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October 10, 2005
bummed out bears
Ok, I promised myself that I wouldn't talk about the Cal-UCLA football game, but I just have to vent out a bit (blog justification reason #47)
We went over to Jake and Amanda's for their little housewarming and watched the game. We actually got a late start because of Naomi's red egg party and our need to recover a little bit from that, so I was keeping an eye on the first quarter from home. In Cal's either first or second play from scrimmage, Justin Forsett breaks off a 57 yard run. Quick touchdown after that. UCLA fumbles the kickoff, Cal recovers and on the next play, another touchdown. 14-0. You figure, no problem right? UCLA comes back to tie it at 14. Cal then goes up by 13, 27-14 and the first half ends with that score. UCLA then comes back and takes the lead for the first time, making it 28-27. Cal then roars back and takes a 40-28 lead towards the start of the 4th quarter. Unfortunately, this is one of those games where there was just too much time on the clock at that point, and Cal doesn't score again, but UCLA makes its 3rd comeback of the game, with the final score being 47-40.
Scary thing is that if you look at the stats, Cal should have just killed UCLA. They outrushed them, with the two headed monster of Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett. Joseph Ayoob actually showed more touch on his passes than I've seen all year so far. He threw some catchable long bombs (got a TD pass to Desean Jackson on one), and actually had some medium range passes over the middle which were on target (his biggest liability to date). They held Maurice Jones-Drew to 65 yards rushing and Marcedes Lewis, the star UCLA tight end, to 1 catch, I think.
So what the &$*#@& happened?
- Special Teams - this was the absolute worst. On the first punt that Maurice Drew got, he nearly took it to the house (I think he went 70 yards). You'd figure, after that, you kick *AWAY* from him. Either out of bounds, or short so that it rolls to him. Or you kick high so that by the time he catches it, there are 4 defenders around him waiting to take him down. But noooo, the guy goes on to rack up *5* TDs! If the guy is going nuts like that, pooch the damn ball! He was the only one scoring for UCLA it seemed. I don't know if the special teams coach took a stupid pill before the game or if David Lonie, the kicker, has no idea where to aim. Especially since this was a home game for UCLA, and special teams plays are big momentum shifters. You are an offense that just scored, or your defense is playing well, and you see your special teams give up a kickoff to the house. Terrible.
- Tight Ends. Actually one specifically, Beegum. Tedford has got to bench this guy or something. They've got Stevens, who caught one TD. They've got David Gray (where did he disappear to this game?). They've got a promising freshman, Cameron Morrah (not sure if he's redshirting this season). But just in my casual fan observation of the game: Beegum gets a touchdown called back because he false started, and on a play in which he wasn't even the primary receiver. He also misses a sure touchdown catch earlier than that. Tedford's offense makes very good use of the tight end in the red zone, and arguably, this is part of the reason the Cal offense settled for 4 FGs when in the red zone. All of them should have been TDs.
- Run the ball. Ok, Forsett goes for 153 yards (and on like 10 carries!). Lynch, who seems at least somewhat hindered by the cast on his hand, still goes for 135. That is nearly 300 yards between the two of them. Yet, on the most pivotal play of the game, 3rd and 3, with the Bears up 40-35, and desperately trying to keep the ball away from UCLA, a pass over the middle is called, and Ayoob throws it to a well-covered receiver. Ironically, a tight end (see point above). Yes, UCLA was bringing its linebackers up at that point, stacking 8 in the box. But Cal had run against that already quite a few times, and had either gashed for big gains or at least gotten those 3 *measly* yards! There was a stat before the game where the Cal OL outweighted the UCLA D-line by a major amount. If you have a pivotal play (and you know it is), you need to go with your strength, nevermind if the other team knows you're doing it. You have to come with your best, not with a pass from a QB who has been shaky until now to tight ends, who have also been shaky. That I think was more frustrating because the RBs had been dealing all day, and there wouldn't have been any shame in running it on that play and getting stopped. If it had been working all day, you can't blame the team for trying to do it on that play. Was Tedford trying to get too cute there? Possibly. You can justify by the claim that the linebackers where stacking the line on that drive, but Forsett and Lynch were still running well. Also, you have Ayoob, who has really good running instincts. And ultimately, its not like the TE wasn't covered. It was actually good coverage by the free safety, who is going to also play close to the line in such a short-yardage situation.
- Ayoob. Ok, yes he had that crushing interception trying to drive Cal to a score with 1:35 left to play and UCLA up, 41-40. But as I was telling everyone after the game, he had a pretty good game up until that point. 2 TDs passing, one on an underthrown long ball that Desean Jackson came back to get, and another on a crossing pattern by TE John Stevens. As I said before, this was the first game in which I saw some really good touch from him. Sure, he short-hopped a few throws, and he still wasn't quite on the same page as his WRs (there was actually one play where it seemed like he was *arguing* with DJ -- him waving for DJ to go long, Desean staying short, and Ayoob ending up throwing it towards the inside shoulder where the UCLA defender nearly picked it off). But if you compare to his horrific first game at Sac State (0 for 10), he's come a long way. Cal fans have to face the fact that this guy, which has some potential, also has some gotchas which will probably take until after the season for Tedford's coaching to rectify. He has a long windup in his passing motion (allowing for that interception, because the outside cornerback cut in to get it). He also has to learn to look off the DBs. He did work on one of his major problems so far (accuracy), and this week was much better. Understandably, he hasn't yet figured out the magic combination between when to run and when to pass. Sometimes he'd tuck the ball and run when there were open WRs, other times he'd hold the ball too long when he could have run. But that's a minor gotcha in my mind, as very few "running" QBs are able to master that skill. The only one that really had that to some extent is Michael Vick, and only because he's so elusive, he would slough off would be tacklers and get the ball out of there. Even Steve Young didn't really reach that understanding until a few years in the 49ers offense. Up until then, he'd be doing the same thing, running when he should have passed, passing when he should have run.
Ultimately, this was so frustrating because Cal should have won, and it was apparent even to UCLA. They celebrated like crazy once they had it wrapped up and the fans partied late into the night. You don't do that unless you know what a big victory it is. Also, it frustates Cal's hunt for a top bowl, as the schedule was tailor-made to build up to a frenzy, for Cal's game against USC in 3 weeks. One can make a case where this has lowered Cal's expectations to a reasonable level, but at the same time, you wonder if this should have been "the year". With a new QB and a new defense, its fair to say that the chances were against that. But I just hope that Tedford can keep Marshawn from going pro for one more year, so we can have him for next season.
Posted by spoof747 at October 10, 2005 10:15 AM