(Written by jsnell)

8:58 PT: Hi everyone. Jason here, with Ken chipping in via instant message. We’re getting settled and ready to go. I’m microwaving my oatmeal, and no, that’s not a euphemism. Ken: “Are you ready for some Tour De France football?” What exactly is Lance Armstrong doing there on ESPN?

9:01 PT: We do these every year, but to recap: We’ll be tossing in commentary, but not play-by-play, really. Please listen to your radios or turn on the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments, if you are so inclined.

9:03 PT: Cal wearing all white. Fight on, you marshmallows!

9:05 PT: Ken: “Why do they have Best on the sideline after taking a knee… oh, nevermind.” Trick play with Vereen. A pass that didn’t work, but they get the first down anyway.

9:05 PT: Next play also a bit tricky, an end around. This one doesn’t work. But Tedford is airing out the playbook here. “Ken: I think that half-back pass to start the game is a bit too obvious at this point.”

9:08 PT: First pass of the game is Riley to Ross for a decent gain, but it’s a short out. Starting out conservative and feeling out Minnesota.

9:08 PT: ESPN guy just called him Jahvid Breast. Ken: “Say that 10 times fast. ‘Jahvid Best brings.'”

9:09 PT: Relatively conservative playcalling so far, but they keep moving the ball. And then, Touchdown Bears! Cal 7, Minnesota 0. A 33-yard run on the fake end-around, right after two uses of the real end-around. Ken: “Hello ESPN highlight reel!”

9:12 PT (9:51 Q1):Really interesting that the drive didn’t include a downfield pass. A trick play that didn’t really trick, a couple of end arounds, and a fake end around. Plus some up-the-middle hand-offs. And yet, it was extremely effective.

9:14 PT: Wow, look at Jahvid Best in a yellow shirt running it back across the 50. Oh, wait. That’s Minnesota’s number 4. Huh. Nice return. Ken: “I was about to say that the Bears did a great job with the backside contain and slowing him down before the cavalry arrived, but the cavalry didn’t bring their arms to actually, you know, tackle the guy.”

9:18 PT: Ken: “The fact that Minn is already resorting to trick plays on 3rd down shows the Minn coaching staff thinks they’re going to need a lot of lucky breaks to win.” Minnesota did a hook and lateral on 3rd and 15, which was well read by the Bears. After that big return, the Gophers have to punt.

9:20 PT: Best starts the next drive with a long run. My wife: “Holy cow. You gotta get that guy, guys.” Which is what we usually say when someone’s running amok on the Bears. The Gophers are trying to get that guy. They just aren’t fast enough.

9:21 PT: Riley to Tucker downfield for 59 yards. There’s the deep pass. Good touch, wasn’t underthrown, Verran Tucker keeps in stride and just like that, it’s 1st and goal. Ken: “So close. Tucker deserved that one.” Best takes it in for his second TD of the day — sorry, Verran — and it’s Touchdown Bears! Cal 14, Minnesota 0.

9:22 PT (7:09 Q1): Ken: “The Best Heisman Committee obviously told Tucker to trip on that one. That way Best has two TDs early.” So much for Cal being sleepy in this game.

9:24 PT: Our erstwhile compatriot Philip Michaels brings us Cal’s statement so far today.

We are quite good at playing football.
Except possibly on special teams.
Please give Best a gaudy trophy.
Love, Cal.

9:26 PT: First play of the Minnesota drive, a 15-yard penalty for an illegal chop block. Oh, Minnesota fans. I’ve been where you are. Get the ball back, already down, and watch your team make dumb penalties. Empathy! But now we must destroy you.

9:28 PT: Uni Watch: What’s with the two-tone yellow, Gophers? Bad look. Ken: “It looks like they’re doing synchronized sweating.”

9:31 PT: Ken: “I’m having flashbacks of Holmoe watching Minnesota. 2nd and 21… why not run it up the middle? 3rd and 20… ummmm…. call a timeout. And then drop it.”

9:32 PT: Riley fumbles it and somehow Minnesota doesn’t recover, despite the ball sitting there with a little post-it note stuck to it labeled “FOR YOU.” Announcers say it’s the first positive thing Minnesota has done all day. And yet it does nothing. But Riley goes too far downfield on third and long and it’s time for our first visit from Bryan Anger.

9:37 PT (0:44 Q1): Nice drive for Minnesota here, some good passes. But an Alu’alu sack, which is nice to see.

9:38 PT: End of First Quarter. Cal 14, Minnesota 0.

9:43 PT: Long pass downfield, touchdown Minnesota. Amazing hit by Cattouse to knock him out. Didn’t look like a TD to me, but I admit the angles we’ve seen aren’t conclusive. Ken thinks he bobbled it when he went down. Cal 14, Minnesota 7.

9:46 PT: Ken questions the call. I think they made the right call. Either way, I recommend that Cal keep scoring. Ken: “The key is to look at his hand position on the ball when his foot is down and then his hand position after he’s down. He’s got his hand over the nose of the ball when he first caught it and he’s got his hand aound the laces when he’s on the ground. All of that said, a great effort by Decker and a good throw to boot.”

9:50 PT: Riley sacked. Uncomfortable now. But Riley makes a good play under pressure and converts a first down to Boateng on third and long. Ken: “That’s a clutch 3rd down throw and catch. Boateng finally delivers this season.”

9:52 PT (13:00 Q2): Nice play by Best to elude three linebackers. I think he hit the O button there.

9:55 PT: Nice play for Verran Tucker to strip the interception and make it an incompletion. Ken: “Tucker shows he could have played corner.”

9:56 PT: Ken: “Big test for D’Amato here.” The freshman kicks it wide.

10:01 PT: Joe Paterno scares me.

10:03 PT: Announcer criticism. “Minnesota has all the momentum.” Except Cal just had a long drive (fruitless, I grant you) and then forced a three and out. And Jahvid Best has been quiet? Ken: “Yeah, those ‘quiet’ plays where Best gets half the defense to miss turning a big loss into a sizable gain really aren’t worth mentioning.”

10:07 PT: Ken: “Ross… you need to take a lesson from Best. A poor throw is not an excuse to drop it.” Best caught his bad pass, showing good hands. Ross dropped a pass that hit him right on the hands.

10:10 PT (Q2 3:47): Oh, look, Jahvid Best got a small sliver of open space. Touchdown Bears! Cal 21, Minnesota 7. Best on the 27-yard TD run.

10:13 PT: Oh, look, the kickoff went out of bounds. Again. Sign a soccer player or something, folks. Tavecchio is not getting it done.

10:18 PT: Sean Cattouse may taunt, but he also takes a dive to get the offsetting penalty. Sign him up for Italy’s World Cup team.

10:20 PT: Ken: “OK, we’re up by 14, but I think that play-calling was too conservative on 1st and 2nd down.” I think it’s because it’s the end of the half and they’re close to the end zone. They’d rather kick and defend then risk a pick.

10:23 PT: Kick-catch interference? Complete BS. The ball was there. Perfectly timed. What a terrible call by the officials. And he didn’t lower his helmet, either. I’d like a clarification on the rules here, please, because that was crap.

10:25 PT: Offsetting penalties. And now Minnesota has it at the 15. You can’t anticipate the crap kick-return call, but Ken certainly called it as a mistake to be so conservative and let the defense play. Touchdown Minnesota. Cal 21, Minnesota 14. And now Minnesota will go into the locker room feeling like they’re ahead, even though they’re behind. Ken: “Stinking HAGAN!?! What was he thinking?” Completely blew the play.

10:29 PT: Halftime. Cal 21, Minnesota 14.

10:31 PT: Ken: “OK, there’s one big upside to not having the momentum at half-time: The Bears won’t be complacent in the locker-room. That’s what has killed the Bears in a bunch of the games when they were up by one score or less at halftime but you could tell the Bears were too comfortable with their performance.”

10:32 PT: Lou Holtz scares me.

10:51 PT: And we’re back. Minnesota has the ball to start. Nice kickoff by D’Amato. Ken: “Um… D’Amato had that leg and we’ve been keeping him on the sideline!?!” Let the kid kick.

10:53 PT: Nice blitz and sack there on third down, forcing Minnesota to punt right away from deep in their end.

10:54 PT: Clueless blocker is hit by bouncing punt, Minnesota ball. I have to say, this almost happened to Cal in the Maryland game. Those guys downfield are not paying attention to where the ball is.

10:56 PT: This bad special-teams play is going to be the death of me.

10:57 PT: Ken: “Refs missed a big block in the back on Cameron Jordan that took him out of the play.”

10:58 PT: Big run for the Gophers, two missed tackles, but the ball is fumbled, and Cal gets it back. Big break.

11:03 PT: And Cal goes three and out and has to punt it away. Ken: “Two things on that QB draw: 1. He gave it away a 1/2 second too soon. 2. Not on 3rd and 5.”

11:05 PT: Ken: “And do you think, Mr. Announcer, you could have showed just a little bit more emotion than a GPS turn-by-turn direction computer regarding that SIXTY yard punt in the AIR!?!”

11:07 PT: That was the first sack I’ve seen where the guy was hit five times by four guys before he finally went down. Ken: “TACKLE! TACKLE! TACKLE!”

11:09 PT: Bit of a dangerous screen for Minnesota, but Cal read it and stopped it. Ken: “Again, another play where they didn’t tackle well.”

11:12 PT: There is nothing worse than watching a Cal receiver have the ball hit him on his hands and not catch the ball.

11:15 PT: Ken: “The Bears are playing pretty sloppy and it doesn’t help we’re not getting any breaks. Even the punts are bouncing the wrong way. That was a perfect punt by Anger.”

11:16 PT: Is this the reverse-half sleepiness that Stanford found last week against Wake Forest? I’m not liking how this is going.

11:19 PT: Lots of passes to Decker. He’s THEIR ONLY GUY. You’ve got to do a better job covering that guy. Ken: “I’m COMPLETELY at my wits end today. THEY’VE ONLY GOT ONE RECEIVER. HIS NAME IS DECKER! WAKE UP BEARS!?!”

11:20 PT: What did I say, he’s their only player. And Decker throws a touchdown pass to the backup QB. Touchdown Gophers. Tied, 21-21.

11:21 PT (0:29 Q3): I’m reminded a little bit of the Arizona game a couple years back. Trick plays by a team that figures that they need the tricks to win. And if they all work… Ken: “Hagan is usually a lot better than this. He’s really been off his game today.”

11:23 PT: Riley forces a pass. Almost picked. Lucky it wasn’t. Could even consider that a break. Wow. Getting out of control here, Bears. Calm down.

11:25 PT: Cal has a gigantic gain by Best called back by a holding call that was actually a legitimate block by Tepper. Ken: “Are you FREAKING kidding me!?! These are the worst refs I can recall.” End of Third Quarter. Tied, 21-21.

11:26 PT: Ken: “It’s a game like this that makes me quesion what I usually think is a reasonable decision by the Pac-10 to keep home refs at home (as opposed to what everyone else does where refs play on the road at non-conference games). Pac-10 refs may suck, but they’re unbiased.”

11:27 PT: Some hilarious stuff in the comments. Joshiemac: “Close game on the road, horrible special teams play, losing the field position battle. I’ve seen this movie before and I’ve never liked how it ends. ” Bub: “I know his is a ‘different Cal team.’ But I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen this film before. C’mon Bears! Find a way!”

11:29 PT: Jeez. Okay, the Bears have completely lost their composure. They are playing like they’re behind, desperate, and time is running out. They have an entire quarter and are tied.

11:32 PT: Great Anger punt pins the Gophers way back. First play: Oh, geez, it’s a pass to Decker! What a surprise.

11:33 PT: Terrible, terrible, terrible call on Cattouse for pass interference. Ken: “At first I thought that was the right call, but in the end, it was the wrong call. The reason Decker’s shoulders turned, which is why the flag was called, was because the ball was a bit overthrown and he had to turn up field to try and catch it.”

11:35 PT: I have always said, you’ve got to win by enough margin to let bad calls not affect you. And that’s true. But let’s just say Cal will need the entire margin today.

11:39 PT: Ken: “OK, here’s one for you… WHY isn’t Syd on Decker? He hasn’t been on him whenever he’s gone big.”

11:39 PT: Compare the comments in this thread to Cal’s performance today and you’ll see that we’ve proven something. People only post comments when things are going badly. The comment posting is picking up!

11:40 PT: Phil: “The special teams should run wind sprints.”

11:41 PT: Ken: “So, what have I learned today? I”m a 28 year old genius who needs cars.com so I can go to McDonalds with my clean shave and have the confidence to pick up the hot girl who’ll I’ll invite to the pay-per-view fight at my house.” Sorry, Ken, I closed my eyes when Joe Paterno showed up.

11:43 PT: Ken: “The Bears have played tight and nervous since late in the 2nd quarter.” So true. This game has entirely turned around and the Bears have been playing poorly all half.

11:44 PT (8:50 Q4): Fantastic play from Riley to Ross for a first down, with Best doing the blocking for Riley. Phil: “Whoo hoo!” First good play by Cal all half.

11:46 PT: The announcers are terrible. They keep complaining that Best isn’t in on every play. Yes, he’s a great player, but sometimes they use Vereen, especially in spread setups. The guy can’t play every down.

11:49 PT: Great call there — play action to Best, because obviously the Gophers are worried about him, then downfield to Ross inside the 5.

11:50 PT: Phil: “There’s an air of panic about the way the offense is conducting itself.”

11:51 PT (7:14 Q4): After getting stuffed inside (dumb), Best goes outside on the next play and makes a move… Touchdown Bears! Cal 28, Minnesota 21.

11:51 PT: Ken: “See, the Gophers are doing what the Bears should be doing and the Gophers shouldn’t. They’re focusing on Tucker and Jones leaving guys like Ross way too open. We should be doing what they’re doing so that their single-minded QB has no options.”

11:53 PT: Cal almost sacks, forces a throw, and Mohammed with the pick!! Phil: “Frightened the cat with that ‘Whoo!'” Ken: “First interception of the year and finally the Cal pressure nets more than a sack.”

11:56 PT: Okay, I take it all back. Once Cal has done poorly and made you worried and engaged you, then you post comments when Cal does good things too.

11:58 PT: Fourth and short. “I would absolutely go for it here,” says Phil. I agree. Ahead, in their territory, 5:30 to go. You go for it. And it’s a QB sneak. First down Bears!

12:00 PT: Fantastic catch by Miller on a high pass from Riley. Taps with one hand, catches it, goes to the ground, but the ball shakes out. Probably not a catch on review. Oh well.

12:01 PT: Ken: “OMG! The refs actually made the right call!” In the NFL, that’s not a catch. In college, if he made a “football move,” it’s a catch. Okay then.

12:04 PT: And the clock strikes… 9 p.m.? You don’t play the bell sound effect when it’s 2nd down, guys.

12:05 PT: Announcers point out how the Bears can’t win in Eugene. Uh, other than in 2007.

12:06 PT (2:59 Q4): Best around the wide side of the field, untouched. Touchdown Bears! Cal 35, Minnesota 21.

12:06 PT: And with that midnight bell sound effect… Phil: “Minnesota turns back into a pumpkin.”

12:07 PT: Ken: “You know, I was just about to say that Best was looking slower late in this game… apparently these announcers are wearing off on me.”

12:08 PT: Phil: “You get the feeling the Speilman wants to be an offensive coordinator? As he seems to think play-calling is a key part of his color commenting duties.” Just a little. If he points out where you can download his resumé, we’ll know for sure.

12:09 PT: Oh, look, a pass to Decker. That guy is good. And also the only guy they have. And now he’s limping.

12:10 PT: Phil: “Apparently they’re amputating Decker’s leg.” Right there on the sideline.

12:11 PT: Nice hit on a short pass. Isn’t that throw-catch interference? I mean, he was hit just as soon as the ball got there…

12:12 PT: The clever emergency shovel pass falls into the hands of a Cal defender, and this game is over.

12:14 PT: Griese: “USC is awful good.” Phil: “Bold statement, Griese.” Ken: “These announcers crack me up.”

12:20 PT: Game over! Cal 35, Minnesota 21.

12:24 PT: Ken: “Phew! It’s over and the Bears win. I’m not sure how bad it was yet, but I know my heart got a good workout.”