(Written by kencraw)

(We continue our look at The Half Season Of Which We Shall Not Speak (THSOFWWSNS) with the ASU game. Go here for past posts.)

The pre-game Storyline:
It was the worst of the worst of times in Berkeley. The Bears had not only blown their shot at #1 but had gone on to lose two in a row. The Bears were now only ranked as a has been. Longshore had come out gimpy against UCLA, would he get back to form against ASU? Also, how for real was this undefeated but completely untested ASU team with their shiny new head coach.

The pre-game Reality:
Two weeks in a row of an underachieving offense gave all future opponents of the Bears a roadmap of how to beat them. It was no longer about just getting back on track, it was about retooling the team to adjust for their exposed weakness. Add to this a lowered sense of confidence and the knowledge that only a handful of lucky breaks could vault the Bears back into the Rose Bowl hunt, and the Bears were very vulnerable.

The key plays:

• Cal gets a sack on Rudy Carpenter on the very first drive of the game, forcing a 3-and-out for ASU.
• Longshore’s first two throws of the game are mis-throws, a bad sign of things to come.
• 44 yard field goal attempt by Kay was blocked on the Bears first drive.
• Carpenter is sacked again, forcing a fumble that Cameron Jordon picks up en-route to the endzone. Bears go up early: 7-0
• After another ASU 3-and-out, Kay makes a 41 yarder. Bears extended lead: 10-0
• After ANOTHER ASU 3-and-out Forsett breaks a big run on a swingout pass getting down to ASU 30.
• Longshore completes a nice pass over the middle to Stevens to get the ball down to the ASU 6.
• ASU defense holds forcing another Kay field goal. Bears have 4 scoring chances but only up: 13-0
• Carpenter nearly burns the Bears on a long TD throw, but the wide receiver drops the ball.
• ASU running back Nance finds a big hole for a long TD run. Bears lead shrinks: 13-7
• 2 passes from Longshore to Jordan and a reverse by Forsett puts Bears back in the redzone.
• Long fade pattern to DeSean Jackson complete for the first offensive touchdown for the Bears: 20-7
• Offside penalty nullifies Hampton interception.
• ASU converts on 4th and 1 from just outside redzone to keep drive alive.
• Cal gives up 2nd 4th and 1 on drive, this time on an illegal substitution penalty.
• ASU finally converts on goal-line series after the series of penalties and mis-steps by Bears. Lead drops to 6 again: 20-14
• Cal gets huge break on DeSean’s dropped punt return that would have given ball to ASU in Cal redzone with a minute left in the half. Instead, Cal gets the ball because the ref blew his whistle.
• Cal’s yardage edge in 1st half: 270-95. Score of 20-14 doesn’t do justice to Cal domination in 1st half.
• Carpenter completes 3 big passes to get from the shadow of his own goal-line into the Cal redzone very quickly.
• ASU converts third 4th and 1 in redzone, this one going for a TD. Bears in their first deficit: 20-21
• ASU converts a 47 yard field goal. Bears in 4 point hole: 20-24
• Longshore WAY under throws Jackson on what should have been an easy TD pass but instead was an interception.
• Longshore throws a second pick as his limping was becoming more severe. Throw was a bad read over the middle with nothing on it.
• With defense back on the field twice quickly after picks, they look tired as ASU running game starts working.
• To make matters worse, Rulon Davis goes down injured.
• Carpenter completes a TD pass on seam pattern. Bears in real trouble midway through 4th quarter: 20-31
• Cal goes 3-and-out as Longshore continues to look gimpy.
• ASU runs out clock on a 6 minute drive against a tired Cal defense, even with Cal’s 3 timeouts being used. Game over: 20-31

The forgotten

• Cal was extremely ineffective, point wise, in the 1st half. 5 scoring opportunities inside the ASU 30 resulted in only 13 points (other 7 came from defense).
• At the same time, ASU was extremely efficient with THREE 4th down conversions and all four redzone trips going for touchdowns.
• There were a TON of penalties in this game. I think Cal ended up with 13 and ASU had their share as well.
• Cal didn’t score at all in the 2nd half of the game.
• The only thing that went Cal’s way was the “instant” replays. All 3 of them went Cal’s way.
• I put the quotes around “instant” because these were the longest reviews in the history of college football. Two of them combined took close to a half hour of real time.
• That along with other slowing factors made this the longest game I’ve put on DVD. Even with all the commercials pulled out I couldn’t fit it on one DVD without significantly cutting into the content (including removing the entire set of “instant” replay reviews). It was a full 3 hours of content even so and over 4 1/2 hours real time.

The post-game storyline:
It was impossible to imagine the Bears sinking any lower. The Rose Bowl was now officially out of reach even though there were a couple of mathematically possible scenarios for the Bears to still make it. All that was left to fight for was pride. With Washington State on the schedule for the following week, it was hoped that the painful roadtrip could be put behind them and set the team up to get back on track before USC came to town in two weeks.

The post-game reality:
Longshore was every bit as injured as his performance indicated. It was particularly obvious in the 2nd half when the pain-killer shots had worn off. The teams weaknesses were fully exposed. That said, there was still a good deal of talent on this team if they could put the pieces back together.

The 2007 learnings:

• This was the first game where the Bears ineffectiveness around the redzone really showed.
• For the 2nd week in a row penalties were a killer for the Bears and there was little reason to believe it was just bad luck, but undisciplined play.
• The Bears, after making a strong showing on the road against Oregon, had now made two poor road showings in a row. A definite weakness to be sure.

The conclusion
This game was the most infuriating game of the 2007 season in my opinion. Oregon State could be excused because of the backup QB situation. UCLA could be excused because of their stout defense and a lot of the bounces going the wrong way for the Bears. But the Bears got all the breaks in the 1st half of this game and should have put it away early with a halftime score in the 31-7 range. Instead they had a one-score lead that was quickly erased in the 2nd half. Also, for the first time during the Tedford era I questioned his judgment. Longshore needed to come out after that 2nd pick. He was clearly hurt and it was not just minorly affecting his game but massively affecting his game.

While it wouldn’t go down as the most disgusting/inept loss of the season, it’ll be burned in my mind as the most infuriating.