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.
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Quick Thoughts on Oregon

[Note: I will try to have more detailed thoughts some time this weekend, but I wanted to get my overall feelings out there while they were still somewhat fresh.]

Despite taking a 15-14 lead into halftime, the Bears were run out of Autzen Stadium in the second half and fell to the Ducks by a score of 43-15.

The first half likely came as a shock to many, but the Bears were doing so many good things on both sides of the ball. Other than their failure to contain the edges which led to some huge runs by LaMichael James, the Bears controlled the line of scrimmage and forced Darron Thomas to be a non-factor early on. Offensively, the offensive line dominated and opened up a productive running game, though the passing offense failed to find a rhythm, mainly because of Zach Maynard's struggles with accuracy. It was the starting QB's worst performance of the season.

The second half however was all Oregon. I've read a few quotes from some smart football minds that state that games are won or lost in the third quarter. That was most certainly the case here as the Ducks rolled 22 unanswered points and kept Cal's offense off the field, forcing Cal's defense to simply run out of gas.

So while the Bears were unequivocally routed last night, they made it a game for the first half. I'm not one for moral victories, but I will say that it's much different when you let a game get away from you in the second half after keeping it close, rather than being thrown through the meat grinder through the getgo.

Cal showed flashes of promise, but also showed how behind they are in key areas. The Bears' defense is still very young and green in key spots, and the secondary will struggle all year. Cal's offense needs to find better consistency in the passing game and more urgently in the red zone.

Finally, while yesterday's loss was tough, let's not lose sight of our initial expectations.

My perspective of this team doesn't change at all after this loss, and it probably won't after next week's game against USC. We knew this was going to be a young and inconsistent squad and we knew they were going to take their lumps this year. Bowl eligibility was going to have to be earned, and there was going to be some major growing pains. But this season was always about finding answers and trying to get better. I believe it's most disappointing when you see a particular aspect of the Bears take a step back.

Last night's game showed that Cal has promise, but until they mature in certain key areas, will simply be a mediocre but competitive team this year. Am I content with "settling" for just that? No, but I'd rather be real about the situation than setting myself up with unrealistic expectations and emotionally throwing myself off a cliff because the team lets a game against the 9th ranked team get away from them in the second half.

More to come this weekend.

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Cal vs. Oregon Live Updates

Follow me on Twitter as I keep up with the Cal Oregon game.

We'll see how long it lasts before either excitement or depression hits me. Either way, you can keep up with it here.

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Keys to the Game: Oregon

LMJ will eat your soul.

There are a few games each year that don't really require much of a writeup. These instances are usually reserved for opposing teams who pretty much bring the same dish to the table year in and year out, with little mystery to try and crack.

Oregon is one of those teams. Their dynamic offense is fairly straight forward, but incredibly difficult to defend. It takes incredible focus and discipline in all assignments to slow Oregon down, and it requires consistent, chain-moving production from the offense to keep Oregon's offense off the field. And then there's Oregon's special teams. Egad!

Still, let's go over the basics and throw out a few things that fans should keep in mind as they watch what could be the another "Autzen Atrocity." (copyright BWF).


Match Speed On Defense
Almost everyone knows just how special Oregon’s offense and all the things they do well. Their scheme is set up to spread out opposing defenses for large enough lanes for their speedy playmakers to get into space. They’re also masters at the zone read, forcing defensive fronts to account for gap responsibility with interior rushing lanes as well as containment on the edges.

What Cal succeeded with last year was first setting up the right personnel to counter Oregon’s spread attack. Instead of Cal’s typical 3-4 front, the Bears typically kept five defensive backs on the field, and generally had eight of their fastest players backing up their three-man defensive line front.

The defensive line is critical in keeping Oregon’s offensive line from moving around too much to create running lanes. This is one of the main reasons that Oregon have struggled the most against teams with mammoth defensive lines like Auburn and LSU. Once the defensive line stays puts and holds Oregon’s offensive line at the point of attack, Chip Kelly’s spread scheme begins to sputter.

The Bears also played a lot of man-man defense last year, which helped eliminate some of the danger in the zone read. This also involved a spy on Ducks QB Darren Thomas (FS Chris Conte last year) who was phenomenal in neutralizing Thomas from being a legitimate running threat.

Now, some are hoping that the Bears will repeat last year's performance in which Cal held Oregon to just 13 points, and just one offensive touchdown.

Let me just say this: That ain't happening again.

Let's just be clear about how special last year's defensive performance was. It was one of the single greatest defensive performances I've seen from a Cal squad ever. Each and every defensive player played out of their bloody minds that game, and it showed.

Quite frankly, while Cal's defensive line has been solid, they've been unable to match last year's ability to disrupt opposing offensive lines and that's going to show in this upcoming game. Moreover, Cal's safeties have a hard test if they're going to match the same level of focus and production that Sean Cattouse and Chris Conte had last year.

The Bears will benefit by adding safety Michael Coley and Stefan McClure to the five DB front, along with Josh Hill. However, both Coley and McClure are still freshmen, and it'll be the first time seeing the level of speed at which Oregon operates. Beware!

Move the Chains
Some are making more of Oregon's defensive deficiencies than quite warranted. The Ducks are giving up a huge chunk of yards each game (389 ypg, 77th nation), but mainly because they're usually up by so much early in the game and teams are going to the air to play in catchup mode. The defense isn't as good last year's squad however.

They've also been a bit weak in the interior of the defensive line, having lost two starters from last year's squad. It's hurt the Ducks' rushing defense and Oregon is giving up 181.25 yards per game on the ground. The Bears are going to have to be able to move the ball on the ground to move the chains and give themselves a shot in this game. Cal doesn't need huge plays for large gains. They're going to need longer, chain-moving drives to keep the Ducks' offense off the field.

More clearly, the Bears are not going to win in a shootout with the Ducks. The Ducks have too many weapons on offense, and the Bears don't have as many answers at every position on the offensive side of the ball. The longer the Bears can keep the Ducks off the field, the more the defense has enough rest to stay sharp with the Ducks' offense, and the better chance the Bears have to keep themselves in it.

Avoid Large Returns
Don't kick to LaMichael James. Seriously. Just don't do it. It's not worth whatever gain you think you might gain from doing so.

Last year, the Bears were burned when they outkicked their coverage and had Oregon DB Cliff Harris return a punt for the deciding touchdown in the game.

LaMichael James has been an even greater revelation at the position, averaging 22.8 yards per return and a touchdown. That's Desean-esque. Would you punt to Desean? Didn't think so.

Prediction
The Ducks are favored by 24 points. There's a side of me that certainly feels like this is reasonable. In fact, it's quite possible the Bears make that number look paltry and end up face planting in even more spectacular fashion. Let's face it, the situation is ripe for such a situation. They have far more questions on defense than they did last year, even if Cal's offense has been better.

Yet, I also think it's not too far-fetched to see the Bears make this a matchup. If Cal's secondary can be disciplined and shed blocks against Oregon's offense, and if the Bears' o-line can control the point of attack and open up a legitimate rushing attack, then I absolutely think the Bears could shock the world.

I just see some more fight in this team than in years past. More than anything, I think that even if the Bears go down, they go down swinging. I also have a sinking feeling that there isn't a single player in the locker room who isn't going into this with the attitude that they put Cal back on the map on Thursday.

Who knows, make it competitive and we'll see.

Oregon 42
Cal 27
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Pac-12 Roundup Week 5

I missed writing last week’s Round Up as I took a bit of a bye week from blogging, but did follow most of the action over the past week. Here’s the breakdown.

USC 48 Arizona 41
Lowdown: The Trojans survived a shootout with the Wildcats. Although USC was never truly in danger of losing the game, Arizona always found a way to fight back with a touchdown to put themselves back into a puncher’s chance. The offensive numbers in this game were absurd, with Nick Foles and Matt Barkley going for a combined 893 yards and 8 touchdowns through the air. Both secondaries didn’t seem to be able to defend a lick either as both fanbases are getting increasingly frustrated with their respective defenses.

Up Next: The Wildcats have survived their brutal opening stretch, if you can call a 1-4 start “surviving.” Arizona has faced a Top 10 team three weeks straight, and have lost by a total of 178-96 points. They’ve got a much easier test coming up this week against hapless Oregon State. While it should be easier, the game is an absolute must win for Arizona if they want to give themselves any shot at sparking a dream run at bowl eligibility this season.

The Trojans are off this week before their Thursday night matchup against your Golden Bears. A week off before preparing for their annual shellacking of their Nor-Cal rivals may be just what the doctor ordered for the Kiffen kin.

Washington St. 31 Colorado 27
Lowdown: You’ve gotta be frustrated if you’re a Colorado fan. You knew your team had some tough games on the road this season, but you had to figure that you could at least win two of three very winnable home games against CSU, Cal and Wazzu. And the Buffaloes looked like they were going to do just that, sporting a nice 10 point lead with just three minutes to play. But Wazzu rode the arm of backup QB Marshall Lobbestael to a comeback win with two late touchdowns.

Up Next:
Washington State is alive with hope again sporting their shiny 3-1 start. It is worth noting however, that WSU’s opening schedule has been pretty darn soft, and get another manageable matchup against UCLA this week, although it is their third straight road game. While Washington State is far from a contender this year, they’re definitely going to be competitive in most games, and a win over UCLA should put them on a safe road to bowl elgibility.

Colorado on the other hand has to be beside itself with its 1-4 start, which will likely move to 1-5 after their upcoming road trip to the Farm to face Stanford. You can actually easily see that changing to 1-9 with games against Washington, Oregon, ASU, and USC following immediately afterwards. While it may be too early to say, I’d be shocked to see Colorado finishing with more than 3 wins this season.


Washington 31 Utah 17
Lowdown: In one of the more surprising outcomes in the conference, Washington capitalized on Utah’s turnovers to roll the Utes in the second half. While Washington’s defense is still mediocre at best, they’ve shown signs that they may be rounding the corner. Keith Price and Chris Polk continue to shine for the Huskies. Meanwhile, Utah shook their head in disbelief after watching their starting quarterback Jordan Wynn leave the game with a sagging shoulder.

Up Next: The Huskies are rocking their best start in years at 4-1, and have a chance to be that much closer to bowl eligibility with an upcoming game over Colorado. The Huskies are making a strong case for being the third best team in the Pac-12 North, and possibly the fourth or fifth best team in the conference.

As for Utah, you have to think that a 2-2 start is on the lower end of preseason expectations for the Utes. The Utes are finding the Pac-12 much tougher waters than the Mountain West. Although the upcoming matchup against Pac-12 ASU has lost some of its luster, it’s still the premier matchup in the division this season with USC ineligible for the Pac-12 title. Win, and Utah is right back into the thick of things to win the Pac-12. Lose, and I’d say Utah finishes at best 8-4 this season. At best.

Oregon St. 20 Arizona St. 35
Lowdown: The Beavers had a tough test in front of them against ASU and actually took a 13-0 lead to start the first quarter. A stunned Arizona State squad redbounded however, giving up just 7 points the rest of the way while scoring 5 touchdowns. It was a sloppy game however, with both teams combining for 9 turnovers.

Up Next: Things are dreary in Corvallis, with the Beavers off to their first 0-4 start in years. I still think the Beavers respond as the season wears on, especially once their quarterback (whoever it is) begins to settle down and the team sees key returns from injury. With that said, the Beavers are playing like the worst team in the conference right now. It’s not WSU 2008-2010 seasons bad, but it’s pretty bad right now. OSU faces Arizona next in what is a must win game for both teams looking to get out of the divisional basement.

Arizona State is flying high after rebounding from their loss to Illinois, and is the hands down favorite to win the South. With USC ineligible and Utah stumbling, the Sun Devils can begin painting their ticket to the Pac-12 championship game with a win over Utah this Saturday.

UCLA 19 Stanford 45
Lowdown: The Bruins made it a game for most of the first two quarters, but stubbed their toes once they couldn’t punch a touchdown in from Stanford’s one yard line. After that, it was all Stanford as the Cardinal put together their most complete game of the season. Most are talking about Andrew Luck’s ridiculous one hand grab (you read that right) which will make nice highlight material for Luck’s Heisman presentation. The Bruins have to be admired for putting up some fight, but still looked like a team going through the motions for the rest of the game once things got ugly.

Up Next: Suddenly a game against the Cougars doesn’t like so much of a gimmie for the Bruins. In fact, I’d have to say the WSU has to be favored here, despite UCLA playing at home. The Bruins are going to have to beat WSU and pull off an upset or two to keep fighting for bowl eligibility.

Stanford continues to yawn through their comfortable opening slate of games, and things will get incrementally harder before their Oct 29th showdown against USC. The ‘Furd face Colorado this week, play at WSU the week after, and then host Washington. They should be favored in all three, and again, I’d be shocked if the Cardinal weren’t 7-0 and in the Top 3 before they face USC, another team they’ll likely beat.

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