(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 Michigan State game, Cal’s 2008 Big-10 opponent with Minnesota, the 2009 Big-10 opponent. For the rest of the games, all conference games, I can do an exact matchup comparision from 2008 to 2009. Go here for past posts.)

Pre-Game notes and thoughts:
For the 3rd year in a row the Bears started off the season with their toughest non-conference game (Tennessee getting that distinction in the two previous seasons). After the previous year’s success against Tennessee at home, there was a lot of confidence that the Bears could take on Michigan State. However, with Riley getting only his 2nd start there was reason to be concerned about the inexperience there. Additionally, it was the first game for Cal’s new 3-4 defense. While there was a lot of talent at linebacker, a new formation is always something to be a bit concerned about. So generally, as with all Cal teams of late, there was optimism mixed with concern to start the season and it didn’t help that the first opponent was such a formidable one.

Scoring and momentum changing plays:

• Consecutive big penalties setup 1st and 40 for Michigan State who was marching down the field and was inside the Cal 30 before the penalties, ends the scoring threat.
• 2 drives later Cal blocks the punt on the MSU goal line by Bret Johnson and it is picked up by Nnabuife who ran it for a touchdown. Bears up early: 7-0
• Anger kicks his 2nd booming punt pinning MSU back deep in their territory yet again. His kicks have been ensuring Cal is winning the field position game.
• After Best’s running game comes alive and the Bears have their first sustained drive, Seawright kicks the field goal on 4th and 1. Bears extend their early lead: 10-0
• MSU has to kick the field goal after the instant replay takes back what looked like a touchdown pass. To add injury to insult, the 40 yard field goal attempt is wide left.
• Longshore throws 2 interceptions in quick succession, the 2nd of which getting returned for a touchdown. Bears lead eroded all too quickly: 10-7
• Best finishes off the drive he started with a 33 yard swingout pass with a 2 yard touchdown run. Bears get their touchdown back: 17-7
• Syd intercepts a wounded duck of a pass that kills another potential scoring drive that had reached the Cal 11 yard line with less than a minute left in the half. Bears go into the locker room with a 10 point lead.
• Anger can’t corral a good snap from Sundberg and tries to punt on the run and is tackled. It gives MSU the ball in the Cal redzone.
• Ringer was able to rush it in from there. Bears down to a field goal lead again: 17-14
• After Riley got a 42 yard pass to Sean Young to get the ball down into the redzone, Riley caps off the drive with a TD pass to Morrah. Bears get back their 10 point lead: 24-14.
• MSU decided to punt from the Cal 40 but Kendricks roughs the kicker giving MSU a fresh set of downs at the Cal 25.
• Ringer gets a 10 yard TD run on the end of that drive. Lead back down to a field goal: 24-21
• On 3rd down Kevin Riley gets off a play as he is being sacked that he inexplicably manages to to get to Morrah for not only a 1st down but an extra 15 yards, keeping the drive alive.
• After Best takes it down to the 5 yard line on an outside run tip-toeing down the sideline, Riley connects with Ta’ofo’ou on a rollout play for a touchdown. Bears get their 10 point lead back: 31-21
• Hagan and MSU WR Dell have a simultaneous catch (really 70% Hagan and 30% Dell, but those sorts of things don’t count in the rulebook) on a long pass down the middle, giving MSU the ball at the Cal 24 yard line.
• Cal holds from there and MSU kicks the field goal. The Bears lead is down to a touchdown: 31-24
• On the first play of the ensuing drive, Vereen takes it 81 yards off tackle for a HUGE touchdown. The Bears have their first 14 point lead: 38-24
• After a near-interception is overturned by the replay booth, Dell gets another pass, this time in traffic where somehow all three Bears around him miss on the tackle and Dell is able to sprint into the endzone. Bears lead down to a touchdown again: 38-31
• The Bears get the clock down to 48 seconds with a 1st down or two, making life really difficult for MSU on their final drive and attempt to tie the game. MSU can’t convert on 4th down from mid-field and the Bears are able to run out the clock.

Observations:

• Tavecchio has his first kickoffs as a Bear and is kicking just outside the Cal 10 yard line.
• There’s no doubt that Longshore was forcing things. Even his successful throws were dangerous and aggressive throws. He was playing things on the worrisome side. His two interceptions not only sealed his starter fate, I think it also killed his confidence.
• Boateng really had a bad game dropping the ball. While it was something that got better over the course of the year, we’re seeing the same thing again at the start of the 2009 season.
• Best really got his motor running in the 2nd quarter after getting stuffed in the 1st. Once he breaks one for even 10 or 15 yards, it really gets inside the defense’s heads with his explosive speed. That seems to loosen up the shorter running game because the defense isn’t willing to be as aggressive for fear of getting burned.
• Vereen also got going in the 2nd quarter and was really an important component of the Cal running game. It gave Best a lot of rest when he needed it but at the same time picked up some critical 1st downs.
• The defense really had the MSU running game bottled up. Ringer was never able to get his feet under him. He wasn’t able to pick up 1st downs and he wasn’t able to bust any big runs. The defense was clearly trying to force MSU to beat them through the air.
• By the time the 4th quarter had rolled around MSU had somewhat answered that challenge from the Bears and had figured out how to be productive passing the ball in small increments. The fact that they were able to get 3-5 yard pickups on high percentage passing plays really helped them have easier 3rd down conversions than earlier in the game.
• This was really Sean Young’s one good game of the 2008 season, which on the one hand sounds bad at first blush, but you have to give Young a lot of credit for being the leaders and leading the way for the young/inexperienced guys. That he had one good game to show the young guys how it was done was only icing on the cake.
• In the 4th quarter Seawright took over for Tavecchio on kickoff duty. While Tavecchio started off OK (but not exceptional), he just kept getting worse and worse. Unfortunately a sign of things to come.
• Anger was never quite himself, although he only got two punts to test this, after he was tackled as he tried to get off the punt on the run in the 3rd quarter. That injury would stick with him for a handful of games early in the season, including the road loss to Maryland.

Implications for 2009:
Michigan State was a very similar offense to what we can expect to see from Minnesota. However, Minnesota really relies on their one good WR and they don’t have a running back like Ringer. Defensively, Minnesota may just have a better linebacker core than Michigan State and they’ll need it if they’re going to slow down Cal’s offense. Riley looked really good in this game and his throwing form and accuracy were better than they were later in the 2008 season. In many ways I expect a similar game versus Minnesota with perhaps MSU having more heart and talent to stay in the game than Minnesota will.

Conclusion:
I really like these big games to start the season, as much as they make us all a bit uneasy. It’s a bit unfortunate that Maryland is having a down year because the game with them could have been a big one if Maryland had been on the rise from 2008, not the decline. This win over Michigan State puts the Bears at 5-0 versus the Big-10. Can that continue?