Washington Recap

Cal hosted Washington (poor poor Washington) on Saturday to the smallest crowd in 5 years (coincidentally the last time the Bears trounced the Huskies 54-7 on Nov. 15, 2003) of just 50,308. However, those who were in attendance we fortunate enough to savor some memorable performances by the departing seniors, and one for the history books by stud RB Jahvid Best.

There was much question that Cal would be the better team against the hapless Huskies, but some wondered whether we would see the small chance that the Bears might come out flat enough to be unable to show the disparity between the two teams. That would hardly be the case with the Bears racing out to a 31-0 lead by halftime, holding the Huskies to just 58 yards at the half, while racing out to 325 of their own. The Bears also recorded 4 turnovers in the first half, ensuring that the second half would give ample playing time for the seniors and youngins who could use the valuable game time in preparation for next year.

Let’s to a few spots:

He Really is the Best
Best needed just 171 yards on Saturday to take the conference’s regular season rushing record, and ended up surpassing that number in the first half. The Jet (nickname pending) put on a performance for the ages in his 3rd Pac-10 Player of the Week honor, by rushing for setting a school single game record of 311 yards, while hitting paydirt on 4 of his 19 carries. Best’s performance was good enough him to vault him to the top spot in rushing yards, maintain his spot in yards per game, and Best will finish the regular season with a staggering 8.01 yards per carry and 13 touchdowns.

Wow.

(Best gets a College Game Day Helmet Sticker)

Longshore says goodbye
You had to feel good for Nate Longshore by the time the game was over. Longshore received one of the loudest ovations during the senior introductions (best only by Alex Mack) and subbed in for starter Kevin Riley to start the second quarter. Longshore played through two full quarters, and finished the day 5-10 for 84 yards. More importantly, Longshore tossed a 6 yard strike to Cameron Morrah, recording his 50th career passing TD, good for 4th all time in the Cal record books.

Longshore will finish one of the most storied (in ways both heartwarming and wrenching) QB careers in Cal history, and it was encouraging to see him finish out his career with a solid performance in his final game at Memorial Stadium.

I’ve heard some mumbles and grumbles from Cal fans who thought Riley or redshirt frosh Brock Mansion (who played part of the 3rd and the entire 4th quarter) should have gotten more playing time. Personally, I’m okay with what happened. An extra quarter wouldn’t have benefited Riley too much in the long run, and Mansion was able to enjoy an entire quarter of actual game experience. He also got 4 passes in (completing two of them), and any more and it would have been seen as classless. Say what you want, but considering the game was never really in question from Best’s opening strike, I was fine with letting Longshore get some playing time in his last time stepping onto the field in Strawberry Canyon.


Defense Rolls
It’s hard to truly applaud the defense for putting on another shutdown performance, when one considers the opponents. But still, you might as well throw out some numbers. The Huskies were held to 200 total yards on the day. They averaged just 2.4 ypc, and their leading rusher Willie Griffin, managed just 60 yards on 24 attempts. Both QBs Taylor Bean and Ronnie Fouch were a combined 11 for 24 on the day, getting sacked 3 times and tossing two picks between the two of them.

The Huskies didn’t get into the endzone until a long pass in the 3rd quarter (which from my view looked like Safety Bernard Hicks was out of position on) set up a QB rollout run.

Tyson Alualu earned Pac-10 Player of the Week Honorable mention with his performance in which he rolled up 10 total tackles, getting in the backfield twice, with one being a sack.

Darian Hagan showed why he just might be not only the best CB on the team next year (I said MIGHT be, Squid), but in the entire conference. The sophomore back recorded two interceptions in the first half.

Zack Follett had 5 tackles, 2 for a loss, and a devastating sack that forced a fumble early in the game.

Playing Time for the Seniors
It was real good to see some of the seniors get some extensive playing time. Kicker Jordan Kay took over for Giorgio Tavecchio in the second half, and was perfect on both extra point attempts and booted a 36 yard field goal in the fourth.

D-linemen Rulon Davis and Mika Kane got their share of playing time and senior receivers Drew Glover and Alex Stroud notched their first career receptions on the day.

Storybook Ending
Really at the end of the day, you couldn’t really write it much better. As much as playing Washington to close the season with Cal’s bowl game clinched was a bit anticlimactic, it provided a great chance for the seniors to get some playing time in their last home game, as well as providing some chances for next year’s generation of players.

Jahvid Best showed why he was ready to be the face of the offense, while Longshore got one last chance to throw a TD for the last time in memorial stadium. The day was a beautiful one for football, not only because of the gorgeous weather, or because of what transpired on the field or in the final score, but because it was one of the last times this season to remember just what we love so much about college football and our Golden Bears.

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Rankings Update: Week 15

The Bears will finish the regular season finished unranked for the second consecutive year, but with far more optimism and good feelings than it had at the end of last year's slide.

Cal dropped one spot in the AP Poll to 31st despite getting more voting points this week with 8, but moved up to 30th in the USA Today Polls with 12 points.

The Bears finish 8-4 on the regular season with a perfect 7-0 record at home (3rd time in 5 years) and will face Miami in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 27th.

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Keys to the Game: Washington

On surface level, there really isn’t much to say other than that the Bears face off against the worst team in the College Football Bowl Subdivision, at least according to their record (if you follow that sort of thing). The hapless Washington Huskies are the only winless team in college football, are coming off a heartbreaking loss to their WSU rivals, and play the final game of the season knowing their Coach Ty Willingham is already on his way out.

On the bright side, weather forecasts predict a beautiful day in Memorial Stadium.

So how are the Bears to properly prepare for a game in which a loss would be considered one of the greatest choke jobs in modern college football history? I’ve already touched a few of these issues before, but there are a number of conference stat records on the line, an emotional final home game for the seniors, minor bowl implications, and the opportunity to go undefeated at home for the 3rd time in 5 years.

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited.

As difficult as it may be though, the biggest key for the Bears may be to try their best to not overlook the Huskies. Just consider remote chance that the Bears actually lose on Saturday. Just think about that.

…

Horrendous isn’t it?

Okay, now that you’re ready to take this seriously, let’s get to it.

Take Away the Huskies’ one non-sucky attack
Washington features of a fairly balanced offense, rushing the ball on average 34 times per game versus its average 31 pass attempts each contest. The results however have led to just 13.8 PPG and 268.9 yards per game (both 9th in the conference).

For all its faults this year, Washington actually features a marginally mediocre rushing offense. Currently ranked 7th in the conference in rushing yards per game (with Cal in 6th, although the dropoff is pretty significant), the Huskies average 98.91 yards per game. Granted, they only manage 2.9 yards per attempt, but injured QB Jake Locker (out for the season), had accounted for 180 rushing yards on 56 attempts, so that number is actually closer to 2.8 yards per attempt sans Locker.

That’s relieving news to a stout Cal run defense that is ranked 3rd in the conference in yards per game, to just 124.2 yards per game and only 3.26 yards per attempt.

Shutting down the running game will put the onus on QB Ronnie Fouch, who has filled in for Jake Locker to courageous but lackluster results. Fouch is the one starting QB in the Pac-10 who has a lower completion % than Kevin Riley (45.3 vs. 50.9), and has thrown 12 interceptions versus 4 touchdown passes. It goes without saying that if Washington is forced to pass, an opportunistic secondary, currently 3rd in the nation in interceptions, will put itself in position to lead the nation in that category.


Balanced Attack
Washington is actually equally bad in their passing defense as they are in their rushing defense. The Huskies have given up 23 TDs through the air on the season, and 28 on the ground. The truth is, the Bears could probably choose one mode of offensive attack, and attack either the secondary or the defensive line fairly equally.

However, given the Bears’ recent success rushing the ball and continued struggles through the air, I recommend the Bears jump out to an early lead with their running game, and work out a few kinks in the passing game, before settling back into running out the clock on the ground (preferably with Peter Geurts and Tracy Slocum).

The Huskies are the one team where I actually expect Cal to match the rushing assault they put on Washington State in which they amassed 391 yards. Washington has given up nearly as many yards per game as the Cougars, yielding 223.27 YPG vs. WSU’s 247.62. Give Best a shot to take the conference rushing title, and then pull him after a 4 TD lead or the 3rd quarter. Whichever comes first.

Show Up
I don’t mean this to disrespect the Huskies, although I am well aware on its obvious intimations. The Bears still need to show up, and play with the same level of pride and passion that they have demonstrated at home all year.

This means no stupid penalties, no snaps sailing over Bryan Anger’s head, no forced passes, wrapping up instead of trying to blow up knees, discipline on gap assignments, etc…

Outside the chance that Coach Tedford instructs Nate Longshore to fake a point after attempt on every snap of the game to atone for the Big Game snafu, there is absolutely no chance the Bears lose on Saturday if they show up the same way they’ve done every week. Cal simply features better athletes, better coaches, home field advantage, and a freaking canon. Enough said.

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Bear Bits: Failed PAT Conspiracy, New Recruit, and a Painful Reminder

A few Bear bits from around the web.

Failed PAT Conspiracy?
Hydrotech at the California Golden Blogs has a great writeup regarding the rumor that Nate Longshore had called his own number and attempted to fake the point after during the Big Game, against the knowledge or permission of well…anyone on the team really. I mentioned this on the Bearinsider forum, but it’s really, really hard for me to believe that someone who has been so “team above self” all season would crack Britney Spears style and attempt such a boneheaded endeavor.

I posted my thoughts on the CGB board as well:

“Coaches’ reactions. Does Jeff Tedford strike anyone as the type to have just let Nate off with a “tsk tsk tsk” scold on the sideline had he attempted these shenanigans? Or any other coach on the staff for that matter?

This is the same Tedford who yanked Levy by the facemask on national television. He verbally raped a coach on his staff after they had to burn two timeouts to Washington State in garbage time. Tedford does not F around.

Also, from what I could see, Alamar just had his hands on his hips after the botched attempt with a “Oh Nate! You silly goose!” type of reaction when Longshore ran back to the sidelines.
The fact that Tedford already publicly stated that Longshore might get some snaps during the Washington game is telling enough.”

But don’t take it from me. Hydro has actually taken the time to break it down, so it’s worth a look to hopefully but to rest a ridiculous rumor.

Oregon vs. Oregon State Playbook: The Recipe for a 100 points
Speaking of in-depth analysis, ‘Nash at BearsNecessity has a detailed look at the Civil War Playbook that resulted in 103 combined points.

Another Recruit: Jared Price
Cal picked up its 8th commitment of the year from JC Linebacker Jared Price who had committed to Cal earlier in the summer, before opening up his recruitment again a short time later. This time, it’s for real, with the Blinn College LB having reaffirmed his commitment to the Bears.

While undersized (5’10 220lbs) for a linebacker, the 2 star recruit (according to Scout.com) has been an absolute beast of a player for Blinn College, already recording 18 sacks on the year. Blinn defensive line coach Keith Browning says of Price:

"Jarred is a great athlete with tremendous strength and quickness. He runs a 4.51 forty, benches 375 lbs, squats 550, has close to a 40-inch vertical and is very explosive. He understands the game and can get to the QB."

The Bear Insider has a great story up on Price.


Really really smart
Four Bears players have been name to the All-Academic Pac-10 Team: Zach Smith, Alex Mack, Mark Boskovich, and Mike Mohammed. Mitchell Schwartz and Will Ta’ufo’ou were deemed “pretty smart, but not quite smart enough” with honorable mentions.

Need another reason to get up for the Washington Game?
Just try and remember (painful I know) what Washington did to Cal on the ground last year—without Jake Locker. The Huskies ran for 334 yards and 3 touchdowns. Louis Rankin rushed for 224 yards, with 125 of those yards coming in the first quarter. After having his way with the Bears, Ranking let his backup Brandon Johnson embarrass the Bears even further with 121 yards. That’s nearly as many yards as Johnson has all season this year.

The Huskies ended up breaking a 5 game losing streak to the Bears with a 37-23 victory. In a season full of lows, the Washington game was one of the most dreadful.

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Conference Statistical Champions

Coming off an emotional exciting Big Game victory, typically Cal fans would be readying themselves for their upcoming bowl game at this point in the season. Not so this year. Cal squares off against a winless Husky team on Saturday to finish the season, potentially leaving a number of Cal fans wondering what to be excited about.

For most Cal fans, it should provide one of the few last opportunities to say goodbye to the beloved seniors, many being fan favorites. It’s also the last home game of the season, before college football fans head off to endure the nine months of baseball following bowl season. Also, depending on how the game goes, it might be allow a bit more game time for some of the players who have been all but forgotten this year (Tracy Slocum) or might be prominent players next year (Brock Mansion).

Still, the contest should do very little to affect Cal’s national ranking, or bowl picture (unless Cal should do the unthinkable and lose), and the whole “Every Game Counts” motto has to be interpreted in a few creative ways for some Cal fans to tune in to watch Cal potentially pound hapless Washington.

Fortunately, a handful of Cal players stand an excellent chance at taking the conference crowns in several statistical categories. Coach Tedford has obviously shown very little regard changing gameplan to help players achieve to individual records. Justin Forsett’s 999 yard season says “hello.”

Still some of these categories are interesting to keep in the back of one’s mind while watching the game this Saturday.

Conference Rushing Champion
Cal has had an outstanding history in recent of years of boasting some of the conference’s top rushers. In fact, a Cal rusher has finished in the top 3 in the conference in rushing yards for each of the four previous seasons.

2007: Justin Forsett finished second in the conference in rushing yards behind Jonathan Stewart, with 1546 yards on 305 carries, and a whopping 15 rushing TDs. Forsett averaged 118.92 yards a game.
2006: Marshawn Lynch led the conference with 1356 yards and 11 TDs.
2005: Marshawn Lynch finished 3rd the conference with 1246 yards and 10 TDs.
2004: JJ Arrington did what few in NCAA history had done in breaking the 2000 rushing mark, to lead the conference with 2,018 yards and 15 rushing TDs.

As it stands now, Jahvid Best would need 170 yards to take the Pac-10 conference rushing title. Jacquizz Rodgers currently holds the spot with 1253 rushing yards on the season. Best would need 53 yards to surpass Stanford’s Toby Gerhart to slide into the second place spot. “The Jet” currently ranks second in the conference in yards per game at 108.30.

Barring any sort of injury, Best will undoubtedly see success rushing the ball as Cal faces off against a Husky rush defense that surrenders 223.27 yards per game on the ground. The only question is how long Tedford will decide to keep Best in the game should Cal jump out to an early lead, given Best’s list of injuries this year.

Shane Vereen who has had a solid freshman debut season, would need 370 yards on the ground on Saturday to break the 1000 yard mark, having rushed for 630 yards on 124 carries on the season, as the conference’s 8th leading rusher.

All-Purpose Yards
Best also leads the conference in all purpose yards per game, averaging 170.7--nearly 7 yards better than Terrence Austin’s 163.8 yards a game. Pff 163.8? Weak sauce.

Secondary Statistic Leaders
Darian Hagan is second in the conferences in passes broken up with 15 on the year, behind Alterraun Verner from UCLA. Hagan can wrap of the conference crown in this category should the Huskies decide they want to pick on the redshirt sophomore, and the USC Trojans decide they want to embarrass Verner.

In other secondary statistical news, Syd’Quan Thompson is tied for second in the conference in interceptions with 4 on the season, but is just one away from tying Mike Nixon from ASU for the top spot. The Sun Devils also play on Saturday, so the race should be a close one.


Special Teams
Syd’Quan Thompson could also take another statistical conference crown in the punt return category. If Squid were to gain more than 64 yards in punt returns, he could theoretically surpass OSU’s Sammie Stroughter for most punt return yards this season. And if Thompson were to get a TD on one of those punt returns, he could get a two-fer an lead the conference in punt return TDs with 2. Booyakasha.

Again, Jahvid Best could take home another statistical crown, this time on special teams. Best currently sits atop the conference standings in average kickoff return yardage, averaging 29.8 yards per return. Best was removed from the return mix until recently due to injuries, so it’s hard to speculate where he would have been had he been able to consistently return kickoffs.

Freshman punter Bryan Anger is second in the conference in average punt yardage by the narrowest of margins. He currently averages 44.13 yards per return, while senior punter for UCLA Aaron Perez averages 44.47. Here’s hoping Anger punts one or two 70 yarders, and the Trojans scare Perez into shanking a few for 15 yards.

Tackles For Loss
Senior Linebacker Zack Follett looks to finish an outstanding career at Cal by appropriately leading the conference in tackles for a loss. “Ziger” is currently tied for second in the conference with 17 TFLs and would need at least 3 tackles in the back field to surpass Oregon’s DE Nick Reed who has 19.5 on the year.

Oh, and if the Pain Train can force a fumble, he could move into a tie for first that category as well, currently sitting with 3 on the year.

So Be On the Lookout…
That’s about it for the most part. While a number of Cal players have still done remarkably well this season, there’s very little chance that any other Cal players might break through to the top of any other lists by season’s end.

Noticeably absent are any contenders on the offensive side of the ball not named Jahvid Best. Cal’s passing game and subsequently their receiving game, has for the most part plummeted in terms of conference ranking this season, but should expect a nice return next year.

So there you have it. If not for your love of football, the Bears, or all that is good in the world, at least show up/tune in to see some Bears wrap up some conference statistical titles.
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