(Written by kencraw)

A little late, but my thoughts based on re-watching the game on TV:

• Sofele fumbling the kickoff… that’s not something that’s going to keep him on the return team. If there’s one thing Tedford hates more than anything else, it’s not holding onto the football.
• On the Bears first drive I count 5 plays, 3 rushing and 2 passing, where the offensive line didn’t do their jobs. They were often bailed out by great running and a clutch scramble by Riley, but in the end, they were the cause of the drive stalling.
• Ross’s first punt return was a beauty. He doesn’t have the “magic” that DeSean had, but he does seems to be even better than DeSean at getting some yards instead of going for the home run (which sometimes ends up gaining nothing).
• Riley’s first TD pass (to Vereen) was really a clutch throw. It was 3rd and 5 at the 13, not an easy spot to convert.
• I guess we know why Marc Anthony is a DB and not a WR. How could he drop that interception? I thought for sure he had it, but it went right through his hands.
• Riley’s two incompletions back to back from the CU 39 on 3rd/4th and 2, really hurt. Tedford wants the flexibility to use either the pass or run on short down situations to keep the defense honest, but when Riley can’t make the “automatic” throws like that, it forces Tedford to stick to the over-predictable run game in those situations.
• Of course there’s no better way to get the momentum from a failed 4th down conversion than two sacks and a resulting fumble recovery. Price used great technique to get leverage on the tackle and around the corner en route to the sack.
• I’ve got the distinct feeling that Cal uses the QB keeper more early in the season than late in the season. I felt like a fair amount in Sept. of both 2008 and 2009 Riley got a number of QB run plays but as the season progressed we saw less and less. Here again we’ve got a designed QB run in September. Will we see it more this season?
• The pass to Jones for the TD was a beautifully designed play. It gave a lot for Colorado to cover all on one side of the field and also gave Riley an easy throw.
• Man were the Cal rushing schemes working well early in the game. Kendricks and Price should have been required to take out a long-term lease in the backfield. When they didn’t sack the QB, they were forcing interceptions. Unbelievably promising play.
• The Bears 3rd touchdown drive was definitely their best drive of the game. They marched the majority of the field and everything was working. Riley was back on his throwing game. The offensive line was opening good holes for Vereen. That’s the offense that Tedford wants.
• You know what’s interesting is that both in the UCD game and now the 1st half of this game is that we’re seeing surprisingly few 3 WR sets. This is much more the traditional Tedford offense. Lot’s of offset-I. Lot’s of 2 TE. Ever since 2006 when Tedford brought in Dunbar, the Bears have emphasized a lot of 3 WR sets and it seems like it’s on its way out.
• As much as it didn’t result in points after the penalties and the missed field goal, Colorado’s drive in the 2nd quarter was good enough that had they played like that for the rest of the game, they could have make a game of it. But I think the fact that they failed to score really hurt them, momentum wise.
• Kendricks is the defender that I didn’t appreciate how much he was a part of the defensive effort. He did great. Good to see him making the jump to the next level.
• If the inability to get points killed the CU heart, the end of half INT for a touchdown put their hearts on a pike.
• Looking at the couple good drives that Colorado had, the Cal defense was playing a lot more passive than in the 1st half. Even still, they were barely getting their first downs.
• The second half of CU’s long drive was almost entirely on the back of QB runs. How could the defense be so caught off guard that it would be a designed QB run on 4th and goal from the 3? I saw that coming from a mile away.
• Anger’s back-to-back punts on the procedure penalty were things of beauty. It’s nice to see him get this sort of consistency, even when he has a reason to be frustrated by a penalty negating his great punt. He just did it again.
• It didn’t occur to me until now that the Bears didn’t score in the 3rd quarter. Those two time-eating drives by CU kept the Bears offense off the field and the offense was in a bit of a funk.
• While the defender fell down on Jones’ long reception, the reason he fell down was because of Jones’ speed. He just accelerated away from the DB and the DB tripped in his desperation to keep up once the ball was in the air.
• Another somewhat overlooked stat so far… Riley’s interception count: ZERO
• Steve Williams had a pretty good game at corner. He’s getting a fair amount of playing time for a young guy. I see a lot of promise at corner.
• On the reverse to Jones, if Fisher had just a little bit faster 40 time, that would have been a touchdown, but you just can’t expect the linemen to be able to sprint out in front of a speed WR like Jones.
• Really nice play action pass to Sofele for a touchdown. Very well executed.
• No matter how many times I see the catch and fumble that went straight into Hagan’s hands… it sure doesn’t look like a fumble. I looks like the WR threw it to Hagan like it was a lateral or something. Of course it wasn’t, it was punched out, but it sure looks like it.

Overall, it was a dominating performance, and if anything, it was even more so from a re-review as the areas that concerned me didn’t look as bad on film.