BearTalk

I think we’ll be higher than #20 if we win out, considering that we’re #26 now. Other teams will lose, and we’ll be a more well-regarded 3-loss team for wins against Mich St, OSU, Oregon.

First of all, let’s just get this out of the way — much as it pains me to admit, it was pretty clear yesterday that SC is the better team. I was at the game yesterday, and their defense is pretty amazing.

That said, I’m not sure that the separation between the two programs is THAT wide…we were right in it for pretty much the whole game.

Here’s my one bone — that TD to Vereen that was called back for supposed “ineligible receiver downfield” — I didn’t have the benefit of watching replay until tonight, and, well…unbelievable. Even the ABC guys were wondering on the air who the supposed ‘ineligible receiver downfield’ was (unless I’m completely missing something — there wasn’t).

It’s not to say that Cal would’ve won if that had counted, but it sure would have changed the complexion of the game. Not even SC is immune to getting at least a little rattled.

That said, we also got so lucky on several plays (the called-back INTs) so I guess it evens out. Pretty frustrating though.

Even if we take 2 of the last 3 I’d call it a good season (It goes without saying that bringing back the axe to Berkeley needs to be one of the wins). I’m looking for the passing game to find some semblance of consistency. I’m not looking for us to put up crazy numbers but enough to where we can spread out the opponent’s defense.

One note on the TD that was called back. Looking at the replay later, it wasn’t a lineman that was ineligible. It was either Boeteng or Ross incorrectly lined up on the far side of the play. It kills me because they didn’t end up having any involvement in the play.

OK, so my fairy tail ending had Longshore finishing his CAL career with a win over USC, but the offense failed to click, again. I am probably in the minority, but I would rather beat USC than Stanford, and it is time we do that.
Now I have to move on (my 24 hours of mourning is over). I am traveling to watch the bears in Corvallis this weekend. Any suggestions on restaurants or other places to visit that will give me some local flavor?

Cal played very hard, showed themselves well effort wise, but USC is WAY better- yet Cal had MANY opportunities to win. Turner’s TD shouldn’t have been, Cal’s overturned TD was a wrong call, as no lineman was downfield and Boateng stepped up to the LOS prior to the snap. All the commotion he was maling drew attention to one of them being lined up wrong- but as I said, Boateng step up to the LOS prior to snap. That was a BS penalty- typical Pac 10 officials- typical USC luck.

The game went exactly as you would assume. SC never loses at home, Pete Carroll never loses in November, they are way deeper in talent. The unstable Cal QB situation came back to haunt Cal- IMO, that is 2 years in a row this whole Longshore-Riley drama has hurt Cal. Riley should have played a lot last year, and he should have been on the field all year this year, not getting jerked in and out. He needed more seasoning to be ready for the game Saturday. Also, all the OL injuries showed in the run game- Cal could not run- if you can’t run at all, you usually will not win.

This week is really the big game. No matter what, they need to beat OSU. If they win, they should win out and go to Holiday Bowl, which would be no small accomplishment this with the way this season has gone. The bad news is that the opponent will much stronger in the Holiday than the Rose Bowl- bummer.

By the way, next year could and should be a great, perhaps huge, year for Cal. Other than the 3 big LB’s (Felder, Follett, Williams-huge loss), and Alex Mack, EVERYBODY is coming back. And at LB, Mohammed and Young are coming back, as is Devin Bishop, and I hear Kendricks is a freak atheletically- that came directly from Cameron Jordan. Next year, the DB’s, DL, OL, WR’s, RB’s, QB’s and special teams will all be significantly better. Lots to look forward to. But they still will have to beat SC.

Let’s take care of business first. Win out, finish at 9-3, go to the Holiday Bowl, and go close out a strong recruiting class- Cal is WAY behind there.

More on Tedford;

Keep pushing and Tedford will be out of here.

Not many teams can go to the Trojans home field and come out of there 17-3( call Ohio State). Tedford and staff had the Bears in it until the 4th quarter. Cal did a great job Sat and the coaches and players hung in there against a very talented team on the their homefield.

When you analyze this closely you will see that Cal’s
talent level, and experience, is not that impressive. Tedford has done great considering his Jeckle/Hyde QB situation. I’m sure he would like to settle on a quarterback, but, neither Riley nor Longshore has stepped up. If you think we are fustrated with the QB fiasco, just imagine Tedford’s agony.

If Cal can take 2 of the next 3 games it will be a successful season. If they go 3/3 it will be be a 9-3 season and a super season. Either way, Tedford has done a great job to get to this point.

A couple of other things-

USC gained 422 yards and had 22 first downs. This is despite all the stupid penalties they had. If they hadn’t shot themselves in the foot so often, likely they would have another TD or two. So before we annoit our defense as great is the SC game, think again. The D is solid, the best unit on the team, but they are not great- if they were great, they wouldn’t have been torched by Maryland, Arizona and would have been better vs. SC.

As far as the offense, pretty weak, but with QB yo-yoing, a beat up and now replacement OL and green receivers, it’s tough to expect better- especially against that SC defense. THAT is a GREAT defense- scary.

Just a thought- is Gregory a better coordinator than Tedford?

AND CalDuke… “Keep pushing and Tedford will be out of here”? Are you serious?? Because some fans have criticisms, many of which have credence, Tedford is going to leave? Puh-leze. You’re kidding right?? Fans posting some critiques on a blog will cause Tedford to leave? Right. If Tedford is that soft and sensitive that he would leave, then see ya later Coach. And, where is he going to go? Somewhere he won’t be, heaven forbid, criticized? C’mon. Tedfrod is a big boy, he’s (admittedly) made his share of mistakes. He a good coach, he’s not a great coach. If he does leave for any reason, Cal can hire Chris Peterson.

Also, you wrote “When you analyze this closely you will see that Cal’s talent level, and experience, is not that impressive. Tedford has done great considering his Jeckle/Hyde QB situation…”
Well Tedford recruited and has coached this “talent level”- so if it is not impressive, wouldn’t that be on Tedford? Also, he created the QB situation. He botched it last year, he botched it Ayoob’s junior year (he has admitted both of those in print) and he should have put Riley in this year and left him there. Most feel that way, the media that will actually take a stand believe that, so how is that not on Tedford?
Tedford makes $1.85 mil a year, he’s the 3rd highest paid coach in the Pac 10 and he makes more than several NFL coaches. By definition, a public coaching job like his where he is extravangantly paid opens him up to criticism. When his teams continually come close to taking the next step and they do not, he is going to get some criticism. Some of it is spot on.

I didn’t think we’d have much of a shot against USC this year, and that’s being a realist not a pessimist. If we had lost 35-0 I would have been of the impression that we were really bad. 10-3 until 3 mins left in the game ain’t too shabby, on the road, given the O-line issues, the inconsistency at QB etc. With everyone writing off Cal – saying Oregon and ASU were the next best teams in the Pac-10 this year, I am very pleased. Again, you’re talking to a guy who endured the last 4 Holmoe years and was handed his degree on the heels of a 1-11 season. This doesn’t mean I don’t hold my team to a high standard. I’m not saying I’m not disappointed. I very much feel we should have been undefeated going into the game with SC. You still never know, if everyone in the Big 12 beats itself up and Cal wins out there’s a chance SC gets to the NC game and we smell roses. Improbable but not impossible.

Okay MoreNCs/9drawfs – I’m ready for you to call us all pathetic and you to thump your chest about how USC could have laid 70pts on us but didn’t. I’m ready for you to prove to me that you’re a bigger ass than I originally thought! Bring it.

I thought all plays were reviewed by the upstairs booth official.

Why couldn’t the upstairs official slow down the field referees until he had a chance to review the play?

A previous poster made the point about the TD to Vereen, yes Boateng should have stepped back. He knew it was a problem, he didn’t think it through. I think it’s time for Tedford to stop splitting practice time between Longshore and Riley. Longshore had an opportunity to step up in a big game and didn’t deliver. Riley didn’t deliver either, mind you, but he needs to get in rhythm with his receivers. Practice will help. And speaking of receivers, I’ve been impressed with Tucker and Boateng and Ross have moments, but the rest seem to be out of position and incapable of making hard catches. Drill Riley in practice with heavy blitz situations so he can get experience with getting rid of the ball quickly.

Count me out of the chorus of moral victory stuff because we played SC “tough” or “kept it close.” If OSU beat them this year or Stanford can beat them last year- certainly we can. Tedford does not make $1.85 million a year. He makes closer to $3.0 million a year in total compensation and yes, he is fairly subject to criticism.

USC is the better team.

Still, all those penalties, all the bad throws/catches and all the bad officiating didn’t help.

Cal absolutely play the game right from a strategy POV. Cal was in the game until the end, they simply didn’t execute.

Cal will get to the Rose Bowl but it will need an Aaron Rodgers caliber QB and decent receivers to sync up with a quality D.

Actually, Boateng coorected the situation by stepping UP to the line prior to the snap. That put one of WRs on that side on the line, the other off- that is a legal formation.

I would like to hear some clarification from the Pac 10 officials. The call was illegal man downfield. That was not true. There was some discussion on TV later when they looked at the play from high up in slo mo that perhaps the ref misspoke. The only other thing that was going on was the left side WRs. That was rectified just prior to the snap as I mentioned. As I wrote in an earlier post, that was a wrong call. The Pac 10 officiating just keeps doing its thing (poorly) year after year after year … What a shame for the players, coaches and fans. It really ruins things by affecting the game so dramatically.

What a difference a year makes.

Cal rushes for 200 yards against $C in the rain in Berkeley last year. Twenty something yards in balmy LA in 2008. Too many injuries on the O line.

Our D kept it close.

I’m a Riley guy, but these “high and away” overthrows are becoming commonplace. Mansion v Riley QB controvery for 2009? Oh brother.

Go Bears!

I have not anyone mention this…but the catch that Verran Tucker made was one of the best catches I’ve seen from a Cal Bear WR in decades! That was truly amazing…if only we had a QB who could throw on target!

I think that we will bounce back from this tough loss. We will win out but the question is who we are going to play in the holiday bowl??

Can you imagine playing against Oklahoma or Missouri?? Both really great offenses that would really test our defense to see what they are really made of.

Here is a quote from the Los Angeles Times,11/11/08;

“Phantom catch? Replays of Patrick Turners pivotal touchdown catch against Cal appeared to show the ball hitting the ground as the 6-foot-5 receiver completed the diving reception.”

“USC hurriedly kicked the extra point before the play could be reviewed and possibly reversed”

“Not suprisingly the Trojans said Monday that there was no debate about the catch, though they could not help grinning when they said so.”

There are more comments,but, the above quotes from the LA Times make the point.

Place to go in Corvallis? Tommy’s Bar and Grill. Before or after the game is alot of fun. Friendly and great food. Good place to either cry in your beer or belly up to the bar and hand out some grief.

I think we should look at the SC game as a job interview gone wrong. You know, that interview that has a lot of potential but turns sour. The bright side about those interviews is that they give you experience for the next one. Riley, Boateng, Ross, Best, Vereen and Morrah will take their knowledge gained from this “interview” into next season’s game in Berkeley. (This is not a “wait until next year” post.)

Taylor Mays and Cushing will take their knowledge to the NFL.

Thanks DC. I was waiting for some advice on where to go in Corvallis.
Throughout this season, remember that we have started 14 players that never played for CAL before, including 6 interior linemen. Throughout this, however, I think the biggest hole is that we have still not developed the possession receiver critical to the Tedford offense. You know the one — always open when you need him, always one yard past the yard marker when you need it, and always catches the ball. From my experience, Steve Rivera in the mid-70s was the prototype. Yes, Wesley Walker had the stats, but when the game was on the line, Steve made the catch (also think Fred Bilitnikoff of the Raiders). Someone needs to step up and fill this role on the team.