SB Nation User Blog: totallyawesome

THE GOLD ON WHITE JERSEY COLOR COMBINATION IS TO BLAME!

totallyawesome — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:06:14 -0000

Seriously, if we wear gold on white once again, I'm going to rant all over the internet and demand a refund-slash-written apology from Sandy Barbour, Jeff Tedford and God Almighty. I am PISSED. Seriously, people, when will we learn? Say it with me: Gold-on-White Just-Ain't-Right. But before I extol the virtues of gold TOPS and blue bottoms, here are some immediate post-game reactions of mine that I'd like to share with TV Land:

1. I hope Jahvid a full and speedy recovery. I'm sure he'll want to get back on the field asap, but I want him to take his time... kick up his feet, relax, and get some serious R&R.

2. Heat Seeking Missile Award goes to...Syd'Quan Thompson. Aside from an iffy penalty, he had a stellar game, especially in run defense. He blew up a lot of plays and made this a closer game than it could have been. You can't coach that kind of killer instinct he showed today - I hope our young corners are taking notes.

3. Offensive Line - There were many small battles that were lost today, but the biggest one that comes to mind (at least from the stands) is that our o-line is getting overpowered. It *felt* like Riley was under pressure during every play...obviously, it's difficult to run or pass effectively when our o-line is getting beat. ...not sure if this is due to schemes, talent, or what, but it's something we need to address.

4. Best > Quizz. Just saying.

5. Today is Bizzaro Day. No rushing offense from either Cal or OSU? WEIRD. Stanford beating Oregon? CRAZY. USC and ASU playing beach volleyball on the gridiron? TOTALLY WEIRD. At least Iowa lost - that made everything seem as right as rain.

Lastly, there's no one, big reason why we lost today, in my opinion. If our QB puts a little less zip on a ball...if our DE's were a step quicker, if the playcall was a bit more of THIS than THAT...well, things could have been a lot different. Kudos to Gregory for making some much needed adjustments during halftime...unfortunately, our offense couldn't capitalize. We could have won, but we just couldn't put together a complete game. There's a lot to learn from this game, and I hope that we learn our lessons, regroup and execute during the final stretch. Keep your heads up, Bear fans. Get ready for Arizona.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Cal Football

totallyawesome — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:28:52 -0000

I understand some of the frustrations mentioned by many Cal fans after our CRAZY escape from Tempe. Our offense lost a lot of steam as the game progressed, and the game was a lot closer than many of us hoped it would be. Some legitimate questions are raised - why did we underutilize "The Jet" in key situations? Why did Vereen get so few carries? Why is Jones getting fewer balls thrown his way and finally, why aren’t more Cal fans outraged at this victory (although if you surf the interwebs, you’ll find, like, a bajillion). I try to get the root of our offensive mishaps in our recent trip, offer some thoughts, and call for Cal fans to UNITE, CHILL, and LOVE Cal football for what it is.

Best is The Flash in cleats. He breaks ankles and takes names. Why was he underused against the Sun Devils?

1. We tried the run - as a team, we averaged a poor 1.8 yards per carry on roughly 30 attempts. Best only averaged 3.5 YPC and clearly was not seeing much daylight against a "STOP DA RUN RAWR!" defense. So what do we do this in situation? You adapted and found other ways to get our playmakers (Best and Vereen) the ball in space where they can do some damage. Case in point – Best had a total of 63 yards on 18 carries VS. 61 yards on SEVEN receptions. Also note that Best's touchdown came from a Riley pass. Given the fact that Best got banged up toward the end of the game, we tried to get the ball to Best about 25 times. I think Ludwig actually did a GOOD job at trying to utilize Best as best he could.

Vereen is another offensive weapon who seemingly got no love! What's the deal?

2. Vereen not getting enough carries, in my opinion, is due to a couple of factors:

#1 – his running style, while somewhat different from Jahvid’s, is not RADICALLY different. Seriously, if he wore a "4" jersey out there, an uninformed football fan would not even notice. If we had Toby Gerhart on our roster, I could understand as Stanford clearly proved, a bruiser-type back could and did pick up those yards. Unfortunately, our running offense was not going to be dramatically different with either back in (that probably extends to Deboskie as well). Ludwig understood that we weren’t going to win this game with runs up the middle. Not with our personnel. Not with Vontaze on the other side.

#2 – in general, we ran fewer up-the-middle plays. And that’s a good thing. Without a bruiser like Gerhart, and without the ability for our O-line to get to the second level of defenders, no way that Best and Vereen do what they can normally do (i.e., make the cannon go BOOM!). But that’s not to say we didn’t try to get Shane involved – 2 catches for 20 yards, the wildbear plays, etc. I again believe Ludwig does a good job at getting him involved to a point (minus the super ultra controversial wildbear TD pass that wasn’t!)

We clearly have a #1 receiver as this point - why aren't we getting him the ball?

3. If I’m the DC for any team facing Cal, outside of Best and Vereen, I’m focusing on Jones and rolling the dice with the other Cal WR’s. Jones has hands of velcro, good speed, and phenomenal body/hand control. That’s oversimplifying it, but that’s prolly not too far from the mark. However, how do we prevent defenses from locking down our best receiver? We ensure the QB distributes the ball to a number of receivers (a la the dream team of Hawkins, Desean and Jordan). That way, defenses have to respect our other receivers (i.e. Tucker, Boateng, Lagemann, etc.,) which takes some heat off of Jones. Give our other receivers credit - Ross is great at picking up yards after the catch and Tucker also shows flashes of his playmaking ability. But Jones wasn’t ignored. Riley hooked up with Jones 4 times – this represents only 10% of his pass attempts, but isn’t a reason to worry unless Riley doesn't get the ball to other receivers. Riley, btw, completed over 60% of his pass attempts for 350+ yards, 2 TD’s and no picks to a WHOLE LOT of different receivers. Jones doesn't have to do it alone, the other receivers get some meaningful catches - smells like progress to me.

So, why did Cal's offense look so fugly during this game?

The main thing that really put the skids on our offense was the crappy EXECUTION on many plays. Too many penalties, too many bad tackles, and dropped passes than you can shake a claw at. Riley fumbling? Ugh. Ross dropping that one pass? Kill me now! Tavecchio missing two fairly simple field goals? AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! But that’s not the fault of playcalling, and can only be partly chalked up to coaching. There are a bajillion reasons why a team succeeds or fails on the field. Here are seven:

Playcall is not optimal.
Talent-level disparity.
ALAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!
Loud crowd is loud.
Bad Hair Day (helmet hair)
Key Player is Not Even Playing
Only 10 men on the field!

Obviously, I'm just kidding. But still, keying in on any one factor is harsh. I especially thinking our offensive playcalling is not to blame. Did Ludwig make some controversial calls? Absolutely – I think there is some merit to the argument that we should have never have attempted the WildBear pass or the designed Riley runs (both of which I liked FYI). But do I believe that the game plan was set up in such a way to exploit the ASU defense and put us in a good, no GREAT, position to win? Absolutely. Ludwig has done a good job of being our offensive coordinator by getting the ball to our playmakers, making Riley and the passing game relevant, and by calling some interesting new plays I’d never see us run before.

One last thought: Cal fans. It's been up and down, hasn't it? I know - I've been there. Walking out of the Coliseum alone with every hippie-laced insult known to man hurled at me. Not visiting ESPN.com for weeks at a time. Looking at Mack Brown's face - uf! Verily, I say unto thee - I've been there. But you know what? Cal is our kid. And guess what happened? Our much hyped and ballyhooed kid got put up on stage and got DUMPED on. Our kid, our BABY got called Fat and Ugly. But you know what, Cal fans? That's still your baby. And you'll be damned to quit on your baby. They said we couldn't win in LA! They said we couldn't win without our run game! And you know what? Your kid, your TEAM - they did it anyway. They're thinking right now about OSU and Rodgers brothers and how to bring home another W. So, Cal, if you want to debate the finer points of poor or weak coaching, execution, recruiting, chair ergonomics, whatever - please do! But, I've seen tons of criticism leveled toward this Cal team and I simply ask for some moderation. In my opinion, this team and its coaching staff don't warrant the level of criticism they've garnered so far. So chill on the ranting. Have some ice cream. Your team just won a close-one in the desert and you can feel GREAT for your team for at least another week.

I also have candy in the van! (via knowyourmeme.com)

UCLA v. Tennessee - a Cal fan's perspective

totallyawesome — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:28:51 -0000

Woof - that was one ugly win for our brethren down south! A win's a win, however, and for a brand-new Pac-10 team to beat a solid SEC team is good for the conference. Here are some thoughts from this game to consider as we enter Week Two of the football season

The Game - Reason for optimism or worry for Bruins Nation?

If I'm a Bruins fan (which I'm not, Captain Obvious), I'm happy with the win and see what the next two games bring. UCLA travels to BYU to take on the Cougars and then take on an Arizona team that just put up 70+ points on the Vandals. I'd be "cautiously optimistic" rather than drunken-stupor-optimistic as the win may also be indicative of a Tennessee team in a down-year.

I would be, however, excited about the defense. UCLA's solid defensive unit kept them in the game, maintaining solid pressure on Crompton and somewhat containing their run game. You may even kinda sorta be excited about Craft (second half Craft)!

What does it mean for Cal and the rest of the conference:

A marquee win by UCLA over a traditional SEC power is good for the conference, period, end of discussion; however, you have to think as a Big _____ voter. That was an Ugly Betty type of game (also see: Fresno State vs. Rutgers) and I'm 100% supa dupa sure that SEC voters will play down the Bruins' W and play up the fact that the game was Tennessee's to lose. UCLA struggled like you would not believe offensively in the first half - and yet, Tennessee could not capitalize on 4 interceptions - against any Pac-10 team, that would have been an L for UCLA. But if the Vols go on to win against other SEC teams, THIS is the year that the SEC should lose its vaunted top dog status.

Call me crazy but I see this as a down year for the SEC and think the Pac-10 is fielding the toughest teams this year. We (Cal) cannot overlook any team in this conference, 'cuz clearly we can throw down with anyone from any conference (also see Cal vs. MSU, Virginia vs. USC). Am I crazy? Your thoughts