Big Game Recap 2010

Just as the Bears typically need a 24 hour off period after games to recover, so does this blogger after what has been a hell of season.

While it may not have felt like, there’s a large part of me that feels like Saturday’s loss to Stanford in the Big Game was the lowpoint of Jeff Tedford’s tenure at Cal. And it wasn’t necessarily because the Bears lost. Let’s face it—Stanford is a very good team this year. That offensive line is plain nasty and while Andrew Luck is not the next coming of Jesus himself (despite what media pundit might constantly blather), the guy could be playing on Sunday. Now, in fact if he wanted to.

So losing to the number six squad in the nation isn’t the issue. It’s the way the Bears lost, embarrassingly in front of a home crowd to the tune of 48-14. The game was over before halftime when a series of costly mistakes on both sides of the ball made it nearly impossible for the Bears to bounce back. And for all the good things the Bears have done this year, bouncing back from early deficits have not been one of them.

The loss was one of the worst losses in Big Game history, and one of the worst drubbings the Bears have ever experienced under Tedford, at home no less. Given the disturbing number of blowouts the Bears have been on the losing effort of in recent years, the Big Game loss on Saturday demonstratively exclaimed that whatever mojo Tedford had left in him is now gone. Any success the Bears see moving forward will be the result of a new maturation as a headcoach after some serious rethinking of philosophy and personnel.

In the same way Memorial Stadium will undergo physical renovations, the Bears will have to take a hard look at every facet of this team if they are to regain any semblance of the consistent success they achieved in Tedford’s early years. Like many have stated, it’s one thing to rebuild a program. It’s another to maintain that success. Often, the latter effort requires a different focus and strategy.

Let’s get to some of the specifics from the day.


Offensive Continues to be Offensive
I’m going to start with the offense despite the fact the Bears gave up 45 answered points on defense. Why? Underline the term “unanswered.”

The Bears were hurt defensively by some key mistakes, injuries in the backfield, and the fact that Stanford was a nightmarish matchup for the Bears. More on that later. But I’ve been saying this for a while now, and I’m sure few will disagree: this offense is killing the Bears.

I wish in some twisted way that I could pin it all on Brock Mansion’s deficiencies. That’d be the easy way out. But the Bears’ passing offense was still 9th in the conference, even when Kevin Riley was healthy. I’m sure you could take a larger look at the general quarterback questions as a whole in the program, but that’s a separate matter.

The Bears were unable to sustain drives. It was the combination of poor execution, and effects of a constant proverbial gun turret to their own feet. You could get a sense of the day when the Bears started off their first drive, with two fumbled snaps in the first 3 plays, with the second turned over in Cal territory.

After the Bears defense held Stanford to just a field goal, they marched down the field on the ensuing drive and looked like they were regaining composure. Yet, in field goal range to tie up the score, Mansion woefully underthrows the ball doing a backfoot jump ball as he is flushed out of the pocket. Instead of landing in wide open Alex Lagemann’s, the ball is picked off by Stanford’s Richard Sherman.

Brutal.

The day would essentially follow suit, with penalties (how do you get flagged for illegal formation in the backfield on back to back drives?) negating first down conversions, another turnover, and poor execution. The Bears found themselves in a hole early on, and in the worst possible situation: having to throw in order to catch up.

More on Mansion
The more I see of Mansion, the more it becomes clear as to what we might have in him as a QB. First off, Mansion appears to have all the physical tools. The guy’s got a rocket arm, and when he sets his feet and begins to catch a rhythm, he can fire some nice balls with some zip. A lot of his shorter routes on slants, curls, and outs looked pretty decent. They were the types of passes I hope the Bears would continue to emphasize heading into the game.

However, when flushed out of the pocket, Mansion makes some absolutely head scratching decisions. He runs when he should check down or throw the ball away. He forces passes when he should be running. But the most gutwrenching moments were his decisions to lob balls off of his backfoot in an effort to force throws. I can understand the habit of throwing off one’s backfoot when pressured in the pocket, but quarterbacks have been trained since peewee to step forward into any throw when on the run. It seemed as if he was afraid of contact on both interceptions, which led to his first pick which involved him nearly jumping on his pass, and his second interception when he threw off his backfoot and across his body.

You just can’t do that.

Perhaps some of it will come with experience. The game has yet to fully slow down for him. Still, Mansion appears to be inaccurate enough with some of throws that you really wonder how much he will improve over the remainder of college career. I don’t know. But his current stat line of completing 48% of his passes for 4 interceptions and 2 TDs (both of which came against second team secondaries) are from appetizing.

O-Line Inconsistency
Despite his poor passing decisions on the run, I thought Mansion showed some nice mobility in the pocket. He was sacked just once on the day (which he should have picked up pre-snap by the way), but his offensive line didn’t do him many favors as that pocket collapsed fairly quickly.

I still think it was better than some offensive line performances I’ve seen this season, so I do think they have the right personnel on the field. But it was still troubling to see Guarnero get bull rushed a bit on a few plays. It was hard to tell who the accompanying guard who gave up penetration was on a few plays, but still no bueno.

I really do think the line was blocked relatively when in Cal’s rushing attack, but the Bears were doomed after such an early deficit that they had to get away from the run so quickly in the game. There was no chance.

Defense Holds…Then Doesn’t
The first drive and a half was great for the Bears defense. After being forced to defend a short field, they held the Cardinal to a field goal. On Stanford’s ensuing drive backed up in their own territory, the Bears appeared to have again forced Stanford to another three and out.

And then all hell broke loose.

Mychal Kendricks was called for offsides, giving Stanford a first down. Two plays later, Andrew Luck took off running for a 58 yard gain, embarrassing Sean Cattouse with a forearm shiver in the process. Quick note about that play.

I hate when defenders choose to go for a knockout hit rather than wrapping up. Absolutely hate it. It’s what made Thomas DeCoud such a good safety, despite his ability to lay the lumber. Now, Cattouse himself admitted after the game he hesitated between the two decisions which led to his embarrassment, but still, it’s maddening to see.

The rest of the game was essentially one Andrew Luck forearm shiver after another. The guy was lights out, completing 16 of 20 passes 235 yards and 2 scores. While the media is rocking the Andrew Luck hardon right now, I was most impressed with Stanford’s offensive line.

That is one hell of an offensive line.

They were quick off the ball, manhandling defenders, and made the personnel mismatch obvious. The Cardinal would often bring in a fullback, a sixth offensive lineman, and a tight end into blocking formations, which outmanned Cal’s defense. The Bears have a speedy and athletic defense, but large and physical don’t necessarily best describe them. There’s little Mike Mohamed can do when he has Owen Marecic and a backup tackle eliminating him from the picture.

Stanford knew this, and constantly ran misdirection running plays with a fullback or lineman paving the way.

The Bears were doomed from the getgo.

Secondary’s Worst Showing All Year
The absence of Darian Hagan and Marc Anthony really hurt the Bears. I do think Steve Williams is going to be a quality corner for the Bears, and could be all conference when he’s done at Cal. But he still isn’t physically mature enough to consistently compete with larger physical corners.

And Bryant Nnabuife is an athletic nickel back, who can provide nice run support on third downs. But he simply isn’t a very good cover corner at the collegiate level. The Cardinal knew that and took full advantage.

Now with that said, would Hagan and Anthony’s presence changed the outcome? Hell no. But it might have helped stall an extra drive or two.

No Anger Assist
Anger had a very strong day punting the ball, averaging 54 yards per punt, and landing all three inside the 20. The big punt return the Bears gave up (again) though, was not a matter of outkicking the coverage really. That was just a bad job of wrapping up by our gunners. They simply whiffed on those tackles.

I can only imagine Anger’s response on those punts.

“Boom goes the dynamite! Yeah! Another to the 10! There we go—god dammit…”

Keenan Allen for Quarterback!
Joking. But seriously, his play in which he received the snap out of the Wildcat, rolled right, eluded three defenders on his way back to the middle of the field before firing a bullet to Marvin Jones in the endzone was impressive. One of the best QB plays all year actually.

I’m not suggesting Allen take reps at QB. It’s pretty inane actually. But, I’m guessing we can be assured we may see Allen take a few more snaps at Wildcat with the option of passing a bit more often. Well, hoping at least.

Outlook
It’s come down to one game to determine the Bears’ post season plans. I know a part of me was so hating Cal football fandom, that I was partially hoping the Bears would not make a bowl, so there would be an end to this pain.

But c’mon now, the Bears need to make a bowl. For so many reasons. But one of the biggest being the added practice. Based on Saturday’s performance, the Bears need a lot of it.