Washington State Recap

Well, that was some game. It was really unbelievable.

When I said that we should clobber them, I did mean it. I just did not think it would happen. i guess I was thinking about last year, and all the crap that went down, and the bad vibes and all that stuff. Let's face it - the trees, the implosion, the Longshore issue...all that garbage hanging over the Bears for the 10 months sure sucked some of the life out of things.

I think this game washed all of that away. They are not perfect - they in fact made plenty of mistakes and there is still plenty of work to be done. But it is clear that they can play up to their potential, and play with the abandonment of the early years of Tedford.

in 2002, when we went to the Insight Bowl, and we won 52 to 49 against Virginia Tech, that was such a huge game for Cal. We went in, we let loose, and we won in a shootout against a top team. Maybe not that year, but a top team. After the game - much later - we were at a Denny's or something like that for a sop up the booze pre-bedtime meal and Ryan Gutierrez was there with his big, extended family. Ryan was the defensive player of the game. They were having a blast, but you could tell it was a very special thing - they were proud and really excited. We chatted with the family a bit, and it was clear that they loved Tedford, they loved what he had done to the program, and what a great time they were having as a team. That was the building block for the next year, when we should have been at the Rose.

Well, this feels like that. All the old crap is floating away, and the Bears are on a mission. The trees are cut down, the team is on a roll, the rankings are starting, and the QB issue is resolved. And yes, Longshore did look good. Which is good.

There were issues at the game, but I am not going to go into that too much now. Tedford said the right thing - the offense needs work. And it does. We still do not have great receivers working in synch with the QBs. But that will come soon, I think. Hopefully before ASU. It would be hard to fault our defense - any time you hold a team under 200 yards it is a good day. So good job Bob Gregory and crew. The biggest issue I see is the special teams, the kick game, and returns. We need to work on that as well. And the offensive line needs to work a bit on pass protection - it seemed like there was some pressure on the QB that was either Riley holding the ball too long or else not getting the protection that he needed. Longshore did not seem to have that problem, frankly.

But this was a great win. Good job, and

GO BEARS!!