(Written by kencraw)

Here are my thoughts after re-watching the game:

• The unsung hero of Best’s first TD run was definitely Tucker with his down field block. You also have to give credit to Best for making use of that block and being patient, but Tucker hustled to get down there and then did a great job of keeping between the defender and Best.
• Cal got really lucky on that ineligible receiver down field that stopped a TD. The Cal D didn’t play it like the was ineligible (in fact, he didn’t catch the TD). Instead it was just a lucky break.
• That wasn’t the only penalty that made life easier for the Bears. While I wouldn’t say the others were lucky breaks, it’s hard to debate that 3rd and 1 turning into 3rd and 16 based on Maryland errors doesn’t make the defenses job a lot easier, particularly in the 1st quarter (5 penalties against Maryland in quarter).
• DJ Campbell did a great job on the kickoff return where Chris Little forced the fumble. Maryland had a player on top of the ball but Campbell forced himself in there and got his back in between the Maryland player and the ball to strip it from him. A great fumble recovery. The Bears practice this sort of thing a lot and I’ve now seen a number of fumbles where Cal’s fumble recovery skills were very important to getting the ball (the Oregon rain-game with the bobbled punt return comes to mind).
• While Brian Holley had a pretty good game overall, he really blew it on a sweep play to Best. His inability to get a block on the outside linebacker forced Best to turn it up into the O-Line for a loss on what otherwise was looking to be a big gainer for Best.
• While Brian Anger never got off one of his signature booming punts, he had a VERY consistent game with very good directional punting. He continues to improve his game.
• If there was one area that the Bears defense seemed a little vulnerable it was the TE passes over the middle. Usually that’s a pass that the Cal defense locks down, but there were a number of 1st downs on that pattern for Maryland.
• While it didn’t burn the Bears overall, the Terps ran a handful of designed QB run plays. Clearly nobody was expecting that. I wonder what the story was on that? Why did Maryland decide to run them… new twist to offense? Thought they saw some weakness in Cal defense? Hard to say.
• I had big hopes for Owusu based on his performance in spring ball, but he kept fading, at least from how the coaches were talking about him, in fall practice. But his performance against Maryland confirms my instinct that he was going to have a breakout year. You’re going to see a lot of sacks and near sacks because of him.
• An example of where Holley performed well was his one carry of the game on 3rd and 1. After getting plugged up behind the line, he powered his way around the defensive end for a 1st down. I was pretty concerned about Holley before Saturday night. I’m not anymore.
• About the only point during the game that I saw any indication of this “scary” Maryland pressure defense was when Cal had 1st and goal from the 9 yard line. They forced Riley to throw early and they sacked him, forcing the field goal from D’Amato. But otherwise, the Maryland defense looked pretty vanilla. That said, a lot of times a defense looks much more mediocre when the offensive line and protection schemes of the offense do a good job of handling the defensive pressure.
• Speaking of D’Amato, while we didn’t get much of a chance to see him in action (other than extra points and a field goal that was like an extra point after a holding call), what we did see of him inspires a lot of confidence. In particular was the elevation he gets on his kicks. I doubt we’ll see him blocked if he keeps that up.
• One just can’t say enough about how awesome the combination of Marvin Jones and Verran Tucker is. What is really exceptional about them is there ability to haul in the tough ones. Riley threw two passes to Jones that mere mortals would have not been even able to get to but Jones was able to leap high to get them and just as importantly he had the hands to hold on to them as he got nailed. Tucker did the same thing with a deep pass where he was blatantly fouled. But instead of only getting the 15 yards for the penalty, Tucker held on to the the 30+ yards from the catch.
• Riley seemed much more mobile than he did last year. You get the feeling that with Longshore looking over his shoulder Riley was more concerned with not ignoring the direction of the coaching staff and so overly avoided running, even when it was the right thing to do. Against Maryland, even though he didn’t run down field much if at all, he did prove much more elusive than in the past. Of particular note was avoiding the sack and throwing the TD pass in the 2nd quarter.
• Those two touchdowns towards the end of the 1st half were really the ones that sealed the game. 20-6 at halftime (assuming that Cal got the field goal on the first drive), would have been easy for Maryland to be hopeful about rallying against. But, particularly after that 2nd touchdown that increased the score from 24 to 31 with less than 30 seconds left in the half, really put the nail in the coffin.
• And then the Bears really stuck a fork in the Turtles by going for a quick TD score to start the 2nd half.
• I’m not quite sure I said in my podcast that the defense was not flashy/impressive because they had 6 sacks by early in the 3rd quarter. The more I see of them, the more I’m impressed with their play.
• The one play that was somewhat distressing in the game was the 3rd quarter touchdown run by Da’Rel Scott. Of course by that point Cal was substituting in a number of backups, but nevertheless, the over-pursuit from the Bears is a little bit distressing. If there had been a handful of big plays late in the game it would have been more distressing, but as a single instance that was not repeated, it’s hard to get to worked up about it (unlike the short kickoffs).
• One of the things I was happy about was the times when the various players were substituted. Best was pulled in the 3rd quarter as he should be, he’s our most important asset to protect and most likely to be injured in a freak play late in the game. Riley came out in the 4th quarter with enough time to give Mansion a few drives to get more playing time. True, he mostly just handed off the ball to DeBoskie-Johnson, but it was still additional game time. Hopefully Mansion will get more quality playing time late in the Eastern Washington game.
• I was really surprised that Maryland never kicked to Syd, pooching a bunch of short punts. I mean, Syd’s good, but he’s no DeSean. There’s no need to have a game long strategy to sky-ball punts to him. Or is it just that Maryland’s punter didn’t have the skills needed to drive it deep?

Overall a performance where it is hard to find much to complain about. Great job Marshall and Ludwig preparing for an unknown defense. Good job Gregory getting the defense ready to play and developing so much depth. Way to go Tedford for making the transition from super-offensive-coordinator to genuine head coach.

GO BEARS!

UPDATE on 9/8/09 at noon: Here’s a link to my post-game article over at BearTerritory.net: Two Plays of Note. I chose to examine a couple plays instead of going big picture. BearTerritory.net does a couple articles a week that are non-subscription just to give people a taste and this one is one of those.