(Sorry for the lack of a Texas wrap-up post nor a UW prediction.  Never really got my feet back under me after the Texas trip last week.)

There’s few things one has to fight harder for than a win in Husky stadium.  No matter how many times I see Cal go to UW as the favored team, you’re never going to see me over-confident.  UW just doesn’t go down easily on their home field and more than one Cal season has been derailed by games up there (Heck, one could argue Tedford’s struggles up there were significantly responsible for his demise).

So no matter what you think about this win, don’t forget how hard fought it was.  This team has heart!

Various thoughts:

• On the 1st series, as the announcers explained, Enwere went to the wrong gap when he didn’t get the 1st down on 3rd and short.  It was a really weird play because it sure looked obvious/easy to pick the right hole, but for whatever reason he got scared and cut it back.  Although later in the game Enwere seemed to come of age and find his power game, I’m still not 100% convinced about him.  I still think Mohammad should be our #2 back.
• While were on that play, what is it with Dykes sacrificing his challenge on the 1st drive to a marginal ball-spotting review?  You just don’t win those unless it is SUPER obvious and neither of the last two games was it obvious (in fact he was just wrong against UW).  We could have really used that challenge at a couple points later in the game.
• While we’re on the negative, UW shot themselves in the foot a lot more than I think most people appreciate.  Stupid penalties;  Under throws that allowed the DB’s to get back into the play (Cal would have been in trouble against a better QB); Dropped passes that would have kept UW drives alive… it all adds up to a game where a better executing team would have exposed more in the Cal defense.
• It was also not the best refereed game.  Cal got the good end of it a couple times (Goff definitely fumbled in the 4th quarter) and the bad end of it (Enwere’s butt hit the ground before he fumbled on the one returned for a TD (speaking of times Cal could have used a review in their pocket)) as well as some missed penalty calls, again some against Cal (Lawler push-off) and some we could have used (Lawler getting down right abused both by a targeting hit and a late hit on the same play).  So it’s not that the refs were biased, but it wasn’t there best day on the field either.
• Speaking of refs, I wouldn’t be intellectually honest if I didn’t say the UW fumble where the question was whether the QB’s arm was coming forward should have gone the other way.  I think it was a fumble, but that was very marginal.  Since it was called a pass on the field, that should have been called as a “play stands”.
• My final ref thought is that the Bears got the absolute shaft from the refs on the 4 plays from the UW 1 yard line.  Enwere had a great effort on 1st down and that was clearly a touchdown based on the slow-mo.  He kept his knee off the ground (where was Cal’s challenge used again?).  Then there was the HORRIFIC pass interference on Lawler.  My only guess was that the refs were calling that uncatchable.  But when the WR gets thrown just after the ball was in the air, how can you know?  I guess they could have been saying it was before the ball was in the air and within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, but it was clearly after the throw was airborne.
• On to some positives, it was really nice to see Cal’s pass coverage making plays on the ball, including two interceptions.  That’s the sort of performance I’ve been waiting for.  The other way they were making plays on the ball was in the way they went after the receiver as they were catching the ball.  There was more than one breakup that was impressive.  Overall the effort was more than most teams do.  The fumble by the WR was also a result of the DB’s getting their hands in as the WR was making the catch (although in that case, it was late, so it was a catch and a fumble instead of incomplete).
• We should all be really happy with the defensive line pressure.  There were times they were getting pressure when only rushing 3 and they definitely could get pressure with 4.  Whenever they got 5 rushing, they were pretty darned successful if it wasn’t a quick pass.  I think this was instrumental in helping the secondary.  The QB was definitely rattled.
• I really should give Enwere props for his running as the game wore on.  He definitely disappointed me on that 1st drive, but as the game wore on I could see more of why the coaching staff is putting him in there.  He definitely is the back on the team who is going to break tackles and make something out of nothing.  Particularly as defenses get tired (which his kind of running can force) he’s going to break free more often.  Hopefully he continues to mature in his decisions (and in fairness, I only saw the one really bad hole choice).
• Speaking of under-estimated runners, what is going on with Goff?  It’s not quite like when Longshore broke a 25 yard run against UCLA in 2006, but Goff is really surprising people with his feet.  While the game sealing run wasn’t exactly pretty, Goff had heart and 2nd effort.  Add to that the decision to take the easy 10-15 yarders when the coverage breaks down and all of a sudden we’ve got something really surprising.
• Along those lines, while the play-call was a surprise, Cal going for it when everyone was expecting a pooch punt wasn’t a surprise to me both because I very much anticipated Dykes  eventually lulling a team into complacency with the assumed pooch punt and because of where they were on the field.  You’re only going to get another 15-20 yards if you’re lucky from a punt.  If you’re choices are take a 50-50 shot at ending the game right now or push the ball from the UW 35 to the 15, I take the 50-50 shot.  Now a Goff run… yeah, that was a surprise.
• And because it wouldn’t be me without picking on the details… I’m a bit uneasy with Dykes over-conservative tendencies.  It’s showing itself in a few ways.  One is the kicking game.  We just can’t afford to be giving the opponent the ball somewhere between the 30 and 40 every kickoff.  Another is his inability to pick the right plays as he’s trying to seal the win.  While it wasn’t as bad as the Texas game, he still didn’t do a good job of mixing run and pass in a way that kept the defense off balance while still keeping the clock running.  One particular series that troubled me was 1st and 25 from the UW 40 or so with 5 minutes left.  Sorry, you just can’t run it up the middle on those.
• Finally, and this definitely feels like harping, this was not the WR’s best catching game.  Lawler dropped two passes and there was a few others as well.  I wouldn’t call it “bad” but it wasn’t up to their usual exceptional standard.

To sum up, it’s been said that the best win is the type that gives the coaches plenty to focus on in practice.  Perhaps that’s just one more reason that this was a great victory for the team.  Solid in lots of different ways to keep the confidence of the team growing, while still giving plenty for this team to work on in practice to strive to get better.

Go Bears!

I wasn’t able to go to the game yesterday.  I had other Church commitments that prevented it.  However, I was able to watch the game.  When I first turned it on, it was 7-7 late in the 2nd quarter.  I saw the interception and drive down the field to make it 14-7.

From what I saw from there, it was clear that whatever had happened early was different than what I saw.  It took until this morning to have a chance to watch the 1st portion of the game.  Here are my thoughts:

• Don’t get too excited about the Cal defense.  San Diego State did a lot to shoot themselves in the foot with penalties.  Yes, it was nice to see the defensive line be disruptive at times, and that accounted for a number of the times SDSU had to punt, but their job was made a lot easier by penalties putting SDSU in a hole that caused drives to stall.
• I continue to be a bit flustered by the lack of consistency of the offense.  They too hurt themselves with penalties and mistakes.  I’m sorry, there’s no excuse for only scoring 14 points against that defense by halftime.
• If I’m a Cal opponent, I’m going to focus on finding ways to drop unusual people into coverage.  It was definitely confusing to Goff the way SDSU would threaten to bring 6, but then bring 5, but drop the “wrong” guy back into coverage.
• The other factor that was concerning to me was that when Goff was sacked, and it feels like it has been a bit too frequent this season against such weak opponents, it’s not just for 5-7 yards.  He always looses a ton of yards.  9-12.  That makes a big difference in the team’s ability to dig out of the hole caused by the sack and keep the drive alive.
• It’s not a huge surprise, but it sure seems field goal kicking is going to be an adventure this year.

So what about Texas?  My gut says the game is trouble.  The defense might do OK, but I’ve got a lingering feeling Cal’s offensive line is not measuring up this year.  The running lanes have not been very big considering the level of opponent.  Goff has been under too much pressure.  Cal could very easily lose the game on the line of scrimmage.  That’s not exactly unprecedented with Texas.  That’s what happened in 2011 at the Holiday Bowl.

I’m similarly as concerned about the defense.  Yes, there’s been more defensive line pressure, but will they just get blown off the ball by a bigger team?  I think the secondary is vastly improved, but they aren’t the type of unit that can operate without help.  They’re going to need some help up front to provide pressure.  I hope what we’ve seen so far translates to a bigger team.

Here’s hoping I’m wrong.

I find myself a bit outside the bulk of commentators on this game:

• The offense was not “efficient” or any of the other similar words that spoke to them executing precisely.  You can get me on board with words like “potent” or “impressive” or “overwhelming”.  But I saw too many mistakes, too many penalties, too many short runs to call them efficient.  The analogy I used on the podcast was it was like a teenager driving an over-powered muscle car.  The Bears could stomp on the accelerator when ever they got in trouble and use the big play to get out of jams, but there was a bit too much fishtailing to make me comfortable.
• I seem to be one of the only people who noticed the weakness of the run game.  I’m sorry, minus Mohammad’s two big runs, the Bears only had 121 yards on 27 carries (3.3 yards/carry).  That’s not a good number.  Maybe against a great run defense we can accept that number but against an otherwise overwhelmed Grambling State squad we should expect better.  I wouldn’t expect any more run balance than last year.  (But maybe that’s not a huge problem.)
• But I am on board with how well the defense did.  No big plays until we were so far down the depth chart it is hard to worry about it.  Minus the one 90 yard run, they gave up only 37 yards of rushing and a total of 207 yards.  And of course, a shutout into the 4th quarter.
• Add to that, there were the things I was looking for in my pre-game post:  Pressure on the QB, interceptions, plays on the ball, successful press coverage… all the things we were looking for.
• Now, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.  That wasn’t evidence of a great defense.  I saw plenty of open receivers and other reasons to suggest this is merely a mediocre defense.  But mediocre would be a HUGE improvement.

So, long story short, I think the team has potential, but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.

I was PROFOUNDLY disappointed in yesterday afternoon’s game.  It appears my prediction that Cal could be competitive with any Pac-12 team was complete BS.  I won’t go game by game through all my predictions in pre-game posts, but I can’t think of one I so poorly predicted as yesterdays… EVER!

I put most of yesterday’s loss on the coaches:

• Horrible game plan
• Poorly prepared players for emotions of a rivalry game
• Zero meaningful in-game adjustments
• Bad play-calling

Frankly, my doubts about the ability of the Dyke regime to take us anywhere beyond mediocrity are as high, if not higher than the end of last year.  Said another way, who that we lost to this year, based on the lack of progress we’ve seen as the season progresses, would we have hopes of beating next year:

• UW is in year one of a new coaching staff.  They’re going to be better, enough so that even if Cal played a better game we still lose, particularly with the game in Husky stadium
• UCLA has clearly improved since we played them… and the game will be on the road.
• Oregon game was never REALLY in doubt… and the game will be on the road (catching a theme here?).
• Stanford needs no comment… and the game will be on the road (OK, Cal seems to do great in Palo Alto for the most part, the size of the Cal contingent really rattling Stanford, but still, the crowd ain’t going to turn the tide here.)
• USC ended up close, but how much of that was prevent defense letting us get closer than we really were, plus their depth problems will be slowly going away.
• Arizona, OK, that’s a team we might beat next year.  IF they don’t get better themselves.

Then you have to add that it took overtime to beat CU, and we’ll have to travel on the road to Boulder, with the trouble the elevation gives us, it’s very reasonable to suggest a regression there.

So maybe we trade Arizona for CU or maybe we get lucky and beat both.  Maybe we beat USC because they’ll still be thin next year and they’ll be in Berkeley.  Or maybe we’re built to beat UCLA.  But as it stands right now, I’ve got no hope that ALL of those maybe’s come true.

Let’s just hope this team can rebound, beat BYU, so we get to that bowl game and the all important extra practice time that comes with it.

(they need it)

What an important victory for the Bears!  It sure feels like the sort of game where a loss would have been a real setback for the program and the victory is a corner turned in the turn around.  Here are some more detailed thoughts:

• Can someone explain to me how a team can for 48 minutes of the game only give up 10 points, but in 12 minutes can give up 21 and look pretty pathetic doing it?  I think it was even more disconcerting to me because it was 27-10 when I was first able to watch the game (up until then I was only able to keep my eye on the box score).  And what I saw was a team that couldn’t move the ball to save their life but was getting bowled over by OSU at the line of scrimmage with guys WIDE open when OSU decided to throw the ball.  Yet then everything switched again and the Bears dominated in similar fashion the rest of the way out.
• It was nice to see the Bears winning at the end of the 1st half.  I had that “here we go again” feel when OSU got the ball back with 3:24 left in the half and the bears only up 17-10.  But the Bears forced a punt and drove the field for a field goal.
• Really nice to see the running game pick up the slack when Goff had an off night.  My gut has been that with the exception of the UW game, the Bears have had a competent run game, but it hasn’t been used in the right ways.  We seem just a tad bit predictable or formulaic in how we go about it.  But if you look at most Cal running plays the linemen are getting a strong push and there are fair running lanes.  This game, against a mediocre team they really delivered a strong performance.
• Of course the next step is to deliver a strong running performance against USC or Stanford.  I think this team has it in them particularly if they force them to defend an accurate passing game.  Stanford’s linebackers don’t have the range that their linebacking groups of the past have had.  Cal could really run them ragged.
• Yes, I do think the Bears can beat USC and/or Stanford.  The road apparently doesn’t scare this team.  They have played great on the road.  And minus the game being in the Coliseum, is there anything really scary about USC this year?  As for Stanford, I think the wheels are starting to come off the bus.  Think about this… With Utah (who beat them last year and is looking pretty strong right now), @Cal and @UCLA left, and Stanford needing one more game to get bowl eligible, it’s possible Stanford will have plenty of time to study for finals in December.  Can we do it Bears?!?  (and Baby Bears)
• Getting to things that worry me, the penalties still bother me.  There have been some borderline and worse calls from the refs, but there’s also been some pretty stupid penalties.  One of the things Cal is going to need to do is clean that up, particularly on defense.  When they’re having trouble getting off the field, it always seems an ill-timed penalty is part of the problem.
• I know the headline is Lasco, but Enwere ran pretty well.  With a healthy Mohammad that’s 3 backs who can be every down backs.  Lasco deserves the lead spot, without a doubt, but it is REALLY nice to have guys who can come in and keep pounding away.
• Going back to the balance the running game gave the Bears, there’s another way to show it:  47 rushing attempts, 47 passing attempts.  269 yards rushing, 277 yards passing.  It’s pretty hard to get any more balance than that (statistically).
• But going back to how important this win is for the Bears, I find it hard to overstate it.  Bears lose and they’ve got to find at least one win against two teams they won’t be favored against.  The team will be under a lot of pressure to deliver an upset.  Instead the Bears can look at these two games very opportunistically.  They don’t have to win, but they’ve got an opportunity to make a statement.  A BIG statement.  Don’t forget this team can still reach 8-4 and 2nd in the Pac-12 north.

I hope to comment more tonight after a re-watch of the full game sequentially.

Sorry for the delayed posting. Been very busy preparing for a trip. Nevertheless, better late than never, here are various thoughts on the Oregon game:

• Count me amongst those who are really disappointed in the lack of progress on defense. I see very little in the way of progress and worse, it seems like our weaknesses are getting more exposed every week.
• The defense’s 3rd down woes are particularly disappointing. There’s just too many times the defense does fine on 1st and 2nd down and then proceeds to give up a big play on 3rd and long. The 3rd and 19 that ended up going for a long touchdown is inexcusable.
• I also feel the problem is more scheme than talent. The guys on the field are big and fast enough to be a quality Pac-12 defense.
• Although if there’s one thing that would suggest otherwise, it is the tackling. If I were the coaches, I’d be spending A LOT of time having my defense do a TON of tackling drills. Tell them to take out their frustrations on the scout team. They’re just not wrapping up and holding on and taking them down. I don’t mind it much when a great RB drags our guys a handful of extra yards. But I do mind it a ton when he bounces off and runs for another 20 yards and a touchdown.
• And since we’re going all negative, what is with the kickoffs? Someone might be able to convince me what they’re doing is a good idea, but first they’d have to tell what in tarnations they are trying to accomplish! I mean seriously, it’s not a squib (is it just that our kicker stinks at those?), it’s not a chip… what is it? What’s it’s purpose?
• Also troubling is the number of long plays the defense has given up in the last two minutes of the half the last few games. There have been just too many games where we were close, in a place were we’d feel going into the tunnel with that score, but then the Bears practically INSIST on giving up an extra touchdown before halftime. Somebody needs to remind the defense that points scored just before halftime count just as much as the rest of them.
• On to a positive note, I liked the heart of this team. They came out the tunnel ready to fight and kept fighting for the whole game (well, with about 5-8 minutes left the inevitable end started to take it’s toll on both team’s effort).
• Also, the balance we’re seeing on offense is good. I think the offense would be struggling a lot more if it weren’t for that balance. In fact, it seems when the offense gets stagnant, it’s when the playcalling gets a bit too predictable. Interestingly, it seems to happen when the Bears get a bit too committed to the run, particularly on 1st and 2nd down.
• Goff is still young, but he continues to grow on me. I think he’s going to be an exceptional quarterback over the long haul and I won’t be surprised to see him playing on Sundays for many years.
• It was nice to see Rubenzer used in a better way this game. To see him in for half of a series and throwing the ball was a good thing. The key to success with him, as I have been saying all along, is the belief that he will throw the ball a significant percentage of the time. This game will help validate that belief.
• Another guy I’m pretty happy with is Lasco. Heck all the RBs. The two young guys have been playing well with Mohammed getting limited reps with the cast. But Lasco is leading the way and really impresses me with his toughness, his ability to get those extra 2-3 yards after impact, while still being a pretty speedy guy.
• The wide receivers on the other hand, while not bad, haven’t been standing out like they had for some much of the first half of the season. Perhaps I got too used to highlight reel catches, but there have been more difficult catches missed the last few games than in the past.
• Finally, could someone please tell the Cal cheerleaders that their pink pompoms ARE A SHADE OF RED and need to be put away permanently! (we haven’t won since they started using them.)

(I wrote this post Monday morning, but for some reason it didn’t post. Here it is now)

Sorry for the lack of game-day posts and the such. I was out of town this weekend. I got to watch the game last night and here are my thoughts:

• Sorry, that was NOT AN INTERCEPTION! I’m actually surprised there’s less wailing and gnashing of teeth over this one. There is absolutely no way to view the replay of that and conclude his foot was not out of bounds before he gained possession. Why do they even have a referee in the booth? Why not just put a magic 8 ball?
• Of similar import, was the lack of a spearing call on the 4th down conversion. I don’t care what the TV commentators say (“where is he supposed to hit him”), it doesn’t matter (as we’ve seen from calls in the past). Helmet to helmet against a receiver while he’s going down after catching the ball is a foul. That defender needs to lead with a shoulder. And if we get that foul, it’s 1st and 10 at the 24, not the 39, and Goff never throws the ball again, so no interception, and Cal probably wins.
• That said, and perhaps this is why there isn’t more complaining, Cal was very lucky to be in that game. All the bounces went their way. Just as I still think that Cal could have beat UW if the game was played again, I think if we play UCLA again, we still lose it most of the time. Cal was out-manned for the most part.
• The Cal offense needs to stop playing intimidated, in particular the play-calling. The pass routes that were working against CU, WSU and UA are still there, but for whatever reason the play-calling is going away from those sorts of plays. They need to be less concerned with a game-plan and more concerned with focusing on execution of the base offense.
• In contrast, the defense needs to actually make some adjustments. While I’m not horribly disappointed with their fairly simple schematic structure, we’re getting eaten alive by the same plays over and over. The WR screens were killing the Bears on Saturday. They need MORE game-planning and more variety to keep offenses on their toes.
• Back to the offense, I think Dykes needs to understand that we need to pass to open up the run game. Certain teams need to start with running to open up the pass, but Cal needs to do the opposite. He’s focusing/forcing the run game too often, too early. We should start with throwing the ball and then move towards running after the defense makes adjustments.
• To the balance end, nice to see Rubenzer throwing the ball. He needs to throw 30%+ of the time he’s in there to keep defenses honest (probably a little bit higher than that until defenses take him seriously).
• But I still like the heart of this team. This team is going to keep fighting through every game this season. I really believe that they *can* win any of the remaining games. I doubt they will win all of them, but I think Cal will win at least two more and calling which two to three it is, is a difficult task.
• I’m glad to hear that Trevor Davis appears to be fine.
• We need Brendon Scarlett back ASAP. Some of the defensive pieces are coming together, despite new injuries. But the one that there’s no replacing right now is Scarlett.

I’ll be going to this Friday’s game at Levi’s Stadium. Here’s hoping for the best!

(More posts to come this week)

OK, I finally got a chance to watch the replay of the “fumble” that was returned by Shaq for a TD. Sorry, that was a touchdown for Cal. Goff is a quarterback, he often holds the ball in one hand. There’s nothing to indicate in the video that when he had it in one hand that he didn’t have control of it and he was WAAAAY over the goal line before he bumps into a helmet and the ball comes loose.

Cal got the short end of that call on the field.

(I know, know, crying over spilled milk, etc.)

I’m pretty ticked off about that one. That game REALLY stunk! Who took last year’s players and put them in this year’s uniforms?

I’ll rant all night if I let myself, but I’m not going to. Here’s to hoping a good night sleep gives some distance and perspective.

I was out of town this weekend. I tried to watch the game via 4G (I started with 4 bars and 4G with 3MB throughput), but my signal kept degrading to 3G with 2 bars. You just can’t watch video like that and the app kept crashing.

So I listened to most of the game on the radio, which is to see I haven’t seen most of it. (Starkey has gotten worse, is too non-linear and focuses on the wrong things.)

I’ll be watching it tonight, but in the mean time a few thoughts:

• While the emphasis has been on WSU’s offense because of the stats, only 1 offense was 100% successful for TD’s in the 2nd half and it wasn’t the Wougs. As much as Cal’s defense was porous all night, they came up with 3 stops in the 2nd half, something WSU’s defense couldn’t do.
• Something people forget about special teams returns for touchdowns is that the defense gets no rest. They have to go right back out on the field. That after the 2nd kickoff return they managed to force a punt should not be overlooked, exhaustion wise.
• In the negative column, something overlooked is how little the Bears were able to rush for. Perhaps that is because the Bears were playing catchup for most of the game, but 62 yards on 18 attempts is pretty pathetic.
• After the 1st 3 games we were all asking what was wrong with the Bears in the 2nd half. The last two games the Bears have been a 2nd half team (at least offensively).
• Looking around the conference, what a week of upsets. Of the 6 games, 4 of them were upsets, two of the pretty big ones, one of them HUUUGE! That means two things to me:
  1. There’s a lot of parity in this conference and we as fans need to forget the back-loaded schedule thing. If Arizona can beat Oregon, so can we. There’s no reason to think UW, USC, UCLA and Stanford are out of reach either. That’s not to say Cal wins them all, but I’m no longer writing any of them off.
  2. I fear the conference won’t get a team in to the playoff, particularly if nobody in the conference can knock off Notre Dame.

More to come after I actually get to watch the game.

(See my previous post for my overall feelings about the game. But, since it is now Sunday, it’s time for Wailing And Gnashing Of Teeth (WAGOT).)

As much as yesterday’s game was fun, really, there aren’t that many positives to take away. Here’s what I’d list in the positive column:

• The Wide Receivers at Cal right now are AWESOME. They’re fast, they’ve got GREAT hands and there’s so many of them, the defense can’t focus on any one receiver. This is by far the best unit on the team and arguably the best WR unit in the country. And they played that way yesterday.
• Lasco had a pretty good game. I really like his never go down, never give up attitude and how he drags players the extra yards. Not only does it turn 2nd and 7 into 2nd and 4, it also really wears down the defense over time. Mohammed has his pluses, but the reason the running game is working right now is Lasco.
• The O-line held up pretty well and except in scenarios when CU was able to focus on the run, opened up reasonably good running lanes. They also protected Goff pretty well.
• Gotta hand it to the defense on that final stand. 1st and goal from the 2 and they hold CU 4 times. They held so well the 1st 3 plays, CU decided to go sideways on 4th down and the Bears were ready to snuff it out.
• Minus letting the QB option go a little wild, the run defense was pretty good.
• Rubenzer was on the bench for the most part. I’m sorry, until he’s a credible thrower that the defense will respect as a thrower, there’s no reason to have him back there. That gig is up until he starts throwing.

But that’s really about it. This was no great Colorado team and the Bears struggled mightily. I’ve got a big list of negatives:

• The secondary was stretched to its limit when Colorado went 4 and 5 wide. We just don’t have the bodies back there for that. This unit has a lot of potential over time, the talent is there, but they’re not deep enough for the Pac-12 and the number of teams that like to go 4+ wide.
• Don’t we know how to defend slants and outs? Colorado ate us ALIVE with those. And it’s not that hard. You have two choices: You place your outside linebackers wider and deeper to get in the throwing lanes or you have your DB’s do press coverage. But I’m sorry, you just can’t give them a 5-10 yard buffer on 3rd and 6. It’s just too easy to complete short passes when they’ve got that sort of cushion. In the 3rd quarter the Bears played more press coverage, and had success, but they forgot it too much in the 4th.
• Goff was off his game. He had a LOT of errant balls, particularly down the field. The good news is he generally was picking the right places to pass the ball, but way too many of them sailed on him on the shorter routes and he was under throwing the ball down the field. He also wasn’t leading his guys enough on the downfield slants. This was a pretty weak game for Goff. We’re going to need better than that to notch more wins this season.
• Defensive conditioning is still an issue. Maybe they just need to get off the field more often, but this defense has looked really tired in the 4th quarter the last two games.
• On the gnashing of teeth front, these refs SUCKED in the 2nd quarter. They handed CU that 4th touchdown. I’m sorry, when a runner cuts back into the field after having just barely stepped on the line, the defense has every right to hit him until a clear whistle is blown (something the ref who threw the flag would not have been able to confirm, his whistle was too far away to count for that). And the pass interference, the ball was WAY over his head. It wasn’t even close. And it looked like the WR was giving as good as he was getting in their hand game/pushes. So even if it was catch-able, it was still a marginal call. (in fairness, I think we got a makeup call in the 3rd when they picked up the pass interference flag) I also saw them miss a pretty bad face mask.
• I’m really worried this fairly vanilla defense is going to get exploited pretty bad. We’re not doing a lot of trickery and the such. I know that they’re rebuilding and sticking to the fundamentals is a good way to get them on the right track. And maybe they’re holding a bit of their stunts and tricks for later in the season when the games get tougher and when the team is a bit more matured and ready for it. But I sure hope they’ve got more up their sleeve than what I’ve seen thus far.

Speaking more generally, we just can’t expect to win giving up 45+ points every game. The team tried to do that last year and couldn’t. If the Bears are going to win many more, it’s all on the defense.

(final note: one more post coming today… OTRH podcast)

Generally, I tend to focus on the X’s and O’s, strengths and weaknesses, projections for the future and that sort of thing, but today I’m going to start with something a little different:

That was FUN!

I started going to Cal football games to do something enjoyable. Back in those days, the team averaged about 3-8, but almost all of those 3 were at home, so a little more than half the 5-6 games I saw were winners. And every victory was something to be cheered. Even the near upsets when Cal was a big underdog was a positive despite the final score not coming out right. We weren’t burdened with higher expectations or a big stadium renovation that had to be paid by lots of butts in the seats (which requires winning).

In those days, games like last night were the best sort. Flawed, exciting, unpredictable… you never knew what was going to happen. Just when you thought Cal was doomed, a big interception got them back in it. Just when you thought Cal was going to win easy, they made a mistake (like the defense giving up an all too easy fade into the endzone). And in the end, those 3 victories a year at home kept us optimistic enough in those games to keep coming back even when they lost a heart breaker.

For most of the 2nd half yesterday I was able to slip back into that mindset of old and not let the haze of “we’re barely hanging with the worst team in the conference” to spoil what was a really fun game to watch.

So my prayer for this morning is that we all are able to enjoy the games again like that.

Let Sunday and Monday be for wailing and gnashing of teeth, but Saturday is to enjoy the game.

I’ve been thinking about when the last time the Bears lost such a heartbreaking game. Here are the candidates I came up with:

• 2010 Washington: This is the last time I truly felt punched in the gut the way I did Saturday night. Bears were leading most of the game, but lost on 4th and goal from the 1 yard line (after having stopped the prior couple plays at the goal line).
• 2007 Oregon State: The most iconic low moment of all the Tedford years. Riley goes down with no timeouts, Tedford throws down his headset and Cal was never the same again under Tedford.
• 1990 Big Game: The Bears were one roughing the passer penalty from victory in the most painful Big Game loss of my lifetime. (update @ 11:45a – It was the 1990 game I was thinking of, not 1991)

There are some others out there that were painful in a number of different ways, but those sit on top for me. However, one caveat for the future leads me to believe this one may fade with time. As I reviewed the games I disqualified a number of bad losses for various reasons:

• Cal had a shot to come-back after the disaster (2006 Arizona, etc.)
• Games where Cal got close in the end after getting way behind early, but couldn’t get over the hump (2008 Maryland, etc.)
• Games where Cal was the underdog (2004 USC, 2000 Big Game, etc.)

And that last one suggests there’s reason to believe this painful loss may fade with time. Cal was the underdog coming into this one. However, they weren’t a huge underdog and by the time things fell apart, I think we all felt Cal was the better team. So maybe not. Only time will tell.

Any other candidates for heartbreaking losses?

There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth today!

Before I head off to Church, a few thoughts…

• The Hail Mary was just the unfortunate end to what was an epic collapse. The offense did just about everything in their power to not this one slip away, but as Joshiemac points out, you just CAN NOT give up 36 points in the 4th quarter and expect to win. That’s on the defense.
• In all three games we’ve played, the 3rd quarter has been when things started going wrong. Yes this week we gave up 36 points in the 4th, but I feel like when we let Arizona back in the game was in the mid-3rd quarter. So far I’ve been unimpressed with Dykes playcalling and how he’s having the team play in the 3rd. The 3rd is the time to go for the kill. Dykes appears to already be in prevent mode and it’s WAAAAY too early for that.
• One of the things that a rebuilding team struggles with is the rare plays. The onside kicks. The Hail Mary’s. The coaching staff has much bigger fish to fry and they don’t spend a lot of time on those “extras”. I can’t fault them in principle for that. But it really, really, really hurt us. To that end…
• When there is a Hail Mary, you DO NOT PLAY THE RECEIVER!?!?!?!?! You turn around and play the ball. All of our DB’s were playing their guys and that was COMPLETELY why the play was successful. Hail Mary balls are in the air for a long time. You just play center field and knock the ball DOWN (a reminder to Bears of the past).
• How is it possible that the Bears played that 2nd attempt at the 1st onside kick so poorly? They already saw what AZ was going to do and yet they STILL only had 3 guys on that side of the ball. UN-BE-LEAVE-A-BULL!
• While I can understand the thinking, when they brought in Rubenzer on that last possession, I think you hand the ball off to the guy doing the sweep. You’ve trained the defense that when Rubenzer is in, he’s going to have the ball. OK, so you’re not ready to throw in that situation (stops the clock, etc.), but the guy coming across on the sweep/distraction would have had a lot more success than he did.
• If we got all the breaks in the 1st half (FG off the upright, etc.) we got ZERO breaks in the 2nd half. That interception was amazingly hard to comprehend. How often does that happen? With how hard it popped up, I was sure it hit the ground on 1st viewing (but it didn’t).
• I was frustrated how close to the box the outside linebackers were playing down the stretch. We got beat on seam passes over and over, and if the OLB’s were playing wider and deeper, that entirely goes away. If I had to say the one thing that doomed us in the game, this is it. Solomon had not touch. He was only good when he could rocket the ball in on slants and seam routes. Why didn’t we clog up those lanes and take them away?
• Also, why weren’t we switching up who was covering #1? Allensworth was struggling, so get someone else against him.

So obviously I’m frustrated. I saw so many different things in that 2nd half that really ticked me off.

But there’s a silver lining here. Cal can compete in these sorts of games. There’s a lot more winnable games down the road if the team continues to improve. My fear is this game becomes a big momentum killer. Dykes’ job is to turn this into extra motivation to go out and kick some butt. I want to see a VERY determined, ticked-off team next Saturday in Berkeley.

Wow! I did not see that coming. I have not yet seen anything but the box score, but based on that, this was quite a beat down.

Gotta feel good about the team going into the bye week, and with two weeks to prepare, one has to feel good about our chances against Arizona.

How do others feel about that matchup at this point?

Nice for the Bears to have a win under their belt. It was all the way back in 2011 the last time the Bears were 1-0. Here is a lists of pros and cons to take from the game:

Pros:

• A win! Let’s start with the basics. No matter what transpired, what matters at the end of the day is who won.
• Goff looked good. He had a few misthrows, but overall he made good decisions, and was fairly accurate with the ball.
• Running backs were significantly improved. I liked the toughness and resiliency of both Mohammed and Lasco. They both did a good job of getting the few yards they could even when the play didn’t go as planned. They also were pretty good at sneaking through small holes.
• The OL was significantly improved in pass-protection. Goff left the game with his jersey the same color as when it started. He was sacked just twice (and if I remember right, one was not totally the OL’s fault).
• Rubenzer! Boy was that a surprise. Sure doesn’t look like they’re too concerned with his redshirt. However, for this schtick to be compelling moving forward, Rubenzer is going to have to prove he can throw the ball consistently without mind-numbing interceptions. Otherwise the defense won’t respect the pass and his running lanes will be far and few between.
• Interceptions. Nice to see the Bears looking for the ball and actually intercepting it twice.
• Special teams. I’m very comforted by the fact that there’s very little to talk about on this front. That’s a big improvement from the past.
• Run defense. There’s room for improvement, but overall I was happy with the run defense.

Cons:

• I don’t think Northwestern is very good. They seemed to find their groove for about 10 minutes in the 2nd half, but overall this was a distracted, poorly conditioned, poorly focused team. They had a TON of dropped passes and other stupid miscues that we shouldn’t expect from future opponents.
• The run blocking left something to be desired. It’s improved from last year but not by a ton. This was particularly true in plays where they OL had to run. They were horrible at blocking in stretch plays and screens. But 114 yards on 45 runs is not very inspiring and I put most of the blame for that on the OL.
• Pass defense was also a spot that needed to improve and I was less than impressed. They were SIGNIFICANTLY helped by the dropped passes. They’re going to have to improve before we get into the Pac-12 schedule.
• Play-calling. I wasn’t that impressed. I liked that we were gutsy at times but I feel some bad calls were made. Cal was twice at the 34 yard line and didn’t try the field goal (that’s only a 51 yarder). Supposedly Langford has a big leg. And there were other moments I was scratching my head at the choice of calls. As the game wore on there was a lack of balance and the ball was too much put in the air.
• Penalties. The refs called a loose game so there weren’t a ton, but Cal was hit with a few that reflect poorly on the players. I suspect with a tighter called game we’d have been more frustrated here.
• Refs. This doesn’t fall on the Bears, but Northwestern was holding ALL OVER THE PLACE and it was never called. There were some really blatant ones too. Dykes had every right to be besides himself that play were Cal got called for defensive holding when there was such a blatant OL hold that wasn’t called on the same play.
• Pass rush. Perhaps the holding disguised some good pass rush, but over all I was hoping for more improvement here. For the most part our rush was neutralized all day.

What do you think went well and/or poorly?

OK, are you ready for some football? I know I am!

Click the post title to see the live-blogging content. Or click here.

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve done a live-blog, seeing as how I go to so many games, but what the heck…

We’ll do it old-school. Hit the refresh button to see the updates. Post comments in the comment section, I’ll reply in the post-thread.

1:17 PM: Wait until closer to game time for actual commentary.
2:20 PM: Pretty good WSU @ UA game. Not sure why everyone was so surprised that WSU won that one. Arizona still doesn’t have a quality win under its belt. They’re not that good and just have an easy/back-loaded schedule.
2:28 PM: Both Miller of ESPN and two of the three Pac-12Net commentators pick Cal? DOOOOOOOM!
2:30 PM: The team must really like the gray uniforms. I don’t. Yuck! At least they’ve got the blue pants.
1st 15:00: I think we’ll see a lot of touch-backs today.
1st 14:50: Uh-oh… if we let them run like that every down, we’re in trouble.
1st 13:30: Defense in its usual 1st drive funk. Hopefully they use this timeout to kick them into gear.
1st 13:20: Now that’s a lot better pursuit. Key 3rd down here.
1st 12:50: Man have we been susceptible to the hook pattern. Drive continues.
1st 11:00: Not looking bad so far in the rush defense. Pass defense is trouble so far.
1st 10:30: Dang. Cal has had a REAL problem with giving up too many 3rd and longs.
1st 9:30: Yup. The run defense is looking fine. Just not getting the job done in the passing game so far. Although there’s some hope. YES! Finally held on 3rd down. Although looks like another field goal coming… BUT HE MISSED! Cal getting some luck to start today.
1st 8:50: Like the 1st play call. Don’t like the result of the 2nd play though.
1st 8:00: Here’s the problem. Way too often in 3rd and long. We get lucky this time with the interference call, but we can’t live with those sorts of downs and distances.
1st 7:00: I like the dedication to the run game so far, but doing it smartly.
1st 6:30: And that’s the problem with 5000 feet. Those over the top balls are just aching to sail like that.
1st 6:00: Oh, you have to either go for it or kick it here… good. DANG! That’s on the linemen. Goff was calling for the ball but the line wasn’t listening/watching. Pootch kick into the endzone. Dang.
1st 6:00: Well, looks like a balanced game is in front of us. Both reasons for hope and concern. If Goff can find his touch over the top, it would be a BIG benefit. I don’t know what the wind was doing, but am I the only one who thinks D’Amato could have made it from 56 in Boulder?
1st 4:50: That’s the advantage of Boulder… they make those over the top throws. Not horrible coverage overall. Let’s just hope they can’t live on that all day.
1st 3:30: Nice defensive pressure being applied on passing downs by the Bears, but the one long pass gets CU a field goal. Score: 0-3.
1st 2:40: I like the play-calling balance so far.
1st 1:15: Interesting to see all this pootch punting. Is this lack of faith on the punt return unit?
1st 0:45: Hale Dozier (#37) is getting burned. He was on the receiving end of both of the long plays. This is where I accept the argument of the young team/injuries. They really are quite depleted back there. Although I still think Buh should be using defensive schemes that put less on their backs.
2nd 14:50: OUCH! That one hurts. A nicely designed play, but again, as I said in my preview… It’s going to be tough for Cal to come back from down 10. And what’s the score: 0-10.
2nd 14:15: Lawler again. He’s our receiver with the “it” factor. In a key moment, I want the ball thrown to him.
2nd 12:45: I feel like Goff is throwing a bit more dangerous today. Worried about an INT.
2nd 12:30: Good point WIAT, into the wind may help the sailing passes. And there’s the 3rd pootch punt. I wonder if Cal might be able to use that to its advantage a bit later, catching CU sleeping on 4th down.
2nd 11:00: Nice defense on 3rd down. Weren’t fooled on the read-option.
2nd 10:00: This wind stinks. A definite disadvantage for Cal.
2nd 9:30: Lawler again. And then nearly Lawler again. This is our guy.
2nd 9:00: Our WR screens aren’t working at all. CU is pouncing on them. There’s got to be a way to take advantage of that defensive assumption.
2nd 8:30: Way to go D’Amato. The guy has a great leg. We’re going to miss him next year. One of the things I liked about Tedford is that he cared about recruiting punters and FG kickers. Score: 3-10.
2nd 8:30: You know what we haven’t had all year? A momentum changing turnover in Cal’s favor. Boy could we use that right now.
2nd 7:10: Yes, yes, yes, YESSSSS!!! That run from Muhammed has been coming for a while. TOUCHDOWN! Nice job of keeping in bounds through that last tackle. Score tied: 10-10
2nd 5:30: Feels like Cal is over committing to the run and then getting a bit out of position.
2nd 2:00: Jeez, you’d think my Dad the Cal alum wouldn’t call in the middle of the Cal game. And we can blame the events of the last 3 1/2 minutes of game clock on him.
2nd 1:00: That’s the sort of penalty that I both completely understand and think is complete BS. It’s very hard to not bang helmets in a moment like that.
2nd 0:50: Gotta give it to Colorado for knowing when to pounce. Great timing and completely put Cal’s defense on its heels. That’s a killer. Going to be very hard to come back from 14 points down in the 2nd half. Particularly with the wind. Score: 10-24
2nd 0:30: That was HORRIBLE blocking. How can you as a lineman not get out to that guy and pick him up so that Bigelow can focus on running down field. That could have been big.
2nd 0:05: Hail Mary is all we’ve got now for the half. Thankfully we get the ball to start the 2nd.
2nd 0:00: WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!?! That’s the sort of moment that makes me worry that Dykes and Co. is amateur-hour coaching. There’s no benefit to what they did. If anything it’s just an excuse for a pick-6.

Halftime thoughts:
How many games have gone like this… Cal gets in hole. Cal does something to close the gap and bring the game back into play. But it’s like they’ve used up everything they have and just when they’re back in it, the opposition explodes and it feels like it was all for naught.

The defense just looks tired right now. The power running game of Colorado is starting to bowl over the Cal defense and their passing game is still working, despite the tough conditions (have to give it to their QB for being successful in the conditions). I have a feeling it’s only going to get uglier from here.

Cal needs to find some big halftime adjustments to get back in this one and I just don’t know what sort of options there might be. The cupboard is pretty bare. The bag of tricks is pretty empty. What other worthless platitudes could I use?

3rd 13:00: While not the worst set of plays, the Bears needed more than that on the 1st drive of the 2nd half. They needed a score.
3rd 12:45: Didn’t I say the Bears could use a big interception? YES!
3rd 12:00: Again, a lack of situational awareness. Why are we throwing a 4 yard out on 3rd and long? I even get why you might throw something a few yards short under the thought that between the run after catch and it’s a situation you might go for it on 4th… but THAT was NOT it. Ridiculous. I’m getting really frustrated. I feel like I’ve been patient in waiting to see improvement. And we should be beyond this point by now.
3rd 10:30: Nice stop again on 3rd down by the defense. These guys aren’t giving up. I think they got pretty tired at the end of the 1st half, but the effort is there. I fear we’ll see the same tiredness problem late in the game.
3rd 10:30: Off-topic controversial question of the day: Is Algazira (sp?) America news actually a good alternative to the ridiculously bad major networks (and FoxNews) or is it just a mouth-piece of Muslim radicals? (and yes, I know it need not be an either or)
3rd 10:20: Goff is looking worse as the game wears on. And I fear we won’t have enough commitment to the run game (although the playcalling hasn’t shown that yet)
3rd 9:50: That was a pretty bad spot. But if history tells us anything, the replay booth is VERY reluctant to over rule spot issues.
3rd 9:50: See? (watch for the fake)
3rd 7:00: WOW the switch to Kline. I didn’t expect that. But you know what, the way Goff is struggling, it’s not a bad move. One thing you can’t say about Dykes is that he’s afraid to make a bold move.
3rd 6:50: And then Kline makes a bungle that was far more stereotypical of Goff.
3rd 4:00: Cal defense is starting to look tired again. And why shouldn’t they? The offense isn’t doing anything to give them a rest.
3rd 3:50: Definitely WIAT, those stands look pretty dang empty. I wonder how much the conditions have to do with that and how much the weakness of the team is the issue? In either case, even Memorial hasn’t been that empty.
3rd 2:30: OK, who’s the bozo who voted in the poll after the end of the 1st half? Of COURSE the Bears are going to lose NOW!?!
3rd 0:40: The tired D finally holds, but in the redzone and the field-goal is converted. This game is effectively over. Score: 10-27
4th 15:00: This game feels like it is just going through the motions at this point. I’m sure Kline doesn’t feel that way. But you watch, he’s not going to do anything that impressive. Goff has his problems, but Kline hasn’t shown me anything better either.
4th 14:30: That sort of high-risk play that the backup QB is more willing to make, is not something to write home about. At a different time, that’s a painful interception.
4th 13:00: That’s what a tired defense who is just going through the motions occasionally gives up. And YO announcers… this wasn’t the nail in the coffin. It’s been over for a while now.
4th 12:00: What’s going on with the QBs? Was Goff dealing with a minor injury? Needed to warm up? Dykes sending a message? Very hard to speculate. But I really didn’t expect to see Goff back.
4th 7:30: Colorado still all over the Cal WR screens.
4th 6:00: Cal drives the field late in the game. I guess this could be the beginning of an epic comeback, but it feels more like garbage time points. Score: 17-34
4th 6:00: Speaking of garbage… that onside kick attempt. I get what they were trying to do, but you just CAN NOT let the guy run it back for a TD. So much for the “comeback”: 17-41
4th 5:30: Imagine if there had been no onside kicks today… the score would theoretically be 17-27. Special teams issues have killed the Bears the last two games.
4th 1:30: More garbage time points. Doesn’t matter if it should have been Lawler or if it was Bigelow… it’s still garbage time points. Score: 24-41
4th 1:20: Man, THAT is one empty stadium. It’s gotta be freezing.
4th 1:15: Cal recovers the onside kick this time. That’s the right way to do it as it is defended these days… right up the middle, in between the two defensive groups, and the kicker and one or two others follow/pounce on it after it goes 10 yards.
4th 0:55: Sad that a desperation pseudo-Hail-Mary breaks Goff’s interception free streak.

Final score: 24-41

Really disappointing game. Thus ends the live-blog.

For the first time in a long time, the Bears were competitive in a game. Arizona was as suspect as I thought and the Cal defense did a reasonable job of keeping their one strength in line. All we needed was for the offense to be reasonably competent for all 4 quarters and the Bears would have a MUCH needed win under its belt.

Instead, we got a fist half with pathetic play calling outside the first drive and the last couple (so bad that it resulted in giving up a safety) and an interception in the 2nd half where Goff and Harper were AMAZINGLY not on the same page. That resulted in the final 7 points for Arizona that ultimately put the game out of reach. (The other interception was not nearly as bad, just thrown a little late and not over the top enough.)

Dab-nabbit! We really, really, really, really, needed that one!

So I find myself going back and forth, fighting myself. Should I be happy about the positives I saw? Or should I be disgusted that in game 9 we’re just starting to see these improvements? Should I be looking at the potential on the field if the Bears continue to improve? Or should I be looking at just how far the Bears are from where they need to be to beat the better teams in this conference?

I’ll let you know how the internal fight works out in my next post…

Football is an amazingly stupifying sport. Prognosticators such as myself can try to say they know what is going to happen, but we’re constantly humbled by reality.

Who amongst us after the first 3 games would think that the problem going into the 2nd half of the season would be our inability to score points?

I, like everyone else, was of the mind that we could win a few shootouts, but the defense was going to be the weak link. SURPRISE! Now the problem is the offense is putting the defense on the field after the fastest 3 and outs in the country and their mediocre talent is doing it’s best but can’t be expected to work miracles.

Where did the offense go?

I think there is a few things:

1. Improved competition: Has anyone else noticed how mediocre Northwestern is? Or how many points Ohio State is allowing? The reality was those first 3 games, particularly their defenses, weren’t what they were billed to be. Oregon, Oregon State and Washington have all had better defenses.
2. Game film has help opponents: It’s very tough for defenses to prepare for early season games against new head coaches. Looking at the team’s old games only shows the talent. Looking at the coach’s previous school doesn’t reflect how he’s changing it at the new school. However, by the time we got into conference schedule, they had plenty of game film to digest and exploit.
3. Goff has regressed: It’s actually easier for a confident true freshman to go out for his first game than his 4th. He hasn’t made any mistakes that can be the demons in his head yet. You can tell Goff is just a little bit more cautious and hesitant these days. He’s definitely regressed.

I think the long term doesn’t look so bad for the offense, but the rest of the season is going to be pretty rough. And considering the defense, while improved, still isn’t great, the offense is going to have to get A LOT better for Cal to win any more games.