(Written by kencraw)

Cal got stomped 9-30 by USC last night and boy was it painful:

• How does a team turn the ball over 5 times at home?
• How does a team put the ball on the turf at least 4 other times and get lucky enough to pick them back up? (I guess bad snaps aren’t considered fumbles because they don’t all show on the fumbles stat)
• How does a team go scoreless in the 1st half against a defense that gave up 41 to an Arizona team that just fired their head coach?

The Cal offense did not come ready to play, it’s as simple as that. The defense gave a valiant effort. USC only marched the field to get a touchdown once as this log of scoring drives shows:

• Cal 30 to Cal 22 for a field goal
• USC 13 to the endzone
• Cal 20 to Cal 12 for a field goal
• Cal 37 to the endzone
• USC 28 to the Cal 16 for a field goal
• Cal 9 to the endzone

Doing the math, the average USC scoring drive started on the Cal 40 and fully 2/3rds started within the 30, 1/3rd in the redzone.

That’s not how one sets up the defense for success.

Here’s what I saw on offense that troubles me:

• Bad defensive recognition by coaches: USC was playing these somewhat unconventional defensive formations with wide-spread defensive linemen and the outside line backers outside them (and remember USC plays a 4-3 where by default all the linebackers should be inside the defensive tackles). They were just BEGGING the Bears to run inside, a-la Oregon State’s upsets of the Trojans in recent years. Did the Bears run between the tackles? NOPE! We ran outside, right into those waiting linebackers. We also ran lots of slow developing run plays which play right into the hands of a talented but raw defense (gives them too much time to recover from mistakes).
• Calling Mr. Ayoob: That’s who I kept thinking of when I saw Maynard throw. This guy is getting worse. He’s losing confidence and he only has a couple of throws he can do somewhat effectively (over the middle slants). His mis-throws are getting worse. He can’t hit a receiver in the flat to save his life. I’ve gone from seeing a QB who was raw with potential to one who seems to be regressing each week. He’s making truly bad decisions (see ALL 3 ints). He’s getting worse, not better, with his accuracy. It was really troubling.
• Mistake prone: The rest of the offense didn’t make things easier on Maynard. Galas did a crummy job snapping him the ball. Botched handoffs put the ball on the ground. Too many catches dropped (although the receivers also bailed out Maynard on other occasions, so it’s not like the WR’s are on the negative side of the ledger). It makes getting into rhythm harder when balls are dropped or whatnot. It means the team is playing behind the chains.
• Bad playcalling: Why does one pull out the fake punt on 4th and 7 on our side of the field? How many times do you think you’re going to fool the defense with the receiver screen to Keenan? Why did we give up on the run game (see 1st point about recognition) so early? Why weren’t we playcalling to Maynard’s strengths in the 1st half like we were in the 2nd half? And for the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY WHAT’S WITH THE RUGBY PUNTS!?! (In fairness, we stopped doing them later in the game). There’s just too many baffling playcalling decisions these days.

As bad as the above seems, it wasn’t all bad. Maynard showed glimpses of his former self in the 2nd half. The offensive line did their job and probably would have opened up a nice run game if given the chance. Our WR’s continue to impress. But most importantly, the team had fight. They came out in the 2nd half and gave it a good go. Down by 14 (9-23) with 17 minutes to play and finally showing some offensive rhythm while the defense had started imposing its will on the USC offense, there was a moment where everyone realized the comeback was a possibility. That all ended with the interception with 6 minutes left deep in Cal territory (it was already getting a bit desperate), but at least this team keeps trying. Also, it was a pretty clean penalty game.

And of course I need to re-reference the defense in my “it wasn’t all bad” segment. They did a GREAT job and deserve praise. While McClure had his issues and was picked on, he didn’t do bad. When Marc Anthony comes back, the defense will be even better and it’ll be nice to have the depth (with some experience) that McClure gives us.

So where does this all leave us? Well, I’ll let everyone else speak for themselves, but it leaves me disappointed and worried, yet at the same time knowing all is not lost (yet). We all knew coming into this season that a 3-game losing streak with these 3 games was a real possibility. It’s frustrating because one of them was quite winnable, a second we played great for a half before locking ourselves in the woodshed and waiting for our beating and the 3rd, I think I’m not alone in thinking this team is capable of beating the USC team we saw last night despite not ever really threatening to last night. So yeah, it’s frustrating. But in the end, we have to remember what the expectations were for how we’d get to 6 wins and it didn’t include these 3 games. What matters is how many wins the team has in December. If the team can put those 3 games behind it (DANGER!) we now enter a stretch where if the Bears win 3 of 4, they’ll be bowl eligible.

All of these games are winnable, the Bears might even be considered a favorite in all of them. The Bears could probably win a couple of them even with something resembling the performance we saw last night. The other couple will take somewhat of an improvement, but there’s PLENTY of room for improvement that as long as Maynard doesn’t become Ayoob (DANGER!) and mistakes get cleaned up.

Frustrated and disappointed, but with hope. Sure feels like I’m an Old Blue.