(Written by kencraw)

(We continue the looking back series for the 2008 season. Unlike prior seasons where I did these games in chronological order, I’m going to do them as what will look like previews for this year’s match up. Go here for past posts.)

Pre-Game notes and thoughts:
USC was well established as a very good defensive team by the time Cal made the trip south to the Coliseum. What was less clear was how good the USC offense was. The hope for Bear fans was that Cal’s potent defense would be able to stifle the USC offense. Once that was accomplished hopefully the Cal offense could get enough going to win the game, hopefully spurred by a turnover, something Cal was one of the best teams in the nation at forcing. The Coliseum had not been kind to Cal ever since Tedford, and just as importantly Carrol, took over. Nevertheless, even with the loss in Arizona, Cal was tied with USC and Oregon State (who the Bears were headed to face in Corvallis the following week) for the conference lead and there was optimism that the Bears could end the curse.

Scoring and momentum changing plays:

• After USC fairly easily marched down the field on their first possession, the Cal defense stiffened in the redzone and forced the short field goal. Bears start in an early hole: 0-3
• Mohammed sacks Sanchez at the Cal 37 (play was from the 33) on 3rd and 3, forcing USC to punt on what was otherwise looking to be a killer drive for USC.
• Longshore throws an interception on an out-pattern (Longshore’s biggest INT weakness) but it is saved by a roughing the passer. It not only saved him from that but put Cal in the redzone.
• Longshore is saved a second time from an interception, another very bad decision, this time by a pass-interference call that although correct, would not have otherwise changed the outcome of the play were it not called.
• Tavecchio kicks a 35 yard field goal where the kick is shorter than most 35 field goals need to be. Nevertheless it ties the score: 3-3
• USC makes what looks like a great diving TD catch that replays clearly show that the catch hit the turf as the WR was trying to corral it. But the catch was never reviewed and it stands. Bears back in a hole, this time a TD: 3-10
• Cal has a great touchdown called back by a bogus ineligible receiver down-field penalty that was rooted in the ref calling a receiver who was off the line being called on the line. The TD pass to Vereen would have tied the score as well as forced USC to play Cal’s fakes better.
• Riley’s pass is tipped by a linebacker and then intercepted in the endzone on what could have been another TD pass that instead ensures the drive comes up empty. A huge blow on Cal’s first drive on the 2nd half.
• Zack Follett strips the ball from McNight on a wild crisscrossing run and Williams recovers, killing a USC drive that looked to be a killer as the Cal defense was getting tired and having trouble stopping the USC run game.
• Sanchez throws a nice quick pass on a quick WR screen that goes for a short touchdown. It was relatively well defended by Cal but great execution by USC gets it done. Cal now is completely out of it with less than 3 minutes left to play: 3-17

Observations:

• Cal’s running game was looking good on their first series, gaining 6 and 3 yards by Best. But on 3rd and 1, Cal went to the wildcat and Mack launched a high snap that Best couldn’t easily corral, ensuring the play went for a loss and forcing the Bears to punt on their 1st series.
• The USC offense was really man-handling the Bear defense the first couple series. USC started the game with a handful of play-action passes and it really slowed Cal’s aggressiveness. USC was then able to abuse that indecisiveness by winning in the trenches.
• While it hadn’t hurt USC much, about the only thing slowing the USC in the 1st quarter was their penalties. They had 3 in the 1st quarter. Add in the two defensive penalties early in the 2nd quarter that nullified 2 turnovers and USC had 5 penalties for 55 yards early in the game.
• Longshore was struggling with his accuracy down field, specifically skipping it to receivers who were open down the middle in the 2nd quarter.
• Riley comes in to start the 2nd half after only 89 yards of offense in the 1st half and Longshore’s two nullified interceptions. Probably a good decision when viewed just from the context of how ineffective the Cal offense was in the 1st half.
• The Cal defense made some good adjustments to start the 2nd half and USC looked really ineffective on offense their first few drives.
• Cal got a great start to their second drive of the 2nd half with Syd’s punt return down to the USC 36, but Riley takes a 7 yard sack on 1st down that pretty much kills the series. Then Riley throws both the next two passes too far down field and the result is a punt even though they started the drive only needing a few yards to kick the field goal.
• Penalties continue to kill USC, allowing Cal to stay on the field time and time again. Another roughing the passer, this time on 2nd and 20, gives Cal a fresh set of downs.
• In general, this was a very tightly officiated game because the Bears also got their share of penalties too.
• Nevertheless those penalties on USC were far bigger because it allowed the Cal defense lots of time to rest and that allowed them to be as aggressive as they were without giving up too much.
• Starting early in the 4th quarter you could tell that Cal was getting tired, particularly in the trenches. The offensive line was collapsing too quickly on Riley and the defense wasn’t making the tackles and plays they were earlier in the game. Riley was sacked on back-to-back plays and the Bears were only kept alive by another USC penalty.
• Riley looked sharp down the field early in the 2nd half, but by the time the 4th quarter rolled around he was consistently over-throwing his receivers down field, which was disappointing to see as Cal had gotten a handful of receivers behind the gambling USC defense.
• That inaccuracy led to back to back short drives for Cal which really affected the defense’s ability to come up with stops later in the quarter. The drive that allowed USC their final TD took a ton of time off the clock and it was clear the Cal defense was exhausted as USC had their way with them, moving the pile.

Implications for 2009:
Cal’s ability to slow the USC offense is reason for optimism for 2009. While the Cal defense has been more susceptible to the passing game in 2009 than it was in 2008, which by the way has been a big surprise to me, the USC offense is most definitely sputtering, particularly through the air. There’s real reason to believe that the Cal defense can hold USC to a point total in the 10 range. Also, with USC losing so much on defense, the hope would be that the Cal offense can get more going than it did in 2008. I think the key will be Riley and whether he can provide the balance that will force USC to play the running game straight up. Best did not get that many carries in 2008 because there just wasn’t any running room, and that was because USC didn’t have to play Cal balanced. That will be the key to Cal putting up points and putting up points should be the key factor on who wins (not to over-state the obvious).

Conclusion:
This was both a very disappointing game and one that showed a lot of promise. The reality was that the 2008 USC team was probably the best team in the nation and we really should have seen USC face Florida in the BCS championship game (and here’s betting that USC would have won). So to keep them so stifled all day was a big win for the Bears. The Bears ability to hold onto the ball was also nice to see. But there were just too many execution errors, particularly by the QBs (and both Longshore and Riley came up short, each getting a half to prove themselves) for the Bears to win. And that’s the disappointing part. There have been so few genuine opportunities to beat USC over the last few years that watching one of them slip away is pretty disappointing.