Go vote for Vereen on ESPN’s Game Changing Performance

Lastly, the winning at all costs attitude is making me sick. Tedford did the right thing by giving Longshore a shot, and maybe Longshore shouldn’t have been put in after his first int, but Longshore did get pulled. Most of you forget that Tedford isn’t just getting paid to win, he’s also getting paid to ensure that Cal players are individuals who represent the university well. Giving Longshore a shot shows to the players that it’s not ok to throw someone overboard once they lose their usefullness. Furthermore, it shows that Tedford will remain loyal to them if they fall under hard times, a la Longshore.

If this were an individual sport and Tedford’s choice didn’t affect any other competitor, then it would be an entirely different matter. But this is a team sport and both Ayoob & Longshore 2.0/3.0 affect others. The reason that DJax fell to the mid-second round in the draft was because Tedford played Longshore. Period. Jackson is a mega-talented player who chose Cal because of the potential opportunity and the school (or rather Tedford) clearly let him down.

If Cal doesn’t have talent on the team, then who cares? Tedford can play anyone that he cares to and we alums can enjoy the game on another level. However, Tedford (and his assistants but it *is* ultimately Tedford) has brought in an awesome array of talent; more than Cal has had in decades. That carries a responsiblity that Tedford (so far) hasn’t lived up to. THAT’s why alums/fans are frustrated and express this frustration verbally. Sure it’s not nice to the student athlete, but it’s not directed at him. It’s directed at the oblivious dude picking up his $3 million check. (And, by the way, personally *I* wouldn’t boo anyone, but I *do* understand it).

You have to admit, Longshore started hot, but when there weren’t any receivers open, he started trying to force the issue. This was pretty much the case with the second int; he was throwing into triple coverage and the receiver didn’t have any shot at the ball. I imagine 2 years back, Longshore would’ve just thrown it away, but I think the pressure to achieve is playing havoc with his decision making.

Regardless, gosh, I feel terrible for the Nate. I know some of you don’t want to see him on the field again, but I certainly do, though, only if he’s tearing it up.

We certainly resolved any remaining QB controversy. Riley was 17-24. Three passes were dropped and one was a throw-away. I think he made one bad pass-an overthrow.

Jahvid Best confirmed he is the real deal. He came close to breaking a couple really long runs. Vereen had the breakaway TD run and showed he was a threat catching the ball as well.

So happy for Sean Young making some big catches. Cameron Morrah should be a real factor in future games. Anger can certainly hang-out punts. Hagan can defend and SydQuan was amazing. Great blocking by Will T. and a TD catch as well. Boateng needs to step up and live up to his potential. Can’t wait to watch Calvin when he heals up.

The new 3-4 defense played well. We gave away points and let drives continue with big mistakes. Anger’s boo-boo led to a MSU TD. So did the roughing the kicker penalty. I won’t name the other culprit.

I was actually sad to see Nate struggle. It’s a long season and he may be needed at some point. He made some awful decisions though and Riley was near perfect including that amazing throw while he was being tackled. He is certainly a leader and you can tell the team has confidence in him.

With some top-25 teams losing we could make the top-25 list or at least be right on the cusp of it.

Now lets go kick some Couger but in Eastern Washington.