(Written by kencraw)

I watched the game on TV today after having gone to the game on Saturday.  So “re-watch” is not entirely accurate.  It was my first time watching the TV broadcast… but the 2nd time watching the game.  In any case, here is my as-it-happened commentary:

• Coming out in the first defensive possession, the Bears looked pretty good. Bynum’s defense on the 3^rd down throw was textbook.
• Boy, it speaks to how many QBs graduated in the Pac-12 that Bowers has the most passing yards per game of any returning QB.
• Both of the 1^st two plays were outside runs to the right. It felt a little predictable.  Now, admittedly, what caused the drive to stall was a weak throw and unimpressive grab by Hudson on what should have been an easy 3^rd and 3 conversion.
• Goode was a strong X-factor all day. What looked like a pretty good wide receiver screen got blown up by him on UNC’s 2^nd possession, putting an end to the drive.
• Boy did the offensive line not look good on that first sack. Live I thought that Bowers should have known he didn’t have time to pass that ball, but on watching it again, if the line had done their job, he would have had a lot more time than he did.
• All 3 of Bowers throws thus far haven’t been very good. The WR made the adjustment on the 3^rd one, but it still wasn’t quite in the right place.
• Another 1st down, another run.
• Another pass to Hudson, another drop. Both have been contested passes (bad reads by Bowers?) but TEs need to be able to make those sorts of catches.
• Another deep pass attempt in Bynum’s direction and yet again he’s on his WR like glue and forces the breakup.  He had a great day.
• But hiding amongst the good plays is a lot of incompetence by UNC’s offense. Receivers falling down.  Screens where the intended target doesn’t turn around.  Lot’s of mistakes.  Don’t think UNC’s offense is any good.
• Another Cal 1^st down, another run up the middle.
• It feels like the old Holmoe, run-run-3^rd and long. Just not good play calling.  Too much predictable stuff.
• Best Cal play thus far: interception of UNC and the Bears get the ball inside the UNC 25.
• Another Cal first down, another Laird run up the middle.
• Garbers is now in at QB. As much as Bowers didn’t do anything positive, he also didn’t do anything worthy of being pulled.  Clearly the plan was to have Garbers come in.
• Garber’s 1^st pass is overthrown. As is his 2^nd pass, but he gets bailed out by a (deserved) PI call.
• Now that’s a good 1^st down play call. Play action when McMorris as a fullback ends up as a pass to McMorris in the flat.
• And that sets up the touchdown run as the UNC defense is more hesitant on 2^nd down to not bite too hard on the run in case it’s another play action. Gotta give the OC props on that sequence for doing a good job.
• I’m loving our new kickoff guy!  It’s been a while since I’ve been so satisfied with kickoff depth and positioning.
• Great play by Goode again. Getting up to bat down the pass when it was clear he wasn’t going to get there on the blitz.
• Wharton was trying too hard to break the big punt return. Sometimes you just have to take the yards the defense gives you.
• UNC was not fooled by any of Cal’s screen plays.
• Bad throw on another Garbers throw. This time not finding the right spot on a quick WR comeback.
• Interesting to see the number of designed run plays (or option plays) with Garbers here on this drive.
• Garbers also looked to be having a little bit of a difficult time progressing through his reads. He looked a little confused by UNC’s coverage.
• Goode continues his dominance with his interception and runback for a touchdown.
• So the score is 14-0, but 10 of those 14 points come from the INT’s. All the offense did was make sure they got those few yards on the short field to turn the FG into a TD.
• Bowers is back in and throws a reasonably good ball on 1^st (and notice, the defense was not well prepared for throwing on 1^st down.)
• Another Bowers completion. This one a bit low, particularly for short over the middle pass that needs to be the type that makes it easy for the WR to run after the catch.
• And then, because Bowers had thrown 2 in a row, it’s no surprise that Laird has his biggest run of the day. UNC was clearly playing run first and it was very disappointing that Cal didn’t pass more early to loosen up the defense.
• OK, it was the right call that Laird stepped out at the 14 yard line, yet it was frustrating to me because late in the game UNC did the same thing pretty much at the exact same spot on the field but it didn’t get reviewed.
• Bowers had a shot at picking up a key 3^rd down conversion, but puts it too far outside for Hudson to get a toe down in bounds. Hudson, for all his early poor catches, did a great job on that one and almost pulled it off.
• OK, I forgot something I used to do… and I’ll pick it up from here. At what point we’re at in the game for each comment.  Sorry about that.
• (5:41 2^nd) UNC gives Cal another gift of an interception. All they had to do was play center field on a pass that never should have been thrown, but made all the easier by overthrowing the WR so he can’t even make a play on it or break it up.
• (5:02 2^nd) Good throw by Bowers on 2^nd and 9. A nicely timed out and right on the WR’s numbers.
• (4:20 2^nd) Although another completion by Bowers, it was a bit behind Noa and slowed his progress. The play after that, a good out pattern by Bowers.  3 completions in a row, 2 of which were right where they should be.
• (2:33 2^nd) A wise TO by UNC. Waited until it was clear what Cal was going to run (a dive by McMorris) and then called the TO.  Although Cal picked up the 4^th down conversion after the timeout, they were forced to change the play call because of the TO.
• Bowers makes a bad throw (perhaps even the wrong read) and Noa can’t get to the ball.
• Another bad throw by Bowers. After a good sequence, he’s now off his mark.
• (1:05 2^nd) I’ve been very impressed by the secondary’s ability to get off their blocks and get to the runner.
• (1:00 2^nd) Why was Cal trying to get one more possession at the end of the 1^st half? Why not just go to the locker room and talk it over?
• (0:41 2^nd) Bowers next throw was low, but I’m inclined to thing that was intentional to put it in the only place that it was safe from an INT. But it was probably a bad read.  His next pass was also a bad read and a much more dangerous one with 3 defenders in the area.
• (end of the half) So a dominating, in every sense of the word, performance by the Bears.  Only gave up one 1^st down and 38 total yards. But the offense was pretty inconsistent.  Just one meaningful drive that netted 3 points.  Otherwise it was mostly the defense that got Cal the points.  Bowers didn’t do much in the last couple of possessions to make his case to play in the 2^nd half.  Bad reads, bad throws.
• (13:54 3^rd) Garbers throw on 3^rd down was overthrown and lacked the touch needed for an over the top throw.  My guess is it was also the wrong read, but on 3^rd and long, sometimes  you don’t have a lot of options.  That one would have at least been long enough for a 1^st down, even though it was low percentage.
• (12:59 3^rd) UNC definitely hurt themselves with penalties. Finally they’re ahead of the sticks and they get a false start.
• (11:22 3^rd) Good play call by UNC, a reverse. The Cal defense did slightly over pursue to help make that play work.  (But that’s how the play is supposed to work from an offensive perspective.)
• (10:10 3^rd) Jeez, a whole sequence of penalties here.  Again, nobody should be thinking the dominant Cal defensive performance is all about the Bears.  It helped that UNC was pretty weak offensively.
• (9:55 3^rd) Now is when the Bears go back to being too conservative on offense. Another run-run-3^rd and long.  This time Garbers makes a nice throw on 3^rd and 7 on a slant to get a 1^st down, but it’s not the type of play calling I want to see.
• (9:43 3^rd) Nice sideline fade by Garbers to his tallest receiver.
• (5:47 3^rd) UNC completes their 1^st long pass of the game. It was a good pass, but contested by 2 defenders.  Every once and while that is going to work, but not often the way the defense was playing.
• (4;39 3^rd) UNC converts the FG based solely on the long pass. Cal 17, UNC 3.
• (3:38 3^rd) Garbers significantly under throws his receiver on a fade down the outside. Luckily the DB clobbered the WR and Cal got the PI call.  But it should have been a big pass reception if Garbers had hurled it far enough.
• (2:12 3^rd) Cal hurt themselves with a couple too many false start penalties throughout the game.  When the offense is mediocre, there just can’t be any stupid penalties.
• (1:43 3^rd) Garbers definitely has better wheels than Bowers. He’s had a few nice scrambles and a couple reasonably good designed run plays.
• (0:22 3^rd) Garbers throws a nice out to Laird on a pass out of the backfield and then a nice cut up field to score a TD. This was the only legitimate drive of the field by the Bears, and I guess it is notable that Garbers led it, not Bowers.  Cal 24, UNC 3
• Now, who would have thought at this point the game was going to end up being close?
• (0:03 3^rd) UNC has their first inside run of any merit. A 9-yard QB keeper where it didn’t look like it would go for much, but ended up being a significant pickup.  A sign of things to come…
• (14:55 4^th) Another Cal INT on another poor throw by UNC. One of the upsides of Cal playing so much zone is that they’re looking back towards the ball more often to make these sorts of plays.  In man coverage, that’s less likely.
• (13:27 4^th) Overthrow by Garbers on fade down the sideline. Cover-2 defense and a bit late to squeeze it in the window.
• (13:18 4^th) Garbers sacked on one you’d think he would have seen the blitz coming as his head was turned that way. Would have been nice to see him recognize the blitz and throw it away.
• (11:43 4^th) Another sizeable run for UNC. I think the Bear defense was starting to show its tiredness at this point.  Also notable was that UNC was running at a much faster tempo than earlier in the game.
• (10:35 4^th) UNC converts a 4^th down on a traditional option play. I shouldn’t be too judgmental as Cal doesn’t see a lot of it.  But I still have the feeling that earlier in the game Cal would have stopped that.  It sure feels like Cal was getting tired.
• This was also the play that Goode went out with his foot injury. So point being, the run game was already softening up before he went out.  Of course, losing him doesn’t help.
• (8:43 4^th) Definitely the tempo of UNC was neutralizing the defense. They couldn’t attack as much.  They were much more vanilla on defense.  Perhaps it was because they didn’t gameplan for fast tempo, but they’ll need to fix that.
• (7:19 4^th) OK, one of the most overlooked plays of the game.  4^th down just outside the Cal redzone.  The UNC QB scrambles with the ball.  He definitely steps out at the 17 yard line when I freeze on the right frame, although admittedly close.  He needed to get to the 15.  His next step is at the 15 and a half, just short of a first down and he’s *CLEARLY* out.  His foot is in the middle of the white line.  With none of it on the green.  It’s horribly bad out of bounds from a marking it perspective.  Yet the ball is placed at the 12 yard line.  Now, admittedly, they get to the line quick to prevent the review, but it was a horribly bad call.  And remember, it was 4^th down, so the Bears should have gotten the ball.
• Plus, and this is less clear on video, but the Bears were quite surprised at the spot and the lack of a replay, so they were not very prepared for that next play, which was an easy 5 yard run for 2^nd and 5 from the 7. That’s a great place to be when it should have been a turnover on downs.
• And are the announcers even remotely aware of all of this? Nope!  Even after they go to a commercial break, no mention of the missed call.
• And imagine how different this game is with 7 minutes left, UNC down 24-3 and the Bears have the ball.
• (6:31 4^th) UNC punches it in for a touchdown and the Bear defense all of a sudden is getting beaten on the line and the inside runs are working. Cal 24, UNC 10.
• (6:26 4^th) The first onside kick, although a Cal recovery, was not played particularly well by the Bears.  A sign of things to come.
• (4:45 4^th) Disappointed by the play calling on 2^nd and 3^rd and short for the Bears. If you can’t get a 1^st down from 2^nd and 3, you’ve got a problem.  And it’s not right to do a sweep run on 3^rd and 1.  There’s just too many people close to the line on a play like that.  Better to play it straight up in the middle and trust your offensive line to get the push they need to.
• (3:50 4^th) UNC back with the ball.  On their first play (although the play was called back due to penalty) there were a lot of missed tackles. This defense was tired.
• (2:50 4^th) It may be a bit unfair to criticize the run defense excessively at this point. They were playing 2 deep safeties, which means there’s just not enough guys close to the line in a 3-4 defense, particularly when one of your LB’s is out wide on a WR.  It’s a prevent defense forcing UNC to use up a lot of clock to score.  Not a horrible idea when Cal is up by 2 TDs.  But perhaps I’m being too harsh on how they couldn’t stop the run.  To some degree that was by design.
• But they still look tired to me.
• (1:20 4^th) I really loath announcers when it comes to PI. They have no idea what they’re talking about (a few exceptions aside).  Bynum did indeed commit a PI, but it wasn’t the contact, it was the holding of the shoulder and preventing the WR from turning to the ball.
• (1:13 4^th) A great pass and WR battle by UNC to get a TD.  They deserved that one.  Bynum did his best to make a play on a perfect throw, but it wasn’t enough.  Cal 24, UNC 17
• (1:10 4^th) The 2^nd onside kick… I have to admit that I was not aware of the illegal block rules for an onside kick. While probably technically a foul, the Bears got lucky on that one.  It seems to me that the offense should be engaging the kicking team well before 10 yards to force them to evade their players or risk a foul.
• And it just seems like Cal didn’t have enough players on that side. Why 2 guys in the middle?  Put one there to protect the middle kick, but put 5 on each side… or even when you know which way they want to go, go 6 and 4 to the “strong” side.
• Final score: Cal 24, UNC 17

Overall my impression is about the same as it was in my OTRH podcast.  The Bears are pretty annemic on offense and not as well conditioned on defense as I’d like.  I’m worried.  Bowers played worse than I had realized but Garbers played about as bad as I thought.  In other words, we’re pretty mediocre at QB.  I’m pretty worried this is going to be a long season, that UNC is a pretty bad team and the fact that the Bears had such a hard time putting them away is really troublesome.

BYU will be a much stiffer test.