SB Nation - Shane Vereen

Bowl Games Gameday Thread: December 23rd, 2009

Drew K — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:45:08 -0000

Last nights contest between BYU and Oregon State was pretty one-sided... let's hope to see a more balanced contest tonight. On that note, this evenings game will feature another Pac-10 team versus another MWC team. The Utah Utes finished 3rd in the Mountain West Conference (6-2) but had an overall record of (9-3) and are ranked # 23 in the Nation, while the California Golden Bears finished 6th in the Pac-10 (5-4) with an overall record of (8-4) and are unranked but were at one point in the year ranked # 6 in the Nation. Utah has been to eight straight Bowl Games and this will mark California's 6th straight appearance to a bowl game. Being that alot of folks on NinersNation are Cal fans, I am sure that there will be a bunch of folks watching tonight so we hope to have more participation. Below the jump, we will take a look in to some of the key players, prospects, stats, and other information regarding the game...

# 23 UTAH UTES VS. CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS

SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL PREVIEW

UTES:

Key players to watch for the Utes:

[# 36] Eddie Wide RB 5'10" 195 (Junior):

Wide broke the 1000 yard mark for the first time in his collegiate career. There will need to be plenty of balance between run and pass for the Utes to come out of this game with the W. Look for Wide to get a Wide variety of touches tonight. His 2009 stats are: 182 Carries, 1032 yards, 5.7 yds/att, 12 TD's, and 1 TD receiving.

[# 68] Zane Beadles G 6'4" 305 (Senior):

Very versatile offensive lineman. Beadles knows how to play just about every position on the line. He has played both Tackle and Guard and has played them both very well. Being that the Niners may need a Guard in the upcoming draft, we all should be watching how well he plays against the Bears defensive line this eve before Christmas Eve.

[# 16] David Reed WR 6'0" 190 (Senior):

Reed is probably the most valuable player on this team. I suspect that true freshman QB Jordan Wynn will be zeroing in on Reed a bunch tonight. Reed will most likely be matched up against one of the top rated CB's in the nation tonight in Syd'Quan Thompson. This will be the most intriguing matchup of the evening. Reed's 2009 stats are: 75 receptions, 1085 yards, 14.5 a rec, 5 TD's.

[# 85] Jereme Brooks WR 5'7" 170 (Junior):

Brooks gives Wynn a great second read option. Brooks is a small, shifty, hard to cover small guy. If the Bears aren't careful, they will get burnt by Brooks. His 2009 stats are: 49 rec, 620 yards, 12.7 a rec, 6 TD's.

Led by Coach Kyle Whittingham (5th year, 46-17)

GOLDEN BEARS:

Key players to watch for the Bears:

[# 13] Kevin Riley QB 6'2" 221 (Junior):

I believe that Riley will have to be a factor in this game to give Cal any hopes of walking away from this bowl game with a win. I think he will more than likely return for his senior year to try and make a name for himself in the 2011 Draft. His 2009 stats are: 54.6% comp rate, 2636 yards, 7.6 per pass completed, 17 TD's, 6 INT's.

[# 34] Shane Vereen RB 5'10" 198 (Sophomore):

Vereen will be one to watch for the future. The Golden Bears have produced some pretty decent running backs within the last few years. With Jahvid Best still out in the this one with the severe concussion and back injury, Vereen will be the feature back. He actually will have finished the season with just 30 yards less than Best, although Best has played in 3 less games due to injury. Here are Vereen's 2009 stats: 163 attempts, 830 yards, 5.1 an attempt, 10 TD's.

[# 1] Marvin Jones WR 6'2" 190 (Sophomore):

Another guy that won't be coming out this year but has the potential to be a draft pick in 2011 or 2012 should he stay his Senior season. Jones has been the number one target as far as receivers are concerned this year; things should stay the same for this game as well. Here are his 2009 stats: 38 receptions, 607 yards, 16.0 a reception, 6 TD's.

Syd'Quan Thompson CB 5'9" 187 (Senior):

Thompson will probably be a 2nd round to 3rd round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft this year. He more than likely will shadow WR David Reed this evening. Thompson will need to be very effective against both the pass and run tonight. He has a very good opportunity to shine tonight and make himself a solid 2nd round pick candidate. Thompson will also be doing some returns tonight too...he is very exciting and electric when he has the ball. He has 250 career tackles which is a lot, 1 fumble forced, and 7 INT's (the majority of those coming in 2008).

Led by Coach Jeff Tedford (8th year, 67-34)

WHEN: 8:00 PM ET, 5:00 PST

WHERE: QUALCOMM STADIUM, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

TV: ESPN & ESPN-HD, ESPN 360

SATELLITE: SIRIUS, XM

OMG it's game day!

JazzyUte — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:15:26 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

1 day ago: Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, left, and California coach Jeff Tedford share their thoughts prior to a press conference where they discussed their Poinsettia Bowl NCAA college football game Tuesday Dec. 22, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

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Took forever, didn't it? But we're only a few hours away from the last game of the season. So, that means you better soak it all up because football ends around 9:30 tonight and won't return for a very, very long time.

Because of that, this better be a damn good game or it's going to be difficult getting through the next few months knowing how this season ended (back-to-back losses, a loss to BYU, no real good wins, blah). Luckily, the Utes have a legitimate shot at winning their ninth straight bowl game and it seems a good portion of the media is actually buying the Utes' hype this time around (which didn't happen during the Oregon/TCU/BYU games).

Whether that means anything, though, hinges on just how good the Utes play tonight. They can't struggle through long stretches like they did in all three of their losses. I believe if they are going to win, they either need to jump on Cal early or keep the game close throughout. A comeback, especially if they fall behind by two-scores, could be asking for too much.

Specifically what they need to do after the jump.

For starters, the offense has to find some consistency. They were getting things done early against BYU in their last game and then Jordan Wynn got his bell rung and wasn't the same the rest of the game. I also think play calling has to improve, as well, because it was pretty awful at times last month.

If you're going to run the wildcat, please shake things up. Put Terrance Cain in to do it because he at least poses a threat to pass. But the current makeup of it is just not getting it done.

Beyond that, though, the defense needs to keep Cal's running game in check. Utah's run defense has struggled at times this season with athletic running backs and fortunately, Jahvid Best, the more athletic back compared to Shane Vereen, is out with injury. Well I shouldn't say fortunately, but you get the point. Best is the type of player who can feast on the Utes' defense. Vereen, though, I haven't seen and I'm not sure if his style exploits their weakness.

It's also important special teams comes to play. They have played a role in every one of Utah's losses this season and if they're bad again, the Utes won't win this game. This probably concerns me more than Wynn or the defense stepping up and stopping Vereen. Because from what I've seen, Utah just is not capable of overcoming special teams deficiencies in games against good opponents. And while Cal might not be ranked, they're a pretty good team capable of beating the Utes - Best or not.

Ultimately, the Utes can't slack off here. Cal might be one of the better opponents Utah has faced in a bowl game as of late (not counting Alabama, obviously) and that means they'll need to step up with their best effort of the season. Just keeping it close might not be good enough because they've kept it close in two of three defeats and it did absolutely nothing to help them down the stretch.

But if they do keep it close, it will come down to a few plays here and there and that's where the Utes need to take advantage of each Cal mistake and try to not make any of their own. Because, in a close game, all it takes is one or two mistakes to cost you the game.

Now let's hope they go out and win this one and finish a rebuilding year with a fairly respectable 10-3 record and top-25 finish. It might not be exactly what we had hoped for, but a win here would salvage this ho-hum season.

Get it done, Utah.

Poinsettia Bowl Preview: No. 23 Utah vs Cal

Michael Rueckert — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:52:16 -0000

More photos » by Colin E. Braley - AP

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Next Game

Utah Utes
@ California Golden Bears

Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009, 5:00 PM PST
San Diego County Poinsettia Bowl - Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA

Q+A about Poinsettia Bowl

posted by Jeremy Mauss 2 days ago

2 comments | 0 recs

Poinsettia Bowl Q&A with California Golden Blogs

posted by Jeremy Mauss 2 days ago

0 comments | 0 recs

Cal's RB Jahvid Best Out for Poinsettia Bowl

posted by Jeremy Mauss 5 days ago

0 comments | 0 recs

Complete Coverage >

When it comes to bowl games, the Utes are as good as it gets. Utah will be looking to extend the nations longest bowl game win streak Wednesday night as they face the (8-4) California Golden Bears. The Utes have won 8 straight bowl games, which has included wins over Alabama, USC, Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh. The (9-3) Utes will also be looking to reach the 10 win mark on the season.

Utah will be going up against their former offensive coordinator, Andy Ludwig. Being the Utes offensive coordinator last season, he knows their team well. The defensive minded Kyle Whittingham however, knows his style of play well too. We will have to see how much that plays into the game.

Cal will be without their best player, Jahvid Best who is still recovering from his fall against Oregon State. His replacement, Shane Vereen, is very good though so Cal shouldn't have too much of a drop off. He is slower than Best, but is a bit more elusive. Utah struggled defending the run against Oregon and TCU but did a good job against BYU.

The biggest question for Cal is what team will show up to this game? Will the Cal squad that beat Stanford and Arizona play, or the one that was crushed by Washington? The Utes are hoping that it is the latter. Cal can be a dangerous team, who entered the season hoping to win the Pac-10.

In a statistical comparison between the two teams that we did, it was determined that Cal is a better offensive team while Utah is the better defensive team. The margin of victory for Cal offensively was very slim however. Statistically it appears that Utah has the edge. Utah is a 3 point underdog however.

Look for Jordan Wynn to have a big game passing the ball. Cal has a weak secondary which allows 260.1 yards over the air. Wynn will be in familiar territory playing his third game in Qualcomm Stadium where he was (2-0) as the quarterback of Oceanside High School.

The Mountain West is having a great start to the bowl season with a (2-0) record thus far. Utah is looking to continue the statement by giving them a third win. This is another big MWC vs Pac 10 matchup who are developing a great and competitive rivalry.

I'm expecting a great and close game, but I think Utah wins. The Utes are just too good in bowl games for me to doubt them. Both teams should come out inspired, looking to end their season with a win, rather than a 2 game losing streak.

It's the bear necessities - question and answer period with Berkeley's finest

JazzyUte — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:00:01 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

Uh...I think we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

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I love the internets. Twenty years ago, it actually took effort to round up some resident know-it-all to get answers about a topic you're not entirely familiar with. And truth be told, I don't know much about Cal football. Except their coach before Jeff Tedford is currently the athletic director down in Provo. Oh and their offensive coordinator is some guy named Andrew Ludwig.

Whoever that is.

So, knowing I had Cal Berkeley connections a mouse click away, I caught a cyber wave on over to the best damn Pac Ten blog known to man (early-90s internet lingo FTW!) and asked them a few questions about today's game and how in the hell California went from sixth nationally to losing by a billion points to one of the Washington schools.

In fact, I actually answered some questions of my own. If you're interested in what I had to say (doubtful) go check it out and ignore the obvious confusion in copying and pasting my answers to the appropriate questions. Apparently the university can produce the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, yet their students still haven't figured out how to properly align answers to the corresponding questions.

I keed!

Anyway, the good stuff is after the jump!

1. Cal was quietly floated around as the team to dethrone SC in the Pac Ten. Didn't happen. Why?

Cal was over-hyped in the preseason. By everyone. The media gave Cal too much benefit of the doubt and focused too much on Jahvid Best and nobody else. Cal had huge question marks regarding its offensive line, its QB, and WRs. On defense, there were huge question marks regarding the linebackers. All those units have not performed well at various times during this season and can probably be described as just average. Football is a team game and you need talent at all the other positions too to win games. I think the mass media forgot about that. They focused solely on our Heisman candidate Jahvid Best, and kept saying he could carry the team. Not true. But many Cal fans bought that sell, and are now horribly disappointed with our season and our fall from the top 10.

2. Most Ute fans were apathetic to Andy Ludwig's leaving for Kansas State (before turning the car around and heading back out west). What's the general consensus among Cal fans regarding his first season? And yes, I'm asking you to speak for most your Golden Brethren.

Honestly, with most college football fans in general, few of us are qualified to truly and accurate critique offensive playcalling. Nevertheless, the consensus with Cal fans is that he's done a pretty good job. There have been a few games where Cal fans have been left scratching their head and puzzled, but for the most part, the playcalling has seemed to be productive and strategic. He obviously hasn't wowed us all but we're also not wishing he wasn't here.

3. While at Utah, Ludwig ran more a spread option-style offense in the mold of what we see from Urban Meyer teams. Obviously that isn't the case now. What's Cal's style?

Cal's style now is what I could consider a sort of hybrid power running and spread passing attack. I say "hybrid" because the offense doesn't incorporate all elements of a solely pro-style offense and nor does it incorporate all elements of a solely spread offense. For example, Cal doesn't really pass out of your traditional professional I-formation formations. And nor do they really run out of the spread formations. What Ludwig has done, is really adopt an offense that has two styles. When Cal wants to pass, it goes into a spread offense. When Cal wants to run, it goes into a more traditional professional I-formation power type of offense. So depending on the gameplan or the game situation, you can see the Cal offense vary considerably in their looks and formations. It's probably even fair to say that Cal really doesn't have a strong offensive style because the formations and tactics seem to change so much.

4. With Jahvid Best out, who will the offense fall back on? Does this concern you or can they plug in someone to feel the role?

Cal's second runningback is Shane Vereen. Although not having Jahvid Best does suck, I'm not sure that it will really hurt. Shane Vereen is a very talented runningback despite his different running style. I would describe his style as more of a power type of runningback. I don't mean that in the sense that he's going to run everyone over like Jerome Bettis, but he's going to grind out that yardage despite poor blocking. He may not hurt you with his speed, but he will hurt you with his ability to just squeeze out that extra yard or two when he has no business getting that extra yardage.

5. How's Cal's defense? They seem just as inconsistent as your offense. True?

Sort of. Cal's defense is consistently good against the run, and consistently inconsistent against the pass. Cal has always been a stop-the-run-first defense. Even the best rush offenses rarely rush for more than 100 yards and greater than a 3 yard average on our defense. However, when it comes to passing, that's where the defense fails. Aside from Syd'Quan Thompson, our All-American cornerback, opposing QBs have usually been able to have pretty good games against us more often than not. Our zone defense has been picked apart fairly methodically by many mediocre offenses. The cause for this weakness is presumed to be from lack of talent and experience.

6. Would you support the Pac Ten expanding to Utah & Colorado or Utah & BYU?

If the Pac-10 were to expand, I think either of those options would be fine ones. Colorado probably fits in with the Pac-10 schools a bit better, while bringing in Utah/BYU would preserve the conference's 'pod' scheduling. Honestly, though, I'm not terribly enamored with the idea of expansion. I know many Cal fans are, for all the same reasons that the ACC expanded recently. Still, there's no one of Miami's caliber for the Pac-10 to go and grab out West (Utah, BYU and Colorado might all fit in with the Pac-10, but they would only serve to make the conference bigger, not better), and I look at the ACC as more of a cautionary tale than anything. Their title game has mostly been a sparsely-attended dud, and not only did the increased conference size mess up their football round-robin (something I'm quite fond of in the Pac-10), but it also messed up their basketball double-round-robin too. Expansion might help the Pac-10 in terms of income, but I think it would ultimately dilute the product on the field, and until I see evidence to the contrary, I can't support expansion.

7. I noticed a mixed reaction to the news you guys were playing the Utes due to the location and the fact the game is on a Wednesday. Has that changed at all? Or are we going to hear, like what we heard after the Sugar Bowl earlier this year, that you guys didn't really want to be there?

It won't happen. The alternative to San Diego was El Paso, and unless our players have a little of the Ron Mexico in them, no one was really enthusiastic at the prospect of the Sun Bowl. No, if Utah beats us, it'll be the same thing that's happened in every one of our losses--total dysfunction in every significant aspect of the game. Oh, and Utah being better than us. Which would suck, but wouldn't surprise me at all.

8. Don't you just hate BYU?

Seven dollars is more valuable to me than a degree from BYU.

9. Prediction!

Well, if the Cal team that played against Stanfurd shows up for the bowl game, I think Cal has a great shot at winning quite solidly. On the other hand, if the Cal team that showed up against Oregon, USC, Oregon State, or Washington (the teams that beat Cal by a combined score of approximately 150-30), then Cal is screwed. I think the Cal players are disappointed that they're not in the Sun Bowl playing Oklahoma. The last time Cal went bowling and were disappointed about where they were bowling was in 2004 when we played Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl. We lost that game in a worse fashion than the score suggests. So, I'm not thinking Cal is really going to show up for this game. I wouldn't be surprised if Cal loses. I'm going to guess that it's going to be a Cal loss, 27-31.

10. How many times has Ludwig tried the reverse on a third and short this season?

Actually, this hasn't happened at all this season. I don't think there has been a tendency this year that most Cal fans have really hated.

Fin

I'd like to thank California Golden Blogs for the information. Now hopefully they spend tomorrow crying in their tea-cups (they drink a lot of tea in Berkeley, right?).

Poinsettia Bowl Q&A with California Golden Blogs

Jeremy Mauss — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:00:17 -0000

The Poinsettia Bowl with Utah vs. Cal is coming up on Wednesday December 23rd, so it is time to question the opposing team in a short question and answer session. Today's we are talking with SB Nation's very own California Golden Blogs. Make sure to check out their site when they answer my questions, as well as other bowl info.

1. All of Cal's losses have been blowouts, what seems to go wrong when Cal does lose?

In a word? Everything. The secondary can't cover properly (they run their coverage patterns without looking for the ball, then get torn apart for huge gains), the special teams gaffes on both sides (we fail to return kicks properly, we fail to cover kicks properly), the offensive line doesn't block anyone, the quarterback can't throw a proper out route, the recievers can't gain separation, the linebackers don't know how to rush the passer...add those all together and you have a blowout, four times over (at least four or five of these things have happened in every loss, it's been uncanny).

Remember that Simpsons episode where Smithers loses his house and his mind slowly goes to "hi-diddily-ding-dong-crap", followed by him checking into a mental ward? That's what Cal fans have been like in every one of those losses. Sorrow turns to frustration turns to madness turns to acceptance of madness. We're all a bunch of loons right now about what team will show up on Wednesday. Don't provoke us too much if Mr. Hyde shows up Wednesday--you don't know the insanity you might unleash.

2. With Jahvid Best not playing in the bowl game, tell people about his replacement Shane Vereen?

Vereen is a very capable guy, similar to Best in form and size, but his style is a little bit more slippery to grasp. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our running back coach Ron Gould, who's recruited and/or developed four NFL-capable running backs over the past six years, and seems like he might have another star brewing in Shane.

Here's what our best football analyst Hydrotech wrote after Vereen's incredible 42 carry, 193 yard performance in the Big Game upset over the Cardinal:

"Sure he's a bit slower than Best, but what he lacks in pure speed, he makes up for in his uncanny ability to gain a few extra yards when surrounded by four defenders and having no business getting any additional yards. He just has that subtle elusiveness to intricately weave through the defenders and trash to get those yards nobody really thinks he'd get. I suppose this is a bit surprising because Cal really hasn't had a RB like him before. Previous RBs just brutally powered their way through the trash and defenders (Lynch, Arrington, Echemandu). Best sort of puts his head down and runs through them but without tons of power. But Vereen just kind of slips through them - like magic."

If Utah wants to win the game, they need to stop Vereen in his tracks and force Riley to keep on throwing. Teams that have succeeded at that this year have won, teams that haven't have lost. Cal is 7-0 in games they've rushed for a hundred yards or more, 1-4 in which they haven't.

3. By having the former Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig now at Cal give them an advantage Cal might not have had?

Beats me. I thought Ludwig being the former OC at Oregon might've helped us out against the Ducks; Nick Aliotti's defense ended up blasting more Bears out of the backfield than Sarah Palin from a Super Cub. It was not pretty. It goes both ways really--Utah's defense knows him as well as Ludwig knows them. We'll see if Ludwig can go 1 for 2 in rematches with old friends and put up a better showing than in Autzen.

The Ludwig experiment has had mixed results--liked him early, soured on him in the middle, and now many of us are kind of on the fence. On the one hand the offense has been far from running smoothly; on the other hand we've already had five offensive coordinators in the the past five years. On the one hand, Oregon and Utah fans were ecstatic to see him go; on the other, he was following two of the brightest offensive minds in Tedford and Meyer. There also could be a talent deficiency plaguing Cal's offense from getting into shape, but the way they've vacillated between 'pretty good' and 'extremely eye-gouging' is disconcerting.

4. What will Cal do on offense to be succesfull in this bowl game?

Block, block, block, block, block. Cal has had 2 really impressive victories against a ranked Arizona team and a ranked Stanford team on the road. In both of those wins, the OL seemed to play much better than in our other games. We had long sustained drives that kept the Cal D rested and off the field. The Cal D is good, but in our 4 blowout losses, the O, led by poor blocking, didn't help the D at all. They went 3 and out often, putting the D right back onto the field. Although they tried their hardest, no D can play that much time and still stay stout.

So, if the Cal OL can block well, opening up passing lanes for Riley and holes for Vereen, then the D will stay rested. If the Cal OL can block well, Cal can march methodically down the field, minimizing Utah's opportunities to score and maximizing their own. However, if the OL plays as it did in those 4 losses, then it well not only minimize Cal scoring, but put an undue amount of pressure on the Cal D.

Of course, the player missing in all 4 of those losses was Offensive Lineman Matt Summers-Gavin. All indications point to him *not* playing against Utah. :(!

5. Utah has a true freshman Jordan Wynn starting at quarterback, what can be expected Cal to do against him?

Watch in frustration as he throws for over 300 yards? Seriously, our pass D is not good. We've allowed large passing days to such illustrious names such as Tuel, Prince, and Sullivan. Try to guess which teams those QBs belong to!

It all starts with QB pressure, of course. Cal plays a 3-4 and Tyson Alualu is our #1 rush threat. However, the other players haven't been helping him as much as Cal would like and he often get doubled. Our LBs have taken a step back after Zack Follett, Worrell WIlliams, and Anthony Felder gone. Mike "The Prophet" Mohamed is still killing it, but they have trouble getting pressure.

Our DBs are in a bad way. Many seem to have regressed from last year. Injuries have hurt our #1 DB SydQuan Thompson. It's not a pretty picture back there.

We've already made some bad QBs look good, I'm sure that Jordan Wynn will look great.

Ranking the 2009 Pac-10 Football MVPs: Part I

Avinash — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:00:29 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Mike Mohamed had some big plays this season. Was it enough to be a Pac-10 MVP?

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In case you missed it, here's Part 1: the LVPs of their respective teams.

This post got too long, so I had to split it into three. Here are the honorable mention categories and the Pac-10 players and units ranked #30 thru #21 (#20-11 coming this afternoon, #10-1 coming Friday morning). Let's dive into it.

Honorable Mention

Jeff Locke, Reid Forrest: You know your team's in trouble when your punters are higher than anyone on your offense. And in Forrest's case, you know your team is royally fucked when your punter is the only one on your team who appears on this list.

Donald Butler: Didn't really do anything spectacular this year, but 96 tackles will get you on this list.

Daniel Te'o-Nesheim: So will 9.5 sacks and 12.5 TFL. Too bad the Huskies defense ranged from 'sheer brilliance' to 'human atrocity'

Ed Dickson: I'll be nice as possible about this--FUCK ED DICKSON. AGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.

Damola Adeniji: Despite all the production of James Rodgers, he wasn't Canfield's main target on 3rd down. Probably because secondaries keyed in on Rodgers, Adeniji racked up 27 catches in that situation, 21 for first downs, 5th in the country. Only 49 catches overall, but considering he only had 1 last season, I'll say this is a slight upgrade.

Chris Polk: Finished this season on a tear: Five ninety+ yard games and a 1000 yard season overall. Hard to measure his impact though, since the Huskies lost three of those games and Locker and the defense were the focal points of the other two.

Trojan offensive line: Lost season for these guys. 17 sacks allowed, 40 tackles for loss allowed, only a top 40 rushing offense. Ho-hum for them. I would've dreamed of something like this for the Bears.

Mike Mohamed: Cal's most productive defensive player on a not-so-great defensive unit. You have to give massive props for a 100 tackle season (his 104 tackles were tops in the Pac-10). And he saved another Cal season from sliding into disaster with a crucial interception in the Big Game.

Kyle Williams, Dmitri Nance: Solid production considering their quarterback struggled to complete half of his passes. Plus I feel bad for Williams ending his career like that.

Syd'Quan Thompson: If Cal had ONE guy (Hagan, Hill, Nnabuife, Conte, Rope Guy, someone) step up at corner on the other side of the field, who knows how our season turns out. We sure as hell don't get lit up by Oregon, USC or UDub on defense (Syd's limited ability in the final game pretty much assured we were screwed against Locker).

He was still a fabulous open field tackler when he got the chance, and when quarterbacks threw to his side of the field, he usually shut down. Like Asomugha in Oakland, that kind of effort only gets rewarded with first team All Pac-10, and minimal impact on the box score. So while his talent is easy enough to gauge, it's really hard to measure his value. Which is why he's honorable mention and not on the top 30.

After the jump, here's #30-21. If there are any thoughts of players or units left off, or guesses as to who will end up in the top 20, leave them in the comments.

#30 Damian Williams, #29 Joe McKnight

via theoraclesays.files.wordpress.com

These two are actually the first since Bush and White to break 100+ all-purpose yards a game since Bush and Leinart. Solid seasons, but other than McKnight on the final drive against Ohio State and Williams tearing up Notre Dame, how many moments do you remember concerning these two? That kind of year for the Trojans. It's up in the air whether either will return too.

#28 Ryan Whalen

via www4.pictures.zimbio.com

6th in the Pac-10 in receptions, turned into Luck's best passing threat when Owusu went Section Eight in the biggest games. Thought about ranking him higher, but I don't have any Whalen moments to really justify putting him further up. Perhaps the Cardinal fans can refresh my memory...oh, wait, there are no Cardinal fans. #28 it is.

#27 Arizona's receiving corps (Turner, Criner, Roberts, Dean, Douglas)

via www.azstarnet.com

Five guys with 30 catches or more? Now that's spreading the wealth around. By contrast, Cal had only one receiver (Jones) catch more than 30. Obviously, Cal isn't built to be a passing offense, but still, this is a far cry from two-three years ago. Sigh.

#26 UCLA's secondary

via images.ocregister.com

I know Rahim Moore led the nation in picks, and Alterraun Verner had another fine year--but how good are these guys? Other than shutting down Jonathan Crompton and whoever the hell Kansas State's quarterback is, the Bruins pass D has been surprisingly average. Even Kevin Riley burned them deep. I repeat, KEVIN RILEY BURNED THEM DEEP. Does this happen to good secondaries?

Oh well...at least Moore is capable of that "deep, longing, alluring, penetrating, soul-piercing, heart-tugging look".

#25 Tyson Alualu

via cache.daylife.com

Kind of hard to say how bad the Bears defense would've been without Alualu cracking apart the line. His efforts alone helped shut down Minnesota's passing game in a tight 4th quarter. Extra linemen often were forced to commit to him, and it opened up the rest of the front to get after Arizona and the Furd's high powered offensive attack.

Unfortunately, he never really had a Mebane-like force on the line--he couldn't really disrupt the passing attacks the way his predecessors did How much of that was dictated by scheme or by his own pass rush methods is beyond my knowledge, but Cal's pass rush was far weaker than anticipated, far weaker than the 27 sacks they put up this year.

Still a great season for Tice though--Cal's run defense was top-tier, and a lot of that had to do with #44.

(Story that really depressed me this week: Bear Insider's look at how close Ndamukong Suh came to being a Golden Bear. Imagine Alualu and Suh coming together in the 3-4 the last two seasons, particularly last year. I'm getting bummed out now.)

#24 Jahvid Best

via www.pe.com

For a guy who was supposed to be a Heisman hopeful, it's shocking to see Best not even crack the top 20. But that's how it is in a frustrating season for Jahvid, whose season seemed to peak in Minneapolis. Still had some spectacular runs, but running behind the crappiest offensive line in the Tedford era, it could've been way, way better.

#23 Chris Owusu

via a.espncdn.com

A menace for us, and a big game-changer for the Furd, having huge returns on almost every opponent this year. Surprisingly (and stupidly), everyone in the Pac-10 continued to kick to Owusu long after he demonstrated he would outrace their coverage to the end zone. The Furd ranked 3rd in the country in kickoff returns, mostly due to Owusu's skills.

He gets bumped down a bit because if he could just hang onto a few passes (he dropped big catches in EVERY conference loss), the Furd are going to Pasadena.

#22 Kai Forbath

via tnjn.com

Laugh all you want that a kicker cracks the top 25. When a Bruins fan describes him as your most consistent player...well, that says a lot.

Take a look at the games Forbath swung this season.
~13 of UCLA's 19 points in a 4 point win over the Vols in Rocky Top
~11 of UCLA's 23 points in a 10 point win over the Sun Devils
~6 of UCLA's 24 points in a 1 point win over the Huskies
~11 of UCLA's 23 points in a 14 point win over K-State.

Add in these stats
~26 field goals, second most in the country behind Alabama's Tiffin
~99th scoring offense in the country

Not hard to say Forbath was UCLA's offensive MVP this season, isn't it? Switch Forbath with an average kicker and the Bruins win four games? Three?

#21 Shane Vereen

via dlerium.smugmug.com

(Image from dmo580)

Surprisingly had more impressive performances than Best this season, cementing away a Cal victory in Pasadena and being the workload in two upsets over the Wildcats and the Cardinal. Best racked up big numbers against two of the worst teams in the country and an FCS opponent, managing only one great game this season against a bowl-eligible team. Although Best ended up with more rushing yards, Vereen had more all-purpose yards thanks to his kickoff returns and his own pass-catching abilities. Most importantly, when the offensive line collapsed, Vereen had more of the elusiveness to slip away from encroaching defenders.

Best might be the better talent, but Vereen was the more valuable Bear for this Cal squad...but only by a little.

Coming this afternoon: #20-11.

Golden Nuggets: Best Will Miss the Poinsettia Bowl

Berkelium97 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:00:17 -0000

You're all familiar with the sections on the left of the page, right? Some of you aren't? Well, they are a handy way to look at posts according to various topics. You can sort posts by "football," "recruiting," "basketball," and so forth. Now there is a section called "Golden Nuggets" where the GN posts will be stored. If you need to catch up on several day's worth of news just click that section and you'll see all the most recent posts.

Tedford has announced that Jahvid Best will miss the Poinsettia Bowl. He said he is progressing well, but that it would be too soon for him to play in the bowl game. I'll post more details when they're made available.

Here's what Daily Cal had to say:

Tedford said that Best is "doing excellent" in rehabbing from the head and back pain that have kept him out of football since he suffered a scary concussion on the field during the Bears' loss to Oregon State on Nov. 7. But with Cal returning to practice Wednesday just a week away from its bowl game against Utah, the team didn't feel that Best would have enough time to get himself back into game shape before Dec. 23.

"He's been out a long time, and since this game is so early, to get him back in game-ready form -- we don't feel like that's something that we can get done to him ready to play," Tedford said.

Best might have been available to play had the Bears gone to a post-Christmas bowl, Tedford said. That possibility was erased when Cal closed out its regular season with a 42-10 loss at Washington.

Tedford said that the decision was made "over the last couple of days." The Bears' practice Wednesday was their first since Sunday, as players are in the midst of finals week.

Best will make the trip to San Diego to watch Cal play Utah in San Diego.

"He wishes he could be out there with us," Vereen said. "But at the same time he understands that he needs to get better and healthy."

After the jump I have quotes from Chris Martin as well as more stories on his commitment to Cal, previews of the Cal-Utah matchup, more bowl information, bracketology, and info on how you can do your holiday shopping with Randle, PC, Zhang, and Boykin this Saturday.

Cal Football

JO talks about Chris Martin's commitment to Cal. The 2nd-rated defensive end is set to become a pass rushing LB at Cal and should immediately compete for playing time. JO also has some quotes from his phone conversation with Martin. Martin thinks he and this year's recruiting class are some of the final pieces of the puzzle necessary to get Cal to a Rose Bowl or beyond. Additionally, he's looking forward to being close to home and playing in front of friends and family.
On the heels of Chris Martin's commitment, RB Tajuan Briggs decommitted from USC to give a commitment to Cal. His most recent visit to Cal led him to reconsider his commitment to USC, which he made to keep his family happy, as he'd be closer to home. Ted Miller briefly recaps the current crop of Pac-10 commits and anticipates Cal will bring in a top-25 recruiting class.
ESPN posted its scouting report for the Cal-Utah matchup. It gives Cal the advantage at QB, RB, LB, and D-line, and gives Utah the advantage at O-line, WR, secondary, special teams, and coaching. Utah ultimately gets the nod, as they predict a 23-17 win for the Utes.
Cal has posted its program for the bowl. I wonder if they'll have these available to the media or if they'll just provide stapled, black-and-white copies like they did at the Pac-10 media day.
Despite struggling with it during the season, Utah remains committed to its wildcat scheme.
Utah's experienced trio of senior linebackers is looking to notch its 40th career win.
Shane Vereen is Cal's pick for Ted Miller's underrated players of the year.
Syd was named to Sporting News' third-team All-American squad.
Syd, Alualu, Tepper, and Tucker have been invited to the annual East-West Shrine Game. It is held January 23rd and will begin at 12pm PST.
Utah safety Robert Johnson does great work both on and off the field.
Tedford comes in 7th in Wilner's year-end coaching rankings.

Cal Basketball

ESPN's latest bracketology has Cal as a 9th seed, opening the tournament against Mississippi St.
Have some holiday shopping left to do? Head to Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton on Saturday, where Randle, PC, Boykin, and Zhang will be signing autographs from 4:30 until 6:30.

Cal v. Washington Report Card

TwistNHook — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:16 -0000

Position	QB	RB	Rec.	Run B	Pass P	Run D	Pass R	Pass D	ST	Coach	Overall
Score	1.406	2.188	1.969	0.677	0.531	1.469	0.896	0.302	0.875	0.708	0.490
Grade	D+	C+	C	D-	D-	D+	D	D-	D	D-	D-

There are so many times I want to quit this blog. I ask myself is it worth it? Are risking many Hydrotech Face Punchings worth it? But the amazing community we have here usually inspires me to the do all the work. And working on the Report Card post is usually one of my most favorite posts to put together. Seeing what all you people have written is always a lot of fun.

Fun was not the word that came to mind doing the Report Card post this time. You guys certainly know how to express your opinion and, well, given how the game went, I'm sure you can imagine what went on. If you like positive, optimistic things like daisies riding unicorns and ponies snuggling with rainbows, I suggest you read NO further. But if you like pessimistic things and are full of self-loathing, well, then you are a Cal fan and probably added something to this Report Card. You may read on.

I think PolarBear91 hits the right note here in his "overall" thought:

Worst. Episode. Ever.

Tough to disagree, Mr. Bear91. Tough to disagree.

Gameday Experience

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFF - I watched in front of my laptop and had to contain my anger from smashing my keyboard. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. MY LAPTOP COST ME GOOD MONEY. I DON'T WANT TO BREAK ITTTTTTTTT.

OhioBear - I promped by daughter to do another "Go Bears." It's not "Goo Bay" anymore. It came out "Go Bars." After watching the game, that's what I wanted to do.

Kodiak - Well, the baby was squirrelly and just wouldn't settled down to let me watch the game in peace. Little did I know that the little angel had my best interests in mind and was only fussing in an attempt to preserve my sanity. I did sample our Xmas limoncello to make sure that it was fit to give out as gifts...and sort of briefly lost all feeling in my teeth. Unlike our team, it's more potent than it looks. I might be rambling now...Still can't feel my teeth. Damn. This would be the time to see if I could chew through a 2x4. Life is tough sometimes as a Cal fan.

Blackandoldgold - If you like hearing foghorn, this was your game. In other words, terrible.

Swamphunter - Why the fuck did we have to slouch on the job NOW? I'm so pissed that we had to lose to the fucking puppy dogs that I'm going against what I said earlier and doing a report card for this loss. We should have killed these mother fuckers and instead they run all over us.

c98 - sucked.

grinandbearit - Unfortunately, I go to UW for grad school now and made it to this game thinking "hey, it can't be worse than 2007, right?" The crowd was pumped. The whole UW team was pumped. It was the last home game for the seniors (and possibly Jake Locker), and it was probably a bit colder than most Cal players were accustomed to, but man ... what was that?

I guess I had seen this before against Oregon and USC. In fact, this was really just a blend of those two games. The saddest thing about this game was that, unlike 2007, I never got the feeling (whatever that's worth) that the players quit, and still, 42-10. What a beatdown.

Oh, and since we're talking about the gameday experience. A small minority of fans were woofing/barking when UW did something good. I mean, I get it, the Huskies, but really, you see Cal fans growling like a bear every time we get a first down or score?

Last thing, they kept on chanting "one more year" for Jake Locker. I think this was a good send-off for him since they're not playing in a bowl game. My guess is he's gone, but what do I know?

beson - We went over to a friend's house to watch the game and barbeque. Our usual MO is to take shots after every Cal touchdown. Last year, I got obliterated. This year, my friend made blue jello shots. I was anticipating another rough Sunday morning. Unfortunately it was rough in other more horrible ways. The jello shots made for celebrating became jello shots of sadness and frustration.

ososdeoro - Auspiciously tweaked my back playing tennis in the morning.

Golden Rationality Award

Commenter/alias name	Standard Deviation
osodeoro	1.417
polarbear91	1.722
grinandbearit	1.927
Haas8388	2.007
sec119	2.016

Old Blue Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
c98	0
prd74	0.364
blackandoldgold	0.485
WTFFFFFFFFFFFF	0.545
polarbear91	0.652

Golden Sunglasses Award

Commenter/alias name	Average score (out of 4)
Kodiak	1.758
Manwich	1.667
socalbears	1.500
beson	1.470
grinandbearit	1.348

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - A few flickers, but mostly bad Riley. In his defense, the protection had something to do with that. And once the game got out of hand, the D could just tee off on him. Even so, it's really disappointing to see him regress and be inconsistent with his accuracy, decision-making, and ball security.

Swamphunter - Short-hops and wide throws. The only bright spots were when Riley was throwing the ball, though.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

grinandbearit - I don't like to put too much blame on him since our OL sucks, but his throws were definitely off and sometimes he threw some scary passes to well-covered WRs. He did have a couple of nice runs, and I think he should continue to pull it down and run with it rather than sitting back in a collapsing pocket while loosely holding onto the ball.

That is one thing I really dislike about Riley is that he doesn't have a very good sense for ball security. Maybe he needs to sit down with Coach Gould and get a lesson or two on what the RBs do.

Haas8338 - Riley seems like a good guy and has improved from last year, but, and this is a BIG BUT, he is not good enough to lead a top Pac10 team. I won't use the term "inconsistent" anymore, he just is not very good.

beson - Riley definitely had some pretty terrible throws but I think most of the blame has to go to the O line which just sucked. Sure Riley should have made the throws when he wasn't pressured, but I can't really blame him for having lack of confidence in his line.

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - Vereen ran for 92 yards on 16 carries, but it was a fairly quiet 92 given the avalanche that poured over us. Vereen did a nice job, basically the only bright spot in an otherwise pathetic night.
Haas8338 - Vereen did what he could do in the circumstances. Pass blocking needs work that is for sure.

grinandberait - The effort is consistently there, and I just feel bad when I see Vereen run towards the line and hesitate because he knows he has nowhere to run because of our ____ty OL.

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - It's nice to have a former QB providing commentary. Apparently, some of Riley's struggles weren't just inaccuracy, but the receivers running sloppy routes. Which is pretty sad considering we really can't use the "young" excuse at this point in the season.

c98 - sucked.

grinandbearit - Marvin Jones is clearly our go-to guy. I was disappointed "they" didn't get Miller more involved. Everyone else is just a clone of a mediocre WR. Marvin is our #1 WR, and he gets open and makes catches more often ... I wonder what all the other WRs are doing differently. Running bad routes? I can't really say because I've never really sat down and followed the WRs on their routes during games, especially not on TV because you usually can't see this happening.

Good thing is that I didn't see too many huge drops except for one possible TD catch that looked to be fairly well defended.

Run blocking

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFF - I walked past a Chinese restaurant that prominently displayed the sign "NO MSG". You speak truth Chinese restaurant - so much painful truth.

Kodiak - Inconsistent push. In fairness, UW rolled the dice and bet that Bad Riley wouldn't be able to beat them if they crowded the line and run blitzed frequently. Sadly enough, that's been a pretty safe bet all year.

Blackandoldgold - The only thing worse was the Great Stink of 1858.

Swamphunter - Fire Marshall. He's a virus that needs to be eradicated.

Haas8338 - Even with MSG this line is only mediocre. Schwartz can dominate at times, but Tepper is up and down and the center and two guards were aweful. The Mutts' 340 lb DT (Taamu?) just abused our 260 lb center (shocking) and the guards didn't help much. Cheadle looks pretty darn stout, but man does he get manhandled at times...WTF?

Pass protection

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - Up and down. Riley was under pressure a lot, but UW was blitzing multiple guys on obvious passing downs. Chess match win for the UW coaches because we never seemed to have the right call or protection.

Swamphunter - Fire Marshall. He's a virus that needs to be eradicated. I believe in this so much right now that it deserves to be said twice.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

stevy - 5 sacks... much more pressures and knockdowns. And it wasn't like it was close. The D-line was coming straight through. Marshall needs to go, I think.

grinandbearit - This was softer than a baby's bottom and smelled like one, too. I really don't know if this was a matter of coaching or scheme or just a lack of talent (though I like Syd'Quan and Cattouse), but we always seemed out of position. Always chasing some guy down who slipped behind coverage, chasing some guy from behind on a slant. Just too many holes in the pass coverage that they exploited.

If I think about all the games this year, our pass defense only had one good game against a reasonably good offense and that was against Arizona at home. They were just good enough against Stanford, but I think we were mainly just fortunate to have our running game clicking and keeping our mediocre defense off the field.

Haas8338 - Tepper better start working out at guard because the NFL just wrote him off at tackle. Guarnero is just overmatched physically, simple as that.

Horrible preformance.

ososdeoro - sack, sack, sack. 3-step drop anyone. Oh yeah, that goes under coaching.

Run defense

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - Meh. We held Polk under a hundy but it seemed like we let him get away too much. We didn't have an answer for Locker's running, really.

Blackandoldgold - I can't do this anymore. Too depressing...

stevy - Washington never ran it that much. Defending locker on broken plays is tough, but they need to wrap up and not arm tackle.

Haas8338 - Take away Locker's running and it was a decent performance.

sec119 - I'm not sure if run defense counts the same as Locker scrambling for 15 yards at a time, but either way it was bad.

Pass rush

via calbearsonline.com

c98 - sucked.

beson - The pass rush seemed decent but Locker's escapability killed us. Everytime we got a good rush, it seemed like it was at the expense of containment and Locker made us pay.

sec119 - From snap to whistle, Locker had time to re-tie his shoes, drink some gatorade, and bake a souffle before the pass rush got within five yards of him.

Kodiak - Well, haven't really had one all year, so can't expect it to miraculously appear now. Even when we blitzed, they picked it up pretty easily. We could really use some playmakers who know how to put the QB in the grass.

stevy - Horrid. With this D-line, the 3-4 is ineffective in getting pressure. The outside linebackers almost never got pressure on Locker making it easy for him to dominate the game.

Pass Defense

via calbearsonline.com

Kodiak - Tough game for Nbufie. For all that people have been screaming all year for more aggressive D...More blitzing + man coverage = DB's getting burned for long gains/TD's. Maybe the coaches know that besides Syd, our coverage is a bit questionable and that's why they usually play zone. It'll be addition by subtraction when Johnson and Ezeff leave. It's really disappointing for two seniors to be non-factors, much less liabilities.

c98 - sucked.

ososdeoro - Good God. It seemed like the linebackers were told to: a) pick a receiver to cover; b) cover said receiver for five yards; c) stop and turn around to see if Locker is going to run while receiver goes on his merry way; d) "protect" the astroturf five yards downfield from any Huskies who might bother to venture in his general direction. The first TD pass coverage really wasn't that bad. That said, you give a guy a permanent 10-yard cushion and you're letting him receive the ball anywhere he wants to.

Haas8338 - Locker was on target, to his credit, but he was not pressured and our coverage seemed confused at times.

grinandbearit - This was softer than a baby's bottom and smelled like one, too. I really don't know if this was a matter of coaching or scheme or just a lack of talent (though I like Syd'Quan and Cattouse), but we always seemed out of position. Always chasing some guy down who slipped behind coverage, chasing some guy from behind on a slant. Just too many holes in the pass coverage that they exploited.

If I think about all the games this year, our pass defense only had one good game against a reasonably good offense and that was against Arizona at home. They were just good enough against Stanford, but I think we were mainly just fortunate to have our running game clicking and keeping our mediocre defense off the field.

Special Teams

via calbearsonline.com

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

c98 - sucked.

stevy - Goal for next year: GET A CONSISTENT KICKER. And Sofele was ineffective on returns. Once, he got a whole 5 yards on a short kick. Not good.

grinandbearit - Kick coverage is still pretty weak, and we missed a not-that-long FG in the first half. I wonder if Tedford will ever consider having someone else coach special teams.

Also, is it standard for college teams to send one guy to loop behind all the other kick coverage personnel acting as a trailer just in case everyone else fails to tackle the returner? I don't remember seeing any team play prevent on kickoffs.

Anger is still decent. Whew.

Haas8338 - Alamar may be the worst coach in college football.

ososdeoro - Just Gawd-fucking-awful. Nice to see Anger finally get off some good punts when we didn't need them anymore. Kickoff coverage sucks(tm) and now punt coverage does too. Nice FG try by D'Amato, er, not.

Coaching

via calbearsonline.com

OhioBear - We were not ready to play. Credit to Washington, obvi, because they played well. But we had no answer. We seemingly had few, if any, adjustments to the offensive onslaught. And we had no answer to getting hit in the mouth by Washington. A lackluster performance from a team that didn't seem ready to play - coaches have to take some blame for that.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

stevy - Ludwig is still undecided about what type of offense he wants for Cal. Will they do short pases? will they run the ball? will they do long every down? Cal's offense has no identity and that's a huge problem. If Ludwig is back next year, he MUST decide what type of offense he wants to run. This flip flopping from game to game is hurting offensive production.

grinandbearit - I don't know what to say here because I can't tell what the root causes are of the problems we have. So I guess I'll just list some questions:

1) Our run blocking is piss poor, so is it the coach's fault or the talent?
2) When in the WildBear formation, why do we fake the sweep with Sofele 95% of the time and then have Vereen pause for a few seconds and then run forward into our crappy OL?
3) Playcalling: we ran the ball on 3rd and 23 ... it must have taken UW off guard because who in his right mind would've thought we would make anywhere near 23 yards on a run play with our OL?

ososodeoro - Not a one of them earned their pay in this one. Every other team seemed to have answers for U-Dub (even the Dawg wins were close), why didn't ours?

sec119 - I never would have thought there'd be a game I give the special teams the highest grade. Talk about damning by faint praise! At this point, 50/50 on field goals is on-par for field goals.

Overall

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf - Time to start drinking.

OhioBear - I haven't been this angry since Washington 2007. Giving up 42 points and getting blown out by the Pac-10 champion on the road is one thing. Giving up 42 points and getting blown out by a team that was 3-5 in the Pac-10 and 4-7 overall coming into the game is quite another. No excuse for a performance like this.

Maybe we left our heart at stanfurd stadium 2 weeks ago.

Kodiak - Well, it stunk, but I can live with it if the game serves as a wake-up call. As nice as it would have been to finish tied for 2nd with a chance at a 10-win season, could we honestly have said that we've been happy with the team this year? Instead, there's no question that Tedford will have to take a long look at his coaching staff, player evaluations, and what's been done from spring through winter to get the guys ready to play.

prd74 - If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything.
I have nothing to say.

c98 - sucked hard.

stevy - Horrid game. Where did the Cal team that played so well against Stanford go? The team needs some to do serious soul searching in the off season.

grinandbearit - Keys to winning given our current set of problems:
- recruit some good defensive players this coming offseason
- get our OL mad before games so that they spark our running game so that we can keep our defense off the field and control the clock.
- start kicking all kickoffs out of bounds until we find someone who can consistently kick it past the 15.
- perfect the fake FG, especially when the FG is longer than 35 yards
- maybe our OL is just 2-3 good guys away from being good ... wouldn't that be great?

beson - Oh juju. Of course we lost after I celebrated USC and their all but assured poinsetta bowl berth.

Manwich - We can't get pumped up for big games other than the Big Game. I take back everything I said before, the optimism I had for containing Luck/Gerhart evaporated in a second. I'm beginning to think the PAC-10 has passed Tedford and Carroll by in terms of philosophy.

Before it was run the pro-style and the bend don't break and it worked. Now we're seeing our opponents run more option based attacks with mobile quarterbacks. It's time to change philosophies, otherwise, Tedford will become a Bobby Bowden, stuck with loyal assistants and doomed to middle of the PAC-10.

sec119 - I have very little to say that might be positive about this stinker of a game. That it occurred at the end of the season tells me that maybe we didn't learn much from our prior losses, nor am I hopeful about next year.

Golden Nuggets: Awards Season

Berkelium97 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:30:14 -0000

Put your CGB tax dollars to work and vote in royrules22's top-25 ballot.

Last night was the annual Cal football banquet, where a variety of awards were handed out to members of the football team. Go here for the complete list of winners. Here are some of the highlights:

Most Improved Player
Skylar Curran

Lifter of the Year Freshman - Mark Brazinski
Senior - Tyson Alualu

Bob Simmons Award - Most Valuable Freshman
Offense - Matt Summers-Gavin
Defense - Aaron Tipoti

J. Scott Duncan Award - Most Valuable Special Teams Player
Bryan Anger

Joe Roth Award - Player best exemplifying courage, attitude and sportsmanship
Tyson Alualu

Everett Merriman Award - Demonstrating commitment to community service
Kevin Parker [AKA Rope Coach]

Bear Backers MVP Awards (voted on by team)
Offense - Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen
Defense - Mike Mohamed

Scout Team Players of the Year

Offense - T.J. Emery and Ryan Wertenberger
Defense - Steven Fanua and Keni Kaufusi
Special Teams - Tyre Ellison and Spencer Hagan

The scout team PotY awards caught me by surprise, as I didn't know Wertenberger was a QB until just a couple weeks ago. Remember the name Steve Fanua in the coming years, as he is certain to become a vocal leader on defense.

After the jump we have more awards as the All-Pac-10 team was announced, reactions from to the Poinsettia bowl from Cal/Utah players and coaches, a lolwut quote of the week as Wilner calls the BCS "fair and open," post-game quotes from women's bball's loss to Texas A&M, and more.

Cal Football

The All-Pac-10 team was announced this morning. Tepper, Alualu, Syd, Mohamed, and Anger all made the first team. Jahvid Best was the lone Cal player on the second team.
Ted Miller provides a brief preview of the Poinsettia Bowl. With its struggles at quarterback, Utah sounds like it won't have an easy time lighting up the Bears' defense like Locker did.
Utah looks forward to playing Cal in the Poinsettia Bowl. Utah's coach Kyle Wittingham says it will be an interesting matchup, as Ludwig knows Utah's defense very well while Wittingham is very familiar with Ludwig's. JO has quotes from Tedford, Wittingham, Vereen, and Tepper, as they react to the bowl announcement.
After getting blown out in their last game, many players want to redeem the season with a win over Utah.
Cal drops to seventh in Ted Miller's Pac-10 power rankings.
In the lolwut statement of the week, Wilner says "Texas’ game-winning field goal was the most important kick in BCS history because of what it did to the BCS: It made the flawed, oft-criticized but incredibly successful system appear fair and open."

Cal Basketball

Boyle was pleased with the effort, aggressiveness, and rebounding in the loss against Texas A & M, but she was disappointed with all the missed free throws.
Monty's team fell out of both rankings after splitting last week's games. They received 5 points in the AP poll and 10 in the coaches' poll.

Huskies Pound Cal 42-10

John Berkowitz — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:53:53 -0000

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

17 days ago: Washington quarterback Jake Locker reacts after keeping the ball for a 9-yard gain against California in the second half of an NCAA football game Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009, in Seattle. Washington won 42-10. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Browse more photos »

If this was Jake Lockers last game he picked a great way to go out. Washington astounded every expert in the country today routing the Golden Bears at home 42-10. The Huskies fall one game short of qualifying for that elusive bowl berth but consider this they are only the 11th BCS team since 1946 to rebound so high coming off a winless season.

Jake started with a 40-yard TD pass to Jermaine Kearse on Washington's first drive, then added touchdown runs of 19 and 2 yards in the second quarter as the Huskies jumped to a 21-3 lead and were never challenged.

Locker added TD throws in the third quarter of 21 yards and 13 yards to Devin Aguilar and the Huskies (5-7, 4-5) made an impressive final statement against a bowl-bound Cal (8-4, 5-4) that didn't look happy to be in Seattle in December.

Locker completed 19 of 23 passes for 248 yards while exposing Cal's secondary. He also ran 14 times for 77 yards. Chris Polk added 94 yards rushing and a touchdown for Washington. Jermaine Kearse had seven catches for 147 yards and a TD -- all in the first half -- while Aguilar grabbed five passes for 72 yards and two scores.

Washington's defense was also a star for the second straight week holding Shane Vereen under 100 yards and putting constant pressure on Cal QB Kevin Riley. Riley was sacked five times, including three times by Washington senior Daniel Te'o-Neshehim, who became the Huskies' all-time leader in career sacks in his final game with 30. Riley was only 14 of 32 for 215 yards.