(Written by kencraw)
My comments on the Louisiana Tech. game can be found on the podcast page.
Most posts with my thoughts on the game to follow. A quick one though: I knew there was going to be some bozo who’d answer “Bad as the Furd” to this week’s poll question. I suspect it was either a tree-sitter sympathizer (Oooo… you really got us with that one!) or my brother trying to get under my skin (see comment to tree-sitter).
(Written by jsnell)
It’s telling, just how far Cal has come in the last six seasons, that a 30-point win at home doesn’t leave me walking on sunshine. Oh, I can see the sunshine from here, and I may go walk on it a little bit later. But enough things happened in this game that made it feel… incomplete.
• DeSean, get your head in the game. Today DeSean Jackson played like a guy who wanted to pad his Heisman highlight reel (or singlehandedly win the game), and instead he got exposed. He fielded several punts he shouldn’t have, and I have to guess that the coaching staff wasn’t thrilled about it, since he wasn’t out there to field the last La. Tech punt. He also dropped two balls, both of which were probably touchdowns. One of them was a bit tough — the pass was low and he was looking back at the sun — but he still probably should have caught it, and would have if he hadn’t been thinking about turning upfield and running for an ESPN highlight.
• Penalties’ll kill you. Lots of yellow flags today, including way too many false starts and a dumb (is there any other kind?) unsportsmanlike conduct foul. When you end up winning by 30, I suppose it doesn’t matter. But in a close game, those kind of penalties will kill you, and if you’re jumping like that at home, imagine what might happen on the road.
• Longshore’s inconsistency. Look, compared to Joe Ayoob, Nate Longshore is the second coming of Joe Montana. But while Longshore is a more accurate a passer than his predecessor, he has bouts of inconsistency where he struggles with his accuracy. During much of this game, Longshore’s passes were off, sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot. I guess what I’m saying is, when he’s good Longshore looks like a prototypical Tedford quarterback: efficient, if a little robotic. But sometimes, for long stretches, he struggles to complete a pass. Let’s hope he steps up now that Cal’s headed into the Pac-10 schedule, because one of those cold streaks could lose a game down the line.
• Pac-10 officials? Avert your eyes. Several terrible calls from the officials, most stunningly the obvious fumble that was called a fumble on the field, overruled by another official who decided it was an incomplete pass, and then upheld as an incompletion after a review. Guys, the guy took multiple steps and lowered his head while running with the ball. It could not have been incomplete. And yet after looking at the tape, the replay officialy decided he couldn’t overturn the call. Gritting my teeth for another year of bad Pac-10 officiating…
Anyway, on the brighter side. Cal’s defense played much better, giving up yardage repeatedly on one over-the-middle pass but generally doing its bend-but-don’t-break thing with excellent results. Special teams, led by LaVelle Hawkins’s opening touchdown return, also generally did well. What a bad day for the Louisiana Tech kicker — he had a field goal try blocked, missed an extra point, and had a kickoff returned for a TD. At least the Bulldogs went for two after their second touchdown, sparing him yet another indignity.
Now let’s talk running backs. Despite the legend of Jeff Tedford, the wise trainer of efficient quarterbacks, I am getting the feeling that this year’s Cal’s team is best on the ground. Justin Forsett churned up 152 yards and three touchdowns, showing power and speed that remind me of J.J. Arrington in his prime.
And every time Jahvid Best touches the ball, it’s electrifying. He had a great kickoff return, as well as a mind-blowing end around. On the end around, there were at least two Tech players in good position to stop him. It’s the sort of play you see a lot, where enough defenders are in the area to blow the play open. Except, with Best, you just know that there’s no way those guys are going to get to him. And they didn’t. Jahvid The Jet turned on his afterburners and blew right past them. What an exciting player. As electrifying as DeSean Jackson can be when he’s not preening for his Heisman close-up, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Jahvid Best is already threatening to supplant DeSean as the team’s most exciting player.
So in the end, while the pass offense’s sputtering made me a bit more nervous about this game than I should probably be, it’s still a 30-point win at home on a glorious late-summer day in Berkeley. I’ll take it.
Short Takes: See the rest of my game photos here… Cal public address announcer Dick Callahan, or as we prefer to call him, “AnnouncerBot 2.0 beta,” was nowhere to be heard today. Did his software crash? (Phil tells me he was subbing for Roy Steele at the Coliseum. Did you misplace your loyalty plug-in, AnnouncerBot 2.0 beta?)… Speaking of the public-address system, it was much less obnoxious today than in game one. Still not great, but not quite as bush-league a feeling as I got two weeks ago… Brought my kids to the game for their annual Berkeley trek, and let me tell you, the magic age appears to be 6. My daughter’s almost 6 and she was really enjoyable at the game today, which she hasn’t really been since she was very little. Of course the three-year-old was a handful, but whatcha gonna do?… Driving home listening to KGO, I was amused to hear Lee Grosscup on the post-post-game show, not because of anything Lee said but because after the Tennessee game the Cupper mysteriously disappeared and was replaced by a KGO broadcaster rambling about water rights in the Central Valley…. The crowd didn’t know whether to cheer or boo when it was announced that USC was losing (early) to Nebraska. I cheered, because my dislike of USC overrides even my pro-Pac-10 urges… Speaking of which, UCLA got spanked by Utah. Shows you how ridiculous pre-season rankings are. Did any of you really think the baby bears were good? As long as Dorrell is there, they’ll always be badly coached underperformers. Long may Karl reign over Bruins Nation… Stanford finally wins a game at the new Stanford Stadium! Even though Chelsea won there first… Cal really needs to schedule a series against Texas. When Texas was trailing in its eventual narrow victory over Central Florida(!), the score was announced to loud cheers. Yes, Mack Brown, we Cal fans will remember you and your big mouth until the day we play in Pasadena on New Year’s Day… And bringing up the rear is: Notre Dame! Insert your own punch line here.
(Written by kencraw)
Now that the stats section is up and running, I can link to the comparison stats for Cal and Louisiana Tech. Go take a look. Unfortunately, the statistics are misleading because they only include one game: Hawaii. Since their other opponent was a I-AA team, the stats available to me (at least the ones I’m grabbing) aren’t comprehensive enough to be easily usable.
What seems to be impressive about LT is their offense. They’ve put up a ton of points and they’ve done it against a team that is more stingy, at least by the numbers, than Cal’s opponents. Their offense is also balanced, rushing for slightly more yards per game than they pass for. What is not so impressive is their yards per play, across the board. Theyr’e in the middling 4 1/2 yards per play range for all three categories (overall, passing, rushing), which isn’t that good. The final qualifier is their opponents, particularly defensively. Central Arkansas is, well, Central Arkansas, but Hawaii is the more deceptive one. This is a team that is ranked 20th and has been on fire for the last couple years. The caveat is they’ve been doing it by putting up tons of points, not by doing anything meaningful on defense. Theyr’e the classic WAC “win the shootout” team.
So, while it appears that LT may be able to compete offensively, there are also reasons to be suspicious of that conclusion.
Things get worse for LT on defense, although the qualifiers from above are reversed. It’s hard to be too concerned about a defense that yields 45 points to anyone, but we have to remember that Hawaii routinely posts 45 on their opponents. Hawaii put up 63 on Northern Colorado. So just how bad is the LT defense? One really doesn’t know. They held Central Arkansas to 7 points and gave up 45 to Hawaii. How does one quantify the implications of that?
I think the answer is that we don’t. We’re left with guesses and qualitative analysis.
Overall, I think the LT offense is potent enough to ensure the final score doesn’t look like a huge blowout unless the Cal offense puts up ridiculously big numbers. While I think this game will be an easy one for Cal, it’ll also look closer on the scoreboard than it should, particularly because of Tedford’s conservative play calling in low-risk games. Expect to see a game similar to Colorado State, minus the end of game secondary breakdowns and the slow start. Also expect to see Tedford take his foot off the accelerator in the mid-3rd quarter once the game is locked up.
Cal 35, LT 17
(Written by kencraw)
If anyone needs an example of why it is so hard to come to concensus, they need only look at this week’s poll. Three answers were essentially equally popular. Unfortunately, the one that edges out the other two vote-wise is also the hardest to pull off because it requires the vast majority of the fans in the stadium be aware of “the plan”. So, I’m going to recommend that we all bring our rubber chickens (the Barry Bonds fans amongst us should already have them) and I’ll find out how to get a message to the Mic-Men encouraging the “De-Sean” chant like “Go-Bears” (student side of stadium yells “De”, alumni side yells “Sean”). Since both of those things can be done together, there is no reason not to do both.
(Written by kencraw)
I bit the bullet this week and spent the time to add some intro audio to the podcast (feedback is welcome) since I was already so late as to be nearly worthless. In any case, it’s posted for your viewing pleasure on the podcast tab.
(Written by kencraw)
OK, I know I promised it on the 10th, but I didn’t take into account my vacation over the weekend. Nevertheless, the stats section is now up and running and allows for comparing any of the Pac-10 teams and their opponents. Louisiana Tech is looking pretty strong just based on their numbers…
(Written by kencraw)
While I haven’t seen an announcement from either Cal or the Pac-10, Versus is showing the Cal vs. Arizona game on their programming calendar for 9/22 at 3:00 PM PDT. Unless this is a case of a network counting their chickens before they hatch, one has to believe that they’re going to be showing the game.
Many are real negative about Versus but personally I don’t think it’s all that bad. Yes, it’s not ABC or ESPN, but it is national televised for every game, unlike even ABC which shows its games regionally (usually 4 across the nation) or FSN which is of course VERY regional down to individual TV markets. Additionally, unlike CSTV, Versus is included in most cable and satalite packages by default so the potential audience is far larger. While I’d prefer that these games were still on TBS (Versus replaces TBS in the Pac-10 television contracts this year) because of the high recogniation of the channel and the higher likelihood of a channel flipper happening upon the game, I’ll take Versus any day over CSTV or Comcast Sports Net.
UPDATE 9/10/07 @ 3:30 PM: The official Cal Bears site confirms it.
(Written by kencraw)
Cal has moved up to #8 in both the AP and the USA Today Coaches polls. In both cases, the move up from #10 comes at the expense of Virginia Tech who lost handily to LSU and Louisville who won a shootout (aka didn’t have any defense) against Mid. Tenn. St.. While our win over Colorado State wasn’t compelling either, it seems the afterglow of Tennessee continues.
From here the upward mobility gets much more difficult as it is a bunch of good teams. Untested Texas and Wisconson seem the most likely to lose, giving Cal a shot at a higher spot. The other 5, USC, LSU, Florida, West Virginia and Oklahoma, who destroyed Miami this week, look to be strong enough to stay undefeated and keep their high poll spots for a long time.
(Written by kencraw)
A question, that I haven’t seen answered anywhere to my satisfaction was why wasn’t Forsett carrying the ball in the 4th quarter? It doesn’t seem he was injured that anyone can tell, and there is a rumor that he was given a tongue lashing on the sideline for some missed blocking assignments in the 3rd quarter, but nothing definitive has come out. The other theory seems to be that they were resting him but that doesn’t make sense after he didn’t come back in on the final grind out the clock drive unless perhaps he had already de-taped or something. In any case, inquiring minds want to know so if anyone has any solid info, I’d love to hear it.
An observation that I had during the radio broadcast was Starkey commenting on the officiating. While there have been numerous times he’s make reference to a particular call and whether someone looked in bounds or anything, I have NEVER heard him EVER make a SINGLE comment about the fairness of the officiating. I haven’t seen the TV broadcast yet but I know when I heard him making those comments on the radio that either Starkey is losing his objectivity, which he has done a tremendous job of not doing over the years like so many announcers have (one of the reasons I like him), or the officiating must be REALLY REALLY bad. It’ll be interesting to see the TV coverage. It also seemed like the officiating took a sharp turn in the Bears favor midway through the 4th quarter just based on the number of calls. It could be the Colorado State guys were getting desperate and they were fouling more, or it could have been that Tedford’s on-the-field complaints (who also never bashes the refs but went so far as to call them ridiculous at his halftime interview) got to them and they were making amends (which I can tell you as a former ref, happens all the time).
A shout-out to Jordon Kay for coming in as the field goal kicker and doing an amazing job. One of the things Cal seems to have a knack for is getting good special teams specialists. Long snappers, punters, kickers… Cal always seems to have top-notch talent for this. I think that’s a sign of good recruiting.
Three cheers to our Pac-10 bretheren for holding up the image of the Pac-10. Oregon drove a stake through the heart of Michigan today and Washington solidly beat one of the best non-BCS teams in the country in Boise St. Add in UCLA’s handling of BYU and the Pac-10 continues to impress. Don’t think that the national pollsters aren’t taking notice because they are. The only downside is that the Oregon victory over Michigan will be looked through the very pessimistic lens of their loss to App. State. At this point Pac-10 fans need to be big fans of Tennessee and Michigan in their respective conferences because it will help make those important non-conference victories look all that more impressive.
UPDATE 9/8/07, 7:00 AM: The Chronicle has the best data-point so far on why Forsett wasn’t in the game at the end: “Instead, Cal got the ball back and relied on its brawn to clinch the win. Montgomery, who was playing in the clutch role because starter Justin Forsett got a back stinger in the third quarter, ran five times for 25 yards on the drive, eating up the final 2:47.” So it looks like it was an injury, albeit a minor one. To steal yet again from Starkey and his comment after the Jahvid Best TD: “It’s too bad they don’t have any depth at tailback.” When you’ve got backs like Montgomery and Best to backup Forsett, I think it’s pretty reasonable to keep Forsett out of the game with a back stinger.
(Written by kencraw)
Well, I managed to find some sucka with an open WiFi access point up here in vacation land to work from. So it looks like I’m still in business. For those who were concerned, the vacation was explicitely planned around home games… but I was sabotoged by a location without explicit internet access and by it just happening to be the lone week that the game was caried on a TV network no one caries. The vacation organizer has been duly notified of these conditions for future trips.
Jason did a great live-blog of the game and even managed to play through what is usually a game ending injury of a kid peeing on the couch. Well done!
I’ll give a more detailed review of the game on Tuesday night after I’ve had a chance to review the TV footage. I’ll post my podcast then as well. But here are my thoughts based on the radio broadcast:
First of all, it’s clear that the defense didn’t come ready to play. They’re going to have to step it up a notch if they’re going to be competitive. On the other hand, when push came to shove, in the 2nd half, the defense stiffened… until the game was in the bag and they blew the lead on a couple of ridiculous long pass plays. They say that the only thing the prevent defense prevents is winning but I think in this case it would be safer to say tha the prevent prevents you from giving up 14 points in 53 seconds.
This is clearly a defensive unit that needs motivation to play well. They’re going to need to find a way to find that motivation irrelevant of their opponent or they’re going to get beat by someone like Arizona when we least expect it. On the upside, they look like they have the potential to keep just about any team in check and shut down the weaker teams when they put their mind to it.
As for the offense, I’m not as disappointed as I think some are. Tedford seems to have called another VERY conservative game as he is known to do when he’s got the superior team. While this too has the potential to burn us, I’m not going to question Tedford’s overall style as a coach. He’s got a very good thing going and part of that is beating the opposition in the safest way possible. If that’s called conservative, so be it.
Honestly, I called for a 38-13 game and minus the defensive breakdown in desperation times I got it right. Yeah the ordering of the scoring was a little different than I predicted but in general I think the game played out similarly to my expectations. The only thing that concerns me is the lack of consistency of the defense.
Bob Gregory… the film office would like to see you.
(Written by jsnell)
Let’s see… TV on, check. Find where the heck CSTV is (DirecTV 610, which I had to add via the Sports Pack and pay an extra $10 for just so I could watch this game…), check.
All righty then.
10:57 AM: I’m so glad they’re showing this repeat of the TCU-Baylor 27-0 butt kicking from last week. Wow.
11:01 AM: Phil says, “You are looking live at a non-highly-defined Fort Collins, CO.” We HDTV people are so spoiled.
11:10 AM: Three and out. Not an impressive opening drive for the vaunted Cal juggernaut.
11:14 AM: Now that’s how you punt to DeSean Jackson. Punt to the 3 and have it kick out of bounds. Geez.
11:20 AM: Another stalled series, but with a couple of first downs, at least. Roll on you Bears? Next time? Also, CSTV sucks. Fuzzy picture, terrible “news” crawl at the bottom of the screen listing who’s been suspended or arrested, and some pretty awful cheap-o commercials. And Trev Alberts!
11:24 AM: Colorado State’s driving like they’re Tennessee. Cal’s defense continues its tradition of shaky starts.
11:28 AM:
Touchdown, Colorado State. 7-0 CSU.
11:31 AM:
DeSean Jackson, the Heisman is calling. 70-yard end around for a touchdown. He makes moves on two guys and that’s it. Wow. Is this guy for real?
Roll on you 70-yard running plays… Cal 7, CSU 7.
11:34 AM: Today’s the day for the end around. CSU on a 43-yarder. Also, Phil points out, three things for Cal to work on in practice: 1) tackling. 2) Tackling. 3) TACKLING!!!!
11:38 AM: This defense doesn’t look like it can stop a… thing that’s easily stopped. And yet they seem to play pretty well at the goal line. Force a third and goal, and then hit the QB as he throws — Cal interception.
11:42 AM: Couple of good runs by Forsett to get away from the goal line. Longshore still has fantastic protection. Deep pass is a miss and the screen pass doesn’t work nearly as well as it did last week. Third and long… looks like Hawkins didn’t get it, but a generous spot gives Cal the first down. That was about as bad as the spots Tennessee got last week. But wait! This time, they check the videotape. And there’s no way he got close. If the referees don’t overturn us, they need to set the TiVo in the booth ablaze…. and the bad spot is reversed, so TiVo lives to fight another day.
11:46 AM: End of first quarter. Tied at 7.
11:52 AM: Actual CSTV headline on its bottom-of-screen crawl: “BREAKING NEWS! South Carolina Quarterback was suspended last week for missing Summer School Classes.” Last week you say? Thanks for telling me.
11:53 AM: DeSean Jackson freaks out the punter and he shanks it out of bounds at the 50.
11:55 AM: Morrah with a great leaping catch near the goal line, but now he’s down. I think he just got the wind knocked out of him — nobody hit him. Before the Morrah pass, a nice first down on a long pass to Hawkins.
11:58 AM: Forsett pushes it in from two yards out. Touchdown Bears! Cal 14, CSU 7. Really nice drive — Cal’s offense in sync for the first time today.
12:06 PM: CSU driving now, with a few good passes. Nice delay when the officials decide to review a completion that was clearly legitimate. Was the TiVo feeling lonely?
12:09 PM: Not liking the secondary. Syd’Quan Thompson with a head slap and then he lets the receiver run away from him for a big gain. Also, bad tackling. And now here comes a run by the backup Colorado State RB, down to the Cal 15.
12:11 PM: Phil says: “Basically, they’re counting on the opposing offense to make bad throws. Because they sure don’t cover guys.”
12:14 PM: Touchdown Colorado State. 14-14 tie. The CSU quarterback “broke the plane,” by which I mean he was nowhere near the plane, but I guess we college football fans have to accept that the officiating’s going to be questionable most of the time.
12:21 PM: First Longshore sack of the year. Third and 17! Well, this obviously calls for a three-yard screen pass, and now it’s kicky kicky time! Thin air, I guess. And it’s good! 47-yard field goal by Kay. Wow. Cal 17, CSU 14.
12:28 PM: Halftime! Cal leads by three, 17-14.
Halftime recap: DeSean Jackson had a great single play and the Cal offense had a really nice drive, but stalled a couple other times. The Cal defense has been playing poorly, especially (for the second straight game) in pass coverage. However, a goal-line stand that led to a turnover has kept Cal ahead for now. Still, the defense will need to adjust at the half (as it did last week) for Cal to win this one.
12:44 PM: Tedford: “We have to tackle better. We just have to tackle better.”
12:49 PM: Kickoff! And we’re back at it. Colorado State ball, 1st and 10 on the 27.
12:50 PM: Big sack on first down for Cal, Alualu tosses Hanie back to the 15, loss of 10.
12:52 PM: D-Jax fields a short punt on the run and returns it 15 yards into CSU territory.
12:53 PM: Funny shot. On special teams this week Best is wearing a number 14 jersey over his number 4 jersey, specifically so Cal doesn’t get flagged for double numbers again. Then on the sideline someone frantically yanks it off of him so he can go back on the field as number 4 — and get a first down! Roll on you Bears…
12:56 PM: CSU doesn’t fall for the fake end-around, Longshore pressured and has to throw it away. Kicky kicky again. Jordan Kay from 41… it’s good! Cal 20, CSU 14.
1:02 PM: So, uh, my son peed on the couch. (He’s three and has a fever and while we were happy that he fell asleep on the couch, that’s turned into a horror show all of a sudden) Apparently while I was cleaning that up, Cal’s defense stiffened mightily and forced a CSU punt. Fortunately I am not a superstitious fan, otherwise I would be forcing my son to pee on my couch at every CSU possession from now on.
1:05 PM: D-Jax has the first down, but tries to get more, turns around, fumbles the ball back behind the first-down marker, and falls on it. Take your first down, DeSean. Not every play must be a highlight reel play. Stupid.
1:06 PM: Cal goes for it on 4th and 2, Longshore throws to Hawkins for a touchdown, but it’s all called back on a hold on Mike Tepper. Gah!
1:08 PM: Phil says: “Someone really needs to instill in the Cal receivers the notion that on 3rd down, you should concentrate on getting the first down.”
1:11 PM: Another three and out for CSU. The pee magic is still in effect!
1:12 PM: My son is back with me (see photo above) and we’re now pee free. Hooray.
1:14 PM: Running game is stalled out. Two rushes, 4 yards. Third down. Longshore fumbles the snap, passes incomplete, and it’s punt time. At some point CSU is going to realize they can win this game, guys…
1:18 PM: Felder hits Hanie and Cal picks up his fumble. First down Bears!
1:20 PM: Another false start penalty pushes Cal back to second and long. Long pass to DeSean is overthrown in the end zone. On 3rd and 13, Forsett gains a first down on a really nice run… and it’s called back on a holding penalty on Cal. DUMB.
1:22 PM: End of third quarter. Cal 20, CSU 14.
1:25 PM: Longshore misses Hawkins on 3rd and long redux, and Cal will have to punt. Longshore not looking sharp here.
1:27 PM: Phil: “I’m getting an Arizona vibe here.” I concur. CSU offense is moving the ball again.
1:30 PM: Justin Moye gets the interception off a Hanie pass and returns it 28 yards, but then Cal gets called for unsportsmanlike. Cal ball at the CSU 42, but it should be at the 27.
1:34 PM: Jahvid Best runs for a first down on the misdirection. You get Best in space and he’s dangerous.
1:38 PM: And James Montgomery is heard from! Runs it down to the 2 yard line. First and goal, Cal!
1:39 PM: Touchdown Bears! James Montgomery again, this time for the score. Cal 27, CSU 14.
1:42 PM: That was a pretty good drive, penaties notwithstanding.
1:46 PM: Hanie with a nice long pass to the 50. I’m a lot more comfortable with the 13-point-lead, but let’s hope the Cal defense isn’t.
1:47 PM: 7:29 to go in the 4th. CSU with a nice pass play, first down at the Cal 32.
1:49 PM: Syd Thompson makes a play batting a ball away from the CSU receiver. On 3rd and 9, Cal blitzes and Ezeff knocks away Hanie’s pass downfield. Fourth and 9, an incompletion and Cal takes over on downs with 6:39 to go.
1:51 PM: Holy cow. Jahvid Best breaks a zillion tackles (okay, three) and runs for a 64-yard touchdown on what should have been a short gain. Cal 33, CSU 14 with 5:49 to go.
1:55 PM: This is the second event I’ve liveblogged this week. Gotta say, the Steve Jobs presentation on Wednesday was better. But I will take a Cal win regardless. This was one of those cases where Cal had to shake off the cobwebs and struggle a bit before pulling away. Colorado State strikes me as one of those teams that will cause you trouble but if you can get up on them by two touchdowns, you’re basically out of reach.
2:00 PM: Hanie with a 67-yard bomb to Morton, Touchdown Colorado State! Cal 34, CSU 21. 4:37 to go.
2:02 PM: CSU gets an onside kick. First down CSU at the 50. 3:40 to go.
2:03 PM: Deep pass, complete. First down CSU inside the 5. 3:15 to go.
2:05 PM: Bell on the handoff, Touchdown Colorado State! Cal 34, CSU 28.
2:05 PM: This is getting scary. That’s 14 CSU points in about five realtime minutes.
2:07 PM: CSU goes for the loft kick and it goes out of bounds. Cal ball with 2:54 to go.
2:07 PM: Forsett runs for a gain of 4. Timeout. Forsett again, short gain. Timeout. 2:39 to go, 3rd down.
2:10 PM: Are these CSU fans kicking themselves for leaving early?
2:10 PM: Montgomery with the ball. First down Cal. 2:34 to go, CSU out of timeouts.
2:11 PM: Montgomery, gain of 2. Clock moving under 2:00.
2:12 PM: Montgomery runs for a first down. 1:23 to go.
2:13 PM: The final gun! Despite a late desperation rally, CSU falls short. Final Score: Cal 34, CSU 28.
2:15 PM: Tedford: “We didn’t play very well… It’s obvious that you need to tackle, that you need to play four quarters in all phases of the game. We’re very fortunate that we got a win here.”
(Written by kencraw)
I’m going on vacation this weekend and may not have internet access until Tuesday afternoon. For some reason my Mom doesn’t recognize that it’s football season and I need to watch the game and post my links! I’ll be listening to the game on the radio and then review the CSTV TV broadcast on Tuesday. I’ll post my podcast and blog reviews Tuesday if I can’t get to them sooner although I’ll try to post based on the radio broadcast sooner if I can.
(An aside to all those who think Starkey is horrible: Get a clue. Starkey is awesome and you’re an idiot.)
(Written by kencraw)
It’s hard to get too excited about the Colorado State game, particularly after last week’s game versus Tennessee. This is not like last year where the game versus Portland State had some intrigue because we didn’t know if the Bears were going to be able to continue their rebound from the Tennessee game. Was Minnesota a fluke? Just how good a I-AA team was Portland State?
This year we get none of that. Cal stomped Tennessee and is set for a great run if it can play up to its potential. Add in that Cal has ZERO history of falling for non-conference trap games, and it’s easy to see why there’s not much talk about Colorado State.
Here’s what we know about Colorado State:
That’s about it.
OK, that’s all we know about them that makes them unenviable. We also know this:
Many are predicting a big blowout for this one. Me, while I don’t think this game will ever be in doubt, I suspect that Tedford will call this game very conservatively once he builds a lead. I expect to see a lot of Montgomery in this one. I also expect to see some defensive line rotations to get the young guys some time. Generally, once this one is in the bag, which I expect to happen before halftime, we’re going to see a lot of experience building.
I also expect to see a lot of the run game, even early in the game. The passing game is so much more risky. How often do you see a running back fumble and the ball taken back for a TD? A lot less often than a interception for a TD. Tedford has always been a run first guy and I expect that to continue even if Colorado State loads the box. Until they can prove to Tedford that it’s not going to work, which I doubt they can even by loading the box, Tedford’s going to ram it down their throats.
Call it a conservative blowout: 38-13.
(Written by kencraw)
Well after hearing two hours of comments from every side involved, the Berkeley City Council decided last night that they were going to continue forward with the lawsuit. If they want to go down with that ship, fine, let them go down. While I’d much prefer to see the issue settled out of court, even though it would mean concessions, it seems to me pretty obvious that the University is going to win this lawsuit. The lone issue that the judge posted the injunction on was proven beyond a reasonable doubt not to the valid and the other issues fall well within the law.
So I guess the University is going to get its 900 space parking lot and only have to plant saplings instead of mature trees.
Nice going City of Berkeley… you just lost all your bargaining power.
(Written by kencraw)
This isn’t new news but there is a meeting tonight to discuss the lawsuit and actions to take. The meeting is tonight at 5:00 P.M. at the Berkeley Unified School District Offices (Old City Hall Building), 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way on the 2nd floor. It sounds like they’ll be hearing public comments for a surprisingly short period of time (supposedly 20 minutes) for the potential number of comments that could be made. Never the less the more project supporters that are at the meeting the better. The council will then have a closed session to make any decisions they feel appropriate.
So show up if you can.
Also of note along these lines is just how well the Kitchen Democracy vote has gone. Only 26% of Berkeley registered voters are against the project and there are only 13 non-commital votes out of 742 at last count. The remaining 536 are in favor. If one looks at the comments, which are allowed for those who live outside the city, the situation is even more unbalanced with 133 pages of comments (I didn’t count them and it’s not one per page) in favor of the project with only 28 against (17%). All-in-all, this is very bad news for the protestors and good news for those who want to put heat on the city to settle.
(Written by kencraw)
Cal is ranked 10th in both the AP and Coaches poll. They leapfrogged Ohio State and Michigan (take THAT Big-10!). I was hoping they’d leapfrog Virginia Tech after their lack-luster performance on Saturday and although they came close (8 points or less in both polls), I think VT got some sympathy points for their plight… not that I can blame anyone for sympathizing with their University after last year’s tragedy.
Also worth noting is that Cal is #2 in the Sagarin computer ranking that is used as a part of the BCS formula. Sagarin uses that along with some other computer numbers, including margin of victory which is not allowed for the BCS ranking, to come up with an overall ranking of #4.
(Written by kencraw)
A reminder for all Bear fans our there who wish to see this Saturday’s game versus Colorado State: The game will be on CSTV which is not in most cable packages. I know that on DirecTV, my provider, that CSTV is part of the $12 a month sports package that gets you all of the FSN affilliates (I get just the Bay Area feed by default) as well as 5 or 6 specialty feeds like CSTV. With DirecTV you can add a package to your plan for a minimum of one month so it’s going to cost me $12 to watch this game. Such is life.
In any case, consider this your reminder to call your content provider. You don’t want to be part of the Cal Bear faithful rush on Friday an Saturday morning that is likely going to take down the Comcast call-center.
(Written by kencraw)
TrumanHugh brings up in the comment section the issue of safety and the gate closure in a comment thread and I wanted to comment on it. His point is that with the gates closed, we have a safety issue in an emergency evacuation sitation. With fewer gates, people are going to be stuck inside while people funnel through the smaller number of gates. While I very much appreciate the concern he has, I’ve never felt like in an emergency that the gates would be the bottleneck. It’s the concourse tunnels. Or said another way, at the end of the game, the only point where I’m waiting in line to get out is the tunnel entry point, not the gates. The same was true on Saturday even with the closed gates. Add in Jason’s comment that in an emergency the evacuation plan is to go down to the field and when it is safe move up the eastern side of the stadium and out (that’s an important reminder for everyone btw), and I’m not too concerned about the safety issue.
So I still think the gate closures are a monumental inconvenience that stinks but the right way to handle things. The more I think about it, ignoring the protestors until the court case is settled is the way to go and the only reason to even put up the fence is because nobody needs excrement dumped on their heads from the trees (which from my understanding has happened to a handful of cops over the last 9 months).
But I will say this about the gate closure: If those gates are not re-opened by the Oregon St. game, there better be a VERY good reason. The case goes to trial just before the Arizona game and nobody expects a decision before the game. There is then a 3 week break before the next home game because of a road game in Oregon and a bye week. The expectation is that the judge will rule before the Oregon game so the University should have two full weeks to get the situation settled.
And this means either way. If we win, those tree-sitters better be removed and trees better be cut down. For a good ticket holder PR move, they could make a big pile of the wood with a sign: “Free fire wood for any Cal Bear ticket holder… thank you for your patience through the gate closures”. They’ve got two weeks and there is no excuse to wait. If we lose, well the tree-sitters should leave because “they’ve won” and if they don’t, this is no longer “free speech”, it’s simple trespassing because there is no issue to protest about.
So, the way I see it, we only have to put up with this for two more games (unexpected legal maneuvering aside). I also think it’s going to go more smoothly for those two games both because fans will be adjusting their routes to get to the more open gates and the University will be using some games they usually don’t (this is the part that killed me on Saturday, there were gates that could be used that they didn’t initally use because they usually don’t. How much brains does it take to say “Hey, we’re closing a bunch of gates, why don’t we use the ones we usually keep locked?”). They even figured this out mid-ordeal Saturday as I saw at least one that was opened after I arrived.
Let’s just do our best to be cooperative and patient while the University works through this difficult issue.
(Written by kencraw)
General thoughts after watching the game on TV this morning:
OK, that wraps up my thoughts on the game. Still a great win for the program and one that should counter-act some of the stereotypes of the Pac-10 and specifically Cal. Of course there will always be those homers who refuse to recognize reality (the popular Tennessee answer today seems to be that their team sucks and they’re going to get crushed in their conference schedule which is of course a back-handed put down to Cal), but can rest in the confidence of knowing that we’ll have specific stats and games to point to when the SEC homers talk about how weak the Pac-10 is.
GO BEARS!!!
(Written by kencraw)
I always watch the game on TV after seeing it in the stadium because I both get to see things from a different angle (plus good replays) and sometimes there is commentary that is meaningful. I was tickled to death to hear how the TV commentators covered the tree-sitters. There was nothing but derision and disbelief in their voice as well as bringing out some of the important facts like 3 trees planted, including one mature tree, for every 1 removed. Add in the video footage that exposed them for being the wackos that they are, including RunnyDub quoting his usual crud, and one has to be VERY happy.
Thank you ABC!
Update: Got yet another good mention with less derision in the 2nd quarter but still on the Bears side.
