Washington State Recap

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Sorry for the delay in getting this out. I'm still fighting off this sickness, but I wanted to get this out here so we can all finally look forward to our annual clusterf*ck of a matchup against Oregon State.

The Bears pulled together in a much needed bounce back 30-7 win against the Washington State Cougars on a dreary and rainy affair last Saturday. Cal dominated on both sides of the ball from the get go, and pulled off one of their best team rushing performances of the season.

Cal's defense also went back to their aggressive and dominant ways, holding WSU to one of their lowest offensive totals of the season in just 224 total yards.

It was an all around effort that the Bears hope will give them the momentum to reach bowl eligibility this week. But before that, let's get to the details.


Ground Game Dominates
The Bears had their way on the ground in a way much reminiscent to the stronger Tedford teams of past lore. Cal combined for a whopping 288 yards on the ground and nearly everybody got in on the action.

Isi Sofele rushed 23 times for 138 yards and a score. I think Sofele has really improved with each game this season has become quite a capable back for the Bears. He showed another dimension of "make-em-miss" type of elusiveness on Saturday, including one of the more impressive 13 yard scampers I've seen in a while. I'll be the first to admit that I had strong questions about Sofele as a featured back at the beginning of the season. While he still shows some limitations as a runner, he's answered the call in nearly every regard and is well on his way to following the strong tradition of backs for the Bears.

In a surprising move, walk-on Mike Manuel ended up taking a lot of the second-back snaps, in front of CJ Anderson and Covaughn Deboskie-Johnson. While I wasn't really wowed by Manuel, he hit the hole hard and showed good pad level and a nice north-south type of direction as a runner. It's good to see him contribute after all we've read about his success in spring ball. Manuel rushed 6 times for 28 yards.

CJ Anderson scored another TD on Saturday while also ripping off a nice 34 yarder late in the game, his largest run of the season.

And who didn't feel good for Will Kapp who scored his first career TD? Facing a 4th and 1, Kapp broke a tackle and then ran untouched and smiling the remaining 43 yards into the endzone. Good to see for the younger Kapp.

At the end of the day though, most of the credit has to go to the offensive line who really stepped it up in their run blocking efforts, and could be seen getting a very visible push in the trenches. This too, without starting left guard Brian Schwenke who was out with a late illness, and credit goes to Justin Gates who filled in quite admirably in Schwenke's absence.

Maynard Does Enough
Many had questions on how Zach Maynard would bounce back from his four interception performance against the Bruins. It turns out he wouldn't have to do much. Maynard was efficient in his 10-17 for 118 yard performance, throwing for a touchdown and avoiding any turnovers.

The coaching staff got back to what they knew worked for Maynard including designed roll-outs and shorter, and safer underneath routes to get Maynard into a confident rhythm. Kudos to the coaching staff for focusing on some of the basics. Like I've said before, we all know that Maynard is a completely different quarterback when rolling out.

Maynard still needs to work on his accuracy in the pocket however, and missed on several occasions when simply dropping back and trying to hit either Jones or Allen on deeper post routes. He still has a tendency to flutter his feet which causes him to throw earlier than needed, or not put enough air underneath the ball. The coaching staff, and everyone else likely, is hoping this is an element of Maynard's game that will eventually come to him in time.

When the Bears enjoy an early lead, there's Maynard becomes a far different quarterback in managing the game and minimizing turnovers. When the Bears falter on both sides of the ball however, he begins to press and out goes his judgment and accuracy. Saturday was a prime example of what we need from both the offense and Maynard to becoming a strong offense.

It's good to see Maynard bounce back after what had to be a tough week in terms of outside distractions from detractors. Good for him.

Defense Holds
I thought the defense did a fine job overall on Saturday. This was a dangerous and at the very least, competent Washington State offense. Granted, the Cougs looked pretty bad in the rain, but the Bears compounded Wazzu's issues with a steady dose of a heavy pass rush and solid press coverage.

Cal's secondary did pretty well against what could have a been a nightmarish day against a potent WSU passing attack. But the Bears worked primarily in a nickelback formation and all of Cal's DBs held their own.

Cornerback Steve Williams is by far the best cover corner the Bears have right now, and his job on WSU's Marquess Wilson was fantastic. Wilson, did catch 7 balls for 85 yards, but two of those were on some pretty great receptions where the coverage was there.

Cal wouldn't have been able to hold WSU to their season low in passing yards without applying pressure to Marshall Lobbestael. While the Bears "only" recorded 3 sacks, they got a fair amount of pressure on Lobbestael for him to be errant with his throws, and often did so without committing any of their nickelbacks on coverage. Solid job.

Special Teams are Special
Just a few quick notes here: Will Kapp is the best gunner on this team. Period.

Secondly, I don't know what the NCAA record is for most blocked kicks in season, but I think we're going to break it. Yeah, Bears, baby.

Bryan Anger showed in one game what has been characteristic of his career, great leg strength and the occasional head scratcher of a punt. But mostly pretty darned good.

Moving Forward
After nine games into the season, the Bears find themselves in a familiar situation as last year, needing one more game for bowl eligibility with three games remaining.

It'll be tough sledding, especially with the OSU Beavers coming into town. In the same way we've owned WSU over the past few years, OSU has owned ours.

We all knew it was going to be a tough year, but few should take for granted that we haven't completely fallen off the wagon in beating teams we should beat. I said completely. If anything, Cal's win gives the teams some much needed validation, and avoids another week of depression over losses to UCLA AND WSU.

This upcoming game is a whole other basket of issues for reasons I'll get to, but for now, a bounce back win is always better than another week of frowney faces.