Tennessee Game Rewind

Lurking through the off-season message boards and scrubbing the internet for information about Cal Football finally came to a head on Saturday at 5:00 PM PDT - with a vengeance. The Bears emphatically eliminated whatever lingering doubts that folks about their ability to put up points to an SEC defence. The Bears also clearly put on display what is almost certainly the best set of offensive skill players in the country.

What was really exciting is the depth of the program. Jahvid Best, James Montgomery, freshmen and sophomores making play after play on the field. This is a team that is going to be good for the next 5 years. Cal is truly building a consistent top 10 program in Berkeley.

The anquish on the message boards over the High Performance Center, and the worrying over whether or not Cal could hang with the top programs should be put to rest. First of all, there is no way that building will not move forward. The alternative would be to move it further up the hill. There is not any reason on earth why the university can not build it's gym and office space where it wants too, within reason. And there are not a lot of reasons not to build where it is planned.

But the most emphatic point that came out of Saturday was how strong the Bears are. They became a little conservative in the second half, lost a bit of concentration, and then turned the heat up again the fourth quarter. They were in control the entire game, with a top 15 team playing catch-up. And lets be clear - no way Tennessee losses more than three games this year. They will be a top 15 team at the end of the year.

The questions answered in the game are:

1) Our Receiving corp is unbelievable. Jordan, Hawkins and DeSean leave no room for error. And if they cover all of them, we have...
2) The best set of tight ends I have seen at Cal is 25 years. Stevens and Morrah crushed. Morrah was a huge surprise option during the game. Both of these guys are big play guys. So you have a two set run situation with two WR, and Forsett in the backfield. How is that play action going to be?
3) Is Forsett better than Lynch? I think that is the question now. He may be a better college back. The guy is a bowling ball. 5'8, 195 pounds, and all muscle. He blew through tackles all day long, and hit the holes so fast that he was breaking arms all day long for the Tennessee defenders. 156 yards on the day against a Tenneesee defense. We have a great change of pace back in Best, and a great Forsett every down back replacement in Montgomery. With Slocum and Vareen, we have a steady supply of top notch talent to rely on. I see Montgomery stepping in next year as the number one guy, with Best playing the Reggie Bush role.
4) The offensive line was great. No sacks, over 200 yards rushing. The only issue was the snap between Mack and Longshore, with Longshore most likely taking most of the blame. The last two drives were physical punishment of the Vols d-line.
5) The secondary (with the odd exception of DeCoud) played great. DeCoud was too hyped up or something. He kept trying to get sports highlight hits and missing. I think Tedford will have a talk with him. But the young secondary did great in keeping the long plays to a mimimum.
6) The LBs were pretty damn good too. It seemed as though Gregory blitzed a bit more than he normally has. It seemed like both Tedford and Gregory played a bit more loose than they normally do. I loved it. I think Cal has the team speed to be a bit more agressive. We are solid at LB, like we thought we should be.
7) The D-line was OK, with some instances of greatness. They held the Vols to a low yardage total on rushing plays, which is their duty with Gregory's play calling. Rulon Davis was great on passing downs, saving the touchdown on the goal-line stand, and started to get some pressure on the Ainge. Overall, I thought the Defense did a good job. It held a pretty good QB who was very accurate to 31 points. I think Cal will face three or four offenses this whole year as good as Tennessee, and not a whole lot better, except for SC.

From a special teams perspective, Cal's returns dominated - and of course DeSeans jaw-dropping runback was the highlight. But Hawkins had some great kick-off runs. Best will get better at that and he could be a real threat for KO returns as well. Our punt coverage was good, and our punting was good as usual. What we need work on - like Tennessee - is the kick-off coverage. I think that the new kick-off line has a lot more impact than the rule makers believe. Cal regularly started on the 40, and almost all went past the 30.

So, all in all a great win for Cal. Next up, the dreaded Colorado State Rams. Now, the Bears actually lost to these guys when Brad Van Pelt was thier QB. He was a tough run / pass option dude. That was the best Rams team in a while. These guys went to three OT the other day with Colorado, so they are not chopped liver. But the Bears should not have a letdown against these guys, after the good example that Michigan gave everyone last week. That was a coaches dream (unless you are Lloyd Carr).