Washington State 2009 Recap

(Riley has a 11-2 TD to INT ratio this season. Ben Margot.AP)

It’s been some time, three years in fact, since I’ve missed out on a chance to watch an entire Cal game on t.v. or in person. Yet, there I was on Saturday evening listening to Joe Starkey call the game on KGO Radio, while following ESPN’s game tracker on my girlfriend’s iTouch, and trying desperately to picture the romping that was unfolding at Memorial Stadium.

And as much as I enjoyed each touchdown after the other (I AM might fond of Cal touchdowns afterall), the condition of playing a 1-5 team really forces you to be critical of each team error more so than if Cal had played a team that might provide a stiffer challenge. I became disgusted with every call of a Washington State third down conversion, and simply bit my tongue after listening to WSU’s Johnny Forzani haul in a 68 yard touchdown reception over backup CB Bryant Nnabuife. Blech.

The fact is that the reality of circumstances of such games try mightily to prevent you from enjoying blowout wins. If you win by 32, you wonder why you didn’t win by 39. If your team scores 28 points in the first quarter, you wonder why they were unable to score 7 in each subsequent quarter. If your star runningback runs for 159 yards on just 12 carries, you wonder why he was unable to match last year’s 200 yard total. It’s unfortunate and silly.

Despite that, there’s much to be giddy about, and some to be genuinely concerned about, with less than half the season to go. Let’s take a look at some of the things the Washington State game told us.

Offensive Diversity
I’m really loving the diversity of playcalling that I’ve been seeing (and listening to) for the season as a whole. Yes, I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the Oregon gameplan, but other than that, I really consider the playcalling to be some of the best I’ve seen in the last few seasons.

Cal’s occasional use of the wildcat, fly sweeps, and various ways of getting their speedsters like Vereen and Best in one-on-one matchups have been fun to watch. They’ve really adapted their offense to suit with the talents and skills of this particular group. Even their zone running schemes have attempted to mask this particular offensive line’s apparent inability to move quickly laterally, and has instead shown more inside zone run blocking.


In essence, that’s what you want out of your coordinators and coaching staff. Mold your plans around what your team does best, and try your darndest to cover up the things they don’t do so well. When Cal’s clicking, you see their results, as they currently lead the conference in scoring at 35.1 points per game.

Struggling Secondary
It’s about as official as it can be: Cal’s pass defense is struggling right now. Cal’s secondary was again lit up for major yardage on Saturday, this time from true freshman Jeff Tuel. Tuel had a career day, going 28-42 for 354 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. As some comparison, check out Tuel’s numbers in previous outings:

Against ASU: 11-22, 175 yards, and 2 TDs, 2 INTs
Against USC: 14-22, 130 yards, 1 INT

Yes. Cal allowed Tuel to rack up more than double the yardage of his ASU performance. Perhaps Tuel suddenly clicked as a quarterback. Perhaps. However, it’s far more likely that he faced off against a secondary that has some major issues, as this isn’t the first time this season.

Last week, UCLA frosh QB Kevin Prince also had a career day, completing 21 of 41 for 311 yards. His previous performances had included a 13-25 for 81 yard (1 INT) game against Arizona, and a 11-23, 101 yard (1 TD) game against Tennessee.

Two weeks prior to that game, USC true frosh Matt Barkley went 20-35 for 283 yards, also his highest yardage total of the season.

In the week before that, Oregon’s Jeremiah Masoli who had just completed 45.3% of his passes for just 379 yards went ballistic on the Bears, going 21-15 for 253 yards and 3 TDs.

The list goes on: Minnesota’s Adam Weber going 21-32 for 226 yards, EWU Matt Nichol’s efficient 23-31 for 195 yards and 1 TD game, etc.

As it stands now, the Bears are ranked 9th in the conference, just ahead of WSU, in passing yards allowed per game, with 271. That’s a whole heck of a lot of yards.

Now, to be fair, opposing teams throw on the Bears…a lot. Cal has the second highest number of passes thrown at them a game, so it’s expected that teams might rack up the yards in the air. But I think it might be more indicative of opposing teams' knowledge of our vulnerablity in our secondary right now.

We’ll talk about the pass rush in a second, but it became apparent that the yardage allowed on Saturday was more on the secondary than anything else. From what I’ve been seeing over the past few weeks and from what I gathered from the broadcast, defenders missed tackles, and weren’t closing on the ball quickly enough. There are also several plays in which there was miscommunication in zone coverage, allowing receivers to get open up top. And in some instances, like the TD over Nnabuife, some players just got straight up beat in their attempt to go up and make a play on the ball.

No one will dispute Cal's secondary struggled on Saturday. Both Bob Gregory and Coach Tedford admitted as much. But you can’t dispute the numbers anymore. Allow 354 passing yards to the worst offense in the conference is bad. Allowing 300+ yards in back to back games to the conference's two worst passing offenses is ever worse. And allowing 250+ yards through the air in the last four games is enough to make you sweat. And while I do think much of it was effort and focus, the results over the season thus far suggest that Cal’s secondary is the obvious weak spot of the entire defense, and perhaps the entire team. (Thank you Captain Obvious!)

Now with Cal’s offense ability to score a great deal, and the fact that we’ve played one-dimensional offenses the past few weeks, Cal’s secondary hasn’t been enough to cost the Bears any games. But unless the issues in the secondary and defensive schemes are addressed in the next few weeks, Cal is going to be unable to keep up with some of the better offenses they will see in Arizona, Oregon State, Stanford, and Washington (if Locker gets going).

Anyone else see Sean Canfield against the Trojans on Saturday night? Scary.

Pass Rush TBD
I had suggested last week that Cal’s issue in its pass defense started first and foremost in the pass rush. And in a way, we saw this validated a bit on Saturday. Cal managed just one sack in the first half, meanwhile allowing Tuel to go 15-22 for 232 yards and 2 TDs. Coincidentally, after the Bears switched to having 4 down linemen for much of the second half, the Bears racked up four additional sacks, meanwhile limited Tuel to just 122 yards on 13-20 passing.

I don’t think the players suddenly decided to try harder. Perhaps it was a renewed focus after the defensive letdown in the second quarter, but I do think that this defense may have to dial up more aggressive packages if they’re going to hold more legitimate offense to less than 20 points in upcoming games.

Kudos to the Bears’ D-Line, which has thus far been the rock of this defense this season. They’re going to continue to get additional support from their linebackers, when it comes to the pass rush though.

Special Teams Spotlight
Like every Cal Special Teams outing, there’s always good and bad. Fortunately, there was much more good than bad this time, but let’s hit them up.

The Bad: Cal’s return coverage units still appear to be undisciplined in protecting the runback lanes, as again they allowed a big return this week, this time on Washington State’s first kickoff. Oh, and I don’t really know what was up with that blocked field goal. Meh.

The Average: Bryan Anger wasn’t able to finish up his spectacular outing last week, but did manage to average about 39.2 yards per punt. You’d like to see that in the 40s, and a few downed inside the 20, but he did a fantastic job of extending the hangtime on his punts so that WSU was unable to set up a big return. I’ll take it.

The Good: Giorgio Tavecchio might be about as good as we’re going to get on kickoffs, and I think I can handle that. Tavecchio still booted a few kickoffs in the 15 yard area, but more consistently booted a number inside the 10. He was also perfect on extra points.

And let’s not forget about Jeremy Ross’ special day. In addition to his 61 yard reception, Ross started the game with a 54 yard kickoff return and returned the first team punt in over a year with his fantastic 76 yard return. It wasn’t until I watched the highlights that I realized how impressive the punt was. It might have been the best Cal punt return since D-Jax’s return against Tennessee in 2007.

The team has got a lot of speed, and with Vereen and Ross returning kickoffs, and Ross or Thompson and the punt return spot, I think we’ll be alright. I’m also excited to get Sofele back there once he’s a bit more acclimated.

Riley Keeps Chugging Along
Kevin Riley continued his comeback campaign, going 12-18 for 229 yards, 3 touchdowns and one interception. Riley seems to be playing with the same level of confidence he exhibited in the early part of the season. Naturally, part of it is the increased time he had in the pocket, as the Bears o-line didn’t give up a single sack to an outmanned Cougars defensive line.

Yet, Riley again demonstrated his now signature deep balls, and showed his command of the offense, distributing the ball to receivers, backs, and tight ends. Riley is still a bit errant with passes when he feels flushed in the pocket, and can continue to work on his ability to scan the entire field and check down his options, but he’s playing relatively mistake free, smart football. When Riley’s click, this offense clicks.

Bears Ground Game Rumbles
The Bears continue to put up big numbers on the ground, recording 309 yards for the day. And why not? There appears to be little drop off every time a new back carries the ball, each back who got a touch averaged at least 5 yards a carry (except for FB Brian Holley).

I also like the way they continue to utilize Riley’s legs, as they mix just enough designed runs, or allow Riley to take off when he options are covered.

While Cal’s run blocking has struggled at times this season, one hopes that their recent success is more of an indication of finding the running schemes best suited for this offensive line, as well as an improved chemistry, rather than simply dominating outmatched defensive lines.

On to Next Week
Again, as a fan, you've got to enjoy these games. Those frustrated with 32 points wins on beautiful Saturday afternoons that also benefit in allowing reserves to get key playing time, really need to reevaluate their reasons for watching college football.

If we're going to be realistic about about the rest of the season though, Cal's issues in the secondary and on special teams might have us tempering our expectations for our remaining games. I'm honestly not sure we'll be favored in every one. And quite frankly, I'm a bit scurred about facing Arizona and Oregon State. Stanford doesn't deserve my fear.

While the offense has shown its penchant for performing based on execution and focus, I can't quite say the same about the defense at this point. I remained committed in my belief that they can, but some major work will have to be done.

Again, sit back and enjoy the 49-17 wins now, because I'd be hard pressed to find another game this season where we'll get exactly similar results.