Cal loses heartbreaker, 10-9

Okay, sure I was as depressed as anybody last night after the pick and the loss. But for 58 minutes, Cal football was awesome again. Sure, it sucked our offense couldn’t score and we had some problems with the kicking game, but overall I enjoyed that game. I don’t really enjoy getting our butt handed to us (Nevada) or just dominating somebody (Colorado, UC Davis). For 58 minutes, I was in love with Cal football again. Not to say I had fallen out of love, but all I know is that I had some great moments of us dominating that Arizona offense.
Not to say that I enjoyed the end of it. I hated the end. It was the kind of kick you in the nuts game we’re used to being a Cal fan. But after the throwing of things, I realized that this kind of performance is the kind of thing we needed.

Our defense needed to step up. It did. Kevin Riley needed to quit making a crucial mistake. He did. Our offensive line needed to show it could hold up late in the game. They did; they sucked early, but we dominated late when we needed to drive.

So sure, I’m mad. If Giorgio Tavecchio hits one of two really easy kicks, I’m dancing like a madman and celebrating. And if Marvin Jones catches that football, or heck even knocks it in any direction other than one he did, we might be celebrating. The fact is, college football is built on the successes and mistakes of college kids. CALM DOWN EVERYBODY. Go Bears! Beat the bye week!

Cal crushed by Nevada, 52-31

Okay, let’s first fire whoever makes our schedule. A road game against a quality WAC opponent? Why? Why? Why? Just dumb. Make them come to Memorial, not a home and 2 home for us.


Moving on: Come on, Clancy. 52 points? 6.4 yards per rush? 497 total yards? Nevada’s good, but they should not score 45 points on our defense. Our linebackers were ill-prepared, and it just wasn’t a performance we needed. Our offense may be pretty good, but not a 52 point offense. Our coverage was pretty bad too.

It’s easy to blame Kevin Riley for this. WE NEED TO MATCH THEM TD FOH TD! Please, calm down. Coming into the game, if you told me we scored 31 points, I would be pretty confident that we were in the game or won it. We should not have lost by 21. We had over 500 yards of offense. The pick 6 was a potential 14 point swing, which would make it potentially 38-45 final. A 14 point difference changes the whole complexion of the game. And I subscribe to the idea of turnovers=luck largely. Riley’s 3 INTs are painful, but fixable.

Shane Vereen was awesome. One of the few bright spots. If we needed a reminder, Shane Vereen is still awesome.

Okay. Maybe we if we had Mike Mohamed, we win the game. Get well soon, Mike. Just everybody take a deep breath. I was pissed last night, but remember: this has no bearing on our Rose Bowl hopes. Sure, it looks bad and casts a shadow on our season, but if they play like the team we saw the first two weeks we’re still in this thing. Facing Arizona, at Arizona coming off this loss, will be crucial. Win and the season’s back. Lose, and question marks start to rise. Go Bears!

Nevada-Cal: TONIGHT!

The rare Friday game; can’t remember the last time we played on a Friday. I don’t like it, but ESPN coverage!


Anyway, what we should be watching for is the defense, specifically the run defense. The Wolf Pack have a great rushing game, 2 1,000 yard rusher. If we can stop them and their very good passing attack, our defense is pretty darn good. If our offense can’t score relatively easily tonight, then we’re going to have some problems this year.

ADDED: Mike Mohamed is out. Defense, it’s time to step it up. LET’S DO THIS! GO BEARS!

Cal enjoys victory over Colorado, 52-7

I’m not going to post stats on this one; I’m just going to give my impressions.


Cal just dominated the game. Colorado’s offense didn’t do anything, and our offense was able to get much of what they wanted to. Sure, the run game was struggling, but Vereen didn’t get many opportunities. Riley really impressed me; maybe he can be the quarterback we all thought he would be. As a whole, I liked what I saw from the wideouts although I wasn’t overly impressed by one of them. Our backups did far better.

But our defense was incredibly impressive. Rodney Stewart did absolutely nothing at 2.7 yards per carry, and his teammates did less. Hansen averaged under 5 yards per attempt; that’s ridiculous. Maybe Colorado is that bad, or maybe we’re that good. All I know is our defense dominated a Big-12 squad.

The more I see this team, the more I love them. Go Bears!

Get ready for Saturday’s Colorado-Cal game

For all intents and purposes, the seasons start Saturday. UC Davis doesn’t count. All those stats should be thrown out of the book. Who cares? It’s time to buckle your chinstrap and start the “real” season. Colorado might not be a great team, but they can beat us.


Let’s be clear; if Cal brings a solid game to Memorial on Saturday, we should beat these guys. Colorado is a fringe bowl team at this point, but they are eminently beatable. Their QB situation is unsteady, and their running game is still in the okay range. If our defense plays well, we’ll stop them. Our offensive line will show what they’re made of; Colorado’s rush defense is below average, so Vereen should be able to get plenty of yards. If he doesn’t, well we’re in trouble this season. Their pass defense is pretty alright, probably above average; Riley and Allen will have a chance to show what they’re going to be like for the rest of this season. But the run game needs to show what it’s made of today. Cal’s football season, the real one, starts now.

UC Davis clobbered by Cal, 52-3

Let me just start this by saying Keenan Allen is absolutely ridiculous. All those people who said he should be playing safety, please be quiet. He’s about as smooth of a player I’ve seen, and he’s dead quick. He might not be DeSean Jackson, but he’s going to be one of the best players we see for a while.


It was actually only 7-0 going into the second quarter, but Kevin Riley, Keenan Allen and Shane Vereen just took over the game, with 4 combined TD’s in the second to take Davis out of the game. The second half would be more of the same of Cal domination to the final of 52-3.

People I was impressed with first: Kevin Riley was absolutely terrific. I don’t care if he had some problems in the second quarter, he was still awesome and if he can do that the rest of the year, then awesome. DON’T TELL ME IT WAS AGAINST UC DAVIS. Keenan Allen. No further explanation needed. Shane played pretty well. Coleman looked awesome all day, and the secondary (everybody) looked impressive. Chris Conte looked pretty good to me. Marvin Jones was also impressive. Stephens looked good for a fullback in the open field, and Ross was great punt returning. Oh yeah, and the run defense. EVERYBODY WAS GOOD OKAY!

People I was a little disappointed: The offensive line looked good, but I was expecting great against UC Davis. Riley was hit a little too much, and the run game wasn’t as productive as I would’ve liked. The turnovers were not very inspiring. Beau Sweeney didn’t look too good; he looked really nervous and jittery. Hopefully next year he can calm down a bit. That’s it!

GO BEARS!

Keenan Allen is a beast

That is all I can say. I'll write a recap when I've watched the game, but for now: wow. I salute you today Mr. Allen.

A quick look at the rest of the conference

Look, I need to get stuff done quickly. So here’s a look at the rest of the conference, instead of individually.

Arizona Preview: Nick Foles is a funny one; he completes a ton of passes but only has a 6.08 yards per attempt. So the short passing game is where he works his best. He’ll find Juron Criner as his #1 option, who’s a 6-4 beast who caught 9 touchdowns a year ago. They don’t have a solid #2 though. Nic Grigsby and Keola Antolin both ran for over 500 yards last year, and both are very good tail backs. The O-Line had 3 returning starters, and has Adam Grant who is a very good LT and a 2nd team Pac-10 performer last year. The defense looks to be a mess. No linebackers back from a rush defense that wasn’t really that good last year. No interior defensive linemen. Only 2 DE who both are pass rushers, not run stuffers. So look for the run game. The pass defense is good, with the 2 corners starting last year; albeit one at safety. Freshman Marquis Flowers will have a lot of pressure on him to perform at free safety.


Arizona State Preview: The offense is a disaster. Steven Threet, he of 3 colleges, is the starter at QB. He completed 51% of his passes at Michigan and only averaged 5.53 yards per attempt. He’s not so good, or at least wasn’t at UM. Cameron Marshall returns, who played solidly against Cal last year. He averaged 4.4 yards per rush last year in limited time. Time will tell how he holds up over the whole year. Kerry Taylor is okay, at least as a #3 receiver. He’s the #1. Only 23 catches last year for more yards than #2’s Gerell Robinson 26 catches. Other than that, the cupboard is bare at WR. The O-Line loses both tackles, but returns a solid building block in Garth Gerhart. They’ll be serviceable. The Front 7 is absolutely beastly. Lawrence Guy is one of the best DT’s in the country, and the 2 other returning starters on the D-line are no slouch either. Shelly Lyons and Brandon Magee are both pretty good on the outside, no neither is a returning start. But Vontaze Burfict is one of the best linebackers in the conference. The Pac-10 FPOY, Burfict is an absolute man who recorded 69 tackles last year. Look for more this year. Omar Bolden is a solid corner who has 21 career starts, and Deveron Carr received valuable playing time a year ago with 3 starts. The 2 safeties have a combined 7 starts, so the back line is suspect.

Oregon Preview: Darron Thomas won the starting job, and he’ll be one of the best in conference if he can live up to his talent. While he struggled when pressed into duty as a true frosh, Thomas has all the tools and is really smooth with the ball. His passing is a question mark. He can throw to one of the conference’s best, Jeff Maehl, who really stepped up at the end of the year. If he can retain his form look out. DJ Davis and Lavasier Tuinei all are returning starters, and only should get better. LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner, and Lache Seastrunk are all starting-caliber, with “The Michael” being the best of the 3. 6.7 yards per rush and 14 TD is insane. And his line returns all 5 starters. Unless Thomas is Joe Ayoob, Oregon is fine. The D-Line has two studs, pass-rusher Kenny Rowe and run stuffing Brandon Bair, and two question marks, DE Terrell Turner and DT Zac Clark. The Back 7 is terrific too. Paysinger and Matthews are both terrific, and Littlejohn is supposed to be a really good JC recruit. They have plenty of depth there are. The DBs are ridiculous; Cliff Harris and Talmadge Jackson are both great corners, and Eddie Pleasant and John Boyett are just as good of DB’s.

Oregon State Preview: Ryan Katz is a question mark, sure, but he looked decent in limited time last year. They only need him to be serviceable. Jacquizz Rodgers, 1440 yards and 21 TD last year, will run behind 4 returning starters. He’s a beast, and only a junior. James Rodgers had 1034 yards receiving last year; the Rodgers’ just make the offense good. The D-Line returns 3 starters, and Stephen Paea is the best DT in the Pac-10. No run game allowed. The LB’s are a question mark, but Mike Riley has shown time and time again he can come up with a LB from anywhere. With 3 starters back on the secondary, passing should be a chore.

USC Preview: I’ll do this one quick; after all, no postseason right? Matt Barkley’s a bit overrated but he still okay. He throws too many picks (14) and he doesn’t have as many weapons this year; Ronald Johnson is the only receiver with pretty much any sense of experience with Brice Butler coming in behind him. Marc Tyler is hurt every time he’s on the field, but he was a very highly touted out of high school. Only 2 O-Linemen return, so that could be trouble; or not, considering their endless supply of highly touted linemen. Their D-Lineis very good; Nick Perry and Jurell Casey are both beasts. Devon Kennard is an absolute man child, and Malcolm Smith and Michael Morgan are both very good. No returning starters in the DBs, although Shareece Wright was one before he was suspended before the season started.

UCLA Preview: Kevin Prince doesn’t inspire much emotion either way, which is a good thing or a bad one. Hey, he’s not Kevin Craft! They have a nice little staple of backs, with Franklin and Coleman being very good. They have 4 returning starters on the O-Line, and they have the 5th who started before an injury last year. Embree and Rosario both posted solid numbers last year, and Rosario is a legit deep threat. The Front 7 is talented but young and inexperienced, but Akeem Ayers is a beast. The defensive backs are top-notch, including ball-hawk Rahim Moore. Tony Dye is good too.

Washington Preview: Jake Locker is good, but he’s not OMG TOP PLAYER IN THE NATION good. He could take a step forward to be the best QB in conference, or he could stay the same and just be okay. He’s backed by 2 great receivers in James Johnson and Jermaine Kearse. He also has a very good and fast tailback in Chris Polk. The O-Line has 3 returning starters. The defensive backs are very good, with a shutdown corner in Desmond Trufant and two solid safeties. Mason Foster is also a terrific linebacker.

Washington State Preview: Jeff Tuel played well against Cal, even if I didn’t see it. He’s an improvement over past years, at the very least. James Montgomery is a Cal transfer who has plenty of talent; can he live up to it? The O-Line has 4 returning starters but is shaky, and the wide receivers inspire no confidence. Alex Hoffman Ellis and Chima Nwachukwu are anchors for a defense that is improving; with baby steps.

Stanfurd Preview: Andrew Luck grades out well, but not as great as everybody think. His YPA and INTs are good, but he didn’t really throw that many TD’s and with a RB to distract the D he could only manage a 56.2% completion rate. That’s good, but certainly not even a 1st rounder. But OMG TOOLS. Nobody knows anything about Stepfan Taylor or Jeremy Stewart; neither is Toby Gerhart. Chris Owusu is fast but has the dropsies, and Ryan Whalen is a big play threat. He’s pretty good. The O-Line does lose a key starter, but 4 return from a very very good unit. The defense has a questionable secondary; they do return 3 starters but none of them was really that good last year. Shayne Skov and Sione Fua are good as is Thomas Keiser, but the other 4 up there aren’t all that impressive and they were gashed by Cal’s and others run games.

Colorado/Nevada Early Look

Gotta do this quick. Here’s a look at the non-conference slate:


Colorado Passing Game: Colorado won’t do too much damage here. Tyler Hansen, who was announced as the starter, is okay I guess. 9-8 TD to INT ratio and 55.8 completion % is probably what you would define as “meh”. He does have a nice arm and is certainly better than Cody Hawkins. Scotty McKnight is his #1 receiver, and he’s a possession guy more than a big play threat. He caught 76 passes for 11.8 yards per attempt and 6 TD. Behind him is Markques Simas and question marks. Simas is more of a big play guy at 13.6 yards per catch and he certainly is a good athlete with a 6-2 frame. The #3 guy is Toney Clemons, who is a Michigan transfer who nobody can really say anything certain for. He is another tall wideout at 6-2.

Colorado Rushing Game: Rodney Stewart is a solid little guy at 5-6 and he’s very quick and elusive. With 9 TD and 4.1 yards per rush, he could be better. But with all 5 offensive linemen returning, Stewart should have a huge improvement in his numbers. Stewart could easily bust a big run and hurt the Bears. Ryan Miller is the best of the 5 linemen at RG.

Overall Offense Rating: C+.

Colorado Rush Defense: A bad rush D that gave up an average of 161 yards a game last year (!) returns 4 starters in the Front 7 but only 1 linebacker. With the linebackers gone other than BJ Beatty, the struggles should carry on. The top 3 returning tacklers are all defensive backs. They lose 15 TFL. This rush D is in for trouble. Curtis Cunningham is a solid nose tackle, I guess. 41 tackles from him.

Colorado Pass Defense: Both cornerbacks and a safety are the returning safeties, albeit from a unit that gave up over 300 yards to Toledo. Other than that, though they were pretty okay; they allowed their opponents to complete 57.9% of their passes. That’s pretty good. They should only improve, but the question is: are their numbers an aberration due to teams running when way up? The only answer will be found this year.

Overall Defense Rating: C+. Pass defense good; rush defense bad.

Nevada Passing Game: Colin Kaepernick, as a passer, is okay. He’s certainly better than Hansen passing, but he is highly dependent on his Touchdowns to Interceptions: 20 to 6. His yards per attempt is average (7.28), and he only completes 58.9% of his passes. Looking past that, you see a guy who’s nice to have if he just passes. But combine that with his running ability, and you got something good. Anyway, his top 4 receivers return including Brandon Wimberly, who caught 6 touchdowns and 733 yards last year. The other 3 (Tray Session, Chris Wellington and Virgil Green) all had under 400 yards. Wimberly is another tall lanky receiver at 6-3 195.

Nevada Rushing Game: Be afraid; 2 1,000 rushers return. Kaepernick had 16 rushing touchdowns last year for 36 total; he had 7.3 yards per attempt. He’s ridiculous running the football, no doubt. That’s what makes him good. But what about the running back? Vai Taua, other than having an awesome name, is also terrific. He ran for 7.8 yards per attempt and 10 TD; if he can’t be corralled, then we could lose this game. Stop the run=Stop the Wolf Pack.

Overall Offense Rating: B+. If they had those #s with a Pac-10 schedule, then they would be an A.

Nevada Rush Defense: Better than Colorado’s, but against worse competition. Returning 4 starters, 2 linebackers. 3.6 yards per rush against, 112 yards a game. I’d also like to take note that is against WAC competition, so take the numbers with a grain of salt. Dontay Moch is a beast, with 6.5 sacks and 13.5 TFL. Look out for him, There linebackers are no slouch in James-Michael Johnson and Brandon Marshall. They can stop the run.

Nevada Pass Defense: WEAKNESS. 61.5% completion against? Nearly 300 yards per game? Wow. And with both safeties gone and an ex-QB starting at free safety, it doesn’t get any better. They do return 2 corners, but wow. They are highly susceptible to the big play.

Overall Defense Rating: B-.

Cal Prediction

The moment you’ve all been waiting for…I give you my take on how the sturdy Golden Bears will finish the season. Here we go:


Cal Prediction: Cal opens the year with a big win over UC Davis, predictably. They close out the non-conference slate with wins over Colorado and Nevada, though both are tougher then expected. Then the Bears squek a win over Arizona in Tuscon, excorsing the demons. A victory over UCLA bolstered by the home field advantage brings the 5-0 Bears into LA for a huge showdown against USC. With Kevin Riley and Shane Vereen playing spectacularly and a Cal D showing toughness, the Bears grit out an incredibly close win to start 6-0. A win over Arizona State has Cal 7-0. But Corvallis and the tough Beavers prove the Bears undoing yet again, as the undefeated dream ends at 7-1. An easy win over WSU has the Bears on the right track, but a tough and close home loss to Oregon has them back to losing. But the Bears continue their Cardinal dominating into the next decade with a win. Hungover from the Big Game and facing a team that has given them problems in the past, the Bears fall to UW to finish the year 9-3.

And that’s it for my predictions. Here’s how I saw the Pac-10 shaking out:

OS: 8-4 (7-2)

Oregon: 9-3 (6-3)

Cal: 9-3 (6-3)

USC: 9-4 (5-4)

Arizona 7-5 (5-4)

Washington: 7-5 (5-4)

Stanford: 7-5 (4-5)

UCLA: 5-7 (3-6)

ASU: 5-7 (3-6)

WSU: 2-10 (0-9)

Maybe I’m a bit overoptimistic for Cal, but I always am.