Let's hope the Bears can come back like Oregon did and beat the crap out of UCLA next week.
I was hopeful that Kevin Riley could come in and do a good job today for the Bears and get some much needed game day experience. And he did do a good job for the most part. Good enough to win the game, frankly. And this is an experience that he will never forget.
But poor efficiency in a few areas killed us. Three turnovers vs. one for the Beavers. Three sacks vs. one for the Beavers. Getting out returned and losing the ball on a kick-off. Our Special Teams were supposed to be special - today they were average at best.
Statistically, we crushed these guys. But turnovers and crucial mistakes killed us. Missing a field goal - pretty far field goal but certainly Kay has the foot for it. Another ticky-tack call on the out of bounds hit that gave them the final field goal position - clearly the wrong call since every ref within 40 yards immediately backed up the crappy call by throwing their flags.
Going into this game, I think I was more nervous than any other game this season. They are a tough team which has given us fits in the past. But we should have won and we did not.
There were two coaching areas where I felt we made mistakes. First, we did not let Riley out of the box until it was too late. We were passing on third downs, not first downs. And mostly, we were passing on third and long. That is not a recipe for success for your first time starter. At the end of the game the passing / running ratio was balanced, but that hides the fact that we were heavily into running the first half, and heavily into passing the second half. And he did a good job passing.
We needed to come out strong and put points on the board, and we did not do that. This was a game where you have a young guy out there - run some gadget plays and get something going to take the other team out of it and give your guy some confidence. But it seemed like JT did not have confidence in Kevin Riley early in the game and he babied him. I think that came back to bite us.
Secondly, of course, at the end, the coach should have run in the field goal unit. Whether or not you actually kick a field goal, at least on third down you have a second chance if there is a bad snap. I actually was thinking to run in the field goal team and try a fake - Van Meter to Stevens on a fade. I have never seen us do one - it would have been the perfect time. But that was not to be.
All that being said, I still think the Bears are in the hunt. We shall see, but I bet we are in the top 9 after today and the other teams games. I doubt many people move us behind Oregon, at number 9. A lot of the press blame the game on a freshman mistake which is going to be going away, etc. And LSU lost as well. So I think people may give us a gimme since we had the kid in there. Or maybe I'm crazy and we drop 20 spots. But there are 7 weeks left. And BC and South Florida are not going to the big game. If we can stay in the top 10, we then play Arizona State, who will be a top 12 team, and USC, who will be a top 10 team. We will move up well if we can do that.
In a season where everything was falling our way, the ball once again bounced to Oregon State, who, for the third time in 5 years, have ended out 10 game home winning streak.
Go Bears!!
6 comments:
I think this game exposed us as the overrated team we are. Lets face facts, our defense is horrible. We made a QB who looked like a scrub against UCLA into a stud. UCLA has a killer defense and ASU is simply a better team. We could easily enter the SC game with 3 losses. But,on the semi bright side, I think if he can convince DeSean to stay, next year will be special. ANy thoughts of Gregory as a DC. I know he is close with Tedford, but his mix of Bend dont break and conservative playcalling doesnt seem to work.
Oregon State had two drives all game over 25 yards. They scored on short fields when we turned the ball over. We held them to their lowest yardage of the season. This, besides all the crap that people on the boards are saying, was a very good defensive effort.
UCLA won the game with OSU because OSU fumbled 5 TIMES, including three times in a row on punt returns.
This was not a defensive loss. This was an offensive loss and a lack of scoring efficiency. While we could have blitzed more, the real threat to Cal in this game was the running of Yvenseon Bernard. And we held him to well below his season average because we held our lanes. We also held the QB to well below his season average.
We did miss a few picks that we knocked away instead of going for the pick. But to be honest, the defense did everything that they should have done - they gave up no big plays, and they stuffed the run.
And no chance DeSean stays. But I do like Riley a lot. Actually, to be honest, this game made me more excited to be a Bear for the forseeable future than I could have expected.
UCLAs defense is not great at all. They still have the same crappy players that played against the Bears last year. They are just one year older. Not better. I say we crush those clowns.
An important stat: zero turnovers for the Beavs. Thank you muchly O-State! Dare I say that about a hated in-state rival!
Cal could've had this one in the bag, had Riley just thrown the ball AWAY.
Very true that this one could have gone the Bears way with a lot if little things going our way - including the last play not happening. But it did.
The Beavers actually did turn the ball over on the 12 in the first quarter on a fumble.
Sadly, we did get jumped by Oregon in the AP... and by Oregon and ASU in the BCS.
Anonymous, I see you've copy-and-pasted your comment about us sucking to multiple blogs. Way to keep hope alive. Have you been perhaps biding your time for us to lose so that you could unleash your true lack of faith upon us all?
Wow, cool blog. Glad I found it.
Post a Comment