your team around 3-pt shooting when you don't have a reliable low-post game.

Our defense is perplexing. Considering his suspect hands and superior athleticism, I almost think that Ross would have made an awesome free safety. We're missing leadership, playmaking, and attitude. Some of the problems are execution and some of it is scheme. At least I see Gregory trying to make changes. I wish this stuff would have been figured out earlier...like, say, spring ball.

Cal v. WSU 10.24.09 Photo Essay II

TwistNHook — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:30:28 -0000

Photo Essay I

Photos from Monica's Dad Photostream and from friend of the blog Matt Chan. Thanks to them for great photography at the game!

We start up with the beginning of the game, which was all-Cal all the time. And a whole lot of this:

via Matt Chan

Of course, when you factor in people like this:

via Matt Chan

With people like this:

via Matt Chan

You get optimum results such as this:

via Matt Chan

IMG_4674 (via Monica's Dad)

And, of course, when you get a lot of that, you get a lot of this:

That wasn't the only Cal success early. We had Jeremy Ross, killing it:

IMG_4571 (via Monica's Dad)

And on D, we were pretty stout:

IMG_4577 (via Monica's Dad)

Which led to this:

IMG_4657 HDR (via Monica's Dad)

Some more shots of Best killing it:

IMG_4589 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4602 (via Monica's Dad)

We even did more WildBear formation:

IMG_4628 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4631 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4633 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4634 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4635 (via Monica's Dad)

Marvin Jones is a really good downfield blocker:

IMG_4641 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4642 (via Monica's Dad)

The Souffle was getting some great action:

IMG_4592 (via Monica's Dad)

IMG_4593 (via Monica's Dad)

Note from Monica's Dad: This was a fake handoff that Riley ended up throwing deep, but looking at the pics, it's clear Vereen could have run for a big gainer, too. The WSU D wasn't geared to stop the run or the pass.

IMG_4608 (via Monica's Dad)

That damnable red crane was still there, mocking up with its inevitable redness:

TAKE OFF THAT RED PAINT! TAKE OFF THAT RED PAINT!

For those who were concerned as to whether the student section filled up, here is an answer:

via Matt Chan

Ok, firstly, there was a painfully large amount of media time outs. WTF!??! What media?????????? Ai! And they STILL barely let the Cal band play. Instead we were subjected to like 10 minutes of Simon Says in the end zone. NO JOKE! They did Simon Said.

It took forever. I started booing. I mean c'mon! What purpose does that serve?

Of course, we got to learn more about Bryan Anger. Like he could use a good Ambulance Chasing Attorney.

He couldn't even get attacked by a real mean dog, either. A dalmation? Up next, a chihuahua takes a bite out of Alualu.

Plus, he showed his TD dance, which consisted of a reverse jam:

And, thus, we were good on that whole first half. And what a first half. Although Cal had given up many yards, we were up 35-17 and had had some amazing plays. The offense was working on all cylinders and Jahvid was in Best-mode. Riley looked great and even our special teams had its moments. Then, off to the second half! GO BEARS!

Reveling in Victory - Cal beats WSU

CBKWit — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:33:46 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Best 1, Jones 0

Browse more photos »

This one was over early. Just before kickoff, I called a TD on the return. Jeremy Ross only returned it to the WSU 29. Stupid me. Two plays later, with less than a minute gone from the game, Best ran a basic "Go" route and Riley hit him with a nice throw on the outside shoulder for Cal's first touchdown.

Best beat former Cal corner Brandon Jones on the play. Here's what Jones had to say earlier this week: "Jahvid is good and he’s fast," Jones said. "I do want to see him one-on-one. Somebody’s got to win. If I lose, then I’ll come on top the next time." Whoops. No word on whether Jones came on top next time, but Best finished with 186 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 touches, so we'll put a couple tallies in Jahvid's column.

Cal would score three more touchdowns in the quarter and another early in the second to take a 35-3 lead. Riley finished the first quarter with some pretty solid numbers: 3-3, 85 yards, 3 touchdowns. Yes, that is one touchdown per pass attempt.

The fast start was impressive, to put it mildly. Cal flat out dominated and nearly had the 35 point line covered after only twenty minutes. I was regretting not placing more faith in (and a bet on) the Bears. Then Jeff Tuel (pronounced "Tool") started his Graham Harrell impersonation. Cal's penchance for making mediocre and/or inexperienced QBs look like Aaron Rodgers is such a predictable treat; perhaps it was Bob Gregory's plan to give a QB who was sacked TWELVE TIMES last week enough time to throw for 354 yards, in order to teach our young Cal fans (it was kid's day, after all) how to be courteous and gracious hosts. Seriously, Masoli goes 4-16 the week before playing us and then magically turns into Pat White, Barkley barely breaks a sweat in a 27 point victory, KEVIN PRINCE!! throws for 300+, and then true freshman Jeff Tuel, in his third ever start, goes for 350. And I don't want to hear the "oh, they were way behind so they had to throw." You know who else was way behind? Cal, at Oregon, this year. Riley finished with 123 yards on 31 attempts. 4 yards per attempt. Riley has much better talent than Tuel at every surrounding position, not to mention three years more experience, AND we knocked out Oregon's star corner on the first play of the game. Oregon figured out how to shut down a passing attack; maybe someday we won't be one horrible Kevin Price pass away from blowing a game to a pretty terrible ucla team. End rant.

If only we had the talent to containt the Karstetter's of the world.

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If my reveling seems a bit more muted than last week, it's because Cal has given up almost 700 yards passing the last two weeks to teams who are a combined 0-9 in Pac-10 play. That's my dilema right now, and I suspect the dilema for most Cal fans: I'm THRILLED that we FINALLY won in LA, and I'll take a 30 point victory over anyone, any time. But does anyone think we're going to run the table from here on out, given what we saw today? Oregon State just put up 36 on USC at the Coliseum. Our kick coverage is still, how we say, not great (there was a gaping hole on WSU's first return of the game). The purpose of this column is to celebrate our victories, not to fret about what's ahead, but my natural inclination to worry and Cal's seemingly natural inclination to allow 400+ yards of offense is ruining my reveling apetite. On to the good stuff.

Jeremy Ross: he had a pretty nice day, no? The opening kick return was great but paled in comparison to his spectactular punt return. What a sweet move to semi hurdle, semi sidestep a tackler from about 40 yards out. He did drop a couple of passes, including at least one that would have converted a third down, but he also hauled in a 60 yard bomb from Riley.

Good game!

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With such a big day from Ross, it seems inappropriate that the hurdle highlight of the day went to Covaughn DebOSKIe-Johnson. Not only was it a clean, great looking leap, but it sprung Oski for an extra twenty yards. Hurdling (and the set up and landing) is slower than flat out sprinting, so players often only get a few yards after they land; Covaughn made his count. The PA announcer even included it in his summary ("30 yards and one hurdle for a California first down!") Someone post the video.

Best and Vereen were great, as usual. Vereen in particular had some nifty runs, juking and somehow avoiding Cougar defenders for an inside eight yard run, and getting to the outside with a wicked stiff arm on a big gainer. Best will probably be a first round pick this April, but just as we were fine when we lost Arrington, and Marshawn, and Forsett...we'll be fine when we lose Best.

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Tough to nitpick Riley's performance. His start was absolutely ludicrous and he finished with a spectacular 12.7 yards per attempt. The pass to Best in the flat at the goal line was ugly, and if he had led Ross to the outside on the 60 yard completion, instead of drawing him back slightly to the middle, it would have been a touchdown. I also think Riley gets pretty antsy on third down - it seems like he left the pocket a little early on a few occassions, continuing a trend we saw last week. If someone wants a project, look at third down passing attempts from the Cal offense over the last two games. Is Riley not seeing open receivers and taking off too early, or are Cal players being covered up down field? Still, great numbers, and they would have been better except for a few drops.

I even think the Cal defense can be excused slightly, so I'll disagree a bit with myself from 4 paragraphs ago. The defensive line mounted a generally robust pass rush (certainly better than last week), and Cameron Jordan had perhaps his best game of the year with at least a couple of sacks. I loved a third down play near the south endzone when Cal brought at least 5 in pass rush - one of the linebackers had a free shot at Tuel up the middle and the hurried pass was almost intercepted.

Jordan was extremely disruptive today, hopefully a sign of things to come.

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The Cougars, as promised by Nuss, are significantly improved from last year. I like the Cougs, mostly due to my love for my younger brother and for cheese, so this makes me happy. Jeff Tuel looks very good for a true freshman in his third game. Gino Simone, another true freshman, looks good at wideout. This is a very, very young team and a very injured team; I except they will continue to improve and Tuel could be a major pain over the next few years. And most of all, I really, really hope they beat ucla.

If you're still up reveling, what do you think? A thirty-two point victory should make us happy, and there were a lot of fun and entertaining moments today: Ross, Best, Riley, Vereen, Oski, Jones (just list the entire offense, really); Beau Sweeney looked good converting a third down with a pass to Michael Calvin. Cam Jordan busted out, Derrick Hill was a force, and Cal allowed zero points in the second half. Is that enough, for now, to compensate for the problems that may cost us a couple games down the stretch?

Go Aloe, Go Bears.

California 49, Washington State 17

Grady. — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:32:46 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Jeff Tuel: the reason you no longer regret buying that #10 replica jersey during the Doba era.

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First, and most importantly:

For those of you who may not know: on our weekly CougCenter podcast, yours truly predicted a 49-17 Golden Bear win last Tuesday. Today, it came true. So take that, world! I can predict stuff!

Other correct predictions from the podcast:
-The Cougs would score over 14 points
-Best wouldn't top 200 yards rushing (I mentioned I could see both Best and Vereen doing it combined, which they did)
-WSU would force less than two turnovers (had one INT)

So, when you need accurate predictions on things that are absolutely meaningless in the bigger picture of life, don't be afraid to hit me up.

Now that my self-righteous streak is over, let's talk about how we got to that conclusion.

Once again, the Cougs started out a football game by unraveling quickly. California's Jeremy Ross took a Patrick Rooney opening kickoff 54 yards back to the WSU 29. Two plays later Kevin Riley found Jahvid Best for a touchdown pass (Really - you couldn't just let him run it in? You have to toy with us in the passing game too?). 7-0 Bears.

The Cougs went three-and-out on their first possession, setting up Riley for another touchdown drive. The conclusion of this one was a 37-yard pass to Marvin Jones. Following yet another three-and-out, Jeremy Ross took a Reid Forrest punt 79 yards to the house. Just like that, it was 21-0 in favor of Cal with little over eight minutes remaining. In the first quarter.

Following a nice Cougar drive and a Grasu field goal, Cal would score twice more. Kevin Riley, clearly intent on having a career day, found Shane Vereen for another passing TD. Later, Jahvid Best would break a 61-yard run in the second quarter to put Cal in control, 35-3. Another barnstorming of the Washington State Cougars had begun.

Thankfully, that was the end of Cal's fireworks. Jeff Tuel would find his new big play receiver, Johnny Forzani, for 68 yards and a score. In the two-minute drill, Tuel was phenomenal orchestrating the offense on a drive that would result in a 19 yard Gino Simone touchdown. The Cougs actually arrived at the half with some momentum, now trailing 35-17.

The second half was a decidedly different tale, but with a similar outcome. In other words, it was a low scoring affair with the scales still tipped in Cal's advantage. Riley's 61 yard pass to Ross would set up a Jahvid Best rushing touchdown, capping an 89 yard backbreaker of a drive. Cal led 42-17 at that point, and would add a Shane Vereen touch in the fourth to bring about the final score. Despite some effective play from Jeff Tuel and the Cougar offense, WSU would fail to score in the game's final thirty minutes.

Player of the Game: It has to be Jeff Tuel. Our true freshman quarterback had a career day: 354 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, on a 28 out of 42 performance. He's showing maturity already at a position where we desperately need it. I know Cal fans aren't the biggest fans of their defense, but this was an excellent performance regardless of the conference opponent.

Play of the Game: For the second straight game, it's a Jeff Tuel to Johnny Forzani strike. This one went for 68 yards and a touchdown - small potatoes compared to the 99 yard pass play against ASU - but impressive nonetheless. Forzani has an obscene 39.7 yards per catch average this season (over 7 receptions). Yet another reason why I love Canadians.

It was over when... You could go with the Best breakaway to make it 35-3, but Tuel gave the Cougars just enough hope that Best's next touchdown was the real backbreaker. That was the two yard run to cap an 89 yard drive, and put the Golden Bears up 42-17 with 11:07 to play in the third.

Stat of the Game: WSU had 13 penalties for 114 yards. Even in a losing season, with a lack of talent on both sides of the ball, the one thing a football team has full control over is its discipline. And the Cougars certainly didn't show it on this day, getting flagged six more times and for 54 more yards than the opposing team. In a game where the Cougars were only outgained 559-440 in total yards, penalties, special teams and defensive miscues kept Wazzu from making this a contest. And it's a shame that it wasn't.

The Autzen Massacre: What Went Wrong With Cal's Offense in Oregon?

Avinash — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:00:02 -0000

More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

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A few weeks ago after opening week, Smart Football wrote this post about what makes a football offense terrible, and this really stuck out to me.

- Line play, in every phase: It’s a cliche, but it’s still undervalued. The most important coach on the staff is the line coach. I didn’t say most important assistant, I said coach. The head coach gets things organized, brings in the boosters, the OC calls the plays, but the line coach makes the whole operation go. If you’d like to know how Boise State was able to stymie Oregon’s fancy spread, the answer is simple: they whipped Oregon’s line, which was starting four new guys. Similarly, with all these spread offenses you see a lot who want to throw the ball, but they don’t understand pass protection or focus enough on it. There’s both a "who" and a "how," and awful offenses can do neither. Runningbacks are nice, but beyond Heisman-winning breakaway speed, the run game won’t go if guys can’t block. (Note that with modern zone plays, it is not always about driving guys off the ball, it is about technique and leverage. This only increases the need for good coaching on the line.) And even the most high-flying offenses have been grounded by a lack of pass protection.

After extensively reviewing the gametape of the possessions when Cal's offense could've made a difference in the game (i.e. before the score was 32-3), I'd say that's about an accurate description about what happened yesterday. We all think Jahvid Best can be otherworldly in the open field, but if his O-line doesn't block for him, he is mortal, and so are the Bears.

If you just want the bullet point details instead of the gruesome summary of what I saw, just read below and move on with your day. You will be much happier not clicking after the jump.

The coach I would be questioning the most isn't Andy Ludwig or Bob Gregory, but Steve Marshall. Oregon's front seven played physical and Cal's offensive line played soft and slow, and it showed, all game long.
The Bears were unprepared for some of the angles Nick Aliotti threw at them in terms of blitzes, but often it was just straight man fronts overwhelming the O-line.
The playcalling was occasionally headscratching, only because it became terribly obvious by down and distance (which can't always be controlled) and formation (which can be controlled) near the end when Cal was going to throw and when Cal was going to run.
I'm not sure Matt Summers-Gavin should've seen action, much less started this game. He looked ineffective for much of the game.
He wasn't the only one though. Every starting O-linemen had their shares of whiffs or weak blocks, mainly in man but also in zone. Cheadle, Guarnero, Schwartz, Tepper all struggled.
Will Ta'ufo'ou's presence was missed. Brian Holley played well for us the first three weeks, but his inexperience showed.
The tight ends blocked well. So that's good.
Marvin Jones did not. For a guy who's always being signalled in to block, that's bad.
Jahvid Best's got one big issue to work out before he plans on being an NFL back. But also I'm not sure if Ludwig utilized him well at all.
Cal's pass offense did not exploit the zone holes, partly due to playcalling, partly due to protection issues.
Cal was in a lot of long yardage situations. They had one 3rd and short, a few 3rd and 5s, but they were in a lot of obvious passing down areas which had a lot of Ducks dropping into coverage.
I was really surprised at how conservative we were with our gameplan. Other than that cross route Tucker dropped, the Bears went downfield a handful of times, but a lot of the throws were very short.
Any play when the O-line played well, the skill players made a mistake, and vice-versa. That's a recipe for offensive disaster. It's like Tedford said Sunday night: "Typically, it was one thing, one guy. It really becomes evident, it’s just so important that 11 guys play together. You have 10 guys doing the right thing and one guy doesn’t do his thing . . . it’s a lot of opportunities we didn’t capitalize on.

Although Kevin Riley made several throwing errors, Verran Tucker dropped a big pass and made a stupid penalty, these things worry me far less than what has become the glaring weakness in our 2009 Golden Bears. How our offensive line adjusts from this game will determine how the rest of our season goes.

After the jump, here's my brutal play-by-play notes and "analysis". I put "analysis" in quotes because I'm a football novice and probably don't understand the nuances of football blocking techniques. I just report what I see. If you see things I get blatantly wrong, correct me in the comments. Bad knowledge is just as dangerous as no knowledge.

What else do you think went wrong with Cal's offense in Oregon, and can it be corrected in time for USC?

First drive, after the kickoff fumble.

1st & 10, ORE 22, 14:56:
Cal Offense: Shotgun max protect, Vereen shifts from weak to strong
Oregon Defense: 4-3 under, seven drop back

Tepper slow to respond to snap; his man (Kenny Rowe) blows by him; note Rowe is not a typical DE, more of a converted linebacker

2nd & 18, ORE 30, 14:20
Offense: Ace slot right, back strong
Defense: Nickel? Five drop back agains the receivers

Cal has SEVEN people in pass protection (including Best & the TE) on four (FOUR!) and Riley STILL gets pressured at the end. This time it's Schwartz's man.

3rd & 18, ORE 30, 14:10
Offense: Ace slot right, back strong
Defense: Nickel? Five drop back against the receivers

Tough throw by Riley to make in all that coverage. A screen would've been nice here considering Oregon was dropping lots of men into coverage.

Second drive, Cal up 3-0 in the first quarter

1st & 10, CAL 41, 13:08
Offense: Ace, two receivers right, two tight ends shift from right to left
Defense: Nickel of some sort

Good blocking to the left to give Best room to run to the right

2nd & 4, CAL 47, 12:38

Offense: I-Form, fullback offset strongside
Defense: Not clear.

Tepper pulls from the left tackle spot, not really sure if Holley had trouble blocking here

1st & 10, ORE 48, 12:12

Offense: I-Form, fullback offset weakside, tight end to the left, Riley audibling?
Defense: Playing to defend run, eight people in the box

This feels like a play where they were trying to run something off-tackle or sweep. Best kind of stumbles here, hard to decide whether he could've made it to the edge. The redshirt freshman Boyett does nicely filling Ward's role as safety trying to plug gap.

2nd & 6, ORE 44, 11:33

Offense: I-form, fullback offset strongside
Defense: Looks like a 4-3 under, but Aliotti plays a lot of nickel with an extra safety

Uhh, Summers-Gavin, when you have no one to block, and no one's coming to blitz, might be nice to try and help your linemen. Guarnero loses Ferras, who flushes Riley out of the pocket and into a throwaway.

3rd & 6, ORE 44, 11:25

Offense: Shotgun spread, two halfbacks (Best & Vereen), Vereen goes in motion to the left
Defense: Oregon rushes 3, drops 8, and still had Verran wide open on the cross route.

Crossing route, pump fake. Pass might've been a little ahead and a little high for Tucker, still could've made the catch.

Third drive, Tied at 3 in the first quarter

1st & 10, CAL 49, 5:45

Offense: Shotgun 2 TE set (Best lined up a little behind Riley)
Defense: Blitz from the weakside

I'm not sure if Best was a decoy here on the swing, but the receiver screen to Ross is thrown maybe a step too early and the throw takes awhile to get there. Summers-Gavin whiffs on a block downfield on the eventual tackler.

2nd & 8, ORE 49, 5:09

Offense: I-form, 2 WR right
Defense: Seven in the box, could've been a big play if the blocks were executed right.

Man blocking fail. Jones goes in motion to block. This is a mess to begin with. Guarnero loses his man again, forcing Holley to help, then Summers Gavin can't get on his man downfield either. Leaves two Ducks uncovered to make the tackle on Best.

3rd & 5, ORE 46, 4:30

Offense: Shotgun 2 RB, 3 WR
Defense: Oregon brings 5, maybe a LB blitz?

Pretty good pass protection, Riley didn't have to leave the pocket unless it was by design; he flushes out to find Ross on a comebacker

1st & 10, ORE 39, 4:00

Offense: Ace 2 WR left, TE right, someone else lined off the line behind TE
Defense: 4-3 under, 9 men bite! Single coverage downfield left!

It's Cheadle's turn to get owned. Cal sets up perfect play action, maybe Riley holds the ball a second too long before trying to hit the corner, but Cheadle can't let Brandon Bair brush him aside like that. Riley forced to run when he might've had single coverage downfield.

2nd & 8, ORE 37, 3:31

Offense: Shotgun spread
Defense: 4-3 under

Jones goes in motion to the left, goes out into the flat, Riley throws behind dangerously, spinning off his back foot. Again Tepper's failure to cover his man (although he does keep him from getting to Riley) might've made Kevin throw that one a little earlier than he'd have liked to avoid the sack, but still.

3rd & 8, ORE 37, 3:27

Offense: Shotgun 3 WR left, TE right
Defense: Nickel, but here's the first interesting wrink: 2 LBs come in showing blitz; one comes with the rush, the other stay backs (as well as a DT), maybe to defend against Best coming out of the backfield?

First call that really left me shaking my head. 3rd & 8 and you go with a WR screen? It might've worked except Summers-Gavin and Guarnero again with a mental error, only brushing at the tackle between them before going into downfield blocking instead of pushing him back; defender goes on to pummel Riley as he's throwing the ball, leading to a low throw and giving Ross no chance to escape Oregon defenders.

Fourth drive, Oregon up 11-3 in the second quarter

1st and 10, CAL 44, 14:46
Offense: Aces, TE left, 2 WR right, someone lined a little left & behind TE (I think it's another TE, can't be sure)
Defense: 4-3 over?

Again Jones comes in motion, decent blocking here and nice moves by Best.

2nd & 5, CAL 49, 14:08
Offense: Aces, 2 WR right. Again, someone lined behind TE to the right, TEs shift from right to left, second time I've seen that.

Summers Gavin with the false start. Sigh.

2nd & 10, CAL 44, 13:47
Offense: Wildcat, QB left, TE right, 2 WR right
Defense: 4-3 under

This might be the best offensive play of the game. O-linemen seal toward right has a lot of the Ducks D biting right, Best fakes and goes left, freezes up Paysinger, then picks up the 1st down with ease.

1st & 10, ORE 45, 13:18

Offense: I-form, fullback offset strongside, Tight ends behind each other,
Defense: NINE Ducks in the box.

This is on Cheadle, didn't execute his take down block well enough to knock Simi Toeaina out of the play, who gets up and makes the backfield tackle on Best. Holley also misses his assignment and Guarnero was a step too late on his downfield block. Three Duck defenders were in the vicinity of the Best before he hit the LoS.

2nd & 14, ORE 49, 12:38

Offense: I-form, Tightend lined left, WRs right
Defense: Corner is shading the running back all the way.

Riley audibles, again Jones comes in motion toward the line, again a run. Methinks Oregon is getting the hang of that motion thing, Talmadge Jackson reads it all the way, although the facemask penalty is what slowed Vereen from hitting the hole.

1st and 10, ORE 29, 12:13

Offense: I-form, TE lined left, fullback offset strongside
Defense: Eight in the box.

Second biggest play of the game for Cal's offense for me. This would've set up 1st down in the red zone. Perfect playfake with the box stacked, put Cal on one-on-one in the end zone, total interference. Tucker with the stupid taunting penalty negating it.

1st and 10, ORE 29, 12:03

Offense: I-form, 2 TE, WR right, again TE moves to the left, then TE from the right motions to th eleft
Defense: 4-3 over, EIGHT IN THE BOX

I replayed this one about ten times trying to figure out what happened. Someone was supposed to block out Paysinger. At first I thought it was supposed to be Guarnero. But it could also have been Summers-Gavin, who looked like he was pulling toward that hole but then sort of stayed behind Guarnero in some weird sort of block. (If you guys have ESPN360, go to 59:54, then watch the play develop, anyone know enough about the O-line blocking techniques to tell me what was designed?). If Paysinger gets blocked out Vereen probably goes 10-15 yards.

2nd and 12, ORE 31, 11:25

Offense: Wildcat formation, Riley lines up left, two WR right, TE right.
Defense: 4 man front, plus something else...

They run the same play they ran five plays ago, from the same formation. The difference is that the backside guard is pulling from the right (Cheadle) to try and seal the left side for Best to have the outside space. Looks good. Except Cheadle slips. Fuck. Then Holley tries to make the cut block on the defender Cheadle was supposed to take (when he probably should've aimed downfield at the faster incoming d-back) and whiffs. FUCK. And thus, the D-back Holley was supposed to take out finds Best and drags him down quickly.

3rd and 11, ORE 30, 11:08

Offense: Best moves from the backfield to the left side of the LoS, WRs right, TE left
Defense: Nickel

Questionable playcall #2: Why are we using a 3rd and 11 with a tight end screen? All these short passes make me wonder how much Ludwig trusts RIley's ability to throw the medium-range pass. The blocking here is slipshod, probably because no one has any idea who and where to block against defensive backs.

Fifth drive, the Riley/Best fumble

1st and 10, ORE 40, 10:00

Offense: I-form, fullback offset strong, TE right
Defense: looks like a 4-3 over

Most important play for Cal's offense. This play made me cringe, not only because of the fumble, but because if that handoff is executed right, Best is zooming through the crease, with a great chance to break through to the second level. Seven of the eight Ducks were blocked perfectly man-to-man, and Jones's guy would've been well out of the play. Still not happy that almost every time Jones has been motioned toward the line it's been a run, but a minor gripe compared to the fumble. This is the crucial play that has us standing between a tied game and the eventual rout.

Sixth drive, Oregon up 18-3 in the 2nd q

1st and 10, CAL 23, 8:13
Offense: Ace, two tight ends shift from left to right. Let me guess, it's going to be a run.
Defense: Predictably Oregon stacks eight in the box.

Yep, although there's good inside zone blocking this time opening the inside for Best to cut in and cut left. Great downblock by Anthony Miller coming from right to left. Secondary with good pursuit.

1st and 10, CAL 33, 7:50
Offense: Originally I-formation fullback offset strong, but Best moves into the slot.
Defense: 4-3 under

Best comes from the slot for the direct handoff (we saw a variation of this against EWU). Again Summers-Gavin has trouble blocking out his assignment, Brandon Bair, who gets off him rather easily and chases Best down to prevent further damage.

2nd and 7, CAL 36, 7:08
Offense: Aces, 2 WR left, 1 WR right, TE right
Defense: If I didn't know better, this looks like a 3-4...I must be seeing things.

More motion so the receiver from the right goes left into a trips formation. It got a first down because it recognized the pressure that was coming, but again, these screen passes make me wonder how much Ludwig trusts Riley's midrange game.

1st and 10, CAL 48, 6:45
Offense: I formation fullback offset strong, 2 WR right, TE right

Riley took way too many steps, didn't really look for alternatives other than deep, then launched that football into orbit. Great coverage by Glasper. Left tackle (Tepper? Not sure whot he number was) also allowed another defender to get a lick on Riley.

2nd and 10, CAL 48, 6:33
Offense: I formation, 2 WR right, TE left
Defense: Oregon brings nine in the box, anticipating rush. Try the pass again?

Again Marvin Jones goes in motion to the O-line, and maybe Oregon takes it as their cue that a running play is coming, since that's what happened on almost every receiver going into motion toward the O-line play. Jones makes a critical error not seeing the incoming linebacker, and he spends most of the play looking for someone to block. He's right behind you Marv, making the tackle on Vereen! Guarnero spends his time on this play blocking the ground from the sun, missing on two Duck defenders who help out on getting Vereen.

3rd and 9, CAL 49, 5:57
Offense: Shotgun, 3 WR right, 1 left
Defense: Oregon rushes three and drops eight into coverage.

Isn't the best way to break down this particular coverage zone to go toward the sidelines, like around that 8-10 yard receiver? Anyway, Riley telegraphs Anthony Miller, and that ball should've been picked.

Seventh drive, Oregon up 18-3 in the 2nd q

1st and 10, CAL 36, 3:45
Offense: Two WR right, WR left, FB goes in motion to make I-form fullback offset weak.

Riley audibles, Man blocking, Cheadle opens up a hole but can't hold onto his man and the defender closes it up!

2nd and 8, CAL 38, 3:08
Offense: Two WR right, WR left, TE right, RB weak
Defense: 4-3 over

Quick throw to Anthony Miller.

3rd and 2, CAL 44, 2:41
Offense: WR right, TE split on both side, I-form fullback offset strong
Defense: Oregon stacks 8 in the box

Quick snap, Holley whiffs on his outside block that allows the outside LB to rush up on Best in the backfield. Think we're missing Ta'ufo'ou right now?

Eighth drive, Oregon up 25-3 in the 2nd q

1st and 10, CAL 20, :59
Offense: Shotgun, RB weakside, 2 WR & TE right
Defense: WLB blitz, 4-3 over

This is on Best for not picking up Rowe rushing blindside, although Oregon did put two defenders close to Tepper, so Best probably felt he needed to help out. I'd worry about the guy unblocked first though. Still, shouldn't we be using Jahvid as a quick dumpoff receiver rather than putting him in pass protection?

2nd and 14, CAL 16, :20
Offense: I form, FB strongside, 2 WR split and TE right
Defense: 3 down linemen

Solid gain and blocking from Best. They're using the Bend but not Best D versus the Jet.

3rd and 5, CAL 25, :12
Offense: I form, FB strongside, 2 WR split and TE right

They're just running out the clock here.

Ninth drive, Oregon up 25-3 in the 3rd q

1st and 10, CAL 20, 15:00
Offense: Best weakside behind Riley in the shotgun, TE right, 2 WR split left
Defense: Could be a dime package

There's that sideline throw to break the zone! Luckily Riley threw that when he did, because Summers-Gavin again struggled to protect against his man.

1st and 10, ORE 30, 14:46
Offense: Shotgun, RB strong, TE right, 2 WR split left
Defense: Not sure

Corner read this right, had a chance at getting a pick.

2nd and 10, ORE 30, 14:41
Offense: Shotgun, RB weak, TE right
Defense: 3 down linemen, Strongside linebacker blitz picked up, it was the tackle Bair who came in untouched.

Oh my lord. Three down linemen and Riley still gets hit??? Tepper with a real weak effort containing the edge and Best is nowhere close to picking up that block. Not sure who the FAIL goes to there. I know Jahvid wants to go to the NFL, but so far I've seen two really questionable decisions by him in pass protection, and in the NFL running backs have to learn to pass protect to stay in the game.

3rd and 10, ORE 30, 14:36
Offense: Shotgun, 2 RB, 2 WR right
Defense: Again, 3 down linemen, 8 drop.

Riley hit AGAIN as he threw with three down linemen rushing; other players are in the box, but all of them drop. Inexcusable. Schwartz can't seal the right side against Tukuafu and Tepper allows his man to at least get in the throwing path. The worst part is Best was open, scorching on the flat again down the sideline.

4th and 10, ORE 30, 14:31
Offense: Shotgun, RB right, 2 WR right
Defense: 3 down linemen, three up in the box, full on blitz by the linebackers

This time it's Cheadle who's out of position to defend the rushing linebacker and only gives him a brief brush by, and this throw by Riley looks rushed.

Alright, that's about as far as I want to go. In all, here are the mistakes I enumerated, for each blocker.

Matt Summers-Gavin--8
Chris Guarnero--5
Justin Cheadle--5
Mike Tepper--4
Brian Holley--3
Mitchell Schwartz--2
Jahvid Best--2
Marvin Jones--1

That's 30 clear blocking errors on the first 41 offensive plays, almost all of them drive killers (to be fair, some blockers committed their mistakes on the same play, so the average percentage of bad blocking plays was around 55-60%, it wasn't one blocking error per play. Still pretty bad). If you expect to win games making that many mistakes at the line of scrimmage, I have beachfront property on Mars I'd like to sell you.

It's why I find it hard to blame quarterback play or our running game for not getting going. How on Earth can you blame the quarterback and skill players when your linemen keep on missing man assignments, when your guards aren't pulling properly, and you aren't able to contain and seal in the zone?

Finally, I'm not going to absolve Andy Ludwig on this. There were several things I noticed that I didn't particularly like, it made those warnings we heard from Utah and from Oregon before the season all the more unsettling, and Saturday made this mocking animation from Off the Pond seem depressingly prophetic.

*Any time the Bears max protected (stacked up two tight ends or had the fullback in the game), they ran the ball. They stacked the box and we stacked right back against them. I think we tried to play fake and go deep once or twice. Any time Riley lined in shotgun, we passed the ball (it's pretty much automatic at this point that we pass the ball out of shotgun, we maybe do one draw a game, none today).

*I also didn't like that Cal always had a lot of people (fullbacks, tight ends, even tailbacks) staying back in pass protection when Oregon barely blitzed at all and got most of their pressure with four down linemen, so often Cal had six or seven blocking four. You're robbing yourself of intermediary and short passing options when you have Jahvid Best or Shane Vereen blocking on passing downs, and you're allowing the coverage to play tighter on the receivers and making it tough for Riley to get rid of the ball, making it more likely for him to get sacked.

*Now you might be saying "WTF MAN OUR O-LINE GOT KILLED Y U WANT LESS MEN BACK IN COVERAGE." Well, fine, don't listen to me, listen to Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers on Wednesday said the best thing might be for coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Joe Philbin to let the front five on the offensive line fend for themselves.

"I think one of the things that happened last week was because of struggles (in protection) in Week 1, we’ve kept more guys in (to block)," Rodgers said. "Our backs were staying in a little bit longer, and so our stuff was all down the field because we didn’t have any of our check downs out.

"The push, hopefully, this is week is, ‘Hey you guys got to hold up up front.’ We need more options underneath the coverage. When they’re dropping off so far, you need some check downs."

It might seem counterintuitive that the guy who’s been getting killed — 10 sacks and 19 hits in two games — wants less protection, but the logic is that by keeping in running backs and tight ends less often, Rodgers will have more options to get the ball out quicker if he’s facing pressure. Against the Bengals, many of his throws were deep because there were so few short options.

*The shifting of the tight ends was interesting, and the tight ends did seem to do their job well in blocking, but it didn't matter with the big five in the middle committing mental error after mental error.

*Almost any time Marvin Jones motioned toward the line, Cal ran the ball and Jones blocked someone on the edge. Not such a great job this week.

*With T.J. Ward out with an injury, we did not test the deep middle at all. How much of that had to do with the wind I'm not sure, but Cal probably had chances to strike up if Riley has time to make his reads or if the O-line pass protects better. The receivers had single coverage on the secondary much of the game except on obvious passing down situations.

*We did not test the sidelines as much as I'd have liked to see. Every time Riley rolled out toward the sidelines he got a first down, and on the first play in the second half Tucker sprinted out for 50 yards on a throw right in the middle of the zone. So Oregon's going to kill us going outside? Let's do it too! Far too late an adaptation by Ludwig.

*Hydro indicated in his Minnesota postgame thoughts that Ludwig had created a whole set of new looks for the offense and there are plenty more blocking schemes in place that give defenses more looks to guard against. While all these new looks are neat and can throw good teams off balance, the fact is throwing in these new wrinkles forces your offense to depend even more on execution. As you can probably guess, no wrinkles and looks in the offense could've saved Cal from themselve on Saturday.

*It begs the question: Was Aliotti a step ahead the entire way? It might've felt that way in the end, but through the middle of the game I'd say Ludwig beat himself more than Aliotti did. The Bears played very conservatively trying to use their blocking to open it up, and we stubbornly kept on trying these long developing plays when it was clear the Cal O-line was off their game. Whether Aliotti knew about Ludwig's tendencies is up for debate, but it's safe to say the Oregon's front seven was masterful at confusing and taking apart Cal's blockers.

*I'd have liked to see more dumpoffs to Best (who we didn't screen or swing to once), or quick slants inside and hitches outside, anything to get the ball out of the pocket as quickly as possible. That Riley was still backing up into throwing routes like he had the New York Giants O-line in front of him reeks of obstinance by the coaching staff. When your O-line isn't playing well, adapt to the situation and make the best of it.

*That being said, I can't really lay the hammer down on Ludwig. The offensive line put up a FAIL, and even if he'd adapted and adjusted properly to the situation, that probably only changes the scoring margin from 39 to 19 or 25.

In either case, Marshall's got a lot of work to do before one of the best defenses in the country comes calling on Saturday. You could argue how much crowd noise, or getting confused by audibles, or just not being able to react to the Oregon defensive gameplan factored in, but the O-line did not execute, and Riley, Best, and Vereen paid the price. A performance like this against USC, and our offense is going to do something it's never done in the Tedford era--get shut out.

Possibly coming later: What's with the defensive meltdown? We'll see if I feel up to it.