Oregon Recap

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It’s been a few days now, and as I watch Oklahoma beat down Texas in the Red River shootout, I feel like I’m in a better place of mind to wrap up my thoughts on Oregon.

It amazes me that there are so many complaints (from myself included) about a game that the Bears were expected to get stomped in. Having such a solid first half will do that to you.

Let’s break those down, but also look at what I thought were some positives from the game.

Maynard Struggles
One of biggest reasons for Cal’s deficiencies on offense on Thursday night falls on Zach Maynard’s struggles at QB. Maynard was 20 for 41 for 218 yards and a touchdown in what was the junior QB’s worst performance of the season. Maynard struggled with his footwork and mechanics, and found himself throwing inaccurate balls all over Autzen Stadium, but usually not within the immediate vicinity of his intended receiver.

It was a bit of a perplexing performance in that Maynard actually had decent pass protection, but his happy feet led to him occasionally escaping the pocket before necessary, and often throwing himself off balance with his passes. I’ve noticed a troubling trend all season of how poor Maynard’s footwork gets when he senses pressure, not only throwing off his backfoot but even having both feet leave the ground on some occasions. I’ve stated that despite Maynard’s inaccuracy issues, he still completed many straightforward throws such as passes in the flat. On Thursday though, we saw even those passes sail.

Maynard is also still developing his field vision and hasn’t completely shaken his tendency to lock onto his primary receiver. Maynard’s missed some receivers underneath again which led to some stalled drives.

Maynard isn’t ever going to be the most accurate quarterback. His body of work demonstrates that pretty clearly. I still maintain though, that he has “enough” gamer in him though to do some nice things at the collegiate level. When Maynard has an off night however, his inability to create plays leaves him and the offense pretty empty.


Bridgford Enters...and QB Controversy?
After getting knocked out in the game partway through the fourth quarter, sophomore Allan Bridgford entered the game and went 8-19 for 103 yards. I liked that the coaches pretty much had him pass nearly every down, though they had little other choice.

All in all, I don’t think Bridgford did enough yet to suggest that he’s immediately ready to supplant Maynard as the starter, but there’s a lot to like there. He seems to be inherently more accurate, but you can tell the game hasn’t completely slowed down for him just yet. On one instance, I observed Bridgford throwing into triple coverage (which he actually completed thanks to Allen), then double coverage, and double coverage again. There were a few near picks in there as well.

Mechanically, Bridgford appears to be much more sound with his footwork, though he isn’t nearly as much of a running threat as Maynard. He does have a bit of a windup, and has a tendency to sidearm the ball a little on some of those deeper throws. He shows some nice zip and arm strength, and some nice touch on deep balls though.

A lot of fans are probably already crying out for Bridgford, and you could make the case. I do think however, that you have to let Maynard take his lumps and grow up a bit as a passer. It’s a bit too early to be calling for a short leash on Maynard, especially given that it’s obvious that Bridgford is still a bit green. If Maynard continues a string of poor performances after USC however, then we’ve got a real discussion.

Sofele Shines
Next to Keenan Allen (which we’ll get to), the biggest star on offense was easily Isi Sofele. Sofele had his best performance of the season, rushing for a career high 120 yards on 12 carries for a really nice 9.9 ypc average. The commentators seemed to take a real shine to Sofele, and for good reason, Sofele showed great vision and wiggle in getting to open space. While he still lacks to the speed to consistently take it the house (it’s a bit unfairly worth noting that Best or Vereen would have likely sprung one of his runs for a TD), I really liked his ability to cut it open for large gains.

Keep in mind that Oregon’s run defense is flat out mediocre, but it’s encouraging to note that Sofele has been getting better with each game, despite the increase in opposing teams’ quality. Sofele is really starting to own his role as the starter.

Keenan Allen...Best WR in the nation?
Not sure about that just yet, as Robert Woods probably has something to say about that, but Allen is flat out savage. Allen again topped the century mark, catching 9 balls for 170 yards and the Bears’ only touchdown.

Allen has 667 yards this season and is on track to possibly top the 1500 yard mark. Loco.

A lot of it has to do with Allen being targeted quite a bit this season, but if this guy has a shot to come down with it, chances are he will. Keep going to Allen.

Offensive Line Slowly Improving
I think it’s been a bit understated the past few weeks, but I’m starting to like what I’m seeing with the offensive line. By and large, they’re getting decent push on the ball and are protecting Maynard pretty well. They’ve also cut down on the number of penalties, when just a few weeks ago it seemed like they were responsible for nearly half of Cal’s flags.

There are still mistakes here and there, and on a few occasions I saw their most reliable o-lineman Mitchell Schwartz lose his footing and let his defender right through.

Still, I’m quietly encouraged by what I’m seeing and am more eager than anything to see how they hold up next week against USC. That will be a much better test for where Michalczik is with this team at mid season.

Defense Can’t Keep Up
In the first half, the Bears’ biggest deficiency on defense was their inability to contain the edges. It was what most of us feared with starting freshmen at both outside linebacker positions, but the Ducks really exploited LaMichael James’ speed in getting to the outside. Cal’s safeties also made matters worse by taking some pretty bad angles in assisting with the contain.

Fortunately for the Bears, they excelled in nearly every other aspect on defense in the first half. I was most impressed with Cal’s defensive line who could visibly be seen blowing up Oregon’s offensive line on any play not involving LaMichael James ripping up huge yardage on the outside.

While Aaron Tipoti excelled at nose tackle, defensive end Ernest Owusu had his best game of his career, blowing up the line, swatting down passes, and recording seven tackles, including two for a loss and a sack. It’s the type of production that Bears hopeful had been hoping Owusu could do on a consistent basis.

With Cal’s defense disrupting Oregon’s o-line, the Bears blanked Oregon’s offense in the second quarter, holding the Ducks to just 14 first half points.

The second half was a whole other story however.

With Cal’s offense unable to sustain any drives, the Bears’ were worn down physically and could not duplicate the same level of disruption, and with that the wheels really just fell off. Oregon adjusted their game plan at halftime, and decided to attack the interior of the line more, with Cal’s front seven unable to push the Ducks back.

QB Darron Thomas also took advantage of his increased time in the pocket and picked apart Cal’s secondary who inexplicably continued to play man coverage. Cal’s secondary had the advantage in speed over every Oregon wide receiver except one, DeAnthony “Black Mamba” Thomas who abused Cal’s secondary all night. To be honest, I didn’t think the coverage was all that bad, the Black Mamba was just that good in his route running.

Holding?
I very rarely find myself b*tching about uncalled flags, but the refs’ inability to call holding plays on the Bears was inexplicable and infuriating. I understand that if the blocker has his hands on the inside of the defender’s jersey that it’s a no call, but there were some blatant holds Thursday night on some of those Oregon rushes on the outside.

I get a sense that in the same way that Michael Jordan got the benefit of the doubt and got away with some plays, the Ducks probably get away with a lot of holds and know just when to release their blocks in order to not get caught.

Again, those were some blatant holds however.

Secondary Struggles
I like Stefan McClure. A lot. I think he’s going to be a hell of a corner for the Bears. But he got picked on abused quite a bit on Thursday, and things are only going to get tougher with Marc Anthony out with a separated shoulder.

I thought in the secondary as a whole, each player took turns making mistakes and each had one head shaking mistake.

Excellent interception by DJ Campbell though, who read Thomas’ eyes the entire way and made a nice athletic grab for his first pick of the season.

Special Teams-All Giorgio
Giorgio Tavecchio continues to back me up in my theory that the senior kicker would have a breakout year. Tavecchio was spectacular on Thursday night, nailing three of four field goals including a career long 54 yarder.

His lone block came on broken protection in which the Ducks defender made a pretty nice dive to just get enough on Tavecchio’s kick.

Which brings me to this point: field goal protection has been unacceptably bad this year. No duh, right? But, it’s absolutely atrocious that Cal has had four kicks blocked this year in three different games. I’ve already spoken enough about it, so I won’t go into too much here, but just say, “yuck.”

Looking Forward
The Bears will look at some game tape and try just to get better. Things don’t get much easier, as they host USC in another Thursday night ESPN game.

The games are two games into their toughest stretch of the year, and are so far 0-2. If it means anything, the next two are very much winnable, but things don’t look rosy unless they can find some answers on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, the Bears need to execute better in the red zone, and Maynard has to learn to settle down and set his feet with his throws.

Defensively, Cal has to grow up quick on the outside and wrap up better, as the number of missed tackles and missed assignments are hurting the Bears.

There’s plenty of promise, as the Bears are answering the call in some areas and you really can see flashes of a good team in there. But as the case has been for many previous years, it’ll be about putting it all together.