(Written by kencraw)
I had heard rumors of this Tuesday morning, but I was still surprised when the news broke today that Basketball Head Coach Ben Braun was fired.
After watching the Bears flail against a eminently beatable Ohio State, I think it is probably wise to be looking for another coach. There’s too much talent on this team for them to be playing so mediocre.
(Written by kencraw)
I’ve been re-acquainting myself with the SAHPC court case and all that’s been going on. The part that is most frustrating to me is how long everything takes. At this point, Cal has pretty much lost another year. A ruling at this point only gives the University 4 months before football season to make progress on construction. They’ll likely defer any real progress until after football season.
In any case, just so everyone is clear, I wanted to give the complete timeline to show just how slow things are going:
It’s now been a full 15 months since the original lawsuit was filed and all we’ve been able to do is submit our case, have a hearing, wrangle over evidence in those hearings, and just BARELY start the 90-day timer on the judge making a ruling. We’re now fully two months past the original 90-day deadline that got set aside when the judge decided she didn’t have enough information in the original hearing. A hearing that I might add was scheduled for 2 days but took nearly 3 weeks. There’s no reason the judge couldn’t pull a maneuver like that again, resetting the 90-day timer yet again.
Also note that there have yet to be any appeals or any other additional cases that could further drag this out.
How many times in one category am I allowed to say: unbelievable!
(Written by kencraw)
Hello Bear Fans!
I’m back in business starting today and it looks like I didn’t miss much. There was no court ruling. Cal Basketball has played mediocre enough to make it to the NIT. Spring practice hasn’t started for football. What else is there?
Just so everyone knows, here’s the plan for blogging:
About reviewing past games, I’m become a big fan of keeping DVD archives of every game. There’s always an excuse to go back and look at the old games. Part of making the DVD’s is to watch my finished product on the TV to make sure there were no writing errors and it plays on my DVD player. Since I recently got all of the 2005 games, I’ve got to go through and watch them all. I figure if I’m watching them, I might as well blog about them.
I’ll be doing the same thing with the 2007 season which I still need to download from my DVR and edit our the comercials. My goal is to do 1 a week of those leading up to fall practice.
I hope everyone is excited for the upcoming season as I am!
(Written by kencraw)
The server my website is hosted on just had a major upgrade and as all upgrades do, caused some problems to my website. The most visible of these was that I had to rename the ‘stats’ section of the website to be ‘statistics’ because their new admin features linked ‘stats’ to their stuff. This was stupid on their part, but that’s besides the point of this post.
The point here is that, for the last week or so the stats section wasn’t working. I’ve now fixed the problem and everything should be working as before. Please leave a comment if you see any problems.
Also note that if you added a bookmark/favorite that points directly to the stats page, you’re going to need to update it for the new location.
Back for blogging about Cal in less than 2 weeks.
(Written by kencraw)
Today is signing day for football. I encourage everyone to go over to the Cal Rival’s site (BearTerritory.net). AW’s coverage of recruiting at Cal is the best in the business.
As for my comments, today is also Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, a very important time of year for faithful Christians, particularly Catholics, throughout the world. Many Catholic bloggers “fast” (meaning abstain) from blogging during Lent as an act of penance. This year I’ll be fasting from Cal blogging, but will be bringing back to life my Catholic blog to add reflections on this Lenten season and comment on my eating fast (I’ll be following the rules of fasting for the entire season of Lent) as well.
If you’re interested in following that blogging, you can find it at http://thecrawfordfamily.net/blog. Otherwise, expect to see me back here on Easter Day (March 23rd) or shortly thereafter.
(Written by kencraw)
After a promising start, the Bears are in a free-fall right now after losing to Arizona on Saturday night 75-79. This was a game the Bears had completely in control midway through the 2nd half, being up by as much as 7 with as little as 7 minutes left. I was able to watch the 2nd half of the game on TV and was able to see the Bears both at their best and at their mind-numbing worst.
Early in the 2nd half, the Bears were playing a very effective zone defense that had Arizona completely stumped. The Bears were both applying good outside pressure and preventing Arizona from either passing the ball inside or driving into the lane. On the other side of the ball, the Bears were doing a great job of both being patient to find the open shot or inside passing opportunity and to make the most of their transition and early shooting opportunities.
What a difference a timeout or two can make.
Down the stretch, the Bears were somehow simulatiously over pursuing on defense on the perimeter, giving lots of passing/driving opportunities to the inside, while also focusing too much on the inside defense and giving Arizona lots of ridiculously open looks on the perimeter. To Arizona’s credit, they started knocking down a lot of those open outside shots, particularly the 3-pointers. On offense the Bear faired no better, looking desperate and out of control. There were a disgusting number of un-forced turnovers as well as poorly chosen shots that had no hope from the outset, particularly on the inside where Arizona stepped up their defense dramatically. Instead of the Bears kicking the ball out to their open perimeter shooters, they forced some easily blocked inside shots.
The result is that the Bears DESPERATELY need a turn-around victory to halt this free-fall. Losing both games on a home weekend is a disaster for any team’s tournament hopes particularly in a tough conference like the Pac-10. Depending on how one looks at it, having Stanford at home next Saturday is either a golden opportunity to turn things around or a disaster in the making.
(Written by kencraw)
Arizona State is definitely the surprise team of the Pac-10 this year. They’re undefeated in Pac-10 play, beating Oregon, Arizona and now Cal on the road in the process. Originally they were a candidate in my analysis along with Oregon State and possibly Washington for the Bears to be able to beat twice to get to the 9-9 Pac-10 record that is likely needed to get to the NCAA tournament. That made last night’s game a critical one because it would show whether Cal had even a remote chance of sweeping the ASU games.
As it turned out, ASU was for real and although Cal put up a valiant effort, they fell in double overtime 90-99. Since the game wasn’t televised, it’s hard to give a detailed analysis, but it looks like the Bears ran out of gas on defense, particularly in the 2nd overtime.
So the question becomes, who can Cal make up the delta on? It now looks like instead of going 2-0 vs. ASU, Cal will likely go 0-2 with the road game against ASU still to come. That’s two games that need to be found somewhere, assuming that Cal still goes 0-2 against both WSU and UCLA.
To me, the candidates for a 2-0 record to offset the three 0-2 teams are Oregon State, who Cal has already beat on the road, Washington, who Cal hasn’t faced yet but did beat Oregon at home last night, Arizona, who’s looking weaker and weaker but hasn’t yet faced Cal, and USC, who Cal beat at home fairly handily suggesting that the Bears have a shot at the road win too.
That makes Saturday’s game against Arizona all the more key to a NCAA tournament appearance. Hopefully the Bears can rebound from the tough OT loss and stick it to a weaker than expected Arizona.
(Written by kencraw)
DeSean Jackson announced at the 1 PM press phone conference that he is going to go pro. No surprise there.
I wish him the best at the next level.
(Written by kencraw)
Last weekend was another “meet expectations” weekend for the Cal Basketball team. They went up to Oregon and went 1-1, losing to Oregon on Thursday and beating Oregon State on Sunday. The game against Oregon was both frustrating and encouraging as the Bears dug themselves a hole that they almost climbed themselves out of and pulled off the upset before running out of gas at the end. The game against OSU was, after a worrisome start, a sluggish performance on both sides with the big difference being OSU’s inability to land their shots from the floor, particularly their 3’s. OSU moved pretty well, but they were a very poor shooting team, at least last weekend.
Next up this week is the Arizona schools at home. This is a key weekend for the Bears as the need to win both games to keep on track to make the tournament under the assumption that at best they’ll be able to go 1-1 against those teams when they face them on the road in mid-February.
ASU is the big question mark in the conference as they’re 3-0 in confernece play, having beat the Oregon schools and Arizona, all at home, and 13-2 overall against a fairly mediocre non-conference schedule (not that Cal’s non-conference schedule is any better). Here’s hoping that the early stretch of home games makes them look deceptively good and they’ll struggle in their first conference road game in Berkeley on Thursday (no TV coverage).
Arizona was supposed to be better this year but has struggled so far. Their only conference win is over lowly OSU although their non-conference schedule was a tough that they did acceptably in. Nevertheless, this is a potent team that Cal will have to play their best against to win, although it is definitely reasonable to expect a win out of the Bears on Saturday. Check it out on Comcast SportsNet at 5:00 PM.
(Written by kencraw)
I had not been one who thought it likely that Alex Mack, the Bears awesome center, would head to the NFL early. Nevertheless there were those that thought he may leave. The good news is that he has announced his intention to stay.
Still no work on DeSean, who everyone is assuming will leave, but it seems suspiciously slow for him to make his announcement. I still think he’s going to go pro… and this from the guy who held out hope Marshawn would stay.
(Written by kencraw)
Well now that the college football season is officially over with the predictably easy (although unpredictably starting) victory for LSU in the BCS championship game, let’s take a moment to review each conferences (BCS) performance and what it says about them. In order in which I think their performance leaves them:
Overall, it’s hard to rank lowly a conference that wins 2 BCS games, even though one was a weak win at best, but also beats the 3rd place team in both the ACC and Big-10 as well as traditional powerhouse Florida St.. The biggest caveat to their successes is Florida’s abysmal performace against a weak Michigan team. However, one stinker in 9 games is to be expected.
I was a Big-12 doubter before the season started but the immergence of Missouri and Kansas in addition to the traditional powers made the conference a great deal stronger. If it weren’t for the Oklahoma collapse against West Virginia there would be a case to make the Big-12 out-performed the SEC, although the weak level of competition in their middle teir bowls (particularly Indiana and Virginia) hurts that cause significantly. As it stands, Kansas, Missouri and Texas carried the Big-12 to the number 2 spot.
If ASU had been able to hang with Texas, there might be a claim to leap-frog the Big-12 in these bowl rankings. Without it, the Pac-10 is marred by the weak competition across the board with the exception of Texas. Nevertheless, the 4-2 record along with USC, Oregon and to a lesser degree Cal carrying the Pac-10 to a respectable performance in their bowl games.
The only thing saving the Big-10 is the toughness of their bowl schedule. Facing USC, LSU, Tennessee, Florida and to a lesser degree Boston College and Oklahoma State, gave the Big-10 probably the toughest bowl line-up. Nevertheless, if it weren’t for the Michigan upset of Florida, the Big-10 would be contending for the basement with their only to victories being against Central Michigan and Texas A&M.
The Big East played a pretty weak schedule outside of the beat-down of Oklahoma and did mediocre in their victories and horrible in their loses. The only upside to the conference was West Virginia. One-trick ponies don’t do well in my rankings.
A conference can’t go 2-6 in their bowl games and expect to be well regarded. Both of the victories were over middle-teir programs in other weak conferences (based on bowl ranking). If there is a saving grace, it is that the ACC lost a lot of close ones, the Georgia Tech loss being the only one that really stinks. Nevertheless, there’s not a single marque victory nor a terribly difficult list of opponents to pull the ACC out of the BCS conference basement.
Looking at the overall picture, it seems there was a stark dividing line between the top 3 conferences and the bottom 3. While there is no doubt that the SEC was the best conference this year, at least based on bowl performance, both the Big-12 and the Pac-10 can definitely play competitively with the SEC. The Big-12 is definitely the positive surprise of the year, taking the number two spot away from the Pac-10, much higher than the number 4 or 5 spot I would have pegged them with at the beginning of the season.
As for the bottom half, the Big-10 is the most over-rated conference in the land. Everyone doesn’t expect much from the Big East and the ACC these days. Somehow the Ohio State/Michigan/Wisconson illusion continues to fool people. The fact that Illinois was able to rise to near the top of the conference and was obviously not in the same league as the big boys is proof enough to just how over-ranked the Big-10 is. Finally, as much as the Big East didn’t impress on it’s own, graded on a curve for expectations, they continue to rise. I expect in another 5 years for them to be much more respected as their young but talented programs continue to mature.
(Written by kencraw)
Well, it’s not exactly what had been rumored, but the changes have been officially announced:
For the most part the rumors was accurate as to what positions were in play although the individuals coming in were wholy wrong.
Of course the key name to know moving forward is Frank Cignetti Jr.. He’s been working his way up through the college offensive coordinator ranks over the last 5+ years with 4 at Fresno State and 1 at North Carolina. He’s done a number of stints before that as QB coach and last year he took a detour from the OC jobs to be the 49er QB coach. He seems like a good find but I must admit I don’t know much about him.
The other change of key interest to me at least is Lupoi taking over as defensive line coach. This is a unit that has been under performing the last couple years and I think a lot of that has to do with coaching. I really don’t know how good of a coach Lupoi is but he was a pretty good player when he manned the line. This was particularly true of his technique and technical talents, which, more so than talent, makes for a potentially good coach.
The final key is that Tedford will be giving up play-calling, which I think is a very good thing. He’s going to have a REAL offensive coordinator instead of a O-Line coach that was really the assistant offensive coordinator to Tedford. I think that will leave him much more free to be the great head coach he is and notice things liike… oh, I don’t know… that his QB can’t hit the broadside of a barn and it’s time for the backup to get another shot.
Here’s looking at a good 2008!
(Written by kencraw)
Well, it wasn’t a win they needed, but it would have been a nice one to gain/keep momentum, for the Bears basketball team. Everything that went right against USC, went wrong against UCLA. The big guys were unable to penentrate inside the paint or get the rebounds and the team was mostly ineffective shooting from just about anywhere on the floor. All things considered it was surprising the Bears only lost 58-70.
For a short while it looked like the Bears were going to get back in the game when the Bears went on a 10-2 run to start the 2nd half, closing the score to 35-38, but the effort required to make that run, pretty much did the Bears in for the rest of the game. Although they were able to keep the score around a 5-8 point deficit until late in the game, it was clear the Bears didn’t have the intensity to come back.
Such is life. UCLA is one of the nation’s best teams with a smothering defense so this is a game they weren’t supposed to win. If the can go to the state of Oregon next week and go 1-1 against those two teams they will continue on track to make the NCAA Tournament.
(Written by kencraw)
Now that I’ve had a few days to think over the 2007 season, I thought I’d give a few thoughts on what the biggest mistakes made that led to this 7-6 season.
Those are the biggies in my opinion. I can’t decide whether #1 or #2 is really the #1 item because I’m unsure if Tedford would have more easily seen what was happening with his QB’s if he hadn’t been so focused on calling plays. Since it was the QB situation that was the symptom-level problem, I put it on top.
The good news is that I think the above problems can all be fixed and 2008 could be a very successful season if the Bears can just find the wide receiver replacements needed to round out what will otherwise be a very experienced team.
(Written by kencraw)
I generally like to stay away from the rumor mill because 9 out of 10 times they end up being… well… just rumors. But these rumors are worth passing on.
The main link is to WildWestSports that suggest that Ferringo and Littlejohn (WR and DB coaches respectively) were fired and that Michalczik was pseudo-demoted back to offensive line coach from offensive coordinator but will keep the title of assistant head coach duties. It is speculated that Trent Dilfer will come in as the new OC and QB coach while current QB coach Kevin Daft will move over to WR coach leaving only the DB coach spot unfilled.
There are no official announcements yet so I won’t give analysis on rumors. What I will do is state what I think the changes that need to be made:
While there are other areas of the team that I think need improvement, specifically the defensive line and the QB to WR communication/route-running, I’m not so sure that coaching is the problem. I think the first item on my list (Tedford not calling plays) is key to a lot of things, including that QB/WR communication as our QB guru Tedford is too busy designing/calling plays to be working with his QBs.
(Written by kencraw)
I know what some of you are thinking… what’s EMFMV doing covering basketball!?! These are football guys right?
Yeah, we’re football guys, there’s no doubt about it. You haven’t heard a word about the basketball team so far this season. But once football season is over, there’s no harm in covering basketball, right? OK, the truth of the matter is that I’m traditionally not a big fan of basketball, particularly pro-basketball. But last year I covered a handful of games for cal.rivals.com and saw just how different college basketball is from the NBA. You know, things like team work and defense and egos small enough that their heads would fit through the hoop should they try. So, while I’ll always be a football guy, you’ll see more basketball coverage these days.
Back to the game…
Cal played what many believed to be a critical game last night for their chances to make it to the tournament against USC. It breaks down like this: Everyone believes it takes 18 wins for a Pac-10 team this year to make the tournament. Cal went 9-2 in non-conference play losing to Kansas St. on the road in a fairly tight game and to Utah at home in an EXTREMELY tight game. Kansas St. gets a lot of respect and is expected to be a tournament contender. Utah, although not great, has played good ball against a lot of good teams. What all of that means is that Cal’s non-conference schedule is good enough that an 18 win season seems like it’ll get the job done.
What that means is that Cal has to go 9-9 versus Pac-10 teams. Said another way, for every team Cal loses to twice (for the un-initiatied, in basketball each team plays every conference opponent twice, once at home, once on the road), it must beat another team twice. Breaking that down, the best teams in the conference are WSU and UCLA, so one has to assume that Cal loses to each of them twice. Oregon St. and one of Arizona St. and Washington are likely candidates for Cal to beat twice. The rest are in the middle. That means that Cal has to go 1-1 against the rest. All 4 of the remaining teams, USC, Arizona, Oregon and Stanford are definitely beatable, but winning at home will be key for Cal. That makes those 4 home games potentially critical games.
All of that is a long way of explaining that Cal needed a win against USC last night in their Pac-10 opener against USC at home. Boy did the Bears deliver in the 2nd half, winning 92-82. With just over 7 minutes to play, Cal had a tight 66-65 lead when Eric Vierneisel busted two consecutive 3-pointers to open the game up and start a 15-3 run that was the difference maker in the game. The final notable part of the game was how well Cal did with rebounding in the 2nd half, particularly during that run.
It’s great to see Vierneisel doing well. I interviewed him last season and he’s a very unassuming and almost shy guy. He’s also a guy that you don’t ever see being very popular with the fans, in part because of his demeanor. But he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders and had insightful things to say about the game and his teammates. Here’s hoping he continues to play well on the court to become a fan favorite!
Go Bears!
(Written by kencraw)
My last podcast of the 2007 football season is now posted on the podcast page here.
I’d really like to hear some feedback from those who listened to it throughout the season to let me know what I can improve for next season (or whether it just isn’t worth doing). Along those lines, how much more popular would it be if I was to include player and coaching audio from weekly press-conferences and post-game interviews and the such. I noticed that while I usually get 20-30 listeners per podcast, my Oregon podcast where I had player quotes got over 100 listens. Is that a necessary piece to make this podcast worth while?
Please let me know what you think.
(Written by kencraw)
Well all 6 Pac-10 bowl games are now finished and I thought it would be appropriate to review the conferences performance. Overall the conference was 4-2 with UCLA losing to BYU on a last minute blocked field-goal and ASU losing to Texas rather handily in the Holiday Bowl. Two of the wins were blowouts, USC over Illinois and Oregon over South Florida. Finally, both Cal and Oregon St. spotted their opponent an early lead before taking control of the game in the 2nd half.
I think that speaks very well of the Pac-10 and re-enforces what I thought the relative quality of each of the bowl teams was. ASU, although they had an impressive season, was more consistent than they were good. They could beat a mediocre team every time, but they never showed the ability to beat a good team like USC or Oregon at their prime. It was no surprise that they fell short against a strong Texas team. UCLA was the worst of the bowl teams without question and it was a miracle they were 6-6. The only reason they managed that was because they were gifted a number of victories they didn’t deserve. Fate finally bit them back when a game they probably deserved to win didn’t go their way at the last minute. Nevertheless, the fact that they were in a close game against a on-again, off-again Mountain West team says volumes.
I’ll have more analysis of the actual strength of each conference after the last of the bowls are completed, but for the moment I’ll go so far to say that the Pac-10, although not the best, was one of the better BCS conferences in 2007, both during the season and in their bowl games.
(Written by jsnell)
9:25 AM: Welcome to the Armed Forces Bowl! Who’s excited? Come on, I remember when Cal got excited about the Garden State Bowl. If you can’t get excited about a bowl game, it’s time to take some excitement pills.
9:26 AM: Ken: “Aw man, Fouts!?! Don’t we ever get a break from this guy.” You can’t escape Foutsy. He’s like our broadcast stalker. Get away, Foutsy!
9:28 AM: Foutsy is saying that Jordan, Jackson, and DeCoud are suspended. I thought they were just “not starting” today. Huh?
9:30 AM: Oh, ABC, I see — you screwed up and said they were suspended, but in fact they’re just not starting. Like we all knew hours ago. Way to not apologize for completely screwing that up!
9:31 AM: Ken: “Nice to see that at least one of the announcers knows what’s going on… Tedford love… hilarious.”
9:33 AM: Great first run by Forsett. I get the feeling the hometown kid is going to put up a whole lot of yardage today. Ken: “Great openning running plays by Cal. Nice to see the offensive line making their blocks and opening some holes.”
9:35 AM: Let me just say: When it’s fourth and inches, you don’t hand it off to a guy who’s five yards back in the formation. Lame. Good punt by Larson. Ken: “So much for that. Not making such great blocks on their 2nd set of downs. Can’t convert on 3rd and inches… remind me where I’ve seen this before. It also didn’t help that Forsett didn’t make the cut back to the hole that would have gotten him a 1st down.”
9:39 AM: Now that’s how you don’t defend the option. Just letting the QB run and not pitch the ball… eh. Not so good.
9:39 AM: Cal’s not wearing names on its uniforms. I know, there are all sorts of fabulous poetic reasons why you do that. Emphasis on team. Honoring our fighting men and women in uniform, yada yada. But in reality, it’s just a ridiculous uniform decision that should never, ever take place.
9:41 AM: Ken: “We have got to defend the regular option better than that. The corners and safeties need to do better than that at getting off their block.” My wife: “Did nobody tell them that Air Force plays the option?”
9:44 AM: Touchdown Air Force. That was uninspiring. Air Force 7, Cal 0.
9:44 AM: Ken: “Air Force is using a lot of chop blocks and Cal seems really uncomfortable getting out of them. If they can figure that out, they’ll probably do better…. but they’d better do it soon because Cal’s not going to be able to make a huge comeback and we’re already down 7.”
9:47 AM: Cal takes the kickoff and will start again. Didn’t we just do this 20 minutes ago?
9:48 AM: Ken: “Gotta love the double commercial: TD, commercial, kickoff, commercial… phst!”
9:49 AM: I’m not a big Dan Fouts fan, but I agree with him: why not go for it on 4th and inches at midfield? Ken: “I’ll tell you why, Jason, because Cal’s shown no ability to convert on 3rd/4th and inches.”
9:50 AM: Nice catch, Justin Forsett. He played that like a wide receiver. Let’s just give it to Forsett on every play.
9:55 AM: Going for it on 4th down, I don’t mind that at all. Good try. You gotta hold on to that ball, though. Ken: “Ugh… just when Cal gets some rhythm everything breaks down. And that 4th down drop was key… was that possibly a catch and fumble?” Phil: “Cal Football 2007: It’s… present.”
9:59 AM: Hey, look, Air Force is going for it on 4th and inches at midfield. What an idea.
10:03 AM: Course, I wouldn’t have called the outside option on 4th and inches, but they got it.
10:04 AM: Unless Cal figures out how to stop the option, this game is gonna be over fast.
10:05 AM: Ken: “There’s the real danger of the triple option: if the safeties bite too much, there might be a receiver or two who gets behind the defense.”
10:06 AM: Phil: “It appears ESPN is seizing upon the physical mismatch angle. And by seizing, I mean over-emphasizing.”
10:06 AM: Ken: “Wow, great defense on the RB pass attempt.” Unfortunately, it was followed up by more bad defense and a first down. Sigh.
10:06 AM: End of first quarter. Let’s hope for better quarters to come.
10:08 AM: Ken: “OK, that’s enough of the ‘Tedford love,’ let’s get DeCoud back in there.”
10:10 AM: “Suspended.” Foutsy… that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
10:10 AM: Foutsy: “Cal’s defense has no answers.” Unless the answer is, “run as long as you like.”
10:12 AM: And the option plays off, with a play fake and a touchdown for Air Force. Air Force 14, Cal 0. Hey, this is the 1-6 Cal team, not the 5-0 one. What a surprise.
10:13 AM: Ken: “Man, that 4th and inches conversion was huge. It looked like the Cal defense was figuring things out but after that conversion, Air Force got back to their 1st drive ways. I don’t know if the Bears have it in them to come back from 14 down, particularly against a run heavy offense that may own the 4th quarter against a tired defense.”
10:16 AM: Kicked high into the wind, basically an onside kick, and Air Force is about to put this game away. Ken: “No, no, no, no, no…. that’s EXACTLY what Cal doesn’t need. The 2nd line on the kickoff coverage wasn’t looking up to see that one of them needed to catch the ball.”
10:18 AM: This is going to become a Deadblog pretty soon if this keeps up.
10:18 AM: Phil: “Tedford’s already quit to take some other job, hasn’t he? And that’s why he seems so disinterested? I’m grasping here. I expect the camera to cut over to him on the sidelines, and catch him eating a sandwich.” To which I respond: if Tedford quit, it would have been after the Oregon game, along with the rest of the team.
10:20 AM: The option completely flummoxes Cal again, and it’s Air Force 21, Cal 0. Seriously, at some point the rules specify that if the score exceeds a certain amount I get to stop liveblogging.
10:20 AM: Ken: “Where are the stinking corners and safeties on these option plays!?! They’re a key ingredient to slowing it down and neither Syd nor Hampton is getting off their blocks.”
10:21 AM: Then again, liveblogging is not the problem. The game is the problem. Maybe I need to blog something else. My kids are playing on the floor in here. I could liveblog that.
10:21 AM: Phil: “The Year the Armed Forces Ruined New Year’s Eve.” The other way to think of it, let’s get this last terrible game out in 2007 so we can move to 2008 fresh. Right? Anyone? Hello??
10:23 AM: They had a month to learn how to play the option. And yet… this. So tell me, is that a failure of the defensive players to learn, or is it a failure of the coaches to coach?
10:25 AM: 18-yard gain for Forsett! Strike up the band! Whooo! Cut that lead to 14! Oh, I don’t have it in me.
10:25 AM: Ken: “Does Riley going in mean Tedford just gave up and is focusing on 2008 already or that he’s desperate to try something, ANYTHING, to shake this team up?”
10:26 AM: Riley to Jackson for a gigantic 40-yard touchdown. Wow, that was a great throw and a great pass. And then Jackson celebrates by writhing in pain. Ken: “WOW! Man, if this continues the Longshore haters are going to come unglued in the next few weeks. Nice evasion move to buy time to throw that ball.” Air Force 21, Cal 7.
10:27 AM: I suddenly feel a compulsion to join the Army. Phil: “If your kids want to join the army, please don’t ask them what is wrong with them. A message from the Army.”
10:29 AM: Oh, ad for the Rose Bowl, you mock me and all Cal fans.
10:31 AM: Reader Kat writes: “It’s 1996 all over again. *sob*.” No, no, Kat. It’s not 1996. In 1996, the bowl game ruined Christmas. In 2007, the bowl game will ruin New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Eve is much less important a holiday than Christmas. And honestly, this game will be over before noon Pacific, so it’s not really even New Year’s Eve yet. So, see, it’s not at all like 1996. Except in every other way.
10:32 AM: Ken: “That’s about the smartest thing (and it’s not tough competition) Fouts and Co. have said: ‘Playing defense is 90% about wanting to.'”
10:33 AM: Phil: “Why is the Air Force player lining up to kick away the ball? That’s very odd. I’ve never seen that before. Must be some wacky option thing.”
10:34 AM: Run, Riley! Run! That’s what a mobile QB can do.
10:37 AM: Forsett fails to find a yard (from six yards back, of course) on 2nd and 1, but Riley pushes over on 3rd and 1 with the sneak. Good call.
10:38 AM: Dan Fouts, please don’t sing!!!! Never. EVER. Phil: “No singing in the booth, Foutsy.”
10:39 AM: Riley to Jordan to the 15. Phil: “Beautiful pass and catch.” This Riley kid, he’s kind of good. Maybe he should have been playing instead of the immobile guy with the bone chips in his ankle. Ya think? Ken: “This is where I hate watching games on TV. Were these receivers this wide open when Longshore was in there?”
10:41 AM: Riley to Hawkins, touchdown! Air Force 21, Cal 14. Excellent fade into the end zone. Cal’s back in this.
10:43 AM: Hawkins, fronting for the 209! Hey, I’m from the 209! I need to write 209 somewhere on my person when I’m liveblogging. Maybe on my sleeve.
10:44 AM: Ken: “While I don’t think there was enough data to justify their passion, the Riley lovers are looking pretty wise right now. Let’s see, 3 punts under Longshore in 3 tries and 2 TD’s in 2 tries for Riley… hmmm… that data is getting a lot more clear.”
10:45 AM: Huge tackle by DeCoud, reaching out with one hand while completely covered by another player to stop the ballcarrier. Wow.
10:49 AM: Ken: “Anyone get the feeling that the team wants to play for Riley and they don’t have any intensity when Longshore is in there? Maybe it’s just a coincidence and the Bears are finally getting in this one or maybe it’s just that the offense is scoring that is helping the defense get back in this one, but something has changed.”
10:52 AM: Ken: “These rugby punters seem to be a pretty awesome way to go. They get 40-50 yards a punt and there’s no hope for a return.”
10:53 AM: Why not use a time-out there? Cal would have 30 seconds at the 45 yard line. Instead, there are five seconds left. Does Tedford not care? Not paying attention? Ken: “The coaching staff blew it again with clock management. We wasted 20 precious seconds by not taking a timeout. Now instead of having 3 plays from the Air Force 45, it’s just a Hail Mary moment.” Phil: “Is the ref ordering from an appetizer menu? It will take 12 minutes to run this last six seconds.”
10:58 AM: Ken: “Hawkins!?! You HAVE to come up with that one. That was a free TD! It hit you practically on the numbers!” Phil: “That was some kind of toss. Fouts had like every receiver trying to catch that. Including guys who had graduated.”
10:58 AM: Ken: “The good news here is that Cal is back in this one. Riley has sparked this team and only down 7. They can win this one.”
Halftime.
11:23 AM: And we’re back.
11:25 AM: Ken: “Well, hard to tell how much Tedford was bluffing on Longshore playing again, but Riley starting the 2nd half is a sign he knows he’s the right guy for the moment.”
11:25 AM: Cal needs to readjust to the Air Force offense. Giving up big chunks of yardage here.
11:26 AM: Option was played right, strung out, and then… there’s nobody out there to stop the RB. Air Force fumbles, but it sure looks like his knee was down. Time for a review. Ken: “And it, in my opinion, was likely not a fumble but not indisputable so the call on the field should stand.” Unfortunately the refs don’t agree, and it’s first and goal for Air Force. Huge call.
11:29 AM: “But ignoring the reversed turnover for a moment, Cal has lost their ability to put an assignment on the pitchout man.”
11:30 AM: Good defense on that goal-to-go series by Cal. Ken: “Now THAT’S how you play the option!” They covered the option perfectly right there. Air Force lines up for the short FG… good! Air Force 24, Cal 14.
11:32 AM: Ken: “Now let’s see if Cal can keep their offensive mojo going. That FG won’t be the difference in this game if the offense keeps clicking.”
11:38 AM: Roll on you Rileys.
11:40 AM: Ken: “What a leap by Hawkins! That’s the type of demoralizing play that’ll keep Air Force on their heels.”
11:40 AM: Riley to Jordan, touchdown! Riley’s got this offense rolling. Air Force 24, Cal 21. Ken: “YES! Now Jordan. THIS is the Cal Bear team that went 5-0. Where have you been my Bears!”
11:41 AM: That was a really nice drive. Lots of good plays that advanced the ball. First down gain, second down gain, third down conversion. Nice roll-outs by Riley, using his mobiity.
11:44 AM: And a big thanks from your friends in Berkeley to everyone in the Military-Industrial Complex for sponsoring the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.
11:50 AM: Fourth down and Cal is induced into taking a time-out by Air Force looking like they’re going for it on 4th down. I wonder why that doesn’t happen more often — if you don’t want to go for it, just take the delay and then kick. But if you can get your opponent to waste a time out, why not do it? And if you do actually want to go for it, it sets that up nicely.
11:52 AM: They go for it and get it, because once again Cal didn’t have someone to cover the second option guy.
11:54 AM: Air Force putting together some good plays here, energized by that fourth down play. They’re on the goal line again.
11:56 AM: Ken: “That 3rd down conversion pass is right where Cal has blown it all season. There’s a soft spot in their normal zone that allows easy slant patterns to the slot receiver.” This is why they pay Ken to write things about football, folks.
11:56 AM: Nice stop by Cal. QB on the option, opted to take it himself. Wrong choice. Stopped, smacked, and seriously hurt his knee to boot. Fumbled, too, but Air Force recovered.
11:58 AM: Phil: “They need to get away from the idea that the analyst has to chime in on every play. Because sometimes there is nothing to analyze. So the analyst has to fill the air with empty stupid words. Don’t talk unless you have to.”
11:58 AM: Ken: “OUCH, OUCH, OUCH. That slow-mo shot of Carney’s knee should have come with a disclaimer or an ‘R’ rating or something. Sorry Carney, I’d hate for that to be the way you have to finish your college football career.” Yeah, that was a bad one. But Ken, didn’t you listen to Foutsie? He told us not to look at it.
11:59 AM: Field goal good. Air Force 27, Cal 21.
12:01 PM: Riley to Jordan for a zillion yards. Wow. That Riley kid can throw.
12:02 PM: Run, Riley! Phil: “Now fling the ball away!”
12:03 PM: Attababy Justin. Forsett walks in. Touchdown Bears!! Cal 28, Air Force 27.
12:04 PM: Ken: “Here’s the EMFMV trivia question for the commenters: when was the last time Cal had a lead in a game?”
12:08 PM: Jason’s hint: I was not in the country at the time.
12:08 PM: End of Third Quarter. Cal leads by 1! Can you believe it? It’s as if Cal exorcised the bad team of the second half of the season sometime early in the 2nd quarter.
12:10 PM: Answer: The last time Cal led, it was November 10 (more than 12 quarters ago!) against USC, when Jordan Kay kicked a 23-yard Field Goal to give Cal a 10-7 lead. If you were at the game, you were very, very damp. Me, I think I was eating dinner in the cruise-ship dining room at that point.
12:14 PM: Big third-down throw across the middle to Jordan. Wow. Phil: “OK, I’m sold on Riley.” Ken: “OK, here’s your Longshore/Riley caveat. Riley got both quarters with the wind at his back. This is the first time he’ll be going into the wind. Notice his first pass sailed on him. Although that 2nd pass was awesome.”
12:15 PM: Ken: “Hey Fouts! Suspended means ‘doesn’t play at all,’ you numbskull!” Phil: “The Buddhist Koan for Fouts — if they were suspended for the game, how can they tally big stats in the game. What is the sound of one mouth flapping?”
12:17 PM: Those receivers are wide open.
12:17 PM: Forsett doing it for the home crowd! 21-yard TD for Justin! Awesome. Attababy, Texas! Fronting it for the 817! (Yeah, I had to look up Arlington, Texas’s Area Code.) Touchdown Bears! Cal 35, Air Force 27.
12:19 PM: Phil: “And the 30 Cal fans in attendance rejoice!” Ken: “That’s the benefit of balance. Once the defense has to take your passing game seriously, all of a sudden those rushing lanes are a LOT wider for Forsett. Nice to see Forsett streaking down the field. It feels like it has been a long time.”
12:22 PM: I feel bad for Air Force, because they really seem deflated now with Carney on the sideline with a ripped-up knee. (And they’ve brought out the stretcher for him. He’s got to be cold, and in shock…) Yikes.
12:24 PM: Air Force general: “I would kill to have Dan Fouts as my QB…” Phil: “‘And I have. I once strafed the Chargers’ practice facility to make sure Babe Laufenberg wouldn’t play.'”
12:25 PM: Dumb personal foul on top of a fourth-down conversion, letting Air Force get back in this game. Please don’t let the old Cal come back. Please don’t let the old Cal come back. Please don’t let the old Cal come back…. Ken: “That was a bad call. He pushed him with his hands and shoved him. Evens out the bad call on Air Force for a similarly over-protective of the QB. It was a first down anyway.”
12:29 PM: Field goal, Air Force. Cal 35, Air Force 30.
12:29 PM: Once again feeling the urge to enlist in the Army. And fly a Bell Helicopter. For the Air Force. Against the Marine Corps.
12:32 PM: Big run by Forsett while Fisher DeBarry was talking. Now another big play and a penalty and here’s Cal in the Red Zone. Phil: “That’s a terrible penalty. Good lord.” Ken: “Wow has this running game come alive. Thsoe were two HUGE runs.” And Forsett runs away to the one. First and goal.
12:35 PM: Riley walks in… on the option. Touchdown Bears! Cal 42, Air Force 30. Makes you wonder what this season would have been like if they had kept Riley in after the Oregon State debacle, instead of going with the injured, immobile Longshore. Ken: “YEAH! Give’em a little of their own medicine by running the option! The haven’t scored 40 poings since September.”
12:37 PM: Phil: “Helicopters… we see them flying. But do we ever appreciate them? At Bell Helicopter, we do. Hi, I’m Frank Bell for Bell Helicopter. Our helicopters almost never plummet out of the sky. Not since the court settlement anyhow. If you’re in the market for a helicopter, please think Bell Helicopter. Or I’ll hunt you down with a helicopter.” (This was the last we heard from Phil before his screams were drowned out by the sound of the rotors. The horrible, horrible rotors.)
12:42 PM: Ken: “For those who care, Oregon and S. Florida are tied at… ELEVEN!?!
(both converted a 2-point conversion)”
12:45 PM: Fourth-down conversion failed, and Cal takes over. That may wrap it up. Unbelievable how quickly this game turned. You remember it was 21-0, Air Force, right? Wow.
12:46 PM: Phil: “Begin the milking of the clock! The greatest 7-6 Cal team in history.”
12:46 PM: Phil has cursed us all. Forsett fumbles. Phil: “Now I hope the Bell Helicopter people murder me.”
12:47 PM: Ken: “Air Force has had a lot of late penalties, a definite sign they’re out-manned, especially at a service academy where they play such disciplined football.”
12:47 PM: Ken: “OK, I think Cal still has this under control, but do we always have to go for so many nail-biter style points? Stinking fumble…”
12:49 PM: Air Force converts on fourth down. Ken: “There’s that soft spot in the zone again.”
12:50 PM: Touchdown Air Force. Shades of 1996…. brr. Cal 42, Air Force 36. Phil: “Worst 6-7 Cal team in history.”
12:52 PM: Air Force decides to go for two? Which… makes no sense. And then calls timeout because they’re confused. Buh?
12:53 PM: And the two-point try fails. Now if Cal kicks a field goal the game is out of reach. Strategery!
12:54 PM: It’s time for the Navy player of the game: Thomas DeCoud! Phil: “Who will now be forcibly conscripted in the Navy.” Navy — you remember us, we ruined Christmas in 1996.
12:55 PM: Phil: “The Old Navy player of the game is Kevin Riley. He gets cargo pants.”
12:56 PM: Phil: “Hooray, recovered onside kick.”
12:58 PM: Confusion reigns at the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. But while we wait, Kevin Riley has been named the player of the game for Cal. No kidding. He looked great. And tip o’ the cap to Carney, Air Force’s injured QB, who is the Air Force player of the game.
12:59 PM: Problem with the game clock? Don’t worry! Keep time to the rhythmic beating of the helicopter rotors!
1:00 PM: ABC’s showing us the big star trophy. Phil: “Shouldn’t the trophy be in the shape of a Helicopter? Or an armed force?”
1:01 PM: Third and six, Forsett blows outside for another big gain. 140 yards, two TDs for Forsett today. Pretty much the great showing I expected from him — what a way to go out at home.
1:02 PM: Riley, victory formation! Cal wins! Cal wins!
1:02 PM: Phil: “Winning team exits the field in a helicopter. While the losing team is left behind in Fort Worth while the government falls.”
1:03 PM: Game over. Cal wins! Final score: Cal 42, Air Force 36.
1:04 PM: Dan Fouts: “Perhaps a quarterback controversy next year?” Uh, no, Foutsie. No controversy. I think the performance today makes it crystal clear.
1:04 PM: Ken: “Final thoughts: What a difference a backup QB can make? I’ve long been a believer in Longshore and I just don’t get what it was that got/kept him in his funk as long and as consistently as it has been. But at some point, you just have to accept that he’s not coming out of the funk. Way to go Riley! Spring and fall practice will be VERY interesting. Don’t count Longshore out!”
1:05 PM: I’m counting him out, Ken. But one never knows. It’ll be an interesting offseason.
Thus ends our live blog. More to come, no doubt. And a long offseason. Thanks for being with Excuse Me for My Voice in our inaugural season.
(Written by kencraw)
Two big pieces of news came in through the beat-writers for Cal yesterday:
The first item I doubt will have a substantial impact on the game outside of a series or two. I suspect Tedford will put them back in pretty quickly as the infraction was “minor” according to Tedford. The more important aspect of this news is that it reinforces the idea that the 2007 Bears had crushing team chemistry and leadership problems down the stretch. I’m sorry, on teams that have good team leaders, you don’t get players breaking team rules enough so that the coach pulls them as a starter in their bowl game. That’s a sign of a coach and players not being on the same page.
The second news falls into the “Too little too late category”. While I haven’t been one to say that Longshore should be benched, I have been one to say that in the last few games of the season, Tedford should have been getting Riley playing time so that he’d be in a far better position to compete for the starting job in 2008. It sounds like Tedford is figuring that out now.
