Oregon 2009 Recap

Clearly we did not guess right.

What the hell was that?

Okay. Okay. I’m being a bit to rash. Let me start again.

…

What the hell was that?

Yesterday’s loss is beyond any simple description. There are a plethora of reasons why the Bears and their shiny number six ranking were devastated by the Oregon Ducks yesterday 42-3. At the same time, the game can also be simply described as the worst loss in Jeff Tedford’s tenure. By far.

The 2006 UCLA loss was heart-wrenching, but it was easy to explain: Alamar courtship of Maurice Jones-Drew. The Tennessee loss was vomit-inducing, but a loss that at least had the built in excuse of the incredible pressure of playing at a hostile environment with lofty expectations. The 2007 Washington and Stanford losses were mind-numbingly bad, but it was clear that there something very wrong with the team, and could be chalked up to the downward spiral that was the entire backend of that season. The Maryland loss last year was also embarrassing, but the Terrapins would be hot and cold all year, and there was always the humidity or 9 AM PST start time excuse.

Yet something yesterday was something entirely different. Cal was blown out by the Ducks to the tune of 39 points, and quite frankly folks, it didn’t even feel that close. There would be no talk about weather, start times, traveling, absence of star players, or an inexperienced team.

No excuse, and no where else to point but to the team itself. Yesterday, was as my friend described as a “systematic meltdown” all around.

However, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get our bearinga straight and attempt to make sense of this.


Coaching/Playcalling
The game was lost on many fronts, and without a lone performance to brandish as the scapegoat, one has to look at the coaching. The Bears were flat out out-coached on Saturday, and there were very few, if any, adjustments made.

Cal’s defense had no answer for Oregon’s swing pass game (more on the pass coverage in a second), and it was maddening to see the Bears continue to spot just two defenders with a far off safety against Oregon’s stacked 3 WR sets. Everyone could see the swing passes coming—except the Bears.

The pass rush was near non-existent, as the Bears seemed to be set on challenging Masoli to drop back and throw. I had also made this a key to the game, but with the assumption that Cal would play decent zone coverage. Crazy right?

Yet, Masoli isn’t inept. The kid can throw if you only rush 3 or 4 consistently and give him time to find pockets in zone coverage and set his feet. He’s also particularly lethal when on the run. Again, more on the pass coverage in a bit.

Offensively, I was amazed at the playcalling. Where were the reverses and sweeps that shined in the first three games? Why was Cal set on only passing downfield or on swing passes? Why were ten yard outs and slants completely removed from the playbook? Maybe I wasn’t seeing something. Perhaps the Ducks were playing too tight on coverage to try anything close to a mid-range passing game. But you can’t argue for the results of what we saw yesterday.

Zone Coverage Woes
Some of my worst fears were realized yesterday. Cal’s linebackers and secondary had struggled all year in zone coverage, and Oregon absolutely abused them in this category.

Specifically, I’d written a few times this year that Cal continues to open up the middle for the tight ends to sneak out for easy yardage. Someone forgot to remind the Bears that the Ducks have a potential first-day NFL selection in Ed Dickson, who would go on to roast the Bears for 3 TDs and 148 yards on 11 receptions. Ouch.

The pervading issues appear to be that (1) the linebackers aren't playing tight on zone coverage, giving their receivers and tight ends much too much space to settle into a zone pocket and that (2) the linebackers are too susceptible for play fakes and are too out of position by the time opposing QBs get the ball off.

I can’t remember if it was Dickson’s second or third reception, but you can clearly see Cal’s coverage LB (I think it might have been Kendricks) who easily let Dickson slip out to the weak side of the field and was a good five to six yards away before he realized that Masoli was going to throw.

Even Syd’Quan was pump faked again this week, and would have been burned for a 30 yard TD had Masoli not sailed his ball early in the game. But he had the flu so no one shall speak ill of Squid.

Again, it was clear that Cal’s secondary was going to get roasted from the get go due to the defensive schemes that let Masoli have all day to get into space and go 21-25 for 253 yards and 3 TDs. But Cal’s soft zone coverage is going to continue to hurt the Bears for some time to come. Imagine what Jake Locker or even Andrew Luck will be able to do. Shudder.

Sloppy Play
While yesterday’s game was far from being the sloppiest Cal game I’ve seen (some games from 2007 say hello), it was still by far the sloppiest of the season. Players missed assignments all around, and there were also a number of mental errors that would go onto kill any type of momentum.

Josh Hill’s fumble (AFTER HIS FUMBLE RECOVERY!) was painful. Recover the ball and slide! Best’s fumble on his bobbled handoff exchange (AFTER THE BEARS’ FUMBLE RECOVERY) was also unlike anything I’d seen in some time. And why oh why Verran, would you feel the need to get in the face of your defender after a blatant pass interference? Clap your hands, nod your head in agreement, and head back to the huddle with your shiny new 15 yards and a chance to score and get back in the game. Sigh. Sorry. Getting excited again.

Pass Protection Struggles
While Ducks have had a history of being able to get to the QB in its history against the Bears, yesterday’s game was a whole other story. I’ve long stated that Cal’s offensive line is much deeper than it has been in other years. Unfortunately, this seemingly means that the entire unit as a whole doesn’t appear to be as polished as previous years'. Cal gave up 5 sacks on the day to bring their season total to 10 through four games. As some context, at its strongest, the Bears’ 2006 squad gave up just 13 on the season. We’re nearly there with 8 more games to go.

Kevin Riley was unable to set his feet or step into most of his throws, being rushed into inaccurate passes that would often just be off his finger tips. Riley was just 12-31 for 123 yards, with 50 of those yards coming one throw to Verran Tucker. Riley has still yet to get intercepted this year, but also has been kept out of the endzone for the past two games.

The Offensive line also struggled to pave a path for Jahvid Best. I was actually pretty impressed with the running game early on, with Jahvid consistently running for 4-5 yards at a time. After Oregon began stacking the box however, Cal went away from any type of offensive balance however and would often go on to pass three of the next downs, to end any drives. Frustrating all around.

Special Teams…Decent?
Kickoffs and kickoff coverage was the lone bright spot. What? Yes, you read me correctly. While still needing to improve his consistency, as D’Amato appears to be the answer at kickoffs, able to knock his second kickoff two yards deep into the endzone. Cal’s inability to score however, makes it difficult to see how much D’Amato would be able to do over the course of a game in which the Bears actually…you know, score.

I see quite a bit of potential in the true freshman though. His 47 yard field goal to open the game in Autzen is impressive, though you wish he could have kept his composure with the second 42 yarder. Keep him at both kicking positions though. Continue to build that consistency.

Bryan Anger’s off performance was also a bit shocking but fitting with the rest of the team’s shocking performance. It was Anger’s poorest outing in what has thus far been a spectacular career. Anger was unable to land a number of punts inside the 20 despite working with some great field position, and went on to shank another. I’ve never seen that before. There was little leg on most of the others, even with ample space for him to get his punt off. Bizarre.

Oh, and continue to have Vereen on KR. He ripped off a number of great returns, and gave the Bears great field position that the offense would continue to squander, but it was still great to see. I’m curious to see if he’ll be able to return one for a TD by season’s end.

Where dost thou go from here?
Ultimately, I’m disturbed not so much that the Bears lost. Losing on the road in the always hostile Autzen stadium against a solid Ducks squad that has appeared to rectify all the issues from their opening game debacle is always understandable. It was rather the way in which they lost that is so disturbing. I would never have anticipated such a face plant, and never would have expected that so much of it would be on the shoulders of those at top, from Tedford to the coaching staff who had up until now been so effective and focused this season.

The season isn’t over by a longshot, and I still believe this can be a very good Bears squad. But I can only hope that I’m only scratching the surface of all the issues that the team and coaching staff are likely discussing now to prepare themselves for the rest of the season.

Next week’s game against USC could have been golden for the Bears. A win at Autzen and over the Trojans would have given the Bears a three game lead over USC in the conference race. Huge with Cal’s remaining schedule.

Now, USC and Cal will be battling it out to salvage their season. The winner regains its swagger with some of its toughest games out of the way and very much in it for the conference title. The loser finds itself with two conference losses and needing a prayer and miraculous turnaround to find some way of playing in January.