(Written by kencraw)

Well, I’m here in sunny Oregon on a beautiful day in Corvalis. Jason is at home watching the game. Let’s get straight to it:

12:31 – (before kickoff): The stadium is 85% full here just before kickoff. It’s supposed to be bursting from the seams before too long here. Spirits are high. They just showed the last play of last years game on the big-screen and the crowd errupted. Lots of fireworks as the OSU Beavers come onto the field.

12:33 – Cal has a REALLY small contingent, maybe 200 people, separated in two areas. They did bring the straw-hat band. The team looks patient as they wait their turn to come down the tunnel to the field. They came on pretty quietly without much booing, as is the norm in Berkeley for the visitors.

12:37 – OSU won toss and deferred.

12:38 (kickoff) – A great return by Best. Only pulled down by his facemask at the OSU 40, giving the Bears the ball at the 26 yard-line. What a great start!

12:39 (14:45) – And then Ross does the impossible bouncing off two tackles to give 1st and goal from the 8. A rough spot to be 1st and goal, but let’s see what they can do. Jason says: “Remember when guys would tackle other guys?”

12:41 (13:05) – TOUCHDOWN! 5 wide worked for the Bears. Much better than the direct snap to Best on 2nd down. Jason says: “Direct snap trickery. Maybe that’s the answer — the no-QB offense.” And “Can the offense still look inept and yet score?” Looks like it, Jason. The particularly good news is that it shut the crowd up real quick. 7-0

12:45 (12:54) – Well, it doesn’t do much good to have a great kickoff return of your own when you give it right back. Did both teams leave the special teams defenses at home? Jason says, “So, back to even. Like the first 2 minutes never happened.” Yup, including quieting the crowd. 7-7

12:49 (11:35) – That was a really powerful rush for OSU on 3rd down. That’s going to be a problem if the Bears can’t get it under control. Punting for the 1st time and Anger only gets a 39 yarder off, OSU gets ball at own 47.

12:54 (10:03) – Big win for Bears… they’re not the first to blow a timeout for bad clock management!

12:56 (9:24) – Just like playing center-field, huh Syd? A big momentum changing interception gives Bears the ball back. Also should give OSU some gitters about throwing the ball down the field.

12:59 (7:05) – Bears have to punt after getting one 1st down running the ball. Jason says: “Before the game the TV sideline reporter asked Mike Riley how he was going to shut down the “high-powered Cal offense.” I’d like to know where that offense has been hiding, so we could cart it out and then see if OSU could shut it down… This game appears to be on the shoulders of the defense. Welcome to your 2008 Cal Bears.” But Anger does great punt and gets ball down to OSU 11.

1:00 (6:56) – Announcer says crowd is over 45k and a Reser stadium record. It looks pretty darned full now, but they’re not as loud as they were at beginning of game.

1:04 – Jason says: “USC fans are sending me messages encouraging Cal to win. Has it come to this, Trojans?” I think it has. It’s nothing personal, they’ll be rooting for Arizona next week and Oregon after that if we can’t get it done.

1:07 (3:53) – Nearly anther pick. OSU had better be careful. And also a near punt block. Too bad that Syd got tackled right off the bat.

1:09 (2:58) – Bubble screen doesn’t work for Bears either: “Good to see that our first-down play of choice is the still loss of yardage.” Well, there’s a lot of different ways for the coaching staff to ensure that, so they go with the percentages. Next two plays aren’t any better and Anger is back out on the field. Jason says: “So this is three straight quarters of Riley not looking good.” And “So… kick coverage is not strong today.” Horrible, horrible, horrible. The Bears really need to turn the corner. It only took one play: 7-14.

1:15 (1:02) – Vereen got shaft on 1st down and they took away his forward progress for no good reason. Riley does his best to make sure that the Bears do nothing to recover with two off the mark passes. Bears punting again and while we’re on the subject, Anger is looking down right pathetic. 29 yards. He looks like he’s droping the ball too soon and can’t get through it.

1:30 (9:30 2nd) – Lost my blog connection for a while… Beavers drove the entire field including converting a 2nd and 30. Despite numerous mistakes by OSU, the holes in the zone keep letting them off the hook. Jason had tons of comments during “the break” which can be summed up as “ugh”. Thankfully Cal holds them to a field-goal that bounces off the up-right but good. Cal down by 10: 7-17.

1:39 (7:44) – TOUCHDOWN. Some trickery on the fake WR screen to WR pass from Ross to Boateng. “trickery…Ross, player of the game…Ross for QB…And RB…And returner…And punter.” And “Tavecchio with the efficient extra point.
As little space used as possible.” Not sure I agree on the returner bit. Best did better with chance. But you may be right on the rest.

1:42 (7:37) – Although I’m not happy to see Tavecchio trying to be “efficient” on the kickoff too. Luckily the coverage is better. Mohammed ROCKs the QB so hard the ref thinks it had to be a pass the way the ball flew out on 3rd down. Beavers have to punt.

1:47 (5:54) – Tucker has GOT to come up with that catch. That would have been HUGE! Luckily it should help keep the defense honest. Best has great run on 2nd for 3rd and 2 that Bears convert to get new set of downs.

1:52 (3:32) – But Morrah has to out-do Tucker and sink the Bears on 3rd and 4 by dropping a catch that he’s got no excuse for dropping. Bears then decide to go for it, er, botch the punt snap, er, whatever and give the Beaver the ball around their own 40.

1:57 (2:00) – At least the ref is consistent. He took 5 yards away from Rodgers when he tried to get out of the tackle. It was a similar, although not as obvious case against Cal in 1st quarter.

2:01 (1:29) – I’m not sure I like this call of a timeout by Cal. Do we really want another shot before halftime with less than 1 1/2 minutes? And do we really want to give OSU a chance to re-think going for it on 4th and 6 from the 32 instead of trying to kick the long FG?

2:04 (1:21) – OK Bears, just nothing stupid like a turnover here. Although something more productive than these first two plays would be appreciated… and they take the knee. Halftime score: 14-17.

2:07 (Halftime) – Jason jumps in with the first Valuable Halftime Analysis (brought to you by Charlie Brown for Congress – let the recount continue!): “For a team that has played as terribly as Cal has, it is a miracle that they’re this close.” Got to agree with that. The Bears seem to have gotten their act together in the 2nd quarter. A little trickery shows the Bears are going to keep the play calling diverse. The defense is starting to clamp down and if a few of OSU’s mistakes could bite them a little harder, the Bears could get back in this one. A key possession is the one right after the break because OSU scoring would really hurt. Riley seems to be a 2nd half QB so perhaps he can clean up his act… and then the receivers need to, you know, catch the ball… and stuff.

2:20 – Man, at OSU the ENTIRE fan base leaves their seats at halftime. There were literally 1 out of 15 seats full a couple minutes ago. Theyr’e all out in the parking lot drinking. I know, I know, what’s a parking lot?

2:29 (Start of 3rd) – What!?! Seriously, how do you kick it THAT badly. Nice way to start, giving OSU the ball at the 40.

2:36 (12:36) – There seems to be some corelation between OSU driving and my blog connection… In any case, this will be a key goal-line stand for Bears if they can pull it off. Down by 6 is huge compared to down by 10.

2:39 (11:45) – Well, it wasn’t pretty but the hold does keep the game in reach. Bears down by 6: 14-20.

2:47 (10:22) – Unbelievable. This review booth is ridiculous. The OSU guy who caught the ball out of bounds isn’t over-turned. And then when the ball is clearly moving forward the review both calls it a fumble. Just ridiculous. I don’t mind much the miss on the field. We’re all human, particularly with the time constraints of a ref. But there is no excuse in the booth for, you know, actually seeing something approaching reality.

2:49 (9:20) – On the plus side Anger is still shanking the ball.

2:51 (8:06) – Horrible pursuit by the Bears on two reverses. Both plays the contain men where there and both times they didn’t get there. Now the game is very much in jeopardy. The Bears need a touchdown ASAP and find some ability to hold the OSU offense. This is getting ugly… and Jason is off at a birthday party… notice how these road games always go downhill after he leaves, coincidence?

2:56 (7:38) – Riley’s got to get rid of that ball. Just can’t take this many sacks. Hopefully he can continue to throw like that last ball that bailed out the Bears. 1st down!

2:58 (6:43) – TOUCHDOWN! Well for once the offense did there part and Best gets his obligatory big run for a TD run for this game. Now it’s back to 6 points. That’s workable if the defense can get their act together.

3:00 (6:37) – Tedford yanks Tavecchio for Kay, who at least keeps it in-bounds… albeit at the 17. It’s really not this hard guys.

3:02 (5:30) – Defense holds. No thanks to Conte who comes off his guy to nearly give up the 1st down. Let’s see if the offense can keep the ball moving.

3:06 (4:40) – Man, it’s AMAZING what one penalty can do. The Bears were looking good with 2nd and 4. Then a hold (questionable call too) puts the Bears back and all of a sudden it’s a passing situation and the Beaver defense can force a punt. Defense needs another hold here…

3:12 (end of 3rd) – Well, the defense is starting to look tired and Rodgers is wearing them down. He’s a great runner. I don’t know how OSU keeps finding these great backs but their lineage is incredible considering their recruiting ‘station’. I’m a big believer in taking a timeout on defense when the boys in the trenches look tired. I would have taken it about 2 minutes prior to this when OSU was just out of field-goal range. Now the Beavers are well inside field-goal range and even holding to a field-goal will still put OSU up by two scores. I don’t know that the Cal offense has two 4th quarter scores in them.

3:19 (14:11 4th) Well the Bears get a minor break and the replay booth proves they have eyes overturning a difficult call on the field. Then the REAL break is that OSU misses the field-goal. The Bears are only down by one score and that’s HUGE. The offense needs to take advantage of this!

3:25 (12:40) But they don’t. Punting again. Anger finally punts a good one but the coverage is completely jammed at the line and a big run-back ensues. Thankfully a block in the back sinks OSU’s return and they get the ball at their own 37. Pretty good considering Cal kicked from within their own 5.

3:28 (10:56) Bear defense still looks tired. Perhaps they get it done here, but even if they do, the way the clock is moving, the Bears have two possessions at the most left to score.

3:30 (9:45) Punt is nearly blocked after high snap. They get it off and it rolls down to 12 yard-line. OK Bears. The time is now. You’ve got to find some offense.

3:36 (7:49) I know the Bears need to show some run balance, but it’s not working. I’m not saying you don’t mix it in to keep them honest, but it’s still frustrating the ineffectiveness of the run game. The patchwork offensive line is a problem. Luckily the holes in the passing defense are there when they pass. If only Riley can get enough time to find them.

3:39 (7:01) Another dropped ball kills the Bears again. That was a first down waiting to happen if Best could have just held on. Punting again. The Bears probably get one more shot at this. The talent is there, they just need to execute.

3:42 (6:30) Rodgers is wearing down the Bears. I’m really impressed with his ability to both slip through very small holes but also to power his way forward. He’s another great OSU back in the making as a freshman.

3:45 (4:20) That might have been a back-breaker. Completing a pass for a 1st down when the Bears finally had a break with the false start. Moevao had ALL DAY to throw with no pressure. Zone defenses don’t do well with that.

3:47 (2:25) Moevao makes life real it by getting a first down with just over 2 minutes left and only 1 timeout left for Cal.

I’m going to have to wrap up this LiveBlog now to go down to the field to do player and coach interviews.