Arizona State Recap

(Nate: "I'm so happy!")

It’s funny, a 42-7 decimation over Colorado State last Saturday had many of the Golden Bear faithful grumbling about the team’s various inconsistencies. A 24-14 win over Arizona State however, has instilled a renewed sense of optimism with the young Cal team.

While most of the talk in the media will surround the quarterback play, and Jeff Tedford’s decision to start Nate Longshore over Kevin Riley, the biggest story from Saturday’s game has to be the outstanding play from Cal’s defense.

Cal’s defense, coupled with the fast start from the offense, allowed the game to be not as close as I had expected it to be.

Defense Bears, Defense.
I loved what I saw out of Cal’s defense on Saturday. Loved. Did I see areas that needed improvement? Naturally. But overall, you had to like what you saw on the field against ASU, holding the Sun Devils to 236 yards of total offense, impressive considering ASU was considered one of the stronger offenses in the conference.

Arizona State Head Coach Dennis Erickson stated last week that he wanted to run it more, and that they did. Cal held ASU’s struggling running game to 71 total yards on the ground, on 2.2 yards per attempt. On the season, Cal has yet to allow any rusher to go for over 100 yards (Da’Rel Scott’s injury in the Maryland game helped), and ranks second in the conference in yards allowed on the ground per game (95.0) and YPC (2.5).

To better understand the improvement Cal has made on defense, one has to remember that it was Arizona State’s running game that helped the Sun Devils hold on to its win last year, converting critical thirds downs on the ground late in the 4th quarter on its way to amassing nearly double the number of yards (144) as the team allowed this year.

Carpenter Got the Business
“There he is. There he is. 1-2 Carpenter. You’re about to get the business.”
-Zack Follet mic’d up prior to the game.

Carpenter certainly got the business on Saturday as Cal’s defensive front did an excellent job in wrecking havoc in the backfield all game. In addition to the three sacks on Carpenter, the defense constantly was able to flush Carpenter out of the pocket, often times only rushing three or four. The pass rush was critical in limiting the rhythm of the normally efficient ASU passing game. Carpenter left Memorial Stadium with his foot in a walking boot with Zack Follett declaring in the press conference “I got him.”

(Jordan: "I'm afraid to be afraid.")

Oh and the secondary. Cal’s secondary held the top passing attack in the Pac-10, which had previously averaged 295.5 yards in the air coming into the game, to only 165 yards and also snatched two interceptions off of ASU QB Rudy Carpenter. With the exception of the breakdown in the touchdown pass, the secondary was spectacular against the Sun Devils’ passing game. Syd’Quan Thompson was a monster deflecting passes left and right, Darian Hagan continues to show swagger and impressive tackling, and Chris Conte bounced back from a subpar performance against CSU to net his first career interception. Cal’s secondary, is shaping up to be one of the most improved and impressive in the conference.

The Bears also forced four fumbles, although they only recovered one. This, with the aforementioned two interceptions, puts Cal at the top of the conference in turnover margin at +6.

So How'd Nate Do?
Much of the discussion of Cal’s offense will surround the Quarterback play, as senior Nate Longshore replaced starter Kevin Riley in hopes of getting the offense off to a quicker start.

All in all, I though Nate did alright. Longshore threw for 198 yards on 17-28 passing, including 3 touchdowns and one interception. It wasn’t a spectacular performance, but an efficient one. Longshore made some nice passes, including TD strikes to LaReylle Cunningham and Cameron Morrah, showing good zip and accuracy on those throws. His 18-yarder to Michael Calvin also showed some nice anticipation and timing.


There were several passes however that I’m sure Nate wanted back. He missed a wide open Tad Smith in the endzone on Cal’s first drive, and an open Shane Vereen in the first quarter. He also wobbled a 30-yard pass to Nyan Boateng that would have gone for a TD had it been aired out properly. And his interception on a busted screen play was a head scratcher. Upon reviewing the play on tv, it was an obvious busted play, as Vereen was caught up by an ASU defender leading to the pick. I’m not enough of an expert on screen plays to know accurately whether those passes should be thrown before the back fully comes out of their route, but I know enough that Longshore probably should have thrown that one way.

With that said, I thought Nate did a decent enough job. Some good passes and some not so good ones. What I thought was important though, was that the offense moved well early on in the game. I can’t remember the last time Cal scored on their opening drive, let alone not go three-and-out. I also saw a handful of occasions in which Longshore had to call out to some of his teammates to motion after they failed to do so the first time around.

Nate has a steady grasp on the playbook and will be capable of moving the offense. Whether he can begin limiting his turnovers will be the biggest question of whether he can lead this offense back to being something special, and win back the favor of most Cal fans in the process. Who will be taking snaps at Arizona? One has to think Longshore, but midway through the season, I don’t think either QB has fully set himself apart from the other.

And those who will point to the offense’s lackluster second half performance have to remember that no one was really helped by the vanilla playcalling. I’m actually quite fine with conservative play calling when to trying to preserve a 10 point lead, but I thought the plays bordered on predictable. A few swing passes or simple 5 yard rhythm throws would have in my mind, helped the offense preserve a few more drives.

Pound It
I thought Shane Vereen did fine in filling in for an injured Jahvid Best. Vereen gained 93 yards on 27 carries and also led the Bears in receiving with 5 catches for 51 yards. Not bad, but Cal’s running game was limited in the second half, and their 93 yards was a far cry from the 205 rushing yards that Cal had averaged going into Saturday’s contest.

Oh, and Tracy Slocum, where did you go?

Special Teams
Last week I compared Cal’s Special Teams to a bag of mixed nuts. Some parts delicious. Some parts not so much. This week the special teams were more akin to a bag of skittles. Pretty much all parts tasty.

Giorgio Tavecchio got the nod for kickoffs today, and we saw slightly improved kickoffs with most kicks winding up inside the 10 and more importantly, none out of bounds. Kickoff coverage was again solid, as was punt coverage although they did give a few more yards this week.

Cal nearly continued the trend of big plays on special teams after what seemed like a blocked field goal in the second half. A questionable “leaping” call against the Bears called it back though, allowing ASU to score on that drive.

All in all though, Special Teams has continued their solid play.

Overall
In the end, it was a good solid win over a conference team considered one of the top in the conference. Ultimately, the win may prove to be huge in terms of conference race implications. Cal now sits atop the conference rankings with Arizona, who they will face in two weeks. Cal fans probably haven’t changed expectations, as an 8-4 season would be considered a success by even the most optimistic. But at least we’re seeing that when motivated, Cal has the tools to get there.


As for Arizona State, dark times lie ahead as they have both USC and Oregon coming up in the next few weeks. The Sun Devils might be looking at a possible 5-6 game losing streak, and will have to fight it out to make a bowl game, or even break the .500 mark to finish the season.