SB Nation - Jake Locker

LSU In Review - Week 1 vs. Washington

BSD — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:04:59 -0000

More photos » by John Froschauer - AP

3 months ago: LSU's Drake Nevis hits Washington quarterback Jake Locker who was called for intentional grounding during the second half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009, in Seattle. LSU won 31-23. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

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With Bowl Season starting up Saturday and the Capital One Bowl coming up fast, I figured I would take us on a magical mystery tour through the LSU Tigers' season to give us some perspective on how they got where they are. So in this exercise I'll recap each of their games to give you some insight into the Tigers. So with that, let's recap week 1.

Final - 9.5.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
LSU Tigers	10	7	7	7	31
Washington Huskies	7	6	0	10	23

Complete Coverage >

Week one was probably more of a challenge than the Tigers expected against Washington who failed to win a game in 2008. The Huskies jumped out to a 7-0 lead with the help of a 51 yard catch and run by Johri Forgerson. James Johnson finished off the drive when he caught a pass from Jake Locker, shook off a tackle by Chad Jones and walked the final five yards into the endzone.

LSU responded by gaining 40 yards on three running plays. But the drive eventually stalled at the three yard line and LSU had to kick a 24 yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3.

On Washington's ensuing drive, LSU linebacker Jacob Cutrera intercepted Locker on the first play and ran it back 29 yards for a touchdown giving LSU a 10-7 lead.

Washington took the ball back and marched 69 yards down the field and looked like they were about to score. But Chris Polk fumbled the ball on the LSU 6 yard line where Patrick Peterson recovered it. But the LSU offense couldn't do anything and Derek Helton was forced to punt the ball from his own endzone.

Washington got the ball in excellent field position thanks to an 18 yard punt return by Fogerson. The punter, Helton, saved a touchdown with a tackle. But the Washington offense couldn't capitalize, and they were forced to take the 34 yard field goal to tie the game at 10.

The deadlock continued until about a minute to go in the first half when LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson hit Terrance Toliver over the middle. Toliver juked the safety and ran 45 yards for the score and a 17-10 lead.

Washington responded when Locker hit Devon Aguilar for a 46 yard gain to the LSU 20 yard line. But three incomplete passes killed the drive, and Washington kicked the field goal as time expired in the first half with the score 17-13. Though LSU led on the scoreboard, the Huskies rolled up 296 total yards with 183 coming in the air against LSU's supposedly superb secondary.

LSU tried to break the game open in the third quarter with an 86 yard scoring drive. Toliver capped off the drive when he caught a short pass from Jefferson, evaded two tacklers, and scampered 39 yards for the touchdown to give LSU a 24-13 lead. Toliver finished with 4 catches for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Washington tried to respond, but placekicker Erik Folk hooked a field goal wide. But the LSU offense went into pucker mode and stalled giving the Huskies another scoring chance. This time Folk hit a 32 yard field goal to cut the lead to eight with just under six minutes to play.

But this time LSU responded with a 25 yard pass to Toliver that set up a six yard touchdown pass from Jefferson to Brandon LaFell. The game was sealed, but Washington added on a last second touchdown as time expired to close the gap to the final 31-23 score.

Quotes From The Game

"We sputtered in the first half at times on offense. There were opportunities to take advantage of our opponent, and we didn't attack them the way we should have." - Les Miles

"I think our new defensive coaches did a good job. The team was in position to make tackles and do things. We missed some tackles early on. At times I saw that Tiger defense that I want it to be." - Les Miles

"LSU's team speed negated Jake (Locker''s) ability to create a big play with his feet." - UW Dawg Pound

"Defensively, (LSU) just did not cover the other team well enough in the middle of the field. Usually, if the opponent was on the outside against Peterson, Eugene, or Hawkins, (LSU) had pretty solid coverage. Even when Riley had man coverage way on the outside and down the field, the coverage was there. Jake Locker's a really good quarterback, and sometimes he made a perfect throw, and there's nothing that can be done about that other than generate a better pass rush. If the receiver was in the middle of the field in a safety's or linebacker's zone though, he was usually wide open." - And The Valley Shook

Haden, Hernandez Are Your AP All-Americans

mlmintampa — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:25:47 -0000

The Associated Press All-American teams announced today included Joe Haden as first team cornerback and Aaron Hernandez as first team tight end. Maurkice Pouncey gets shafted and sent to second team at center. Also on the second team was Mike Pouncey at guard and Brandon Spikes at linebacker. Tim Tebow was named second team, behind Colt McCoy, upsetting the fanboys that worship at the altar of golden boy Jimmy Clausen and new Pac-10 poster boy Jake Locker. They must be really upset that Kellen Moore, another quarterback of a BCS team, was the third team quarterback. I guess winning games means something to the AP. Your unanimous selections were Mark Ingram, Toby Gerhart, Ndamukong Suh and Rolando McClain.

Jake Locker Announces Return to Washington

AndyPanda — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:41:46 -0000

University of Washington quarterback Jake Locker has decided to not to submit his name from consideration for the 2010 National Football League Draft and will return to the Husky football program for his senior season.

After a great deal of careful thought and deliberation, I have decided to return to Washington and play my senior year. I am very excited about this team's opportunities and potential for the upcoming season and I am looking forward to being a part of it.

Locker's decision comes despite projections that he would likely be a first round pick, possibly the first or second quarterback taken, but makes Washington's prospects for a bowl bid much better next season.

Washington's Jake Locker returning for senior season

Mocking Dan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:40:19 -0000

More photos » by John Froschauer - AP

Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian congratulates quarterback Jake Locker after the 36-33 win over Arizona in October. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

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Washington junior quarterback Jake Locker will not enter the 2010 NFL Draft.

"After a great deal of careful thought and deliberation, I have decided to return to Washington and play my senior year," Locker said in a release. "I am very excited about this team's opportunities and potential for the upcoming season and I am looking forward to being a part of it."

The potential for Locker is immense. He'll immediately become the No. 1 prospect eligible for the 2011 NFL Draft should he stay healthy. He showed that this season and had the best year of his career.

On the season, Locker finished with 2,800 yards passing for 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He completed 58.2 percent of his passes. He also ran for 388 yards and seven touchdowns. Most impressively, he led the Huskies to five wins after the team went 0-12 in 2008.

From a prospect's standpoint, this could be a sound move by Locker. Although he would likely have been a top 10 selection in April, he'll greatly benefit from another year of head coach Steve Sarkisian's pro-style offense.

Sarkisian will likely look to continue to improve Locker's prescience in the pocket and his sometimes-shoddy throwing motion. Washington is also adding much more talent to help Locker next season. Chief among them is wide receiver Kevin Smith, who Rivals.com ranks as the 26th best athlete in the nation.

One player surely to be happy about Locker's decision to go back to school is Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford. The former Heisman Trophy winner has seen the limelight taken from him by the likes of Locker, Jimmy Clausen and even sophomore Ryan Mallett. Now with Locker out of the equation, Bradford's draft stock is sure to rise.

There seems to be no correlation between NFL Draft stardom and returning for another collegiate season, however. Bradford did it and got hurt twice. Matt Leinart did it and got overtaken as the top quarterback in the 2006 draft by Vince Young. Brian Brohm and Andre Woodson returned and seemingly fell further in the draft than they would have had they entered after their junior seasons.

The most obvious recent case of it working out for the player was with Matt Ryan. He was considered by most a second- or third-round talent at Boston College prior to his senior year. After a solid senior campaign, he went third overall to Atlanta in 2008.

Adjust your mock drafts accordingly.

Rock out with your mock draft out: Todd McShay

Mocking Dan — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:43:16 -0000

Todd McShay, the leader of ESPN's Scout's Inc., released his on Sunday with little fanfare. The draft is Insider content, but SportsCenter put out his top five picks.

First overall, he has the Rams taking Washington junior quarterback Jake Locker. It seems obvious now that St. Louis should take either the top quarterback or Ndamukong Suh.

McShay has the Nebraska defensive tackle going second to the Buccaneers. At this point in the draft process, Suh seems like the most sure thing among prospects and would fill a need for Tampa Bay.

He fills out the top five sending safety Eric Berry to Cleveland third, defensive tackle Gerald McCoy to Detroit fourth and offensive tackle Russell Okung to the Chiefs fifth.

Since this is Insider content, I probably can't talk about too much of it here. But there are few surprises in McShay's mock draft. One of them was Jason Pierre-Paul going in the first round at No. 21. The South Florida defensive end is an ESPN favorite, but that seems a little too high. It's easy to fall in love with his athleticism and size, but the production didn't match the hype this year.

There really aren't too many noteworthy picks in this mock. In fact, to ask people to pay to see a one-round mock draft is kind of an insult. Heck, I'd much prefer some of the four and five round monoliths you guys put together in FanPosts.

With that said, keep your mock drafts coming! They are probably the most popular feature of the site, and that's thanks to you readers. So, keep it up.

Cal v. Washington Report Card

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

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

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

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

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

Worst. Episode. Ever.

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

Gameday Experience

via calbearsonline.com

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

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

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

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

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

c98 - sucked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Golden Rationality Award

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

Old Blue Award

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

Golden Sunglasses Award

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

via calbearsonline.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

via calbearsonline.com

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

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

via calbearsonline.com

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

c98 - sucked.

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

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

Run blocking

via calbearsonline.com

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

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

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

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

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

Pass protection

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Horrible preformance.

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

Run defense

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

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

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

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

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

Pass rush

via calbearsonline.com

c98 - sucked.

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

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

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

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

Pass Defense

via calbearsonline.com

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

c98 - sucked.

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

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

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

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

Special Teams

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

c98 - sucked.

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

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

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

Anger is still decent. Whew.

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

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

Coaching

via calbearsonline.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall

via calbearsonline.com

WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFf - Time to start drinking.

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

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

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

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

c98 - sucked hard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jake Locker seeking NFL info; Ryan Mallett dodges draft question

Mocking Dan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:07:15 -0000

More photos » by April L Brown - AP

2 months ago: Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett (15) smiles as he runs through the end zone after scoring against Auburn during the third quarter of an NCAA college football game in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/April L. Brown)

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According to multiple published reports, Washington quarterback Jake Locker has applied for an assessment from the NFL Draft Advisory Board.

In part because of that, Locker's coach Steve Sarkisian met with reporters today. Among other things, he told them he was "very optimistic" that Locker would return for his senior season.

"Jake is a very heady young man," Sarkisian said. "He's not someone who is just going to jump to a decision or make a decision based on emotion and he's proven that from high school when he had an opportunity to play Major League baseball to last year when he got drafted by the Angels and the process with signing that contract to making this decision now.

"He's going to do his due diligence. He's going to make a decision based on facts and proper information, not on emotion. I don't think it is going to come down to the midnight hour."

Underclassmen have until Jan. 15 to officially declare for the draft with the NFL. The overwhelming opinion on Locker is that he would be considered a top 10 pick. He would likely be competing with fellow juniors Jimmy Clausen and Sam Bradford as the first quarterback selected.

On the year, Locker finished with 2,800 yards passing for 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He completed 58.2 percent of his passes. He also ran for 388 yards and seven touchdowns.

Arkansas redshirt sophomore Ryan Mallett dismissed talk about entering the draft. He told the Arkansas News, though, that he'll consider his options after the Liberty Bowl.

"We’re still in the season," Mallett said. "So nothing like that is going through my mind right now. The only thing going through my mind right now is the Liberty Bowl and going out there to win the game. We’re still in the season so stuff that’s after-season decisions. That doesn’t affect me at all during the season.

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.

Jake Locker remains undecided on NFL future

Mocking Dan — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:35:52 -0000

Washington quarterback Jake Locker closed his junior season in spectacular fashion on Saturday.

Locker lead the Huskies to an improbable 42-10 blowout of No. 19 California. On the day he completed 19 of 23 passes for 248 yards and three touchdown passes. Add on 77 yards rushing and two more scores and Locker showed why he was considered a top-five pick at one point this season.

But Locker isn't thinking about his NFL future just yet. After yesterday's game, Locker said he would sit down with his family and coaches and decide his future.

"I haven't made a plan," Locker told reporters. "I don't have a plan of attack. I don't have an outline. I don't have anything.

"Obviously it crosses your mind once in a while, but my focus was this football team and winning football games. If you don't go out and perform well, it's not even a discussion. So I just wanted to go out and give our team the best chance to win every Saturday that we could.

"I've always believed if you take care of that first, everything else will take care of itself."

On the year, Locker finished with 2,800 yards passing for 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He completed 58.2 percent of his passes. He also ran for 388 yards and seven touchdowns.

Inside The Numbers: Washington Edition!

TwistNHook — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:17:50 -0000

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

Can the Washington Husky defense get to Kevin Riley after shutting out Washington State in the Apple Cup?

Browse more photos »

Here we go. Last regular season game. Last regular season Inside The Numbers. Gonna be a hard fought battle against UW tomorrow. Can Cal pull it out? After the fold, we take a look at the Washington numbers on both offense and defense. We all know they nearly beat LSU and did beat USC early in the year. But its been months since then. How is UW doing and what can we expect from them tomorrow? GO BEARS!

After the jump, Avi and I breakdown the numbers, pass and rushing O and D.

TwistNHook: First up, the University of Jake Lockers:

Situation	G	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Int	TD	Rating	Long	1st	15+	25+
All Plays	11	373	211	56.6	2552	11	18	124.07	51	111	56	23
1st Half	11	187	109	58.3	1372	6	9	129.38	51	61	32	12
2nd Half/OT	11	186	102	54.8	1180	5	9	118.72	47	50	24	11
1st Quarter	11	83	50	60.2	612	4	3	124.46	51	28	12	4
2nd Quarter	11	104	59	56.7	760	2	6	133.31	50	33	20	8
3rd Quarter	11	84	48	57.1	579	3	4	123.61	47	22	12	6
4th Quarter	11	99	54	54.5	601	2	5	118.18	39	28	12	5

Well, let's see here. This is OK, but not great. 56% completion rate is not good, it's actually roughly what Riley is doing. 124 Rating is again, not that good. Hes averaging about 232 yards a game in the air, which again is not terrible, but not great. What I see here is a passing attack that could prove dangerous, but also could be pedestrian. And that's the advanced analysis you've come to expect from the California Golden Blogs!

Avinash: At first glance, Jake doesn't look like someone we should worry about. Locker is 81st in the country in completion percentage, T-70th in YPA, and 73rd in passer rating. It makes it sound like we're going up against Carl Bonnell.

However, there is one particular stat that should concern Cal fans: 3rd down. Locker has the fifth best passer rating of any QB in the country on 3rd down (17th in the country in passer rating), and he's converted over 50% of his 3rd down passing plays, putting him right up there with Canfield as one of the best passers in passing situations. He converts 64% of his 3rd and 4-6 situations, nearly 40% of his 3rd and 7-9 situations, and (the most impressive number of all) over 40% of his 3rd and 10+ situations.

A lot of this I think also has to do with Locker's running ability--he's picked up 15 of 39 first downs on 3rd down runs. Although his numbers are a far cry from his fantastic 2007 numbers on the ground, defenses have to respect that ability, so it probably gives him better looks down the field. Sarkisian seems to have made sure he runs with the ball less than expected and trust his arm to throw, and it's paid off. Considering Cal struggled with Luck last week scrambling for yardage, we can expect similar issues with Locker.

Bears fans should not feel safe in any situation. Cal's defense has played very well the past two weeks, but they're going to have to kick it up a notch to prevent getting burned by Locker on 3rd down (the Bears gave up nearly a 46% conversion rate on 3rd down in the month of November). There's a reason NFL GMs are drooling over Locker right now. His ability to complete passes on obvious passing down, his ability to scramble and create plays, a strong ability to throw deep...all of those things are very tantalizing.

TwistNHook: Now, let's look at the rushing stats:

Situation	G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Long	1st	10+	20+
All Plays	11	351	1491	4.25	10	56	87	57	13
1st Half	11	173	698	4.03	4	56	41	24	8
2nd Half/OT	11	178	793	4.46	6	41	46	33	5
1st Quarter	11	89	387	4.35	4	56	22	12	4
2nd Quarter	11	84	311	3.70	0	34	19	12	4
3rd Quarter	11	78	324	4.15	3	41	19	17	2
4th Quarter	11	99	478	4.83	3	24	27	16	3

Well, their rushing offense seems pretty good. Not amazingly great, but 4.25 yards isn't that bad. Kind of like their passing offense, it's not great, but it's not terrible.

Of course, they do have a great rushing QB, but that number is dragged down, because a lot of his runs don't always end so well. Here are the individual stats:

	Name	Yr	Pos	G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Att/G	Yards/G
1	Chris Polk	FR	RB	11	204	1019	5.00	4	18.55	92.64
2	Jake Locker	JR	QB	11	98	311	3.17	5	8.91	28.27

Chris Polk is their main RB and is looking pretty good there. Not a lot of TDs, but he does average almost 100 yards a game. 5 yards a carry, flat, is pretty impressive. Locker averages about 30 yards a game running. I feel like our Run D can do fairly well against this team. It has shut down some pretty impressive RBs, like Quizz. And was able to somewhat contain Gerhart. Their Rush O seems fairly good, but, even on the road, I like our Run D in this situation.

Date	Opponent	Surface	Result	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD
09/05/09	15 LSU	Turf	L 23-31	21	90	4.29	0
09/12/09	Idaho	Turf	W 42-23	19	80	4.21	1
09/19/09	20 Southern California	Turf	W 16-13	25	71	2.84	0
09/26/09	@ 23 Stanford	Grass	L 14-34	19	75	3.95	0
10/03/09	@ Notre Dame	Grass	L 30-37	22	136	6.18	0
10/10/09	Arizona	Turf	W 36-33	9	34	3.78	0
10/17/09	@ Arizona St.	Grass	L 17-24	12	51	4.25	1
10/24/09	7 Oregon	Turf	L 19-43	18	104	5.78	1
11/07/09	@ UCLA	Grass	L 23-24	15	132	8.80	0
11/14/09	@ 13 Oregon St.	Turf	L 21-48	19	116	6.11	0
11/28/09	Washington St.	Turf	W 30-0	25	130	5.20	1

Avinash: Not to mention he's peaking. Four straight hundred yard games, including three against quality defenses (okay, Oregon and UCLA aren't really stout against the run anymore, but still, 116 yards on Oregon State, 8.8 ypc in the Rose Bowl? Might be something to look out for). Not to mention his running style reminds you a lot of the type of backs that could give our sloppy tacklers problems.

"He’s got plenty of upside. He’s a guy who is still learning," UW head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "But the one thing he has is physical and mental toughness. The ability that when things aren’t always blocked great, he fights through it. He continues to fight."

We’ve seen that from Polk all season: the way he puts his head down and pushes his small-but-explosive frame forward; the way he manages to get those extra couple of yards, even with a mass of defenders blocking his way. Heck, on one play Saturday it looked like Polk tripped and fell over a WSU lineman, but he still managed three yards.

"He hasn’t had a bunch of runs where it’s just big gaping holes and he’s running for yards," Sarkisian said. "He’s earning his yards. I think the next step for him is his ability to play at the second level, in the open field once he clears the line of scrimmage, and his creativity with his running style."

Really, Polk shouldn't be underestimated. It seems he has that ability like Vereen to slip off of tacklers and keep on going. Him, Quizz, James, Vereen...boy, talk about running backs it'll be hard for defenses to bring down next season.

TwistNHook: Well, you've made me look like an idiot yet again Avi. Let's move on from the rushing attack and take a moment to glance askew at the Passing D:

Situation	G	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Int	TD	Rating	Long	1st	15+	25+
All Plays	11	331	214	64.7	2673	8	15	142.62	77	116	65	24
1st Half	11	182	116	63.7	1437	3	7	139.46	67	62	32	13
2nd Half/OT	11	149	98	65.8	1236	5	8	146.46	77	54	33	11
1st Quarter	11	82	60	73.2	650	1	2	145.37	56	29	13	6
2nd Quarter	11	100	56	56.0	787	2	5	134.61	67	33	19	7
3rd Quarter	11	73	50	68.5	664	3	4	154.76	77	26	18	5
4th Quarter	10	75	47	62.7	550	2	4	136.54	50	27	14	6

Me likee. You might remember that the Stanford D, which was fairly generous for Riley, was giving up roughly 63% of the pass attempts against it. UW is even worse at nearly 65% of the pass attempts. Riley is completing roughly 56% of his attempts, so if he is at 65% during this game, it should end VERY well for Cal. They actually allow 73% completion rating in the first quarter, so I think it is imperative for Cal to jump out to a big lead, hopefully using the reinvigorated pass attack.

142 QB rating against, again, is a very positive number for Cal. Looking at this, I feel like Riley can build on the momentum from the Big Game where he seemed to be playing with a lot of confidence. Notice also that they only have 8 interceptions to 15 TDs given up.

By comparison, note Cal's passing D:

Situation	G	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Int	TD	Rating	Long	1st	15+	25+
All Plays	11	393	243	61.8	2835	10	14	129.09	80	121	65	27

This is a pass D that has been MUCH maligned this year. People have complained endlessly about its ineffectiveness. And, let's be honest, it has not be at the level many Cal fans anticipated it would be at the start of the year. The numbers are admittedly not great in some situations, but, save for the yards given up (surprise!), it is better across the board than this UW passing D.

Avinash:

Date	Opponent	Surface	Result	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Yards/Att	Int	TD	Rating
09/05/09	15 LSU	Turf	L 23-31	19	11	57.9	172	9.1	0	3	186.05
09/12/09	Idaho	Turf	W 42-23	40	26	65.0	349	8.7	1	0	133.29
09/19/09	20 Southern California	Turf	W 16-13	22	13	59.1	110	5.0	1	0	92.00
09/26/09	@ 23 Stanford	Grass	L 14-34	14	7	50.0	103	7.4	0	0	111.80
10/03/09	@ Notre Dame	Grass	L 30-37	31	23	74.2	422	13.6	1	2	203.38
10/10/09	Arizona	Turf	W 36-33	53	39	73.6	384	7.2	2	1	133.13
10/17/09	@ Arizona St.	Grass	L 17-24	36	22	61.1	295	8.2	0	2	148.27
10/24/09	7 Oregon	Turf	L 19-43	22	14	63.6	157	7.1	0	1	138.58
11/07/09	@ UCLA	Grass	L 23-24	31	23	74.2	371	12.0	2	2	183.11
11/14/09	@ 13 Oregon St.	Turf	L 21-48	31	22	71.0	194	6.3	0	4	166.12
11/28/09	Washington St.	Turf	W 30-0	32	14	43.8	116	3.6	1	0	67.95
	Totals			331	214	64.7	2673	8.1	8	15	142.62

No sugarcoating this--these are really bad numbers. Allowing 70% completion rate to four quarterbacks is kind of excusable, considering Foles, Canfield and Clausen are three of the most accurate in the country...but Kevin Prince? Really? Other than knocking around Wazzu's quarterbacks around, they haven't had a great performance since the Furd game...the one where Gerhart rolled over them like the marvelous white stallion he is.

Based on the tenor of their defensive coordinator, Nick Holt likes his players to play aggressive. However, they lack the personnel to play in attack mode the entire way; they just don't have the ability to handle good quarterbacks or even semi-competent quarterbacks and it leads to big big plays. They eventually lead to lapses, ending up with situations like this.

Kevin Riley has had good games this year, had clutch performances this year. A good performance against the Huskies could go a long way towards getting ready for the bowl game against Oklahoma or BYU/Utah (our likely bowl opponents). Consistency is all we want from him now as he wraps up his junior year.

TwistNHook: And now, finally, let's take a look at the UW Rushing D. What does that look like?

Situation	G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Long	1st	10+	20+
All Plays	11	367	1705	4.65	17	75	87	56	20
1st Half	11	177	835	4.72	7	60	41	29	11
2nd Half/OT	11	190	870	4.58	10	75	46	27	9
1st Quarter	11	80	438	5.48	5	60	18	13	8
2nd Quarter	11	97	397	4.09	2	42	23	16	3
3rd Quarter	11	102	463	4.54	6	75	25	15	4
4th Quarter	11	87	406	4.67	3	56	21	12	5

It looks OK. Not great, like ASU's 2.5 a carry against. But not redick bad. Of course, notice that the worst section is in the first quarter, so hopefully we can jump out to a large lead based on the solid running game. Cal is coming off of its best running game in a long long time (and that's saying a lot considering how amazing our running game has been). However, it appears that stud OLineman Matt Summers-Gavin is not going to play. This is unfortunate, because he appeared to be a catalyst for the running game when he returned against Arizona and Stanford. So, it is a mixture of bad and good news. UW seems to have a rush D that Cal could handle. However, we said the same thing against OSU and had major trouble without MSG.

Avinash: Let's not underrate these guys here. Mason Foster and Donald Butler are both great tacklers, can definitely cause the Bears problems if they struggle blocking.

Date	Opponent	Surface	Result	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD
09/05/09	15 LSU	Turf	L 23-31	29	149	5.14	0
09/12/09	Idaho	Turf	W 42-23	23	63	2.74	2
09/19/09	20 Southern California	Turf	W 16-13	33	250	7.58	1
09/26/09	@ 23 Stanford	Grass	L 14-34	51	321	6.29	3
10/03/09	@ Notre Dame	Grass	L 30-37	29	108	3.72	1
10/10/09	Arizona	Turf	W 36-33	30	77	2.57	2
10/17/09	@ Arizona St.	Grass	L 17-24	27	169	6.26	1
10/24/09	7 Oregon	Turf	L 19-43	40	259	6.48	4
11/07/09	@ UCLA	Grass	L 23-24	40	84	2.10	1
11/14/09	@ 13 Oregon St.	Turf	L 21-48	37	178	4.81	2
11/28/09	Washington St.	Turf	W 30-0	28	47	1.68	0
	Totals			367	1705	4.65	17

You can see the performance of this defense depends heavily on the running games they face. Toby Gerhart apparently obliterated them, as did the USC running corps, as did the James/Masoli/Barner trio, and so did...Arizona State? Other than that though, these guys have done alright shutting running games down.

With Best, I'd feel a lot more confident in establishing our run game--in open space he'd just outrun half these guys. Without him though, it becomes a little bit more interesting. Although I like Vereen a lot, it's still asking a lot for a guy who ran the ball 43 times two weeks ago to replicate that performance. I don't want him slugging in the trenches--we need the offensive line and our fullbacks/tight ends to block and open space for him to outrun this defense.

Also there's a few interesting numbers that stand out, like who's leading the conference in forced fumbles...

	Name	Team	Yr	Pos	G	Fumbles Forced	Fumbles Forced/G
1	Mason Foster	Washington	JR	LB	11	5	0.45
2	Daniel Te'o-Nesheim	Washington	SR	DL	11	3	0.27
2	Donald Butler	Washington	SR	LB	11	3	0.27

The Huskies have forced 15 fumbles (2nd in the conference to the Trojans) and have the three leaders in the conference in Foster, Te'o and Butler. And they got only ONE of those against Wazzu (4 against USC and UCLA, 3 against Oregon State, 2 against Arizona State). Vereen will hopefully be able to protect the ball, but what about the youthful Deboskie-Johnson (who will almost certainly see more carries)? Ball control will be key for our running backs in keeping the offense going.

There's a lot to worry about. We're far away from punching our tickets to El Paso. We've got a tough ball game Saturday and no Jahvid Best to break it open.

Poll

How is Cal going to do against UW?

Big victory

73 votes

Close victory

105 votes

Close loss

5 votes

Big loss

4 votes

187 votes | Poll has closed