(Written by kencraw)

As I’ve been reflecting on the game yesterday, a few things have come to mind that I saw earlier in the season that I didn’t see yesterday:

• Maynard running the ball: While there were a few running plays, it doesn’t feel as frequent as in past games. When he did run, it was just a simple read-option (which weren’t working very well and he mostly handed off) and nothing very complex, which brings me to point #2…
• Fewer trick plays: In the first couple games we were treated to a number of deception or trick plays that were successful, the most obvious being the pass-back to Maynard for a big gain against Colorado. Many of these plays were designed to get Maynard running the ball in the open field (linking us back to point #1) and I just didn’t see any attempt to do that against Washington.
• Changing the tempo: This is the one that was the genesis of this post. Remember when against Fresno State when Cal would occasionally turn a play really quickly, sometimes stringing two or three of those together? That was awesome. Where has that gone? Cal’s tempo was vanilla and slow, letting the defense prepare for each play. The team would do well to find some of that creative rhythm again.
• Screen passes: This doesn’t as much go back to earlier in the season as it does to the Tedford of old… whatever happened to Cal’s screen passes? I know they’ve been a disaster in the last couple seasons so many of us are glad to see them go, but it seems to me it’s an effective play if coached up correctly and used at the appropriate times. There felt like there were a few moments against UW that they would have been valuable.

Now in fairness, I saw some things yesterday I hadn’t seen before. Sofele was showing more determination and ability to bounce off tacklers. He had a pretty good game actually until the Bears sorta gave up on the run (perhaps a little too early?). I saw a defense that had completely solved it’s screen pass problems. So it’s not that the team didn’t do anything interesting or new. But at the same time, it feels like a few new wrinkles the team had added this year, the QB runs, more focus on trickery, particularly to get our superstars the ball in the open field, and changes in tempo that kept the defense off balance, have been lost.

I hope the team remembers those things and reincorporates them later in the season.