Minnesota 2009 Recap

"Here...you do something with it."

(AP Photo/Paul Battaglia)

It was looking like a magical Saturday. I settled down in an Irish pub to watch my Golden Bears hopefully roll the Minnesota Golden Gophers. One giant plate of nachos and two easy touchdowns later, it was looking like many concerns about another road letdown game would have been for naught. Nachos were good. Game was good. Life was good.

Yet after Eric Decker’s second and third touchdown receptions (one catching and one throwing), my stomach began voicing its discontent with me through the form of some warning gurgles. I tried chalking it up to the questionable tasting jalapenos. But the rest of my body knew the truth: the Bears were falling apart in the second half.

Then came the questionable (the Mike Tepper holding call) and down right inexcusable penalties (Cattouse’s pass interference). Shades of Arizona crept into my mind. Riley’s inaccuracy began rearing its head. I checked the stats. My worst fears were affirmed by ESPN. Since 2:24 in the second quarter, Cal had gained only 15 yards of offense. My nachos began knocking on my throat’s door asking to come out and play.

Then the Bears emerged and to take control of the game. It began with Kevin Riley’s beautiful 35 yard pass to Jeremy Ross to convert to convert a crucial 3rd and 16 pass. My stomach expressed its confusion. Best showed his speed in a 2 yard TD run to the outside. No more bubble guts. Mohammed picked off Weber on Minnesota’s ensuing drive after Weber was pressured by Eddie Young to give the Bears the ball back in Minnesota territory. All retching had ceased.

After Best’s school record tying fifth TD, it appeared I could finally breathe out. The Bears continued to get tremendous pressure on Weber to shut down Minnesota’s passing game in the closing minutes of the game to give the Bears a relieving and much needed road win.

Sigh. Whew. Fart.

Let’s get to some of the good, bad and ugly.


Defensive Line Pressure
The Bears D-Line continues to show why they are one of the best in the conference. Make no mistake about it: this is a solid, physical Minnesota offensive line. For the Bears to notch 3 sacks, and force Weber outside of the pocket a few times, particularly late in the game, is a testament to their talent and the schemes.

How much more can be said about Tyson Alualu? He was wreaking havoc in the backfield all game with two sacks, and continues to mark his stamp as the best Bears defensive end in the Jeff Tedford era.

The Bears continued to be stout on the ground, with 6 tackles for a loss, including two sacks.

Riley and Receivers
Riley again overcame a rough patch of passing to continue to have an overall decent game, going 16-25 for 252 yards. While Riley never found the endzone, and had some errant passes that would have likely been picked off had the Minnesota defenders hadn’t had rocks for hands, he made some critical passes when necessary to keep some drives alive.

The receivers also had an up and down game. The corps was plagued with a number of drops, but also made some nice grabs as well. Tucker’s deep catch, Ross catch near the goal line, and Anthony Miller’s one handed grab come to mind.

It’s been somewhat of a relief to see that any of the receivers are capable of stepping up to have a big game. Jones exploded against Maryland, Ross this week against Minnesota, and Tucker has been consistent (save a few drops this week) for the past few days. Cal really does have the luxury of slinging the ball around the field a bit and not having to rely on target week to week, unlike Adam Weber and Eric Decker.

Shameful Special Teams
I’m going to come out and say it. Special Teams will cost the Bears this season. Previously, I had stated that it would simply hurt the Bears in select games, but after today’s game, I am absolutely convinced that our kickoff and kickoff coverage will cost the Bears at least one game this season. It almost did today.

It’s become head-shakingly unbelievable. I don’t knock the Bears’ defense too much for giving up 21 points today, simply because of Minnesota’s amazing field position. The Bears averaged just 54.3 yards per kick, meaning the Gophers were fielding balls on the 15 or 16 yard line on average. With the exception of starting at their own two-yard line thanks to Anger’s amazing punt, the Gophers had the incredible luxury of starting often at either the thirty or forty yard line. One first down, and the Gophers were already in Cal territory.

You simply can’t continue to win games that way. There’s got to be an answer. I don’t know what. But it absolutely boggles my mind that we still don’t have a kicker who can kick the ball consistently inside the five. Hell, I’ll take the ten.

Rush Defense Dominance
It’s worth noting that Bears haven’t faced anything close to a strong running game. However, it’s still impressive to see the Bears haven’t given up too many big runs this season. In fact, the Bears gave up just 37 rushing yards, letting up just 1.8 ypc, to total out to 187 yards on the season. They will see a stiffer test to Oregon’s run heavy offense next week, and USC’s solid rushing attack the week after.

Unimpressive Zone Coverage
This is the second week that I’ve walked away from a game completely unimpressed with Cal’s zone coverage. Eastern Washington quickly found the open spots last week, and Adam Webber did the same for most of the game until the pressure got to him down the stretch.

It was a poor outing for Darian Hagan, who was stuck in the wrong spots for two of Minnesota’s three scores today. I know he’s been bothered a bit by injuries this past week, but I’ve been let down a bit with his performance this past year. He hasn’t shown as much aggression and closing speed on the ball as he did last year, and has given up quite a bit of space on some medium ranged throws. He’s still a great talent, but we will see how his performance continues the next few weeks.

On the other hand, Syd’Quan showed why he’s an All-American candidate, leading the team with 8 tackles (1 for a loss) with a pass breakup. His tackling ability for a player of his size is absolutely unreal. We still may have to wait until the end of the season to answer whether Thompson is better than Dante Hughes, but his durability, toughness, and tackling ability clearly outshines his Cal predecessor.

Best carries the Load
Best has done nothing so far to dissuade voters from seriously considering him as a Heisman finalist. Best carried the rock 26 times for 133 yards, hitting pay dirt five times.

I am a bit concerned by his limp after some of his TD runs, but my guess is that it’s that sore toe coming back to bite him, especially given that he carried the ball more today than he has since…well ever really I think. Can anyone else confirm or deny this?

I was also pulling my hair out a bit in the second half as to why it appeared the Bears weren’t giving the ball to Best. While it wasn’t getting to Bob Griese levels, it still didn’t make sense given how productive Best had been getting yards. I think much of it had to do with what Minnesota was giving the Bears, but I also think the coaching staff knew it was going to be a close game, and that they would need to save Best for the fourth. The gamble paid off, and the Best and Bears continued to roll.

Half-Full?
In the end, I think the game is going to help the Bears a lot more than it hurts them. While Cal’s zone coverage and kickoffs remains a concern, the Bears still beat a decent BCS conference team on the road in a pretty hostile environment. That’s never easy to do.

And though the game was closer for a while than it really should have been, you have to think that this experience can really only grow the Bears. Two blowout wins over inferior teams can only enhance egos and add apathy. But digging deep, and taking control of the game with two straight TD scores when it looked like the game was about to spiral out of control, only builds the fortitude necessary to help the Bears later.

All in all, it’s great preparation for next week’s critical road game against Oregon. Again, answers are starting to come in regards to this team’s character and ability, and you still can’t knock 3-0.