(Written by kencraw)

(We continue the looking back series. We’re going to continue the trend of doing these in “matching order” instead of chronological order, with doing games from 2008, 2009 and 2010 as needed to complete the series. Today we look at the 2010 Colorado game. Go here for past looking back posts.)

Pre-Game notes and thoughts:
The Bears had just come off of an expectedly easy win over UC Davis, a game in which they were barely tested in the 1st game of the season. Kevin Riley looked very proficient in that win. Would he have the senior magic this year after struggling with inconsistency in 2009? As for Colorado, it had already been announced that they would be joining the Pac-10 and they were clearly anxious to show that they could belong. Head coach Dan Hawkins’ job was on the line in 2010 after a few years of under-performing. Nevertheless there was reason for Colorado to be optimistic that they’d be turning the corner to get bowl eligible. The Bears themselves were coming off a less-than-stellar 2009 campaign and there were plenty of question marks. At least at first, this had the feel of a game where whoever wanted it more, would come out on top.

Scoring and momentum changing plays:

• The Bears receive the opening kickoff, but Isi Sofele fumbled the kick. Luckily he was able to fall forward on it to the 23 yard-line. Still made a nail-biting start to the game.
• After the defense kept Colorado pinned deep on their first possession, Jeremy Ross returned the quick punt to the Colorado 19 yard-line.
• Kevin Riley throws a nice back-shoulder pass to Shane Vereen in the endzone, who does a great job getting one foot down for the first score of the game. Bears score on their 2nd drive of the game: 7-0
• Cal goes for it on 4th and 1 from the Colorado 40 yard-line, and has Riley pass the ball. He over throws Marvin Jones on a crossing route, giving Colorado good field position.
• After giving up one 1st down, Cal sacks the Buff’s QB twice, the second time forcing the fumble that the Bears (Kendricks) recover.
• Riley throws a strike to Marvin Jones as he’s streaking across the endzone, for the Bears second touchdown. Bears up early nearing the end of the 1st quarter: 14-0
• After getting yet another sack on Colorado, they hit QB Hansen as he’s throwing the ball, sending an easily interceptable ball up into the air, which Nnabufee intercepts and returns to the Colorado 21.
• Cal doesn’t convert on 3rd and short and they kick the field-goal. Bears up 3 scores early in the 2nd quarter: 17-0
• Cal is dominant on their next drive, mostly on the ground (although Riley had one nice throw for a long-ish gain) and Vereen tops it off with a 3 yard touchdown dive. Bears blow it open with 10 minutes left in the half: 24-0
• After Colorado got to the Cal 3 yard line, on 3rd and goal they got a personal-foul chop block, a false start and then a sack, to setup a long field goal attempt (42 yards), which was missed.
• Colorado was trying to get a 2-minute drill in to get some points on the board before halftime when Hansen threw behind his outlet receiver and into the hands of Mohammed, who sprints into the endzone. Things go from bad to horrible for Colorado and the Bears hold a BIG halftime lead: 31-0
• Cameron Jordan sacks Hansen on 3rd and 9, to force Colorado to punt on which was otherwise their best drive of the game (now in the 3rd quarter).
• After another long, drawn out drive, Colorado finally gets a TD on a busted play on 4th and goal from the 3, when Hansen runs it in on the QB keeper. Bears lead shrinks a bit: 31-7
• Anger kicks a 67 punt that is called back on an offensive formation penalty and then repeats it with a 65 yard punt, pinning Colorado deep in their own territory.
• After Cal gets the ball back, Riley finds a wide open Marvin Jones for a 61 yard play down to the Colorado 2 yard line.
• After a false start penalty, Riley finds Keenan Allen on a rollout play for a touchdown. Bears back up by 31: 38-7
• Steve Williams out jumps the receiver on an under thrown go-route to intercept the ball.
• Sofele caps another nice drive, with had a nice catch by Ross, with a 1 yard touchdown catch. Bears extend: 45-7
• In one of the oddest looking plays, after the Colorado WR catches the ball it’s punched out from behind, right into the hands of Darian Hagan who streaks down the sideline for an easy touchdown. That’s the final score: 52-7

Observations:

• Eric Kiesau was the offensive coordinator at Colorado, a former Cal Bear coach who of course is back on the Cal Bear staff in 2011 as the passing game coordinator and receiver coach.
• The Cal defense was extremely dominant on the first Colorado drive of the game, actually pushing them back from where they started on the 6 yard-line.
• Colorado had lots of penalties early. On their first drive a illegal block penalty on what would have been their only positive play. On their 2nd drive, they both got a holding penalty on the return and a false start before they had even run a play.
• Tavecchio was booming the kickoffs early in the game, sending all of his kicks inside the 5 and one at least 4 yards into the endzone.
• Colorado actually had negative yards until they finally put a drive together in the mid-2nd quarter. Hansen threw a few good balls and the running game came to life, at least for one drive. Unfortunately for the Buffs, they went from nearly guaranteed points at the Cal 3 to a missed long field-goal which was a definite momentum and confidence killer for them.
• Colorado actually had some of the same success as with their earlier drive in their first few drives of the 2nd half. While it took them a lot of plays and a lot of 3rd down conversions, they moved the ball effectively. Colorado could have easily had 3 touchdown drives in the late 2nd quarter and 3rd quarter, but mistakes and turnovers killed all but one of those opportunities.
• The Bears were in a funk in the 3rd quarter offensively, having 2 3-and-outs in the quarter (with Colorado’s two long-ish drives taking the rest of the time)
• One really has to wonder why we never saw Mansion or Sweeney in this game, even in the 3rd quarter. We did see a number of other backups, Sofele getting a number of snaps late in the game and substitutions throughout the rest of the offense and defense. But no QB backup… why not?

Implications for 2011:
The Bears controlled this game from start to finish. They controlled the game in the trenches, particularly on defense. If the Bears can have similar control in 2011, they’ll be victorious again. However, so many breaks went the Bears way, I think if you played that game 10 times, at lease a couple times Colorado would have been within 14 points at the end. Colorado did show some potential and did put together a few sustained drives. Don’t think that the Colorado offense was as inept as the final score indicated. They also seemed to keep the Cal running game mostly in check, although they did it at the expense of the pass defense and the way Maynard is playing, he’d abuse them worse than Riley did. However, what truly killed Colorado was the mistakes, particularly the penalties and turnovers. If their new head coach can keep that in check, the game will be a lot closer.

Conclusion:
This was Cal at their best last season, probably their best game of the season. However, Riley wasn’t playing all that well and you could see the seeds that would flower into trouble later in the season, heck, even the next week. As mentioned above, despite being up so big, we never saw backups Mansion or Sweeney get any snaps. That would turn out to really hurt the Bears later in the season. Of course hindsight is 20/20 (well, that’s why we do this series of posts, isn’t it?), but it’s pretty clear that when re-watching this game what would eventually plague the team.