SB Nation - Michael Calvin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poll

Cal's offense will be __________ without Jahvid Best.

clicking even

11 votes

surprisingly pleasing

36 votes

making me groan a lot

80 votes

unbelievably bad

31 votes

forcing me to drink more

65 votes

223 votes | Poll has closed

Reveling in Victory - Cal beats WSU

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

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Best 1, Jones 0

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

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

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

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

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

via a.espncdn.com

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

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

Good game!

via a.espncdn.com

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

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

via a.espncdn.com

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

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

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

via a.espncdn.com

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

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

Go Aloe, Go Bears.

2009 Cal Football: Hype vs. Reality

Avinash — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:45:28 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

The Golden Bears were probably a little overhyped going into the season given their issues. We delve into what the real Cal will look like the rest of the season.

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I know people are depressed with 72-6 the past two weeks, but despite the one-sided scores, there's much to be encouraged about. Like I said in yesterday's post, people seem to look at the final scores and see Cal getting destroyed in both games. I firmly disagree; the Bears adjusted and played miles better versus SC, especially along the lines. One big deficiency (quarterback) ended up submarining all of those hopes on Saturday, but it's a long season and easier opponents await. Don't forget that.

So now that the last two weeks have totally ripped away the gloss on our season, let's start separating the hype from the reality of our team. ESPN and the mainstream media did their dirty work early in the preseason, again falling in love with talented skill players without looking deep into the Bears and exploring weaknesses that only hardcore football enthusiasts delve into.

Now we'll get plenty of hype this week, only it'll be of the negative side. Just like the positive hype, most of it will be wrong. Let's take a look at some aspects of it. Add your own hype vs. reality discussions of the Bears in the comments.

Hype: California was returning 17 starters, most in the Pac-10. Perception? The Bears have a deep, experienced, unit.

Reality: California was returning 17 players with starting experience. Okay, let's break this down, because none of us really analyzed this well, me included.

Our starting QB got the call in the first four games last season, was pulled in the fourth game, didn't return until late in the sixth game, was knocked out in the eighth game, came back in relief in the ninth game, then was out for the bowl game. To say that Kevin Riley had a "typical returning starter" experience short-sells the situation.
As for the offensive line, Chris Guarnero is a returning starter despite playing only a third of the season and playing at a different position than center; Justin Cheadle was playing out of position much of last season, as was Mitchell Schwartz. These shifts don't mean the experience they received is worthless, but there is something to playing the same position week. And of course Mike Tepper is the furthest thing from returning starter--he hasn't played competitive football in a year, and it's clear he isn't close to his 2007 form.
There's also the receiver roulette, where it's hard to say Verran Tucker and Nyan Boateng had anything close to typical starting years, especially considering one only emerged as the starter after Michael Calvin got injured, and the other kept on dropping catches both this season and last. It's hard to say our receiving corps is playing up to form.
Mike Mohamed did start most of last season, but his role is drastically different from last year. Although he's played okay, we might've gone overboard with our effusive praise for his abilities. The Prophet was clearly effective at being the most productive linebacker last season because he was the last resort guy. Stepping into Follett's shoes has not been easy for him; he does not have great rushing abilities on the edge and the coverage suffers without him back there. So he's been sort of switched back and forth between outside and inside the past two weeks, with little result.

Thus, the only starters with typical "starting" experience were Best, the defensive linemen, and the defensive backs. Maybe Mohamed and Riley. That's about eight to ten starts with strong, stable starting experience.

Moreover, our losses were definitely crucial. Subtract our two best blockers from our offense, our best pass rusher from our defense, and half of our coverage players...and, well, we're going to have our woes. Hopefully the worst is over in that regard.

More examples after the jump. What are your thoughts on the hyped Bears versus the real Bears, both positive and negative?

I covered this yesterday, but I'll add it in here.

Hype: We have one of the most talented players in the country and we can go far if we ride him all the way.

Reality: He is only as good as the rest of our offense.

Jahvid has his weaknesses, there's no doubt--his pass protection and blitz pickup abilities need plenty of work. However, in terms of running ability, he needs his blockers to open gaps for him and a stable passing game that plays in tandem with his abilities. He got neither in Oregon and only average run blocking against the Trojans. And even if he had Alex Mack and Will Ta'ufo'ou, they too would have had their difficulties against eight to nine Trojans in the box in that first quarter when it was a relatively close one.

Besides, how can Best step up if his counterpart in the backfield steps down?

I should also note something about the malevolent influence of ESPN. When given so much to cover, they focus on what's most likely to intrigue the entire nation--Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow's heart, Notre Dame, Tim Tebow's leadership, USC's daily drama, Tim Tebow's NFL Draft prospects... Their previews are painfully weak, usually looking back to last year's results for almost complete, blind guidance as to pick who will be back (and we see virtually the same teams that made last year's BCS getting picked again by the 'experts'!).

So obviously when Jahvid is our most prominent representative of the university, and he puts up almost a thousand yards of offense in the final four games of 2008...he's going to get pub. When he bursts for a 70 yard touchdown on Cal's first scoring drive or when he puts up all five scores in Minneapolis, it only gets worse.

This is a dangerous example of hyping a player to a level he cannot perform at, no matter the quality of the opponent. We always have to be prepared to lower our expectations in an age where media is dynamic in spinning messages that have no basis in reality (this is true in all worlds, entertainment, political or sports). Be careful how much you buy into the ESPN hype machine. They spin nothing but misinformation and lies, especially in college sports, when they tend to know only the barest of what's going on.

Listen to fools and be prepared to get fooled.

Now we turn it around the other way and blow up dumb hype.

Hype (of the negative sort): Our players showed no fire and heart this weekend. Holmoe era teams showed better spirit.

Reality: Are you joking? Did you watch the game? After the opening touchdown Cal's defense had three red zone situations where they could've caved and let USC blow the doors off. They gave up three points on each possession and kept it within a three score game late into the fourth. They even gave us a turnover that led to the Bears only points. If that's not heart for a team that didn't really have a prayer of winning in the second half, I don't know what it is.

The offensive line tried their best against eight/nine man fronts when it was clear Riley wasn't going to have his best game, even getting that bizarro Wildcat formation going for a full drive and chugging something out of it. You could tell Jahvid was trying all he could playing against overstacked run defense. There was occasional chippiness late, including a brief trash talking session with a Trojan on the Bears sideline.

The feeling I get is that fans are looking at the players glum, downcast expressions on the TV, and playing their best version of Dr. Melfi sans restraint. The team happens to be losing the biggest game of the season. Do you want them all to be doing push-ups on the sidelines and headhunting Trojan receivers to get themselves going?

Our guys played hard all the way to the end. It just happened that the more talented and focused team won. In football that tends to happen.

Hype: Jeff Tedford's stoic sideline nature is the reason we're falling behind the rest of the Pac-10.

Reality: People who believe this are the reason Roe v. Wade should never be overturned.

I'm usually nice to bitter, tired Cal fans. I don't mind people who glumly predict Tedford won't get us to the next level, because, well, it's normal for fans to feel that way after disappointing defeats. Especially when it happens in games we could've won if things had gone right here and here and here...

But I'm not tolerating stupidity, and this particular aspect below truly riles me:

There is this popular, annoying theory that what we need is not better recruiting classes, or even better playcalling, or we need USC to go on probation. No, what we need is firebrand leadership.

On whether he should yell at the team

We need to work hard. I’m never going to scream and yell at the guys. I’m never going to do that. They don’t deserve that. They play hard. I get e-mails saying you should chew them out. I’m not going to do that. I’m going tom motivate them and we’re going to work hard to get better and create a positive environment to get some confidence going.

In other words, what some Cal fans want is Tedford to go off on Riley and rip him for bad passes. Which, you might remember he did, last year against Colorado St. before inserting Longshore for the rest of the 2nd half. Moreover, they want Tedford going up to Best and ripping into him for not finding nonexistent holes, rip into Holley for not being Will Ta'ufo'ou, rip into the receivers for not catching uncatchable pases, rip into the defense for giving up 16 points through three quarters.

You know why? Because look at all the other 'great coaches' in the conference! Sarkisian RALLIED THE TROOPS and had everyone believing they can beat the mighty Trojans (it has carried onto the next two games, where the Huskies have won their next two by a combined total of negative 27 points). You've got Harbaugh getting mad and pissed at everyone, and clearly the Furd are a transcendent team. They beat UW, UCLA and Wazzu, who won a combined 6 games last year, by a combined 54 points. You've got Neuheisel chewing out Kevin Craft before sending him back out to the fire to throw another horrid interception. And of course you have Petie, who's a bigger cheerleader for his team than the Song Girls.

The solution, clearly, is to hire Rope Guy for Coach. He seems to get everyone fired up.

via cdn2.sbnation.com

Look. We have no idea how Tedford handles his team behind closed doors. The pregame stuff is off-limits, and we know he's ripped into his team during halftime after unsatisfactory first half performances. What does a coach ripping players in public accomplish other than to satisfy the libidos of idiot Cal fans?

Probably about the same as Pete Carroll at the Sanchez press conference: It makes you look like a dick.

Let's be thankful we don't have a coach who doesn't treat his players like shit when they decide not to return (see Aaron Rodgers his junior year, Marshawn and Desean after their junior campaigns, and probably the same for Best this season) and never, ever throws them under the bus. In the long-run, karma will pay us back for showing respect to someone who has put up with our and the media's slightly unreasonable expectations.

Unless the angry fringe Cal fans become the majority of Cal fans, that is. It's not a situation I'm interested in courting, so let's roar through the rest of the season to silence hype of all sorts, alright guys?

Cal v. EWU 9.12.09 Photo Essay I

TwistNHook — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:30:15 -0000

Yay! Another Cal victory. I always love these C games. No stress. Just relax in the stands. Chat with friends and anybody in a 14 row radius of me foolish enough to make direct eye contact. So foolish. So, so foolish. Honestly, I could go for like 6 of these a year and then the Big Game. And if these 1-AA teams become too stressful, let's just start picking on high school teams.

Although for all the fun of Saturday's game (and it was a LOT of fun!), there was a period of time when I've never been so frustrated at a Cal game before. For all of the games we lost during the Holmoecaust, for all of the times we saw Ayoob QB that Cal team, I've never been as frustrated as during Saturday's game when the security guards were attempting to kick about 1,000 people out of a section.

But more on that later. The day started where all Cal games start. With a pre-game tailgate. Of course, in Berkeley, we tailgate a little differently. It's not necessarily about the rate of speed of alcoholic intake or even the most savory of all the cured meats. It's about the artistic expression of your food preparation. Don't worry, Tweedledamn, we tailgate in the spirit of Berkeley sometimes. Like something from the Alphonse Berber gallery, I present the newest piece, Kabobs In Lettuce.

Kabob In Lettuce has a feeling of being rebellious, anarchic, highly idiosyncratic and, some feel, rather nihilistic. Many see it as abstract expressionism. It is particularly poetic and highly prescient in relationship to Lyrical Abstraction that became prominent in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Wow, hardest Wiki cut and paste job I've had in a while.

Anyway, enough about that. The real depressing part of the morning was the weather. It had been 1,000 degrees (Disclaimer: Rough estimate) in the week preceding the game. So, I was definitely looking forward to another classic "brutally hot" Cal gameday. Instead, early Saturday morning, a giant thunderstorm rocked the Bay Area. It rained off and on all morning, as late as about 12:30. It was coming down hard. Praise Be To Bak Bak I was under an overhang during the tailgate.

Of course, the upside of all that rain is that the campus is truly lovely when lush:

And, oddly, another side effect of the rain was that every acapella group was out on the campus. I saw no less than 2 different groups on the 5 minute walk to the stadium. No more than 2 different groups, too. Try to guess how many groups. Or, maybe I'm wrong, they weren't campus acapella groups and I am attending the wrong kind of tailgates. But how do I get invited to a tailgate of delightful singing (that doesn't include the Cal drinking song)???

When I got to the stadium, the Cal team was just finishing up warm ups:

And Spencer Ladner limped out on crutches:

Look at how tall he is:

Warm ups continued:

They came in for what I can only assume was a brief period of Nam Japo meditation. Given the results of the game, I hope we have pre-game Nam Japo meditation seshes more often.

And then it was the time for the DRAMATIC RUNNING OFF OF THE FIELD! CUE THE SMOKE!

The OTHER 13 is Jarred Price, a sack specialist. He has 2 sacks in 2 games and has the most energetic sack celebrations. I look forward to seeing him celebrate more sacks in the future. He is diminutive in comparison to some of the other players, but has a lot of power and speed.

Ruh roh, I think Vereen has a receding hair line.

Michael Calvin, bee tee dubzzzzzzzzzzz, has shaved his head. He looks toads diff:

As the team finishes entering the North Tunnel, the drumline of the band starts playing a strong beat and the band and the team starts dancing around. Like the swine flu, its infectious!

I did not see Tosh Lupoi (in the white shirt) dance at all, tho. C'mon Tosh! Show us some moves!

Then, came out the band. Never forget this:

Gotta give it to the drum major David "David Nagle" Nagle. He might not grasp fully the concept of shaving ones face, but he does have remarkable flexibility. I credit Bikram Yoga.

Ow! He caught the baton again, but again with the throwing it 10 feet to his side. I never get a good shot, because Im moving my camera at the last second to capture it. I suck. Fortunately, he doesn't! Hopefully, he'll catch it again for USC.

I'm not going to pull punches here. Attendance was embarrassing. Perhaps it was due to the 1-AA opponent. Perhaps it was due to the rain. Perhaps it was due to a post-Maryland let down. I don't know.

But here was a section of the Blue Zone right before kick off:

WE'RE THE 10TH BEST TEAM IN THE NATION, PEOPLE! I knew EWU wouldn't bring a lot of fans, but c'mon. After the DRAMATIC RUNNING OFF THE FIELD, it is only natural story line progression to have the DRAMATIC RUNNING ONTO THE FIELD:

And the Oskimobile was back in action!

So, that's all the pre-game action. We still have first half and second half action coming up. Including photos from Monica's Dad, TheNick, Ragnarok of all the action, both on and off the field (including in the stands!). GO BEARS!

Golden Nuggets: Tucker and Jones Are Cal's Starting Receivers

Avinash — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:57:26 -0000

For further discussion on the depth chart, check out this excellent fanpost by dballisloose, who discusses what sticks out from the current release.

The competition at kicker still remains open despite the depth chart (who do you guys think gets the nod?), good health news concerning Michael Calvin, and we have a nice report on Austin Hinder. But first, a pleasant surprise at wide receiver.

Verran Tucker was in a deep hole from the spring onward. But it looks like he's found his way out of it coming back from behind the pack to surge into a starting position aside Marvin Jones. Are you guys satisfied with these two as our starters?

More on Tucker and other news after the jump.

Tucker didn’t know he had been named a starter until a group of reporters informed him after practice.

"I’ve come a long way," he said. "I had to get my academics situated. I’m feeling good. I feel like I have my legs under me. Camp was great. I’m ready for Saturday. I can’t wait to step on the field."

Tucker had an uphill climb after falling to the bottom of the depth chart when fall began. He said the coaching staff never gave up on him.

"The coaches talked to me every practice, giving me motivation, telling me I had to work to get my spot back," he said. "They just kept me motivated."

While the Bears practiced during the spring, Tucker studied in the coaches office. Then he would join the team at the end of practice for conditioning. But he didn’t stop when his teammates stopped. While the rest of the Bears were headed for the locker room, Tucker did extensive extra running with either Tedford or receivers coach Kevin Daft, sometimes to the point of vomiting.

"It just showed me that i have to get my life together," Tucker said.

There's a more complete profile on Tucker's odyssey to starter from the SF Chronicle.

Short tidbit on the receiver front: Calvin should be good to go for Maryland.

Wide receiver Michael Calvin is back at practice after arthroscopic knee surgery and will be available against Maryland.

via bearinsider.com

Ciao Giorgio: Although Giorgio Tavecchio has been listed as Cal's starting kicker, it's likely that the final decision on who's kicking off against the Terps won't be made until before the game. Again, from Okanes's report.

"As of right now, Tavecchio would be the guy," Tedford said. "But just because (McRae) forces me to put a depth chart together, doesn’t mean that’s what is going to happen next Saturday. We could change the kicker on Wednesday. That hasn’t been decided yet."

Tavecchio confirmed he hasn’t been told anything about Saturday’s game at this point, and continues to take a diplomatic approach about the competition between him, David Seawright and Vince D’Amato.

"I have 100 percent faith and i believe in Coach Tedford’s judgment," Tavecchio said. "I feel like I’m giving the best effort I can. I’m very happy and satisfied with the way I have performed so far. Of course, there is always room to improve. I hope I’m the kicker. If not, I’ll be the best teammate possible."

The Bear Insider has provided some good complimentary video of Tavecchio's thoughts on the kicking competition, and in addition a link to an interview they did with him on his origins story from Italy to Strawberry Canyon.

No Hinderance: Austin Hinder performed splendidly in his high school senior debut:

The University of California-Berkley commit and Steamboat senior threw five touchdowns, ran for another and had 383 total yards in a 41-21 win. Hinder finished the day 20 of 29 passing for 326 yards and five touchdowns against one interception. He also carried the ball four times for 57 yards and one touchdown.

Here are highlights of the game, including Hinder's spectacular 59 yard touchdown run.

One more high school story: A profile on commit Tevin Carter from the LA Times.

Rankings, rankings, rankings...totally meaningless, but everyone loves them anyway!

Rivals thinks we have the 6th best defensive line (singling out Alualu), the 5th best offensive line (Schwartz and Tepper getting pub), the 7th best backfield in the country, the best running back duo in the country in Best and Vereen and the 5th best secondary. (EDIT: Thanks to ava1anche69 for figuring out that backfield includes quarterback, explaining the disparity between the backfield/running back rankings)

But the biggest, and maybe most pleasant surprise, is Cal's cheerleaders. Thirteenth??? Nice job ladies. You've made great progress since the days when I was there.

via cdn2.sbnation.com (Thanks to turkey for the photo)

Other Cal sports news

Cal volleyball recovered from their opening loss to beat St. Mary 3-1, and then went on to crush UConn this morning 3-0. Hana Cutara exploded for 37 kills over the two game stretch, including 21 against a formidable St. Mary's lineup.
If they were both to advance to the final, North Carolina vs Cal in the Coaches and Cancer Final on November 20th is considered one of the top 10 games to watch out for involving ACC teams.
Men's golf sits in 8th place after Round 1 of Golfweek's Conference Challenge. Cal is a total of sixteen shots off the lead.
The New York Times projects Cal vs Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. I have NO idea how they came up with this one, since if Cal were to qualify for a BCS bowl, New Orleans would be the third option for the Pac-10 (behind Pasadena and Tempe).
Joanne Boyle tweeted about the women's hoops team already getting hard to practicing. Here's an image of the team on the track.

Poll

Satisfied with Verran Tucker and Marvin Jones being our top two options?

Yes, I'm satisfied.

174 votes

I'm satisfied with Tucker.

10 votes

I'm satisfied with Jones.

14 votes

I'm not satisfied with either of them.

7 votes

205 votes | Poll has closed

Cal 2009 Position Previews: Receivers and Tight Ends

Avinash — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:00:10 -0000

via www.nationalchamps.net

Read the previous position previews: Quarterback, running backs, offensive line.

Here was Hydrotech after spring practice.

Who are Cal's top 3 WRs? This is a fairly important question. Cal's top 3 WRs get the majority of the snaps on the field - perhaps upward of 90%.

So who is it going to be? Tucker, Ross, and Boateng have the most experience so you might think it'd be them. However, we all saw sophomore Alex Lagemann blow up in spring ball. Right now he's penciled in at the #1 slot position. When Cal goes to its 3 WR sets (11 personnel), if we assume the top players at each WR position see the field then the top three will be Boateng, Jones, and Lagemann. That leaves out experienced WRs Jeremy Ross, and Verran Tucker - and puts the more inexperienced Jones and Lagemann on the field. Do we want more inexperienced WRs on the field again another year?

Several months later, we are reaching a resolution. Whether it's one that puts us at ease is an unresolved answer.

Which wideouts will Cal depend on this season? If you were to rank our receivers in terms of their depth chart position, where would they go?

More about the receivers and tight ends after the jump.

The problem with Cal receivers is that last season their touches were too few and far between. You couldn't really get a feel to each player's individual game. Here's what we can discern:

1) Route running was inconsistent (could this be a symptom of the shifting between OCs?).
2) Receivers greased their gloves and dropped the ball hundreds of times.
3) No clear number one, two, or three was established.
4) Inconsistency at the quarterback position also kept receivers from getting into any sort of groove.

That last part is crucial, because the last time that happened for Cal was in 2005, which feels like the closest Tedford-equivalent to last season (phenomenal running game, haywire passing attack). The next two seasons would be some of the healthiest for the Cal passing game.

The similarity between those two seasons diverge from there. In 2005 the Bears had three clear rising stars who were the top three wide receivers (and they would go onto replicate those performances the next two seasons). 2008, by contrast, will not be as clear-cut. The top six receivers were separated by a total of 13 receptions, and not one Cal receiver exceeded 30 catches. So while the Bears's receivers might be deeper than in 2006, production on that level is not a certainty, as the competition is expected to be fierce for every spot. You could argue that reliance on too few bodies cost us games we could've won.

Depth will not be a problem this time. The issue will be consistency. Will there be a defined pecking order as to who the top receiver is, who will move into the slot, and who can come off the bench and provide capable catches? Who will go where?

via grfx.cstv.com

Tight ends: The Tad Smith injury means Anthony Miller will be starting this season. However, Tedford seems optimistic that the Bears can overcome Smith's absence.

Cal coach Jeff Tedford seemed optimistic that Cal still has enough depth at tight end to make up for the loss of Smith.

"It’s nice getting Spencer back," he said. "Skylar has really stepped up in this camp, thankfully. You have Anthony (Miller), you have Skylar, you have Spencer, you have (Jarrett) Sparks and you have (Garry) Graffort. All those guys are in the mix, and they’ve all done pretty well."

Nevertheless, there is a lack of playing time for each of these guys, no matter who ends up in the one spot long-term. We only know Miller because he caught a prayer throw from Longshore at the end of the Emerald Bowl, and everyone behind him has close to zero experience. In almost every case, this will be Cal's weakest position this season.

So at least here, we'll have to concede the advantage to the Furd.

via graphics.fansonly.com

Coach Daft stepping up? One weakness last season was coaching experience in that particular field, but Kevin Daft seems more comfortable leading Cal's wideouts.

"We know the game now," Cal receiver Jeremy Ross said. "Even Coach Daft is telling us to put a little style in our routes, a little flavor. We can now because we know the game. Out there running routes, we're able to put our twist on things. We're out there confident and ready to get after it."

And just what kind of flavor is Ross adding to his route-running this season?

"You know, a little salt over here, a little pepper over here, a little Cajun seasoning," he said. "You'll see all the ingredients on Sept. 5."

Not many of us have been comforted by Daft's first season, but it wasn't exactly favorable circumstances for him to thrive. Let's see how this season goes before passing judgment on his worth.

The battle of the weight room: Onto the receivers. Nyan Boateng and Jeremy Ross seem to be the two incumbents staying in place. Boateng certainly looked like the most talented receiver last season, in terms of making his cuts and finding his place (it's no surprise that he soon became the favorite target of the precise Nate Longshore). But, like seemingly every receiver for the Bears, he dropped the ball far too much. Ross, while performing pure athletic acrobatics (remember the leaps!), didn't have enough experience to be anything more than semi-reliable.

However, both have shown a great deal of extroverted confidence during practice, and their work ethic in the gym has been impeccable. Who can bench more, sadly, has yet to be resolved.

Charging from the back: Verran Tucker is going to have a tough time catching up with the rest of the flock. Although he performed well in relief for the injured Calvin and inconsistent Young and Cunningham, according to Okanes he was pacing behind his counterparts this spring.

The JC transfer was the Bears’ second-leading pass-catcher among wide receivers last season, but he didn’t practice in the spring to focus on academics. With Jones and Alex Lagemann coming on, and with Michael Calvin expected to be fully recovered from a knee injury by the fall, Tucker’s status as a starter could be in jeopardy.

Speaking of Calvin, there was definitely a lot of great stuff he showed during the early part of the season, as he established himself as one of Kevin Riley's favorite targets. However, he is coming back from a torn ACL, a traditionally difficult injury to overcome for a receiver. So we'd have to expect that like Tucker, he will be coming on the rebound going against the healthier competition. At the moment though, he seems to be progressing better than Tucker.

via grfx.cstv.com

The new faces: Marvin Jones and Alex Lagemann are expected to make huge splashes this season. Of all the receivers on this list, Jones is the most highly touted. Desean Jackson was a huge factor in Jones caming to Cal, and he appears to possess similar potential to the Eagles' rising star.

"Marvin Jones. The sophomore-to-be emerged as the Bears’ top receiver in the spring. This really doesn’t come as a surprise. The argument could be made that Jones was the most talented receiver on the roster last season, but a knee injury limited his true freshman season. Jones is healthy now and looked sharp in the spring. Despite the fact Cal has its top three receivers back from last year, Jones should enter fall camp as the team’s top pass-catching threat."

While both Jones and Lagemann have shown promise that could carry them far, Hydro does offer the warning of giving Jones and Lagemann too much of a prominent role while consigning the veterans to the sidelines:

When Cal goes to its 3 WR sets (11 personnel), if we assume the top players at each WR position see the field then the top three will be Boateng, Jones, and Lagemann. That leaves out experienced WRs Jeremy Ross, and Verran Tucker - and puts the more inexperienced Jones and Lagemann on the field. Do we want more inexperienced WRs on the field again another year? Is the talent that Jones and Lagemann bring to the field worth more than the experience that Ross and Tucker bring? Cal could have a Rose Bowl season next year if its passing game comes together (and assuming the running game stays dominant and the same goes for the defense). I'm not exactly sure that having more inexperienced players on the field is the greatest way to get that passing to improve.

Riley says...Ultimately though, the receiver's value is measured the best by the person throwing the balls to him We give our leading QB the last word:

Riley said Jones has just continued to do what he did during the spring while Calvin, who is coming back from a torn ACL, is getting more and more healthy. "Every week as the summer has progressed, he’s gotten a little more comfortable with his route running," Riley said. "Coming back from an injury like that, you’re going to be a little scared at first on your break. Every week, he’s running routes better. He’s always caught the ball well. Hopefully he can continue to get better. He can be a guy who can really makes plays for us." Riley said Lagemann, like Jones, also continues to build off his spring, although he has been slowed by a toe injury during the offseason."

Of all the analysis above, we can bet this endorsement means the most of all.

Poll

Who will be Cal's number one receiving option by season's end?

Nyan Boateng

82 votes

Michael Calvin

15 votes

Alex Lagemann

10 votes

Marvin Jones

230 votes

Jeremy Ross

9 votes

Verran Tucker

21 votes

Someone else

8 votes

375 votes | Poll has closed