Cal vs Washington State Re-watch

Well, I finally watched the game again last night.

It wasn't as bad as I thought.

Yes, the Bears made a lot of mistakes. Three turnovers were critical and drive killing.

There were three penalties, one of which killed a drive.

But looking at it again, Nate looked a lot better than I thought. Hawkins, who had a pretty good game, also dropped a TON of passes, which would have opened up a ton of scoring and kept drives alive. I actually think he holds the majority of the blame for the seemingly lackluster effort on Saturday.

So, yes, we only scored twenty. And good teams do not make those mistakes. But the Bears certainly have the players and the talent and actually played a game, with a game plan, where they should have scored at least 48 points. It should have been that big of a difference.

I was more impressed with Justin Forsett. He moved the chains in the middle of the field. I know that his average was only 2.8 yards per carry before his long run. But you also have to include in that the short yardage runs at the goal line, which I think were 7 for 8 yards. That has to kill the average. In the middle of the field, the play calling was mixed up pretty well, and the Bears run and pass combination seemed to work fine. Goal line running was still an issue that the Bears need to work on.

I guess what I am saying is that I am not quite as petrified about Saturday as I was before looking at the game again.

If the Bears can play together, and stop turning the ball over, and actually make the easy catches. then I think they win. Because, lets face it - USC has not played that well this year. Their out of conference schedule (Notre Dame, Nebraska and Utah State) are among the three worst programs in college football this year. They have played the worst of the Pac 10, except for Oregon, where they were outclassed. They still have to play the Bears, Arizona State, and UCLA. So it is difficult to say how good they are.

It is also difficult to say how good we are. We have played like UCLA this season (Horrors!!!). WE have the talent and the ability to have won all of the games that we have played, and mistakes have doomed us. For us it is a confidence issue. I actually think we have the better team that USC this year, and hopefully our confidence is getting better.

News is that Nate is looking good, that he practiced fine for two full days this week. Hopefully that translates into better confidence for the rest of the team. He is the leader of the squad, whether you like to admit it or not. If he plays well, the team plays well.

If our defense can play like we did against Washington State, and our offense can play like we did against Oregon and Tennessee, we win this game easily. Also, I was pleased with the special teams (particularly Kickoff coverage) at Washington State.

All we need to do is throw the ball into the end zone once or twice inside the 10 and I think we have it made...

Well see.

Go Bears!!!