Riley’s injury under-played
(Written by kencraw)
It’s been nearly shocking to me how little play Riley’s injury is getting in yesterday’s loss. I mean, sure, there’s a good chance that the Bears still lose that game without the injury, but NOBODY seems to be recognizing that the Bears were only down 0-7 at that point, had just completed a big pass to get out from under the shadow of their goal line and were starting to show some progress.
Imagine that Riley leads the team down the field and scores a touchdown. Imagine the potential emotional impact that has on an otherwise uninspired defensive effort. Instead the team goes into shell shocked mode.
Am I saying they would have won? No, I’m not. But I am saying that it should be the NUMBER ONE story. Not the road or the uninspired play, the injury. The game had barely started and we were forced to play a QB with basically no playing experience for a game which there was no preparation for him to actually play. It’s a miracle they did as well as they did. Think about it, the instant he went down, we all knew the game was a lost cause, right? Why is it that nobody seems to be looking at it that way today?
So everyone please, be as critical as you want about how important it is to get your backup QB playing time or how the defensive game-plan seemed weak, but don’t forget that we have very little insight into how this game would have gone had Riley not gone down.
October 31st, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I wholeheartedly concur. Most people seem to be glossing over the injury and (apparently, as per Joel Starkey?) bad officiating in favor of justifying more team and coach bashing. I know I’m a young fan, but it still riles me up when folks start talking about Cal’s quest for the Rose Bowl not as a 50+ year unattainable pedestal to strive for but rather as a right that Cal somehow/mysteriously/mystically has a claim to. (Yes, I was too lazy to really think about which word to use there, so I just put in all 3.)
October 31st, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I forgot that I wanted to mention how important momentum is in the college game. Riley’s injury + drive-killing penalties did away with anything we might have gained.
November 1st, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Peyton Manning would have lost to the Beavs with Cal’s offensive line that day.
November 1st, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Ken, I’d take on that view a whole lot quicker had it not been the team laying a stinkbomb in nearly every other facet of the game.
You’re absolutely correct in that the offensive gameplan changes when Mansion comes in. The offense becomes rattled with a green quarterback calling the plays. The defense keys in on the run, limiting what the offense can do.
But it’s still hard to ignore the ways the Bears were utterly dominated in other areas of the game: runblocking, pass protection, being unable to penetrate a well-coached but near-no-name crew of an OSU offensive line.
I don’t know. I see what you’re saying, I really do. But it’d be one thing to lose to OSU because your quarterback goes down. It’s another thing to be completely shellacked.
November 1st, 2010 at 2:45 pm
You guys are probably right that we lose, but do we get “shellacked”? I’m not so sure we do and that’s all I’m saying. Yeah, the rest of the team’s play was pretty weak, particularly the O-Line and the defensive over-pursuit, but we just don’t know how bad it would have been with Riley in there.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:16 am
I was in Corvallis for the game (like I was in Tucson and Reno) and after the team’s first possession, everyone around me (like me), our road team had shown up. It doesn’t matter which QB played, the outcome would have been similar the way our O line and Defense played. We never contained Jacquizz nor their passing game and we just could not protect our QB. So, yeah, we got shellacked. As a fan since my freshman where I watched the Play unfold before my eyes, this season has been confusing and very frustrating. My donor days are over after this season. While I love Tedford for what he’s done to our program, I think he doesn’t know what’s wrong either and that feels hopeless to me.