Cal Seals Game with 10 Man Defense

I saw this brought up in the message boards, and reader Oliver pointed this out in the comments section of my UCLA recap, but I thought this was worth its own post.

In a revolutionary new defensive scheme, the coaching staff decided to test its new 3-2-3 defense, jogging on just 10 defensive players in the waning moments of their game against UCLA.



You can clearly see just 10 Bears on the field at the 0:02 mark, and again at the 0:35 mark.


With about 5:23 remaining, the Bears rushed 3 linemen and one middle linebacker, while Tyson Alualu dropped back into coverage along with the remaining 5 players in the secondary. OLB Mychal Kendricks was able to bring pressure on UCLA QB Kevin Price. Price was still managed to zip his pass to his receiver who was eventually pounded by safety Marcus Ezeff for an incompletion.

On the following play, the Bears played man coverage on a critical third down, with every Bruin receiver tightly covered, except for their tight end who was wide open over the middle. Normally, the Bears' 11th defender would have had him covered, but defensive coordinatory Bob Gregory and Mychal Kendricks had other ideas, as Kendricks would hide behind the line and snatch Price's low pass out of the air for the game sealing pick six.

Revolutionary? Possibly. Brilliant? Absolutely.

All joking aside though, I thought it was one of the most bizarre things I've seen in a while.

Having 10 players on the field isn't unusual in college football. You see it penalized all the time.

[Edit: I guess you don't get penalized for only have 10 players. Only if you have 12.] What is so unusual is that NO ONE caught it. Not the Bears players or coaches, nor anyone on the entire Bruins squad. None of the refs, none of the sideline judges, not even the guys in the replay booth.

And it was on two plays! At a critical point in the game! We scored on that last one!

In essence, people are paid to check for these things!

Unbelievable. It's enough to make you think it might have been intentional.

Tedford: Bob, have you thought about only throwing ten guys out there?
Gregory: What you talking about Willis?
Tedford: You know, have one down where we play zone to fool them into thinking we'll drop back again on 3rd down. Then, on the next play, only have 10 again in MAN defense this time, so that the QB THINKS that his tight end is wide open in the middle.
Gregory: Uh Huh,,,
Tedford: And we'll have our linebacker hide and straight up Dwight Howard the pass after it's released. It'll be perfect!
Gregory: You're crazy man. I like you, but...you're crazy.