Eastern Washington 2009 Recap

(CalBears.com)

"They were the most complete team I'd ever seen on film. They're big up front, they're fast on defense. They just do everything right."

-Eastern Washington Head Coach Beau Baldwin.

First off, let’s give credit where credit is due.

Give it up—for me.

Let’s not forget that I predicted a 59-10 victory for the Bears in my earlier Keys to the Game posting http://www.bearswithfangs.com/2009/09/keys-to-game-eastern-washington-2009.html, and would have most certainly been spot on had Eastern Washington’s kicker not showed the leg strength of a five-year old school girl.

Anyway, moving on to the game…

Early on I was definitely feeling the cursory effects of playing in a seemingly no-win type of a game against a cupcake. Anything less than a blowout is unacceptable. A tied game? Your team must be absolutely atrocious.

To be honest, I thought that Eastern Washington actually looked better at times, particularly on offense than Maryland last week. Granted, some of it was certainly due to Cal’s defensive confusion early in the game, but give credit where credit is due. The Eagles featured a number of veteran and talented offensive skill players, particularly senior QB Matt Nichols who looked poised while carving up Cal’s secondary in the first half. Of course, Cal’s strength on defense and offensive line eventually put the game away, but EWU looked polished and efficient on offense, without any of the wide-eyed looks one would normally expect from a FCS school.

Defense Tightens Up
With that said, it would be an understatement to state that Cal’s defense looked a bit confused early on in the game on Eastern Washington’s second possession. You know things are bad when your All-American cornerback is getting pump faked. The Bears got little pressure on Nichols, and the soft zone coverage allowed EWU receivers to get plenty of separation from Cal’s defenders. The Eagles would go on to carve up 83 yards of mostly passing offense before scoring.

In all fairness though, I think Cal’s defensive playcalling was pretty conservative by design so as not to reveal too much for future opponents. After the drive, the Bears mixed in more blitzes and looked much better the for the rest of the game, shutting down the Eagles’ offense and holding the Eagles to just 42 yards in the second half and no points. The Eagles were also sacked three times and for just 14 yards on 28 tries.


At this point, I’m still a bit concerned by Cal’s propensity to give up big yards over the middle to tight ends. Also, I’d like to see an interception or two by the end of next week from a secondary that is considered to be one of the conference’s best. But it’s no time to panic.

Cal dominates on the Ground
Cal’s offensive line really imposed its will over a mostly outmatched EWU defense. It was common to see the Eagles defensive line pushed back a yard or two to open up huge holes for all of Cal’s backs. The Bears had three RBs score on the ground Saturday (four if you count Sofele) for a total of seven rushing TDs. They also amassed a whopping 342 yards on the ground, putting them at 586 for the season.

While one expected production from both Best and Vereen, it was particularly encouraging to see Covaughn Deboskie-Johnson get his first collegiate TD and a huge day rushing. Granted, CBJ’s second productive outing was again against the second-string of a weaker defense, but it was still fun to finally see how explosive he can be when given the opportunity. Cal will continue to have a wealth of riches at the tailback position.

When watching Isi Sofele play, I can’t help but think the same exact thoughts I had while watching Jahvid Best play during his freshman year. While not nearly the gunner (yet) that Best was, Sofele has shiftiness and burst that Best demonstrated his first year that makes me think this guy is going to make plays over and over again. Sofele would have certainly gone the distance on his TD run had that been any further out.

Some Pleasant Surprises So Far
Really liking the play calling so far. I think we’ve been pretty vanilla for the most part, especially today, but we’ve shown great balance and I enjoy the occasional passes on first down. Props to Coach Ludwig.

Also, I’m loving what I’m seeing from FB Brian Holley so far. While he’s isn’t quite the blocker Ta’ufo’ou was (very few are), he’s held up well, as is a better threat rushing and receiving than Will was. You’ve got to think that Tedford and Ludwig are getting increasingly interested in possibly involving Holley more in some select offensive packages.

Finally, good to see Anthony Miller get a few more grabs this week. Tight end play will be particularly critical in coming weeks. His blocking has also been solid thus far.

Passing Production
I noted in my Keys to the Game that Cal would need to continue its passing rhythm and consistency. While the Bears weren’t able to match last week’s 298 yard production, Riley still demonstrated his renewed confidence, going 13-20 for 148 yards and a TD.

While Riley has yet to turn the ball over, and seems much more sure of himself driving this offense, one might be concerned by the lacking of receiving production by receivers. Yes, the drop by Ross and Boateng’s slowdown were slight eyebrow raisers, but keep in mind that many of the passing numbers were down this week because they didn’t really need to be inflated. Once your team jumps out to a big lead early on, there really isn’t much reason to sling it around.

Kickoffs are still a weakness
Cal’s kickoffs were by and large about the same as last week. The Bears averaged 60.4 yards per kickoff against Maryland, and only marginally improved that number this week to 60.6. While Tavecchio showed he is physically capable of kicking it inside the five, knocking one kickoff to the three-yard line, the Bears are still struggling to pin opposing offenses behind the twenty yard line.

Again, there appear to be few strategies to rectify this. Tavecchio needs to become more consistent. Plain and simple. And unless Seawright or D’Amato can provide another option, the Bears are just going to have to bite the bullet for the rest for the year.

So How Good Are the Bears?
I still don’t think we can really answer that just yet. Maryland and Eastern Washington have been far from being the stiffest competition.

What we do know is that the Bears are good enough to do what good teams are supposed to do—which is to put away obviously weaker opponents comfortably.

We also know that the Bears are incredibly deep, particularly at both lines, running back and the secondary. The value of this can’t be overstated enough, especially as the Bears will face teams like the Trojans who are able to take over games because of this very reason.

Next week’s contest will begin to reveal the team’s character as they face a likely bowl team on the road for the first time. It’s also looking more and more like Cal’s schedule will be a bit more backloaded than initially anticipated with a much improved conference. Until then, fans need to continue to enjoy the blowouts while holding their collective breaths just a bit longer.