Some Soaked Post-USC Thoughts…
*I like the throwbacks. I wouldn’t mind seeing the team bust those out every five years or so for special occasions. I really like my old school hat that they gave out too.
*Alright, now that I got the positive things out of the way, I’m sure people will want to hear about the negatives. Well, let’s start with Mr. Popular, Nate Longshore. Well, he was 13/29 for a buck ninety-nine, 1 TD and 2 INTs. He definitely had some bad throws. I’m not sure if it was the rain and slickness of the ball or what, but there were a few balls that were really off the mark. Most memorable is that INT throw to Robert Jordan while we were driving north in the 4th Quarter. IIRC, Jordan had the defender beat. Had the throw been 5 yards further out front, that might have been a touchdown. Another was a throw to Jordan on 3rd down of our very first drive. On that play Lonshore had perfect protection but the ball was pretty far behind RJ. Honestly, I’m torn between deciding whether Longshore just laid an egg today or it was the rain. I know most fans will remember the throws he didn’t make, but there were definitely some good & great throws too. I think most fans just don’t remember those throws because they used to be so normal (such as passing in ‘06, and ‘04).
*I know a lot of people probably want to see Riley. That’s fine. Honestly, while I have been a reasonable defender of Longshore, I finally find myself thinking that Longshore’s slump is holding the team back. I suppose a lot of fans are probably thinking "finally! Hydrotech! Wasn’t it so obvious?!" Well, no, it wasn’t. For his past few poor performances, there were also instances of other factors such as defenders just making great plays, and pass blocking breakdowns. Today, we saw great pass blocking. I think the one time Longshore was sacked and fumbled, that was either just a delayed blitz from the weak side or Gibson just didn’t see the blitz. There was one other time where I remember $C getting substantial pressure on Longshore. Other than that and the rain, the pass blocking was great. But despite that great pass blocking Longshore was 13/29. What gives? The rain? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, there is no need for "Longshore, you suck!" comments, Mr. Push’EmAroundBears (you probably don’t know what I’m talking about unless you were in the student section around row 45 or so on the southern 45 yardline.)
*Forsett. How ’bout an A+? 31 carries for a buck sixty-four and a TD (5.3 yard average). Keep in mind this was against $C’s defense that has like 9 future 1st round draft picks in it (okay, that was somewhat of an exaggeration but you get the point). I really liked what I saw today from Forsett. He had a number of great 10+ yard runs but unfortunately wasn’t quite able to really bust a big 80 yarder to make up for our weak passing game. [EDIT] I can’t remember if Forsett fumbled. If he did, then A-. If not and I’m on crack, then A+.
*Run blocking. Well, this goes pretty much hand in hand with Forsett. I think the OL gets a passing grade for its more often than not, good to great run blocking.
*Passing game. Alright. Once again, I have to stick up for Longshore on a few points. There were a few throws to WRs on "option" routes. Meaning, based on what the defense shows, the WR will run a certain route. The QB and the WR has to be on the same page or else disaster can strike. Those few throws to WRs on "option" routes looked like completely HORRIBLE throws when they’re not. It’s a mis-read or mis-communication. Either on the part of Longshore or the WR. Just just be conscious of that when you see Longshore make a throw that is wayyyy off target. And the other point I have to stick out for Longshore on is the $C defense. Those guys are good. Longshore almost threw an INT to Brian Cushing (#10?). Cushing expertly baited Longshore by pretending to bite on a short out, but then dropped in on the interior route for a woulda-been-an-INT incompletion. All great QBs can be baited. It happens to everyone. Longshore, and Peyton Manning.
*Anybody notice a few new wrinkles on offense? We used 4 WR packages around 3-5 times this game. In case you don’t quite keep tabs on what personnel sets we use, we’ve used the 4 WR personnel package about twice all year prior to this game. And that play where Longshore threw his second INT, that was a great new deception play. I know Longshore threw an INT, but that play was was sort of along the lines of those three plays against Tennessee that I highlighted in my Tennessee film study.
*Playcalling. I liked what I saw. I like running a lot in the rain. And the passing plays called were acceptable. We did take a few shots down the field (such as the fade throw to Best at WR) and a few shots down the middle (Hawkins). But the one thing that puzzled me was the playcalling right before halftime. Specifically after that holding penalty or whatever it was. We were faced with 2nd and a mile (25) around mid-field. We then ran a draw out of shotgun. Then we called a timeout. Calling the timeout leads me to believe that we did in fact want to score. But if we wanted to score, then you’d think we’d call a pass play on 2nd and 25 instead of run. Afterall, we needed about 20 yards to get within a LONG field goal attempt and only had less than a minute left, IIRC. Then afer the second down run, we called a timeout and took a deep shot at the endzone. After all that, you gotta wonder why Tedford called a draw on 2nd and 25, when he was just as willing to pass on 3rd and 25. Well, I just remembered that Longshore got hit and fumbled on that 1st down play, and it wasn’t a penalty. And Longshore was down and apparently quasi-injured, or at least momentarily injured. So that 2nd and 25 draw play? That was because Tedford didn’t want Longshore to throw right after a big hit. Most coaches do the same thing. After your QB takes a big hit, you call a run or two to give your QB time to recoup. Some might make the argument that we should have put Riley in for the rest of the drive. Maybe so, but Riley would have come in pretty much cold not to mention his inexperience. So after all that thought and reasoning, I’m not bothered as much by that 2nd and 25 draw play.
*Defense. Conte started and got lucky once. I think it was $C’s first drive that Booty missed a wide open WR that had beat Conte. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Conte get beat on deeper routes. That makes me nervous. There is no doubt in my mind that he’s the best for the CB spot opposite of Syd if he’s starting but yeesh. Syd had a pretty good game. $C didn’t seem to test him much and on a deep comeback route Syd almost intercepted the ball. Linebackers had a decent game. Follett had some great tackles and a few critical mistakes (goalline touchdown pass and missed tackle on 3rd and 3 for $C to convert to end the game). Felder seemed latent today. I remember hearing the announcer say that Felder made the tackle but didn’t really see Felder much. Nevertheless, Felder totaled 9 tackles today. Decoud had 12 tackles on the day and led the team. Good for Decoud, but I’m not sure we want to have our safety leading the team in tackles… Okay, and as for the Dline. Well, U$C’s Chauncy Washington ran 29 times for TWO bucks and twenty cents, and a TD (7.6 yard average). The plays where I watched the DL, it seemed that they were getting moved out of position pretty easily allowing Chauncy Washington to immediate make his way to the linebacker level untouched. Not a good showing by the DL, IMO.
*Overall thoughts. Well, I’m not flippin’ out or anything about the loss. Yeah, losing sucks, especially to $C but well, I guess there is no other way to say it but that I guess my skin is a little tougher since this is L #4. It’s not like we got blown out. The game was winnable. Oh, and field position. We had crappy field position all game. I think we only crossed the 50 like 4 times all game? Anyways. I felt the game was winnable. I think we were only a few good throws away from a tie game and possible overtime. So does that make Longshore responsible for our loss? Well, not really but a few more completions here and there along with better run defense would have helped.
Forsett’s fumble was negated by a penalty.
Man, are we all copying Tightwad’s style now?
Comment by Avinash — November 11, 2007 @ 2:37 am
Thanks for the correction, Avinash. As for copying Tightwad’s style, well, I never thought about doing it because I liked giving grades but sometimes do it because I feel like everyone else likes to see grades. I feel like people can relate to a grade more and find it more direct and conclusive than a monster paragraph of mine that points out positives and negatives and just gives some general performance measuring word such as “average” or “good.”
Comment by HydroTech — November 11, 2007 @ 2:53 am
I stood 2 rows in front of that psycho fatass PUSHEMAROUND “fan” and was lucky enough to be within 2 rows of him last game too. (My group of friends will have him on our radar before the games start any future games at Memorial so we can move). He is a complete and total nutjob loudmouth attention whore.
He doesn’t yell on defense because “it doesn’t do anything” according to him. He would not shut the f*** up on Longshore the entire game, screaming out absolute nonsense while we were on offense to ‘razz’ the SC defense. “I WANNA SEE YOU DANCE WHITESHIRTS” “HANDS ON HIPS” “DANCE WHITESHIRTS DANCE.”
We asked if he could just “stop it already” and this was his response:
“NO. NO. NO. I WON’T STOP. WE’RE NUMBER 1. WE’RE NUMBER 1.” Basically everyone in the student section but his little butt-buddy friend hate him and his ridiculous noise, but he thinks he is fucking Captain Of The Fans and won’t shut up, ever.
Comment by Bay Area Bear — November 11, 2007 @ 2:54 am
I normally don’t want to use the word “suck”, but Nate’s play pretty much justifies that today. When it’s crunch time he just doesn’t have it.
Comment by lex — November 11, 2007 @ 3:08 am
Some perspective on why Coach sticks with Nate.
Comment by Avinash — November 11, 2007 @ 4:50 am
I’m not usually one to pile on, and I’ve been a Longshore apologist for a long time. He’s always poised, and when he’s good, he’s very good. But suffice it to say that watching last night’s game made me very nostalgic for Joe Roth. VERY nostalgic.
I appreciate Tedford’s loyalty to Longshore, and I also appreciate the experience that Nate brings to the table. But looking ahead to next year, it makes all the sense in the world to give Riley the start on the road up in Seattle, and depending on how that goes, in the Big Game as well. This would give Longshore a chance to truly get healthy, both physically and mentally, and give Riley a chance to have a legitimate chance to compete for the starting job next spring and summer.
I’m not giving up on Longshore, and I’d love nothing more than to see him pull a Dennis Dixon next year. But he’s slumping right now, and the best thing for him and the Bears might be to sit for a while.
Keep the faith Bears fans. We have a big court case to win this week, as well as a very good chance to end the season on a 3-game win streak.
Comment by California Pete — November 11, 2007 @ 9:42 am
I watched the end of the game on Tivo and noticed that on the fateful 2nd interception, DeSean looked to be waaaay open on the post pattern. The safety moved to help out on Jordan over the top, and the other DB looked to be late rolling over to take care of Jackson. So, if Nate could look off his first receiver (you know, looking off the safety!), he would have noticed DeSean right down the middle of the field. Very frustrating final play. So well designed; much better than the end of the UCLA game.
I also really liked the playcalling–on offense. It was really creative and put people in good spots, especially considering the rain. On defense? I didn’t see Follett rush once in an obvious passing situation. He’s the only player on the entire defense that has the explosiveness to rush the passer, and he was stuck in pass coverage on 3rd down–or even worse, off the field! Again, very frustrating.
And I think I’m sill wet from the rain yesterday, ha.
Comment by Ben — November 11, 2007 @ 12:31 pm
Bay Area Bear, I was also two rows in front of that guy. Coincidentally we might have been within 10 feet of each other this last game. I never noticed what his reactions were when something good happened for Cal. Does he jump for joy? Or does he just go “damn! now I can’t yell and complain because Longshore actually completed a pass!” Or “durrnit, now I can’t tell the team to ‘PUSH EM AROUND’ because Forsett just broke off a 20 yard run!” The sad part about that guy is that he’s a douche bag, he thinks he’s justified in being one, and he’s tricked his friend into thinking it’s funny and okay to be like him.
Comment by HydroTech — November 11, 2007 @ 2:10 pm
your comments on the corners jogged my memory; it seems that over the last couple games especially, Syd really seems to be tightening down on his side of the field. He is making more plays on the ball and he isn’t allowing a soft cushion as he used to. I think he is turning the corner towards become a real lock down corner.
Comment by cbkwit — November 11, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
CA Pete, you bring up good points about investing for next year. If Riley doesn’t see any starts this year then it seems like Longshore would definitely be the starter by default next year purely based on his experience alone (assuming Longshore returns). I’ll agree that investing for next year right now seems reasonable, but I also am influenced by the argument for the other side in that doing something like that is showing a lack of faith in your players. I don’t know which is right, but I’m pretty sure I know what Tedford will do. As I am sure you do too.
Comment by HydroTech — November 11, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
Ben, I did notice DJ on the post. Mighta been a touchdown if thrown to him. We’ll never know. But I really like that play and the way it was designed. Very Tedford-ish.
Comment by HydroTech — November 11, 2007 @ 2:20 pm
cbkwit, Syd took a lot of crap last year because teams kept throwing at him. A lot of fans reasoned that teams were doing that because Syd sucks. I believe that reasoning was wrong. I believe the correct reasoning was that they threw at Syd because they didn’t want to throw at Dante. Syd was good last year as a freshman. This year he’s been great. Next year maybe excellent?
Comment by HydroTech — November 11, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
Honestly, I felt bad for Longshore. I even felt bad for Tedford. This was the first Cal game I’ve ever been to where there were people in the student section yelling at Tedford for his conservative play calling–please, it’s raining like nobody’s business and you honestly want him to throw the ball more? And then after halftime with the card tricks, I saw a few fans hurl those soggy pieces of paper down to the coaching area. I don’t mean that they were trying to throw it at somebody close to the field and it sailed a little–they were aiming for the sidelines, no question.
As for Longshore, maybe he didn’t have his greatest game, and he certainly hasn’t been playing the best, but it certainly doesn’t merit the calls of “Fuck Longshore.” However, that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin Riley sees a little more time in the last two games of the season, and if there’s competition for the starting job next year.
Anyone else wondering what will happen with Forsett gone next year? Jahvid Best has had his flashes of brilliance once in a while, but there’s no way he will be pounding the ball like Forsett and Marshawn did, and James Montgomery hasn’t really impressed so far. And maybe it’s just me being hypercritical, but they seem to have problems protecting the ball.
Chauncey Washington? Was there any way we could have stopped him?
Comment by Calfan — November 11, 2007 @ 2:30 pm
#13 — I’m also worried about the rushing game next year. Jahvid Best is inhumanly quick, and every time he looks to be caught in the backfield I’m amazed at how fast he gains two or three yards in a split second. That having been said, I don’t see him as a bruiser and therefore an every down back, but what do I know, I said the same thing about Marshawn.
Did anyone else notice that the booing for Longshore was a lot worse when e.g. he missed an open Hawkins on a 3rd down pass (2nd quarter, iirc) than his final interception? From my vantage point on the northern 45 yard line row 46 it seemed as if the crowd deflated after the last interception, and the usual idiots didn’t put their heart into booing. There’s no point in putting Riley in, after all, if we don’t get the ball back. At any rate, I would love if Longshore pulled a Dixon — here’s to hoping tha1 stays, so that we’ll have at least a little stability in the receiving corps.
Comment by cutchemist — November 11, 2007 @ 3:06 pm
Calfan, with Forsett gone next year I expect Montgomery to be our starting back. I like the idea of giving Best more carries but not more than maybe 10 a game. I think he is most effective as a fresh speedy changeup back and/or decoy. His speed is his best asset, and putting him in as an every-down back for 20+ carries a game is only going to wear him out.
Comment by HydroTech — November 11, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
CutChemist, I hope THA1 stays but I doubt it. Not just because of the money but because we lose so many starters on offense next year (regardless if Longshore comes back or not next year). Our offense is going to be very young next year and I think we’re going to go through a lot of growing pains. I think THA1 might not consider it worth his while to come back and play when we’ll have a very inexperienced offense.
Comment by HydroTech — November 11, 2007 @ 5:36 pm
Why hasn’t Tedford given Montgomery more touches this year? He seems like he’d be a better choice than Forsett down in goaline situations, where we’ve had many problems this year.
Also, with most of the lineman returning next year, I don’t think the run offense will be too bad next year, even if we haven’t seen Forsett’s heir apparent.
Comment by Dan — November 12, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
A lot of you seem to forget that I AM THE HEAD COACH! It is not your job to wonder why I do this, or why I do that. It is merely your job to support me and never question why I do anything. If you question what I do you ARE NOT A REAL fan and you are fair weather. Just look at my success and keep your mouths shut. I kept Ayoob in long after you said he should have been benched merely because I could. Go ahead, keep asking for Riley, keep asking for Montgomery to get more carries, but it will never happen until I am ready. I know what I am doing and you do not, so you should never assume to know what you are saying. Accept the fact that I am the decider and I am accountable to NO ONE! Especially THE FANS!
Comment by Jeff Tedford — November 12, 2007 @ 3:21 pm
Dan, our goalline problems have been more of a blocking issue, imo, rather than a RB problem. I think Montgomery, even though he may be 10-15 pounds heavier, really wouldn’t make a difference.
Comment by HydroTech — November 12, 2007 @ 3:57 pm