Cal @ Colorado State Blogging
A couple of Cal notes before the game begins:
- If you were watching Marshall keep up with West Virginia this morning, Marshall’s kicker may have sounded familiar to you. He should. Anthony Binswanger handled kickoff duties for Cal in 2004 as a redshirt freshman, but then decided to transfer to Diablo Valley JC. Apparently, he ended up at a small private school in West Virginia. Good for him?
- This didn’t make it into the roundup yesterday, but Jon Wilner of the SJ Merc tells us that Cal and San Jose State are talking about renewing their series, possibly as early as 2010. Personally, I’m all for it. Better them, with the local interest they would generate, than Louisiana Tech, whom no one knows or cares about at all. Why the heck are we playing LaTech anyway? I can’t think of a good reason.
My favorite line from the opening of the broadcast, in reference to DeSean Jackson : "At California, they dial "1" for long-distance…"
…and the first kickoff is out of the back of the endzone. Gonna be a lot of that today.
- One of the worst parts of being on some no-name network is the fact that we get third-rate TV talent. It’s not even 11:30, and I’m already tired of Trev Alberts.
- …and Cal gives one up early. Great drive by CSU leads to 7 early points. At this point, though, I’m not concerned. How many times in the last few years has Cal given up the first score, only to get rolling soon after? Minnesota last year would be a good example, but there are quite a few others.
See? That was easy. Just give it to DeSean and he’ll make things happen. We’re tied at 7.
The announcers keep going on about DeSean’s run and the poor open-field tackling, but there wasn’t a single player who got close enough to THA1 to tackle him. He juked and moved in space so well that he was never in danger of being touched. And he didn’t look like he was running at full speed!
NICE! Huge interception in the end zone, set up by the pass rush, but he shoulda just sat down and taken the touchback.
CSU’s got a decent offense, but they just don’t have much of a big play ability, so when they get into 3rd and long, there isn’t much they can do.
And DeSean has more impact on the punting game without even touching the ball, forcing a bad punt from Colorado State. Punt situations at Cal have become Must-See-TV. My wife won’t even check on the sandwiches when the punter comes on the field.
See? Now Cal’s rolling. Big-time catch by the tight end over the middle (seriously, do tight ends do anything else?), followed by the fullback punching in the score, and Cal’s up 14-7. Go Bears!
Ouch. Nice tackle by Ezeff, low and at the legs like you’re taught, and it takes out CSU’s best player, TE Cory Sperry. Looks like his helmet hits Sperry’s knee. Hopefully he’ll be OK. That replay isn’t fun to watch.
- CSU’s offense isn’t very exciting, but so far, it’s been pretty effective, sustaning long, boring drives. We’re tied at 14, and Colorado State’s gotta be beginning to believe that they can pull the upset. Time for the Bears to hit them right back.
Last week, Jordan Kay did a nice job filling in for Tom Schneider, but with only PATs and a short field goal, he was never really tested. His first test? A 47-yard attempt, and he passes with flying colors. Cal up 17-14, and will hopefully take that lead into the locker room at the half.
La Tech was neck and neck w/ Hawaii #20, so next week might not be as much of a cupcake as we’d like, but i’d be more in favour of the series w/ SJ state
Comment by tommy — September 8, 2007 @ 10:49 pm
Indeed, LaTech may turn out to be not quite the pushover we’d hope. Still, I’d like to point out the huge discrepancies in Hawaii’s home vs. road performance, mostly due to the huge amount of travel and time zone change involved. Hawaii may be a nationally ranked team at home, but 5000 miles from home, they’re not the same team. So LaTech’s performance, while it should get us to sit up and take notice, should in no way suggest that they’re close to being one of the top 25 teams in the country.
Comment by ragnarok — September 9, 2007 @ 10:41 am
Marshall is public
Comment by Bryce — September 23, 2007 @ 12:57 pm
Thanks for the correction, Bryce. Still seems an odd place for him to end up.
Comment by ragnarok — September 23, 2007 @ 2:14 pm