SB Nation - Tyson Alualu

How Do Cal Football Fans Feel About 2009?

Avinash — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:47:16 -0000

Pretty much sums the Poinsettia Bowl up.

We'll get back to dissecting my slightly inflammatory post (which wasn't intended to be interpreted that way, but it ended up like that anyway) after Christmas. For now, as we settle into our holiday break, let's discuss one last time how we feel about this season.

Let's look at it both ways in a brief snapshot. Feel free to add anything I missed in the comments.

Pros

Taking the Axe from the best Furd team of the decade.
Winning in the Rose Bowl for the first time in the Tedford era.
Beating a solid Arizona squad and ruining their Rose Bowl prospects.
Getting the chance to watch three all Pac-10 players (Best, Alualu, Syd'Quan) who are likely to be playing on Sunday.
Great running back play from Shane Vereen in relief of the injured Jahvid.
Solid run defense anchored by Alualu up back and Mohamed in support.

Cons

Playing 10 on 11 in Autzen.
Poor quarterback play sinking us against the Trojans AGAIN.
Jahvid nearly seriously injuring himself and ending his career, thanks to atrocious O-line performance.
Inexcusable no-show in Seattle.
Getting lit up by inaccurate and/or inexperienced quarterbacks in Masoli, Locker, Barkley, and now Wynn.
ALAAAAMAAAARRRRRRR!!!!! (who really deserves and is getting his own set of posts for his long history of incompetence)

We've done a lot of report cards this year, but how would you grade the 2009 Cal football season and why?

Poll

I grade this season approximately a(n)...

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?

Browse more photos »

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.

Golden Nuggets: BCS Trustbustin'

Berkelium97 — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:00:24 -0000

A committee in the House is channeling its inner Teddy Roosevelt by trying to ban the BCS.

A subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill that would prohibit the Bowl Championship Series, a collective arrangement of most Division I college football teams, from marketing any merchandise or game as a national championship unless it is the result of a playoff series.

Since its founding in 1998, the bowl system automatically qualifies the best team in each of the six biggest football conferences plus the University of Notre Dame. It uses computer rankings and polls to fill in the remaining slots–a system that critics argue can exclude some of the best teams from smaller conferences.

Rep. Joe Barton (R., Texas), a main sponsor of the legislation, said the bill is designed to send a message to administrators of the bowl series that fans want a more equitable way to determine a national champion and distribute revenue among colleges. And he noted the bill does not dictate exactly how college football arranges its post-season play. "The BCS will eventually get there," Barton said. "You shouldn’t have to hit the mule over the head too many times."

Only one lawmaker, Rep. John Barrow (D., Ga.), registered his opposition when the bill passed on a voice vote. "I don’t like the BCS system any more than anybody else does," Barrow said, "but I think going so far to make it a law is a little bit overboard."

"This is not the nation’s top priority," said Rep. Bobby Rush (D., Ill.). "But I do think there is time in our pursuit of more difficult issues to not overlook the fact that colleges and universities are funded by taxpayer dollars."

The House legislation wouldn’t take effect until the 2012 championship game – but passage is hardly a romp. The House bill must clear the full committee and the chamber, and at this point there is no companion legislation in the Senate.

After the jump we look at how the Poinsettia Bowl is a homecoming for Utah's QB, a list of goodies players will get by playing in the Poinsettia Bowl (as well as other bowls), a list of which Pac-10 juniors should or should not go to the NFL (and who will go anyway), 20 questions with Brandon Smith, and another dominating win for women's volleyball as they advance deep into the NCAA tourney.

Cal Football

The Salt Lake Tribune (whose articles have terrible formatting) catches up with Jordan Wynn, Utah's freshman quarterback who is from Oceanside, CA (not far from San Diego). He and his family are thrilled that he will play his in first bowl game not far from home. The rest of the Utes are using the time off to heal up for the bowl game. Deseret News also looks at Wynn's homecoming visit.
Ted Miller looks at which Pac-10 juniors should or should not go (and which will go anyway) to the NFL. He says Best should and will go.
Here's a list of all the goodies players get for attending various bowls. Cal players receive FloTV television service for a year, a Best Buy gift card, a Tourneau watch, a Sports Tek hooded sweatshirt, and a cap. That happens to be the same list of items Holiday Bowl participants receive. I bet guys like Spencer Ladner, Will Kapp, and Tyson Alualu are a little disappointed Cal didn't end up in the Sun Bowl. They each could have received a Brut hair dryer...

Cal Basketball

Jeff Farudo has 20 questions for Brandon Smith. Smith talks about his dream team, how many shoes he has, his favorite (and most unusual) experiences in Berkeley, and why he refuses to eat anything with Alfredo sauce.

Cal Volleyball

The Bears swept the (Baylor) Bears 3-0 en route to their third consecutive NCAA regional final where they will face either No. 1 (34-0) Penn St or No. 14 (25-5) Florida tomorrow at 1pm PST. It will be televised on ESPNU.

Golden Nuggets: Theo Returns!

Berkelium97 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:00:25 -0000

Theo Robertson will come off the bench Wednesday against Pacific. Monty didn't say who would start at center and mentioned that MSF needs to get his stamina back.

"He practiced today, looked pretty good," Montgomery said. Asked if that means he’s ready to go, Monty added, "I presume so. I’ll see how he is (Tuesday), but he moved around pretty well. Never really begged out. So I’m hoping he can (play)."

Monty said Jorge Gutierrez likely will start against Pacific, but ultimately will probably come off the bench, allowing Robertson to start and giving the team a versatile player who provides energy as a sub.

"We would go back to the way we were, playing him at the 3, then move him to the 4, depending on if we went small," Montgomery said.

Robertson was averaging 18 points through two games when he injured his right foot before Cal’s games against Syarcuse and Ohio State at Madison Square Garden.

"Theo’s maybe our best shooter and he was playing very well before he got hurt. He’s a smart player," Montgomery said. "We could have really used him against those zones in New York, having a third pure shooter. I would think it will be much harder loading up on Patrick (Christopher) and Jerome (Randle). It should change things drastically."

After the jump, Utah fans look forward to playing Ludwig's offense, Ted Miller looks back at what could have been for Cal (and USC), Miller posts his All-Pac-10 team, basketball gets ready to play Pacific, and more.

Cal Football

Isi Sofele was the runner up for the Pac-10 special teams player of the week.
Cal earned a well-deserved F from Wilner for Saturday's loss to Washington.
Our brethren over at Utah's SBN site Block U are looking forward to taking on Ludwig in the Poinsettia Bowl.
Ted Miller looks back with amusement about how wrong his preseason Pac-10 rankings were.
Miller's All-Pac-10 team includes Alualu and Mohamed.

Cal Basketball

Calbears.com previews the Cal-Pacific matchup.

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.

Cal vs. Stanfurd, Post-112th Big Game Thoughts

HydroTech — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:23:42 -0000

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

about 1 month ago: California players celebrate an interception by Mike Mohammed (18) late in the fourth quarter against Stanford during a NCAA college football game in Stanford, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. California won 34-28. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Browse more photos »

(1) Tedford's decision to center the ball on 3rd and 8 was a conservative decision but not a wrong decision. Let's get something out of the way first. Tedford centered the ball. He didn't take a knee. I see a lot of people, and newspaper writers who seem to think the only point of that play was to not stop the clock and make Stanfurd use their last timeout. If those were the only reasons, then Tedford would have just called a run play. But Tedford centered the ball. Centering the ball places the ball directly between the hash marks to give the kicker a straight-line kick. As we all know, the further you move left or right from directly between the hash marks, the smaller the width of the uprights become due to the angle. Thus, centering the ball is more crucial in college football than the NFL because the hash marks in college football are wider than the NFL. And centering the ball is also more crucial the closer you get to the goalline because the angle of the kick is harsher from the 10 yard line right hash (for example) as opposed to the 30 yard line right hash. In short, Tedford centered the ball. He did not just "take a knee."

This decision to center the ball was clearly a conservative decision. I personally would have run the ball left (because Cal was on the right hash). Running the ball left serves two purposes: (1) it keeps the clock running; and (2) it can potentially center the ball. Of course the runningback might take the ball outside one of the hashes rather than keeping the ball between the hashes and thus the ball is no more centered than it was earlier, but the benefit of actually running the ball is that there is a potential to score a touchdown. By centering the ball, Tedford gave up any chance that Cal might score a touchdown. At the time of that 3rd and 8, Cal was up 31-28 with about 2:45 left on the clock in the 4th quarter. A touchdown would have made the game 38-28 (assuming Cal goes for the PAT and makes it). That would have made the game a two-score game and essentially would have iced the game - or at least made it very difficult for Stanfurd to come back. On the other hand, centering the ball and kicking the field goal merely assured that Stanfurd needed a touchdown to win, as opposed to 10 points to tie or 11 points to win (if Cal had scored a touchdown on the 3rd and 8 with a play).

I suppose it's possible that the team could have executed a run play to the left and told Vereen to directly between the hashes as much as possible. Such a play preserves the chances of getting a touchdown (although those chances are probably reduced because Vereen is restricted to his running space), but it also serves the purpose of centering the ball (although the centering probably won't be as accurate as a QB-centering).

I do believe that centering the ball is more important than most critics of Tedford's decision realize. This should not be confused with saying that centering the ball is extremely important. However, critics of Tedford's decision don't even mention the lowered chances of a successful field goal kick from a far hash at extremely close range. To them, it appears, as if there is no difference between kicking a field goal from the 11 yard line far hash, and from the 11 yard line center. This is where they are wrong. Clearly there is a difference and kicking from a far hash is harder. How much of a difference does it make? It's a small one. Small enough that many coaches will just ignore the diminished percentage, and essentially trade a slightly bigger chance at missing the field goal for a chance at scoring a touchdown by running a play on 3rd down instead of centering the ball. Using numbers, it might sound like this: a kicker has a 95% chance at making a field from the 11 yard line center; a kicker has a 90% chance at making a field goal from the 11 yard line far hash; and the team has a 15% chance at scoring a touchdown on a run play from the 11 yard line. Most coaches will gladly take a 5% less chance at a field goal to keep that 15% chance of scoring a touchdown. Obviously Tedford isn't one of those coaches.

Was Tedford's decision wrong? No. I don't think so. There are two ways to win the game in Cal's situation. You go for a touchdown on third down, and if you get it, you ice the game with a 10 point lead. Or you kick the field goal, go up 6 points, and force the offense to score a touchdown. Both ways are valid ways to win. Of course one is more conservative than the other, or one is more aggressive than the other, but neither way is wrong. What is a wrong decision in football? Had Tedford passed the ball on the 3rd down to get a touchdown, I think that would be a wrong decision. You clearly want to run the ball on the 3rd down to make the offense use its last timeout. Even if Tedford passed the ball and Cal scored a touchdown, I would still criticize the decision as being wrong. Anyways, I don't think Tedford's decision is "wrong" as so many of his critics suggest. Conservative? Sure.

If you want to talk about "wrong" decisions, then let's talk about Stanfurd Head Coach Jim Harbaugh's decision to go for it on 4th and 8 on his own 23 yard line with 3 timeouts remaining. That was wrong. That decision pretty much gave Cal a very good chance at scoring a touchdown that would have put Stanfurd into a 10 point hole, and at the very least it gave Cal an extremely good chance at a field goal which would put Stanfurd into a 6 point hole. The 6 point hole now required that Stanfurd get a touchdown to at least tie the game or win it. On the other hand, if Stanfurd had punted the ball on the 4th down and subsequently forced Cal's offense to punt on Cal's next possession, then Stanfurd would only need a field goal to tie the game. If Stanfurd scored a touchdown, they would have gone up 35-31 which then would have required Cal to get a touchdown to win the game.

Clearly, Tedford's decision to center the ball on 3rd down was conservative, but it was nowhere near as "wrong" as Harbaugh's decision to go for it on 4th and 8 from his own 23. That decision was clearly wrong (no quotes).

Addendum:

Coincidentally, Cal's first field goal of the game, was from the 11 yardline right hash - the very same position that Cal was in during the 4th quarter with just under three minutes remaining. Tedford had no problem kicking the field goal from the far hash then. On their face, these situations seem the same, and people might suggest that Tedford's actions were inconsistent. But the situations were slightly different. The first field goal kick was early in the game and Cal had tons of time left in the game to score again even if the field goal was missed. But the second situation was near the end of the game. Cal needed points and knew that they might not get the ball back this game. Thus, the added risk of a far hash kick may be less acceptable, hence why Tedford centered the ball.

And, of course, CGB did delve even further into these decisions last week, which you can read about here.

(2) Tedford should have gone for it on 4th and less than one yard. Another conservative decision. I personally would have gone for it. It's hard for the defense to prevent the offense from gaining less than a yard. That first down which never occurred could have led to a touchdown drive or perhaps another field goal.

(3) Gregory kept the 3-4 defense on the field on most third downs. When Cal forces opponent offense into 3rd downs, Cal usually brings out its 3-3 defense. However, in Big Game, the first thing I noticed was Gregory keeping the 3-4 defense out on the field for third downs, even third and longs. Why? He clearly wanted greater run support against Stanfurd runningback Tony Gearhart. Cal's pass rushing linebackers, and nickleback are less effective in run support than Cal's bigger 3-4 linebackers. I liked this decision by Gregory. It did concern me though because this decision also allows Stanfurd to put a slot WR against LBs. That is a huge mismatch that Stanfurd tried to exploit, but believe it or not, Cal's linebackers played very well and didn't allow too many easy completions against them.

(4) The wildcat might be better served if it handed the ball off to Sofele on the fly sweep more often. When Cal uses wildcat, the runningback will usually keep the ball. Usually may be an understatement. I think that perhaps 95% of the time, the RB will keep the ball. Stanfurd's defense was clearly not respecting the fly sweep action much during Big Game and was just hitting their interior gaps to stop Vereen. They were pretty successful too, as since Vereen was mostly limited to tough 2-4 yard gains. If Cal handed the ball off about as equally as the RB kept the ball, it would get the defense into more of a read-and-react mode allowing the offensive line to push back the DL with more ease, and freeze outside defenders who are responsible for outside containment of the fly sweep allowing Sofele to gain an advantage. But since Ludwig has the RB keep the ball a very high percentage of the time, the defense is less likely to be read-and-react, and will just play the RB as opposed to the fly sweep.

(5) Cal's offensive line shows up for once! The run blocking clearly wasn't the best we'd ever seen, and perhaps it wasn't even "great" but it was better than we have seen for a couple of months now. I don't know what Marshall did during the week to motivate the guys, but it seemed to work.

(6) Trick plays; the flea flicker. When they work, everyone heaps praise on the coaches. When they don't work, everyone always says something like "that was a wasted play, why'd they get fancy when they didn't need to?" The announcers said pretty much exactly that after Cal tried to run a flea flicker. Cal's intended WR (Boateng?) was open deep too and had beaten the deep defender. That could have been a touchdown if Riley had space to step up into the pocket. But instead, Cal's LG (Summers-Gavin) got beat very badly on the play. The LG lost his individual battle and his defender was the one who pressured Riley to scramble and throw the ball away. Again, it takes 10 men winning their individual position battles and executing for plays to work.

(7) Cal throws in a new blocking scheme! Cal's past power running scheme has utilized a backside pulling guard. There have always been just one pulling blocker. But against Stanfurd we saw the revealing of a new scheme where Cal had two pulling blockers. This occurred out of the 12 personnel set (1 RB, 2 TEs, 2 WRs). Cal would put two TEs to one side of the formation. One TE would be on the LOS in their normal position just outside of the offensive tackle, and the second TE (sometimes called H-back) would be just back and outside of the first TE. The side that the two TEs are lined up on is the strong side. Cal would actually run to the weakside and pull the strongside guard (the backside guard), and the second TE. This play works well theoretically for two reasons: (1) it breaks Cal's tendency to run strongside; and (2) it makes it riskier for the defense to overload on the strong side of the offensive formation in anticipation of a strongside run. Cal also ran this same scheme with 21 personnel (2 backs, 1 TE, 2 WRs) from the Weak-I formation using the fullback on a pull in lieu of the second TE.

(8) The outside zone returns! I'm not really sure why Big Game was the game that it made a reappearance. But in the 4th quarter we saw it run a few times. Perhaps Ludwig saw something schematically that he wanted to exploit, but that doesn't quite explain why we didn't see the outside zone earlier on in the game. Or, perhaps Ludwig felt that the Stanfurd defense was getting tired and would be too slow to stop the outside zone. He did use a new wrinkle in that he used some pre-snap motion to the playside with the fullback. This pre-snap motion gives the fullback a head start on his block, and allows him to get further outside.

(9) Cal covered up the TEs a lot. This was actually something that I did notice slightly during the game but had forgotten about by the time I got home. Commenter Missing Barry asked me about this, and despite his questioning I still didn't recall these plays. But after watching the game again, yes, I did finally remember some of these plays.

Cal rarely covers up their TEs. By "covering" or "covering up" I mean that the TEs become ineligible receivers and thus cannot go downfield for a pass. Cal rarely does this because it removes the TE as a passing threat to the defense. Why does Cal do it then? Well, if covering up the TE removes it as a passing threat to the defense, then the TE becomes a blocking threat to the defense. Because of this, the defense has to respect the run a little more. And that's just what Cal wanted the defense to do. Cal, in formations where the TE was covered up, would mostly playaction pass. In other words, Cal purposely used formations where the TE was covered up to cause the defense to bite harder on the run-fake (because the defense expected run due to a covered TE), to open up the pass.

When Cal covers up the TEs, it's usually out of the I-formation with twin WRs to the side of the TE (the strong side). Because the rules requires that the offense have at least seven men on the line of scrimmage (LOS), one of the WRs has to be on the LOS. 5 OL guys, plus 1 TE, plus 1 WR, equals 7 men on the LOS. However, in these formations that Missing Barry noticed, Cal was covering the TE up with 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TEs, 2 WRs) rather than the usual 21 personnel (2 backs, 1 TE, 2 WRs) for I-formation.

(10) Cal's punt which was blocked was due to a player not winning his individual battle. I know we all love to hat ("hate" for all you CGBers, or non-CGBers who are unfamiliar with our slang) on Alamar but I'm not sure we can blame that blocked punt on him. Cal's long snapper, Rios, missed his block pretty bad and thus his defender got into the backfield for the block. I know lots of people might be thinking, "well, It's Alamar's job to prepare his players so if they mess up then its the coach's fault." My response is that the players play the game and not the coaches. At some point, you have to stop blindly blaming the coaches and you have to start looking at the individual players. Does this mean I don't think Alamar is on the proverbial hot seat? No. He definitely is. Not for this blocked punt, but for many years of sub-par kick return and especially kickoff coverage.

My point here is that there isn't a lot or any blame to be placed on Alamar for this blown play. It wasn't a scheme issue or confusion between players on who to block. All the Cal blockers knew who to block, it was just a matter of the defender beating the long snapper. Rios just got beat bad. He knew it too. Despite him recovering the blocked punt, after the play he had his head down and slowly walked off the field. He knew he was responsible for that block.

(11) The 112th Big Game was perhaps Riley's most clutch game. I don't know if I would say it was his best game. That was probably the Maryland game earlier this year where Riley finished with a 65.4% completion rate, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions. But Riley sure was clutch towards the second half of the game. He got yardage when nobody was open, and he threw some great balls too.

I sort of hate using that whole cliche "maturity" line, but after the Arizona State game and this game, I do feel like Riley's matured. Matured not in the sense that he's been messing around and now he's finally decided to get his head in the game, but matured in that he's seasoned. He's seen it all. He's been through lots. He's played in a variety of situations to the point where it's nothing new and he's more familiar with things. He's probably less rattled about the situations than before. And I hate making these kind of statements based off of snippets of TV coverage, but he did just seem more calm, poised, and "in the zone" than ever before.

In the podcast this week, some of my fellow Marshawnthusaists expressed the idea that perhaps Riley is now the second best QB of the Tedford era. I whole-heartedly disagree with such a notion (imo, at least two other QBs come to mind before Riley), but I do admit that this game has inched him up the ladder a little bit. If he really turns things around in 2010, perhaps he can take the title of the second best QB of the Tedford era, but that's going to take a lot of work.

(13) Empty set is killer. I love empty (when Cal spreads out the defense with five receivers - and not necessarily wide receivers). I love it for two reasons: (1) Cal seems to be fairly successful out of it; (2) if nobody is open Riley seemingly is always able to run for a few yards of gain. I'm glad that we've seen the use of empty formation increase over the past few weeks. I've been advocating for it quite a bit as since Cal usually runs seam routes, and vertical routes out of this formation and those routes are routes that Riley is pretty good at hitting.

In previous post-game thoughts against Arizona, I've noted how Ludwig had been using 5 WRs in the empty set. Such an observation was significant because Cal used to only use 11 personnel (3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 RB) out of empty. So the switch to 5 WRs out of empty was a surprise. But in Big Game, Cal went back to using 11 personnel. Why this special change? Well, first of all, using 11 personnel helps disguise the empty set. Cal uses 11 personnel in other formations, so when Cal sends 11 personnel into the huddle the defense doesn't really know if Cal is going to line up in empty or another regular formation. But when Cal was using 5 WRs for empty (and Cal only uses 5 WRs for empty and nothing else), the opposing defenses knew they would be seeing an empty formation. Because the defense knows this prior to the defense breaking the huddle, the defense can call a play in response to not only just the personnel group, but the formation too; whereas with using 11 personnel, the defense can only call a defensive play in response to the personnel grouping and not formation.

Side Note: The defense can call a play in response to the offense's formation without seeing the formation post breaking of the huddle based on tendencies. For example, Cal usually passes from shotgun on 3rd and long. Defenses, can extrapolate from this and can make the (generally correct) assumption that if Cal sends 11 personnel on the field, that they are going to see a shotgun formation too.

Cal was also using a little neat trick with the empty sets to get player mis-matches. Specifically, Ludwig would put the TE and RB out as the widest receivers leaving the slot receivers (the WRs) inside and lined up against safeties and linebackers. This is a very simple tactic to get mismatches. I will cover this in-depth in a frame by frame analysis later on.

(14) Luck's ill-fated pass. So Mohamed did a great job reading Luck's eyes and getting the perfect depth. Even if Mohamed wasn't there, I think Cattouse might have INTed the ball anyways. Cattouse was on the intended receiver like white on rice. If Cattouse hadn't intercepted the ball, he definitely would have at least defended the ball. I can see why Luck thought his receiver was open, because his guy definitely was for a moment. But by the time that Luck threw the ball, and by the time the ball would have gotten to the intended receiver, Cattouse had cut in front of the intended receiver to defend the pass. What Luck needed was to put more air under the ball to get it over Mohamed. But more air under the ball might not have helped anyways actually because Cattouse was there to pick anything thrown near him. So I guess what I'm saying is Luck was screwed even if Mohamed wasn't there and even if Luck had put more air under the ball like he had wanted to.

(15) Vereen rushes 42 times! Not much to say here but Vereen was beastly. 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.

(16) Cal owns the time of possession 39 minutes to 21 minutes. Stanfurd's defense had to have been tired. Being on the field for that long, having to defend 88 offensive plays!!! Geez. Cal has been averaging 65.2 plays per game prior to Big Game with a 4.87 standard deviation. It's been a while since done statistics, but doesn't that mean something like 95% of the data points will be within two standard deviations greater than and less than the mean? So that means 95% of the time Cal will run anywhere from 55.46 to 74.94 plays per game. Running 88 plays in a game put Cal 4.68 standard deviations above the mean! That's ridic. Straight ridic. Perhaps this is why Ludwig wanted to try some outside zone late in the game; he wanted to see if the Furd defense had the energy in them to defend the outside.

(17) Cool story, Hansel. So my parents' neighbor went to Big Game. He apparently knew some big Furd donor and got to go with him to the game or got his tickets or something. The Furd donor has luxury box suites. The neighbor got to the stadium early before most of the fans got there. In the luxury boxes, there was tons of free food around. My neighbor, taking advantage of the situation, began gorging himself on all the food set out for the rich Furd donors who hadn't arrived yet - everything from fancy burgers to monster sized hotdogs. When the Furd donors arrived, they were quite stereotypically, old and white. Stanfurd, quite intelligently, had a coffee bar in the luxury suite area so the old fogies could stimulate themselves to an awake state to watch the game. Also, quite intelligently, the luxury suite area had a full bar where the rich donors could then drink themselves into a stupor after the loss. Some famous people that were in attendance in the luxury suites: Condoleezza Rice, and Jim Plunkett. Best part of this story: the old Furd donors did not appreciate the loud cheers of the neighbor. Quite literally, when the neighbor would cheer, the old Furd donors would turn around to him and say for him to not cheer so loud. Something about the cheering overloading their hearing aids or something. How rude of the neighbor. Doesn't he know that he's at a football game? You're not supposed to make noise!

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Bonus Thoughts from college football games from the weekend of Friday, November 27th, to Saturday, November 28th.

Texas vs. Texas A&M - Exciting game. Texas A&M got risky and frisky with some blitzes and man coverage. They got burned. Perfect examples of what can happen when you roll the dice. I'm not saying Cal shouldn't be more aggressive (sending more pass rushers) on defense because this is what happens, but this certainly is what can happen. We should all be aware of the risks. Also, if I recall correctly, Texas A&M missed a short field goal from far hash that could have made a difference in the game. Just another reason why perhaps Tedford isn't completely crazy for centering the ball on that 3rd and 8.....

Alabama vs. Auburn - Auburn really showed some 2-minute drill ineptitude at the end of the game. They needed to drive the field in about a minute, and ended up calling about 3 plays in all that time. Their QB was confused. The coaches weren't getting playcalls into the game quickly. It was one ugly hot mess. That is what happens when you don't practice the 2-minute drill and you don't have a system to get playcalls into the game quickly. Thankfully, you'll never really see Cal do the epic failure that Auburn did. First of all, Cal practices its two-minute drill every practice. Every single day, they practice scoring in under two minutes.

Second, and I've talked about this before, but Ludwig has installed a great two-minute drill system. In previous years, the sideline QBs would signal in the playcall to the starting QB. The signals would take a few seconds to signal in, and then the starting QB would spend another 15 seconds telling the play to the players - in actual team language. Meaning, the defense can hear what the offense's playcall is. Sometimes, you can figure out what parts of the play will be based on the terminology (some of the terminology was too closely tied to the words/routes that they were meant to represent). But now, the sideline QB just signals in a number, one through nine. This takes about half a second. The QB will then yell out the number to the offense. All the offense players have those 9 plays memorized. The players need only to merely line up and run their play. This takes less time than the previous system. The additional benefit of the new system is that the actual playcall terminology isn't being yelled out by the QB so the defense can't hear it, thus further protecting the playcall.

To Center the Ball? Or to Not Center the Ball?

Texas vs. Texas A&M - aTm doesn't center the ball and misses a short field goal that would have made a difference in the game.

Arkansas vs. LSU - Arkansas doesn't center the ball and misses a short game-tying overtime field goal.

Arizona vs. Arizona State - Stoops centers the ball for a game winning field goal and the kick is good.

It's like the football gods are talking to us and telling us to center the football. This weekend might be the undeniable proof that so many center-the-ball haters need to finally appreciate Tedford's decision.

Saturday NFL Draft watch notes

Mocking Dan — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:00:10 -0000

by Mary Ann Chastain - AP

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• Ohio State junior guard Justin Boren has turned into one of the more dominant interior linemen in college football. He's a very strong in the run game and is quick off the snap. Playing against Michigan, the team which he transferred from following the 2007 season, look for Boren to play with a lot of heart and tenacity.

• The run-stuffing ability of Ndamukong Suh will be on full display Saturday. Kansas State likes to run the ball and Suh can have yet another banner day. Not that Suh needs to do anything else to improve his stock, but don't be surprised if he gets at least two tackles for a loss and collapses the pocket all day.

• There might be no hotter player in the nation than Stanford running back Toby Gerhart. Against USC last week, he made highly touted safety Taylor Mays look downright silly jumping over him and breaking his tackles. Gerhart may have a hard time breaking the tackles of Cal's Tyson Alualu, one of the most aggressive interior linemen in the country.

• Florida State might not be as good on defense this year, but the Seminoles still do a good job of pressuring opposing quarterbacks. That means Maryland left tackle Bruce Campbell could do well for his draft stock by having a dominant day. The junior is one of the more athletic tackles in the nation but has been injured parts of this season.

• Earlier this week we talked about underrated Tulane wide receiver Jeremy Williams, but he's not the only solid Green Wave prospect. Don't forget about running back Andre Anderson. He's one of the most consistent running backs in the country, but possibly not a No. 1 running back. What he is, though, is a quick and strong back.

• C.J. Spiller is asserting himself as the best running back in the nation. The Tigers have won five-straight games and Spiller is the big reason. In those games, he's rushing for 95.2 yards per game. He's an all-around threat and unbelievably fast. Spiller is looking like the next Chris Johnson, but more on that next week.

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??

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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!