UCLA 2009 Recap

(AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Let’s not fully kid ourselves. Saturday’s win over UCLA has confirmed that this team still has a number of issues preventing it from being an elite team. And it’s clear we still have overestimated talent to a certain extent and have underestimated a number of key deficiencies. And it most certainly doesn’t cover up the fact that this team really for the lack of a better word, faceplanted in their two losses against USC and Oregon.

But today’s win sure does feel good. For a myriad of reasons really.

The first reason easily being the breaking of Tedford’s LA curse. After beating Oregon in Autzen back in 2007, the team was finally able to get a win in So. Cal after 8 trips there in Tedford’s tenure. Finally, after years of finding ways of losing to inferior UCLA squads in the Rose Bowl, the Bears finally posted a solid win in LA. What’s not to celebrate?

I don’t know if it was Gatorade bath appropriate, but hey, it was pretty hot in LA from what I hear.

But in what could be the more important implication was the way in which the team responded after the level of criticism and scrutiny it dealt with in the two long weeks with the bye. While Tedford’s teams have usually been well prepped in bye weeks during which there haven’t been the meatiest of expectations, you knew the entire team was feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders on their long bus ride down.

The team needed a win, and it needed it desperately. Not only to avoid falling into a 0-3 conference start, but also to throw off any rumblings of another “collapse.” This team needed and wanted to prove the naysayers wrong, to reaffirm their own confidence that could have also tailspinned with three consecutive losses, and they responded with a 45-26 romp over the Bruins.

Let’s get to some thoughts.


Offense Explodes
Cal got back into their offensive ways on Saturday…sorta.

I was ecstatic to see the Bears score 35 points in the first half. I was honestly doubtful that the Bears would be able to score half of that the entire game. I expected UCLA’s defense to be too athletic to really let the game bust open, but I was proved wrong after watching Cal take advantage of some fantastic mismatches.

Riley Returns
First off, hats off to Kevin Riley and the receiving corps. Cal’s well documented passing woes disappeared as Riley finally connected with a wide receiver for a passing score—something that hadn’t been done since the season opener.

Riley looked poised and in control, and returned to his confident self against the Bruins. While he still has a tendency to sail the ball a bit by releasing the ball a bit too high, he gave his receivers more chances to go up and actually make a play on the ball. He also showed fantastic footwork in the pocket, some of the best I’ve seen from a Cal QB in years really. Rolling out, sidestepping, stepping up and into his throws…there was a lot to like.

Oh, and I thought Riley’s running ability was used perfectly on Saturday. Just the right number of designed runs on the appropriate downs, and Riley made the right decisions to tuck it and take off. Very good decision making in this category.

Marvin Jones also reminded fans while they might be looking at the future, as Jones had one of the better WR performances in nearly two seasons. His ability to bring down tough balls is as good as any Cal WR I’ve seen in a while, and I’m excited to see if he can keep this going in another game. Cal’s receivers have had a tendency to fall off the map a bit after a big performance like Jones.

Running Backs Roll
Best and Vereen rolled up 289 yards on the ground against a typically stout UCLA run defense. Two real different stories in regards to both backs.

First, hats off to Vereen. It was easily his best overall performance as a Bear, as Vereen’s career day of 158 yards on 17 carries (1 TD), and 2 catches for 20 yards showed why the coaches are so confident to give him as many carries as they do. While Vereen may not make as many people miss as Best does, I continue to be a fan of his low-to-the-ground, fall forward, positive yardage, solid running style. Say that 10 times fast.

Now Best’s day was a bit of a head scratcher. Yes he did remind us of why he’s an absolute freak and a perpetual playmaker. His 50 yard TD reception just shows his discrepancy of speed when given a matchup with a linebacker, and that 93 yard TD run was just about the most ridiculous TD run I’ve seen from Best. That’s saying a lot when you look at his highlight reel.



But Best has for the most part been a bit of a feast or famine type of back. His numbers are always inflated by his huge runs (duh), but he’s not as reliable to fighting out tough yards in between the tackles. Best averaged just 9 yards on his other 17 carries. Keep in mind, he had a 22 yard scamper in the second quarter. So we’re actually talking about 16 carries for -13 yards.

Yikes.

Give credit where credit is due. UCLA’s Brian Price is a beast and fought through double teams all day to fart in Cal’s backfield. And Jahvid Best apparently has asthma, and was battling dehydration. But Vereen clearly outshined him in the category of toughing out 3-4 yard gains, as Best appeared to hesitate a bit too much on some of his cutbacks and appeared unable to break through some arm and ankle wraps.

Offense Overall?
You can’t scoff at 38 points. Cal really won this game on a number of fantastic big play, which are a bit of a double edged sword. Yes, I would have liked to have seen Cal take control a bit more and show some more sustained drives (much like their first one). One the other hand, it’s that explosiveness that is so typical Cal’s potential and offensive personnel that makes them so fun to watch.

Like Best, it’s a bit of feast or famine. It is what it is.

Mixed Bag Defense
While the defense was a mixed bag on Saturday, there was slightly more to be critical of. Darian Hagan summed it up after the game stating, "Seeing some of the things they were able to do (against us) shows us how much work we still have to do.”

This is a Cal defense that has the potential to do great things and hold opposing offenses to less than 20 points a game, assuming it has nearly flawless execution. At the same time, on Saturday, we saw what can happen when that execution isn’t there, and has some questionable defensive playcalling to go with it.

It can be stated as simply as this: UCLA does not have a good offense. Going into the game, it ranked 101st in scoring offense, 104th in total offense, 96th in rushing offense, and 103rd in passing efficiency.

Yet, Cal surrendered 448 yards to a Bruins offense that had previously only averaged 283 yards per game. They also allowed the Bruins to score the most points since their opening season win over SDSU. Yes. San Diego State.

Air Mailed
The Bears also gave another opposing QB their season high on passing yardage, allowing Kevin Prince to go 21-41 for 311 yards. Granted, the that’s a little over 50% completion and allowed no passing TDs, but the ways in which Prince were picking up his yardage was still concerning.

Many plays on defense on Saturday were focused on limiting the number of pass rushers and dropping back anywhere from 6 to 8 defenders in coverage, hoping to take away the long ball and force Prince to dink and dunk underneath. Dink and dunk he would, but nine of Prince’s passes went for more than 15 yards. Cal’s coverage was getting hit on both the top and bottom.

As it stands the Bears currently rank 98th in the country in passing yardage allowed, giving up about 250 yards per game. Much of their struggle defending the pass is Cal’s inability to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Prince had far too much time to throw on Saturday, which is distressing given how young and inexperienced UCLA’s offensive line is. Now granted, Part of this lack of pass rush is by design (again, only rushing 3 to 4 linemen) but part of it is Cal’s linebackers inability to get into the backfield as well. Cal really doesn’t have the pass rush threat off the edge, and other than the occasional play, we don’t appear to have the linebacker (yet) who will constantly win one-one battles with a tight end of slow-footed offensive tackle.

What also doesn’t help though, are Cal’s struggles in the secondary. While I won’t quite say that the players have regressed, they haven’t shown nearly the level of consistent play as last year. Darian Hagan’s inconsistencies made way for Josh Hill, who for all his promise, has also been exposed in one on one matchups for the past several weeks. It will be interesting to see if Hagan’s 5 tackle, 3 pass breakup performance will move him back into the starting lineup next week against Washington State.

Oh, and Syd’Quan Thompson left the game on Saturday with a hip pointer. The extent of the injury is unknown. Me no likey.

Defense Positives
Now on the flip side, there was a lot to like about Cal’s defensive performance. Some of it pure context. Let’s break it down by the scores.

Keep in mind that’s Cal’s ongoing Special Teams struggles gave UCLA some very manageable field position, including Terrance Austin’s 50 yard return that gave UCLA starting field position at the Bears’ 39 yard line. That in itself makes the Bruins’ first touch down much more excusable.

UCLA’s second touchdown was a result of 1) a terrific move back to the inside by RB Jonathan Franklin and 2) some overpursuit and brain lapse by Cal’s defense. It’s certainly not something to be excited about, but given that it doesn’t happen too often, I see it as a bit more of a pure gaffe than something indicative of Cal’s usually stout run defense. Franklin did only manage 28 yards on his other 10 carries for the game, much more in line with Cal usually allows to most backs.

The Bruins wouldn’t see the endzone again for the rest of the game after that TD in the second quarter. And as uneasy it is to see that yardage total at the end of the day, you’ve got to impressed with the Bears clamping down in the red zone, forcing four field goals. And I can almost assure you that very few other kickers in the conference other than Kai Forbath would have been able to nail all of those.

Defense Overall
So while I will continue to be concerned about the continuing lack of a pass rush and the subsequent passing yardage allowed, I’m still confident in the other areas of the defensive side of the ball. I also think that the pass pressure will improve with added experience from Cal’s LBs, and that Cal can go back to playing better shut down pass defense if the secondary is trusted and allowed to do so schematically.

Special Teams Still an Issue
Ok, let’s get the good out of the way: Bryan Anger was back to his usual form after struggling against Oregon and USC with a terrific punting performance. Anger averaged 50 yards per punt including an outstanding 72 yarder, his best distance punt since his boomer in the Big Game last year. Anger really saved the Bears in a lot of field position battles on Saturday.

Also encouraging to see was Giorgio Tavecchio’s kickoffs in the second half after D’Amato was sidelined with a shoulder injury in the second quarter. One can see why Tedford has committed to sticking to Tavecchio a bit longer than most liked earlier this season when seeing Tavecchio knocking two kicks inside the 3 yard line. I would love to see that continue moving forward.

Now let’s get to the obviously bad. Cal’s return coverage really struggled on Saturday. The struggles were more visible on kickoff returns, with Terrance Austin’s 50 yard return setting up UCLA’s first TD on a 39 yard field to work with. UCLA averaged more than 30 yards per return, and with Cal’s kickoffs in the first half still falling around the 15 yard mark, the Bruins had great field position for chunks of the game.

On punt returns, I was amazed at how far off our gunners were from getting to the return man. I understand that Anger boomed his a bit more than usual today, which makes it difficult for even the speediest gunners to crowd the return man, but on one occasion I noticed Brian Holley as the first one to get there. No offense to Holley, but really? Our fullback is the first to break through UCLA’s punt protection?

Special Teams Overall
While it wasn’t the most atrocious special teams performance, I’m amazed at the continual and persistent special teams breakdowns. It seems as if nearly every game consists of at least one big busted play on special teams. Anger’s big day and Tavecchio’s solid substitution will likely mask what was otherwise a rougher special teams day, but it really shouldn’t.

So Again
Again, Cal is still 4-2 (1-2) and still out of the Rose Bowl hunt (for the most part). They still might be favored the rest of the way in their remaining 6 games.

But all that aside, it was a fun game, and a relief to watch. It really depends on how you look at it, the game changed nothing or could have changed everything.

It could mark the turning of the tide, and spark Cal’s amazing 7-0 run, placing them in the conversation of a BCS at large.

It could also be a short two game blip before losing another (possibly two) conference games and finding themselves in the Emerald Bowl….again.

The team remains a bit of a mystery to me, but I’ve resigned myself to simply relishing wins such as the one on Saturday. Cal doesn’t control its destiny for the conference race, and I most certainly don’t. But they showed that they’re hell bent on winning each game they’ve got the chance to compete in, and I should be just as determined to enjoy them.