(Written by kencraw)

Thoughts based on re watching the game on TV:

• Wow, 10k+ from UC Davis at the game. I thought it was a pretty big number. Do they get that many at a normal home game?
• The more I learn about defensive schemes the less I think the numbers (i.e. 3-4, 3-3-5, etc.) matter. Last year Gregory usually put 5 on the line, albeit two of them were “linebackers”. This year Pendergast is putting 4 on the line. So what defines the “linebacker” or the “linemen”. Their size? Whether they’re in a 3-point stance? What defines a “secondary” person? Of course there are answers to these questions, but my point is not that these questions can’t be answered, but just that it’s never as simple as “we run a 3-4.”
• So many of Cal’s players looked more muscular this fall. Ross. Vereen. Sofele. Hagan. That’s probably a good sign.
• That early fumble by Riley (and as it seems, there was some shared blame there), really isn’t something to be too worried about. It was just once, not exactly what Florida had. It’s getting the kinks like this worked out that is the reason coaches like to schedule someone like UC Davis first, not Tennessee or Michigan State.
• I love that the UC Davis victory over Stanford is still newsworthy. I wonder if the size of the crowd for UC Davis in part was because people wanted to be there in case they got another upset.
• When UC Davis punted from the Cal side of the field, I knew that there was going to be no upset. FCS coaches who play for the upset don’t punt from the opponent 40. That trend played out all day. We didn’t see lots of trickery or the coaches having them play 120% early to try and make something happen. Instead they played for a “quality loss”.
• Keenan Allen, what a great first catch. I like that it was a play designed purposefully just to get the ball in his hands and let him show his stuff.
• That first touchdown to Vereen, great execution by the Bears, but also it was one of the few cases were UC Davis lost the coverage on someone. I overall was pretty impressed with UC Davis on both sides of the ball (for an FCS team) as far as their discipline and precision.
• It was interesting to see both teams going for the “wide gap” punt formation. It feels flawed to me but more and more teams are going to it. I didn’t keep track, but it didn’t feel like Cal did it every time, but UC Davis did.
• Riley’s pass to Jones for the Bear’s 2nd TD, was a great read by Riley. There were two linebackers for UC Davis who if they were turned around would have been trouble to intercept the ball, but Riley recognized that they were retreating and had their backs to the ball. That’s the difference between a zone defense which tends to have players looking back at the ball and man defenses which often get defenders turned around. Riley recognized the difference and made the right read.
• Part of the reason Ross had such good returns is that their punter was out kicking their coverage. That’s not to take anything away from Ross, but it does make his job a little easier to find those gaps. That 1/2 second to look at the defenders coming at him after catching the ball is huge.
• These announcers crack me up. “True freshman, true touchdown”!?! And then our very own Polowski referring to Jackson and the 2007 Tennessee game in comparison to Allen’s TD? That was a punt return. What Keenan Allen’s pass-attempt turned rushing touchdown was far more like was Marshawn’s 2006 near-touchdown against UW. Same progression, same play, same side of the field, same running route. The only difference was that the Beast ended up 1-yard short. Allen had more speed and got all the way to the endzone. A great play.
• Not to be outdone, Jones had his amazing catch on the next Cal drive. Looking at the slow-motion, Jones got a bit more separation from the DB just before the catch, but still, it took great concentration on Jones’ part to catch that and make sure he got his hands up and cradle the ball, despite being fouled repeatedly while the ball was in the air. Great hands.
• I still don’t get why Tedford went for it on 4th and 12 from the Aggie 31. That was a perfect opportunity to test the long range field goal ability of the Bears. 4th and 4 or less, I can see, it’s also a good opportunity to test the 4th down offense, but for such a low percentage distance and such a good distance to test (48 yard field goal), ti seems like an odd choice to me.
• That rollout pattern to Eric Stevens sure reminded me of days of old with his older brother. Sure he was a tight end, but the fundamentals of the play are the same. I don’t remember his bro ever leaping over anyone though (more like bowling over). That’s the luxury of having J-Ross on the team.
• After all my picking on Browner in the podcast, I should concede that he did get the team’s first sack of the game. He did a good job forcing himself around the corner and getting the angle on the tackle so that he couldn’t get leverage without holding.
• It’s interesting that on Keenan Allen’s big runs that he has a tendency to cut across the diagonal lanes. A lot of players don’t see those, but Allen seems to love them, at least from this first look.
• I think that Riley telegraphs his passes to the TE more than his other routes. I don’t know how to explain it but I can sense that it’s the throw about to happen right after Riley comes out of his drop. Maybe it’s like he stands up straight because he knows he’s got to have a high release point to get it over the line and down to his TE.
• Vereen sure got two easy TD’s at the end of the 1st half. The second one was a more impressive run where he showed off his ability to keep on his feet after getting tripped up, but neither of them were exactly difficult scenarios.
• Tedford hates, hates, hates being interviewed. He knows it is part of his job so he doesn’t avoid doing it, but you can tell it’s his least favorite thing about being a head coach. I will go to my grave remembering the smile he had every Tuesday after practice when he walked by the cadre of reporters knowing he didn’t have to answer our questions that evening. It might be because I remember that face that every time I see him interviewed as halftime starts I mentally insert him saying “why do I have to answer this shmuck” during his fairly long pause between the question being asked and his answer.
• Most impressive halftime stat: 0/7 on allowed 3rd down conversions. Although the 3 rushing yards allowed is pretty good too. I think that only one 1st down was allowed at all in the 1st half and that was the first play of the game. There’s no doubt that the defense was executing well. The offense, well, they did fine. A few rhythm problems and minor mistakes, but as I said with the fumble, that’s what this game is for, to work out those kinks. Since I didn’t see much repetition of any particular problem, the handful of mistakes, most of which were the cause of the few stalled drives, don’t bother me.
• Allen’s next big run, his 2nd TD, also making use of the diagonal lane across the field.
• That foul on Allen for excessive celebration was weak. I didn’t see it live due to my own celebration, but all he did was go up to the crowd and slap some hands. Then he go mobbed and went back to the bench. How’s that a personal foul?
• And all it took in addition to the penalty on the kickoff was one first down for the Aggies to get in field goal range and end the shutout attempt.
• There was a visible drop-off after Riley came out midway through the 3rd quarter. With both Vereen and Riley out, as well as some O-Line substitutions, the 2nd string didn’t do as well as the first.
• Yarnway did pretty well on his first series in, doing a good job of hitting the holes right as they opened up.
• It was interesting to see Cal run the fullback crash run on 2nd and 1 in the redzone. That used to be a hallmark of the Tedford offense on short yardage plays, but it has fallen from favor. I wonder if we’ll see more of it this year.
• As I mentioned in the podcast, Sweeney’s scrambling is entertaining, and the scramble for the touchdown was a particularly entertaining set of moves dodging a number of UC Davis defenders, but it’s not the sort of thing that really suggests he’s a good QB unless he can match it with a good passing game. Yesterday he didn’t show a lot of passing prowess. I guess he was 6 for 8, which is good, but for only 29 yards.
• The stat line only shows 2 fumbles for the Bears, but there were a number of other mishandlings that bordered on a fumble. That’s one area that makes me a little nervous. I hope the Bears are holding onto the ball a little better in the coming weeks.
• This is a good example of why I re-watch the games. It was not clear to me that the reason Mansion came in was that Sweeney got his bell rung when I was at the stadium. Of course by that point in the game, it was a pretty lazy affair, so I think if I had been paying more attention I would have noticed, but I didn’t. That’s yet another reason why his excessive running is not a good thing.

Overall, you can’t argue when your defense only give up 81 yards and four 1st downs. That’s a pretty good defensive performance against anyone. The offense has some big play potential again in Keenan Allen and overall looked to have pretty good rhythm, particularly the 1st string.

Go Bears!