(Written by jsnell)

Despite my rain fears, it was a rain-free game in Berkeley. And it was a good one. If I felt uncomfortable after a 30-point win versus Louisiana Tech, why should I feel much better after an 18-point win over Arizona?

Maybe it’s because the game, despite a late Arizona rally, was never really that close. Cal’s offense clicked more than it has the entire year, highlighted by a 28-point outburst in the first quarter. Tedford’s play calling in that first quarter was brilliant — you could actually see Cal zig every time Arizona zagged, passing when Arizona seemed to be playing the run, and running when they played the pass. Longshore, who we have established can be streaky when it comes to passing, was on a hot streak. Justin Forsett, when he started running, ran with authority. And when he came back in the game late, after a James Montgomery fumble, he shredded the Arizona defense like a man among boys.

After you go up 28-3, and then 31-10, there’s going to be a letdown. And there was. The offense played more conservatively, and Longshore was a bit less accurate — though he wasn’t helped by some drops by his receivers. The defense softened, which (again) I can’t really fault, since they were up by three touchdowns at that point. And it’s pretty hard to defend that crazy Texas Tech-style offense, especially when they’re always in the spread due to being behind by 21. And how about that Thomas DeCoud? He was everywhere.

Here’s what I didn’t like: The turnovers. Longshore threw a couple shoulda-been-intercepted balls, plus the interception. Montgomery’s terrible fumble. I also didn’t like the stupid penalties, especially late in the game when Cal had reasserted itself. Use your head.

I also didn’t like Mike Stoops very much. He lost it a few times on the sidelines, which didn’t impress me. I really appreciated his playcalling in last year’s Cal-Arizona game, where he boldly went for it on every occasion because he knew he couldn’t win otherwise. And he won, in the game that ended up being the reason Cal didn’t go to the Rose Bowl. Ouch! But this year? Not so much. With 13 minutes to go in the game and trailing by 14, Arizona opted to kick a 32-yard field goal. I found that pretty weak, since it cut the game from two scores to… two scores. But okay, if you’re going to play the incremental-scoring, then why go for it later on 4th and 9 at the 16 when you’re down by 18 again? A field goal in that situation brings you within two scores, and yet Stoops opted to go for it. After a false start penalty, they went for it on 4th and 14.

It just doesn’t make sense, certainly not from a pure strategy perspective. Perhaps it was an emotional decision: Stoops might have figured that a touchdown to make it 45-34 would pump up his team in a way that a field goal to make it 45-30 wouldn’t. But at that point, the Wildcats needed three scores, and Stoops bypassed a short field goal. Dumb. And when they failed on 4th and 14 with four minutes left, that was the end of the game.

Short Takes: These will be really short, because I’ve got a super-early flight in the morning… All my game photos are here… Not a huge game for DeSean Jackson, but his presence caused at least one terrible punt — you’ve got to figure that punters used to kicking normally have to adjust their approach knowing he’s back there, and sometimes that simply leads to terrible kicks… My spies tell me that Versus, which televised the game, makes CSTV look like the pinnacle of broadcast excellence. Versus lost its signal for a while and aired nothing but commercials, and the main camera looked like it was mounted on the cannon on Tightwad Hill…. With the A’s on the road, AnnouncerBot 2.0 beta was reinstalled to the P.A. system, and the world yawned… The alumi section’s Mic Man today was on some severe tranquilizers. I half expected him to start reading his poetry to us. Not that I’m complaining — it was easy to tune him out… Cal is averaging 42 points per game through four games, for an average score of 42-25. Crazy! But it gets harder next week versus Oregon at Autzen Stadium. A lot harder.