(Written by kencraw)

(We continue the looking back series for the 2008 season. Unlike prior seasons where I did these games in chronological order, I’m going to do them as what will look like previews for this year’s match up. I’m matching the Colorado State game, last year’s non-BCS opponent with the 2009 non-BCS opponent, Eastern Washington. Next week I’ll match Michigan State, Cal’s 2008 Big Ten opponent with Minnesota, the 2009 Big Ten opponent. Go here for past posts.)

Pre-Game notes and thoughts:
Although it wasn’t intended to be sequential, the 2008 Colorado State game was directly after the 2008 Maryland game. The Bears had been shocked on the East Coast and as a result had fallen back out of the rankings they had just risen into. To make life just that little bit more complicated, the Bears had struggled a bit the previous year against Colorado State. It took the Bears far too long to build a lead and then at the end Cal let Colorado State back into the game with a couple late big pass plays allowed. The Bears had survived that 2007 scare, but after the Maryland debacle, it was very scary to have what should be an easy win be against a team that scared the Bears the previous year. Add in the bye week in between Maryland and Colorado State and the fact that the Pac-10 was 0-5 versus the Mountain West (CSU’s conference) thus far and there were just too many intangibles for Bears to fear to be anything but nervous.

Scoring and momentum changing plays:

• Best took the opening kickoff across midfield, including attempting to reverse his field to extend, but was tackled just on the other side of midfield.
• Riley throws underneath on 3rd down and comes up short on what was likely a bad read, forcing a punt on the 1st possession. Anger then punts into the endzone, killing any benefit of Best’s kickoff return.
• Best fumbles the ball when a CSU helmet forces it out, after a couple 1st downs, giving CSU the ball back around midfield.
• Kendricks blocks the punt and Nabuffee scoops up the CSU punt and runs it in for a touchdown. Bears out in front on a special teams TD: 7-0
• Brett Johnson intercepts a slant pattern by the CSU QB and runs it in for a TD. Bears score twice in less than a minute: 14-0
• Rulon Davis and Tyson Alualu meet at the quarterback for a big sack on 3rd and 7 ending CSU’s most promising drive so far.
• Vereen took the direct snap on 1st and goal from the 6 and was hit hard after he was turned around, coughing up the ball, killing a scoring opportunity for the Bears.
• Bears get a coverage sack on 4th down in Cal territory ending CSU’s last real scoring chance of the 1st half.
• Riley finds Boateng on a slant from just outside the redzone for a touchdown. The offensive finally gets on the board: 21-0
• Syd’Quan takes a punt off a bounce and then spins out of a tackle to take the punt up the sideline before cutting it back to the middle of the field en route to the endzone. Bears still only have one offensive TD but up big: 28-0
• Hagan jumps a slant route to get a Cal interception around midfield. While it wasn’t a great drive yet, it had been one of CSU’s better one in a long time. This put an end to that.
• Conte is beat on a go route and CSU converts a 63 yard pass for their first redzone trip.
• But then CSU tries a trick play with a halfback pass that is bobbled before being thrown up as a wounded duck that Cameron Jordan intercepts, killing CSU’s best scoring opportunity of the game by far.
• Longshore finds Ross on a slant pattern from just outside the redzone for another TD, very similar to Riley’s touchdown pass. Bears still holding the shutout while growing their lead: 35-0
• Conte trails another receiver, this time on a crossing route and CSU is able to connect on another long one, this one down to the Cal 2 yard line. CSU takes three runs to pound it in from there. Cal loses the shutout: 35-7
• Longshore throws another TD on a crossing route to Cameron Morrah against the grain who walks into the endzone. Bears finally up big: 42-7

Observations:

• The Bears defensive line and linebackers were manhandling the CSU offensive line. The talent differential was very obvious in that match up. It was less obvious on the other side of the ball with the O-line having a harder time being so dominant.
• Because of the special teams touchdown followed by the interception for a touchdown, the Bears offense had not been on the field for over 10 minutes of the game. All-in-all Cal only ran 9 plays in the 1st quarter and did not score on offense.
• Best and Vereen’s fumbles in the first 20 minutes of the game were a big hit to the offensive effectiveness early in the game. If this was something they did regularly throughout the season it would have been devastating. They could get away with it against CSU.
• Riley did not look sharp in the 2nd quarter, with a number of mis-throws and some bad reads to boot. If it weren’t for the running game, Cal would have been 3 and out numerous times in a row in the 2nd quarter.
• The wide receiver inexperience was also obvious in the 1st half, the pinnacle of which being Sean Young dropping a long TD pass that Riley threw perfectly that went right though his hands.
• Best was in the game with 10 minutes left in the 3rd and the Bears up 28-0 when Best hyper-extended his elbow, an injury that would affect him all season. With the offense sputtering in the 1st half it’s understandable why Tedford wanted the starters in longer to work on their timing and precision. However, it’s an important reminder of how keeping the best players healthy should be a key goal of the weakest non-conference game.
• Rulon Davis also broke his foot during this portion of the game and was out for most of the rest of the season.
• Nate Longshore came in with 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter after having not played in the Maryland game. But having played garbage time in the WSU game, it was not surprising to see him in for garbage time versus CSU.
• Nate actually out-performed Riley, but it’s not really a fair comparison because CSU was doing all sorts of defensive substitutions to get their young guys playing time. Nevertheless the coaching staff and the players took notice.
• Conte had a really tough game as corner in garbage time. It was probably this game more than any other that solidified him as a backup and not a contender to replace Hagan.
• In the end it was the defense that won this game. Yes, the offense finally matched the defense and special team’s point production at 21, but they did it late. And the reason they were able to have so many opportunities to get it right is because the defense kept forcing punts and giving the offense back the ball without the urgency of the score being close.

Implications for 2009:
The biggest impact of the CSU game on the 2008 season was the injuries to Best and Rulon Davis. Cal couldn’t get any offensive rythym in the 1st half and that meant the blowout didn’t start nearly as early as it should have. As a result starters like Best were in the game longer than they otherwise would have been. If the Bears want to be able to pack up early and save their stars this year against E. Washington, they need to get in rythym offensively early and put the game away early. Don’t forget that Longshore went down for the season against Sac State, so it’s not like it’s without precedent.

Conclusion:
As much as it’s nice to have an easy win on the schedule, these games are dangerous. Between injury risk and the damage that a loss would have on the program and it’s not wise to take these games lightly.