…it’s the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl!  9:00 came earlier than expected this morning, but HydroTech and I are mostly awake and ready to roll.  We’ve got some good news and bad news:  The Tedford has said that Kevin Riley will play at least a series or two, in an effort to give him experience heading into open QB competition in the spring.  Most of the fans have been clammoring for at least another glimpse of Riley, and it looks like they’re going to get.  The bad?  Jordan, Jackson, and Decoud will not start - but will play - after breaking an unspecified team rule.  Tough to put a positive spin on that.

HydroTech: espn dude just hyped up 4 cal players having nfl potential: dj, hawk, forsett, and stevens

CBKWit: and they just claimed that the Hawk has "great hands."  I love the Hawk more than almost anyone, but he definitely catches with his body, and he’s had some pretty critical drops in recent games. 

HydroTec: Cal removed the names on the jerseys, just like Lynch took off his name off his jersey last year for the Holiday Bowl.

CBKWit: maybe the entire team is planning on going pro. 

HydroTech: ESPN mentioned 20-25 mile an hour winds, which will make passing difficult.  Chet Teofilo in for Mike Gibson, who’s had concussion problems.

HydroTech: running to the weak side on 3rd down, not behind tau’ufo’ou, and Teofilo sort of missed his block.  Not a great play.

11:01 CBKWit: Nice block by AF on the line to take out two of our bears and spring Carney for a big game.

9:56 HydroTech - losing outside containment, third big run by AF to the outside.

8:55 CBKWit: We’re clogging the middle pretty well, but another outside run brings the TD.  6 (soon to be 7) nothing Air Force. 

(Media Timeout) CBKWit: I just checked our Bowl Pick ‘Em, and HydroTech gave Cal ONE! confidence point.  Not a lot of faith there, eh Hydro?  It could be worse: the current leader picked Air Force.  Karma’s a bitch, Valient Carpetbaggers.

(Warning: Actual Analysis!) 8:27 HydroTech: AF does a very good job running the triple option from shotgun to the same side that they run the initial FB dive.  Most teams run opposite of the dive and thus it becomes a little predictable.  But AF is doing a nice job mixing it up and making the defenders on both the strong side and weak side stay honest.

8:20 HydroTech - I sort of wish JT would have gone for it on the 4th down of the initial drive.  It was a short 4th down.  I know we were in our own territory, but I think it’s important to get the ball rolling and get the guys fired up.

8:17 CBKWit - I agree about the 4th down, we were moving it pretty well and I think we would have gotten it.  Nice job by Forsett there to break a few tackles and turn a 2 yard gain into a 6 yard gain.

7:45 CBKWit - Nice job by Nasty Nate to recognize the strong side blitz and throw it to the vacated spot on third down.

7:05 HydroTech - nice to see JT call a play that throws the ball to a RB on a non-screen play

5:33 HydroTech - might have been PI on the pass to LC in the endzone.  The defender got his left arm and looked to be putting some pressure on LC.

5:33 CBKWit - it was pretty close though, and I thought the AF db did a nice job of not hammering LC before the ball got there.

4:10 CBKWit - Oy, DeSa.  The ball was there, maybe a split second late, but you’ve got to bring that in.  Turnover on downs, AF ball.

4:05 HydroTech - Could have also ruled that he had possession and fumbled the ball.

4:05 HydroTech - props to JT for going for it on 4th and 13.  It’s a long FG at best against a 20-25 mph wind.  Going for it on 4th down is the right decision.

3:23 HydroTech - great "assignment football" by Brett Johnson to catch the AF QB behind the LOS.

2:05 CBKWit - nice tackle by AluAlu, he’s short of the first. 4th down.  and AF goes for it at the 45, what JT should have done on the initial drive.

2:05 HydroTech/CBKWit - we wish DeSa had caught that pass on 4th down.

2:05 CBKWit - all of the bowl promos involve the military, as predicted.  let’s see a hippie, or a nobel laureate

2:05 CBKWit/HydroTech - I don’t think Hydro wants this published, but it’s too true.  "i’d almost give my left nut right now to have AF punt and not go for it on 4th down"  Of course, they make it (barely!) and now they’re rolling again.

1st Quarter Thoughts - HydroTech - Cal O needs to sustain a long drive and rest our D which is getting gashed right now.

End of 1st quarter CBKWit - I’d say Cal needs to bring the safeties up to play the outside run - AF has tried twice to throw it downfield and it hasn’t been close, so let’s stop the pressing need (10 yards a carry on the outside) and force them to pass.

Hyrdo Tech - Also, a reminder to fans, "cut" blocks are legal.  "Chop blocks" are illegal.  I often hear a lot of confusion from fans when they face triple option teams who cut block a lot.

Start of Second Quarter, AF 7, Cal 0.

CBKWit - first play, big option gain to the outside.  AF to score a TD very very soon.

14:45 HydroTech - AF is doing a great job with misdirection.  If you watch the AF QB he does a lot of faking one way, and goes the other, or keeps going that way…. so tough to defend.

14:30 HydroTech - again, AF is running the triple option from shotty to the same side as the fullback dive.

14:10 HydroTech - Surprisingly, the time of possession stat is fairly balanced right now.  About 8 minutes for AF and 7 for Cal.  I thought it’d be worse.  Cal O still needs to get a long drive going to spare our D.

14:10 CBKWit - AF is running a no huddle, so that stat is a little skewed.

14:05 CBKWit - Fuck.  That was the highest, shortest kick i’ve seen in a while.  AF recovers the kick, then breaks a 15 yard gain on first down.  14-0 AF, and you better believe it’s going to be 21-0 soon.  Not good.

12:40 HydroTech - holding AF to a FG here will be a gift from God.  nevermind.  God hates us

12:15 CBKWit - If things don’t turn around soon, this live blog is going to get pretty ranty.  I would say don’t live blog a blowout loss, but it’s actually kind of insulating me from the pain right now.  Everyone, go start a blog now!

12:07 HydroTech - AF has run 25 plays, Cal has run 15.  AF has 21 points, Cal has 0.  This is going to be ugly.

11:50 CBKWit - and Riley returns!  Cal faithful everywhere breathe a sigh of relief, as all of our troubles are over.  After all, Nasty Nate missed three tackles on that last AF TD drive.

10:30 CBKWit - Riley eludes the rush and throws a pretty damn nice ball into the back corner of the endzone (on the run, no less!), where only DeSean could get it.  Great play on the ball by DeSean.  Cal is on the board!  21-7 AF

10:30 HydroTech - Well, good to see Riley in the game, I do think it is important for him to get more game experience so he can fully challenge NL next year for the starting spot.  And what do you know, his mobility saves a sack and results in a fantastic TD bomb to THA1.  And it’s good to see THA1 in the game so his mere presence can open things up for our offense.

10:25 HydroTech - I’m really relieved that Cal scored, but I wish it had taken more time off the clock to rest our defense.

10:15 CBKWit - Let’s see if that TD can fire up the D, but up the middle for 7 yards on 1st down is not a good start.

9:20 CBKWit - AF is short on 3rd down.  It’s a short 4th down, but no way AF goes for it on their own 30.

8:28 CBKWit - delay of game!  now I’m really sure they’re punting.  and now they actually kick it.  I can exhale.

9:20 HydroTech - notice that Bob Gregory blitzed the left CB on that 3rd down play?  It left the WR uncovered.  But a blitzing CB can be a surprise and help with outside containment.

8:10 CBKWit - well son of a bitch.  Riley feels the pressure and scrambles for a first on 1st and 10.  For Nasty Nate, that’s a sack or a throwaway.

8:10 HydroTech - well, if KR keeps playing this well and making things happen with his feet, we might never see NL again.

7:20 CBKWit - Bear Insider posters are salivating over this as we speak.

6:56 HydroTech - commentator dude is exactly right, Forsett needed to cut upfield and look for his cutback lane on that 2nd and 1 zone blocking run.  That should have been a first down.

6:50 CBKWit - Riley sneaks for the 1st.  I can just hear bear insider posters :"Nasty Nate would have fumbled"

6:42 HydroTech - good playcall calling the QB sneak on the 3rd and 1, a very safe play that is hard to defend when you only need one yard and there is only one defender immediately in front of you.

5:55 CBKWit - nice block by the RB (Forsett I believe) to pick up the blitz up the middle.  Riley’s ball has some heat on it.

5:15 CBKWit - I’m shouting weird exclamations as "RemorseBruinBabe" reads "Real Simple" on the couch.  Thanks Riley for revitilizing us!

4:20 HydroTech - lots of downfield passing when KR is in, something we don’t see a lot with when NL is in

4:10 CBKWit - HAAAAAAAWK HAAAAAAAAAAAAAWK HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWK! Nice touch by Riley on a critical third down for a TD 21-14 AF

4:09 HydroTech - I know JT said he would put KR in for a few drives this game, but the way Riley’s been throwing and running, I don’t see how JT can take Riley out any time soon.  Although it did appear as if Riley did make a wrong read near the endzone on a throw which almost resulted in an INT.  Like the commentators said, if the pass hadn’t been deflected the pass might have been intercepted.

3:55 CBKWit - Yeah, I was concerned that that near INT would rattle Riley and take some of the wind out of his sails.  I was wrong.  Riley is a confident dude.

3:53 HydroTech - Cal seems to be happy and more energetic all around on both sides of the ball now that we’ve put two scores on the board.  momentum shifting?

2:34 CBKWit - I’d say it’s already completely shifted, but that 3rd and 10 conversion by AF is a killer.  Hope we can stop them now. 

2:08 CBKWit - That is quite a loud rendition of "Go Bears!"  10 minutes ago, I was hoping we could keep it within 30.  It’s amazing how fast things change in college football, where emotion is such a critical element.

0:47 CBKWit - another penalty on 4th and less than a yard on AF, eliminating the fake punt option.  Thank you, thank you.

0:39 HydroTech - I hope Cal can keep this momentum through halftime and the second half.  I do remember a lot of games where Cal lost its momentum after halftime.

0:15 CBKWit - Nice metaphor for the entire season, I’d say.

0:06 HydroTech - JT should have called a timeout after the 1 yard reception by hawkins.

0:06 CBKWit - Sort of like the bungling at the end of the half in the UCLA game.  I like being conservative with the clock so the opposing team can’t get the ball back, but there was less than 30 seconds on the clock.  Call the TO!

0:00 HydroTech - wow, the hail mary pass hits Hawk in the shoulder?!?!?!  Wow.  Could have been a TD.  Doesn’t really look like there was any PI although the defender on Hawk looked to be molesting Hawk a little.

0:00 CBKWit - Haaaaaawk!  Oy, almost a TD on the hail mary.  Still, great job getting back into the game by the Bears.  Lets see if we can carry it over to the second half, with AF receiving to start the half.

0:00 HydroTech - actually, after looking at the hail mary pass again on the DVR, I do think there should have been a PI call.  The defender on Hawk wasn’t playing the ball, and was pushing Hawk around like a school yard bully.

0:00 HydroTech - Still though, JT should have called a TO after Hawk’s 1 yard reception.  That would have save 20 seconds or so and might have resulted in a field goal or touchdown.

End of First Half CBKWit - I have to give some pub to this comment by "RCZ" "I can only follow the gamecast from work.  Could you guys mention it if Riley does the Sam Cassell "I have giant balls" dance?"  RCZ, I have never seen this dance, so if you can find a youtube video and send us a link, we’ll keep you updated.  By the way, can anyone think of a pro athlete uglier than Sam Cassell?

End of First Half HydroTech - If Riley starts for the rest of the game, performs very well, and Cal wins, I think that’ll be good and bad for JT.  Good because Cal will have won and thus silenced the criticism that JT can’t right the ship and prevent the team from tail-spinning.  But bad for JT because if Riley is such a crucial part of the win, then JT will take heat for not starting Riley over Longshore in the latter part of the season.

Halftime CBKWit - Am I the only one who loves it when Rece Davis refers to us as the "Sturdy Golden Bear"?  An ESPN anchor knows our fight song - how awesome is that? 

Start of second half 

HydroTech - i’ll be honest, i’ve been making excuses for NL all season.  I like him, I think he’s "adequate", and I sort of feel sorry for him for getting pulled, but I do think that Riley’s mobility might make up for any mental deficiencies that he might have compared to NL

CBKWit - yeah, that near INT brought to mind why Nate’s been starting all year (because of the experience), but Nate’s thrown a lot of back breaking picks, so I’d say that’s a wash

CBKWit - plus, Riley’s mobility so far has obviously been a boon. it’s not that Nate’s bad, but would he have eluded to pressure to throw that 1st td? would he have scrambled for that 1st?

It’s been a month since we’ve seen the bears in action, (and about three months since we’ve seen them playing well,) but The Hawk, Forsett, Mack, plus other players I don’t like as much return tomorrow, and The California Golden Blogs are on the scene.  Well, not on the scene in the literal sense (paying 500 bucks to spend New Years in Ft. Worth failed to entice even the most devoted golden blogger), but HydroTech and I will be live-blogging the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl from the comfort of our couches.  If you are as lame as us and aren’t watching the game with friends, please join us for here for insightful insights and witty witticisms to supliment ESPN’s broadcast (let’s hope for the eminently positive Andre Ware in the booth, so we can hear him spin our impressive mid-season collapse).  If you’re the popular sort and have a party or bar to go to, check back with us after the game for a detailed log of our glorious victory or predictable defeat.  In any case, we’ll be here at 9 AM tomorrow for the 9:30 kick.

With nearly half of the 2007 bowls in the books and only one game today (the PetroSun Independence bowl pitting 6-6 Colorado agaist 6-6 Alabama - thank God we get to see these two teams one more time), it’s time for a look at the 1st annual Golden Blogs Bowl Pick ‘Em.  In our contest you not only have to pick the winner of every game, but must rank them in order of confidence as well, from 1 to 32.  If you correctly pick the winner, you receive the amount of points you assinged to the game, and you’re never penalized for an incorrect guess.  To use an example, I was very confident that Cincinnati would beat Southern Miss, so I assigned 29 confidence points to my prediction.  When my prediction came true, I collected 29 points.  The next day, I was sure that Bosie State would beat lowly East Carolina, so I assigned them a confidence value of 30.   4 turnovers and a guy named Chris Johnson later, my sure thing had failed, and those 30 possible points were irrecoverably gone.  Since everyone ranks the games differently, this contest is a lot more nuanced than the traditional, "simply pick the winners" format, so logging into Yahoo to check the standings 5 times a day is (I rationalize) justified.  Add to this the fact that you can change your predicted winner and confidence value up until kick-off, and, well, suddenly Alabama versus Colorado just got a lot more interesting (Roll Tide!).

User "Valient Carpetbaggers" currently enjoys a commanding lead with 178 points, 16 more than second place "Oh Too Easy."  Golden Bloggers are spread throughout the pack, keeping readers of all abilities company; HydroTech and I are towards the front, in fourth and seventh place, respectively, Ragnarok is holding down the middle in 16th, and TwistNHook/Yellow Fever are bring up the rear, in 29th and 30th places out of 33 entries.  Because the standings change frequently due to the variety of confidence values, it’s way too early to predict a winner, but "Oh Too Easy" and "Josh in Portland" (currently in 6th) in particular stand out as challengers to myself and HydroTech.  Neither have missed many winners (Josh is 12/14!), so they won’t fade down the stretch as others pick up points unavailable to them (like my 30 point Bosie State albatross).  I’m still thinking I’ll win, but maybe it will be closer than I thought.  You can keep tabs on the competition by clicking here, or by going to http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/bowl and finding group 1177.  And if this recap properly inspired you, it’s not too late to sign up!  By my count, there are still 408 points available (confidence values 16-32) if you submit your picks before our game starts tomorrow morning, which should be more than enough to win.  Think of the bragging rights you’d have if you won a bowl pool that you entered after half of the games were played!

Go Bears, beat Air Force and their dominant ground attack!

With Cal’s bowl game against the Air Force Academy coming up tomorrow, I thought I’d do a little exploration of the triple option, a rather unique (at least in today’s football landscape) type of offense that Air Force has run with great success.

For the past 23 years, ever since longtime coach Fisher DeBerry became the head coach at the Academy, Air Force has run a version of the triple option.  They began by running it out of what’s known as the wishbone formation, but more recently have turned to a slightly different formation known as the flexbone.

The base flexbone formation with two slotbacks (SB), two wide receivers (WR), a quarterback (QB), a fullback (FB), and five down linemen (OL).  Image stolen shamelessly from Wikipedia.

The basic idea of the triple option is this:  the quarterback can read the defense and go one of several different ways with the ball.  The first option is to simply go backwards and hand off to the fullback (1).  If the quarterback fakes the handoff, he then runs behind his offensive line towards either sideline, with the slotback out ahead of him.  He then has the option of either keeping the ball himself (2) and running forward through a hole in the defense, or pitching out to the slotback (3).

Although the specific option that the quarterback will choose can be called in the huddle, an experienced option quarterback (and Air Force’s Shaun Carney, a 4-year starter, is definitely experienced) will read the defense both before and during the play, selecting his option based on what the defense gives him.  From this lengthy obituary on the wishbone offense:

In the triple option, the quarterback puts the ball in the fullback’s belly and checks the defensive linemen’s reaction. Should he see an end or tackle anticipating the pitch, the quarterback hands off. If the line key plays the fullback, the quarterback heads to the corner with the pitch man in tow, looking for a two-on-one situation. If the defender plays him, he pitches. When the halfback is covered, the quarterback keeps the ball and cuts upfield.

From another basic article on the triple option:

Here’s one way to teach the quarterback to read the end - If he can see the end’s number, he should pitch the football as the end is probably coming in to tackle him. If he sees the end coming across the line of scrimmage focusing on the halfback, the QB should keep the ball. The quarterback should also keep an out for further pitch opportunities to his halfback even as he’s making his way downfield.

Whatever the decision, the triple option is a running play, and option teams will run the football quite a bit.  In Air Force’s 20-12 defeat of Utah earlier this year, they ran the ball 63 times for 334 yards(!), while only completing 8 of 14 passes for a mere 56 yards.  This kind of activity will really frustrate and tire a defense, while giving its own defense time to rest.  Additionally, because the defense is keyed to stop the run, the wide receivers will usually be in single coverage, which means that when option teams do decide to pass, they can often get big yardage from the passing game.

One reason that the option has flourished at the service academies is that you don’t need a dominant offensive line to run the ball effectively.  The O-linemen are blocking low and fast playside or releasing to screen linebackers - one on one blocks aren’t needed as much as in other schemes.  Because of height and weight restrictions, service academies can’t stock up on 350-pound behemoths like Ryan O’Callaghan (not that they’ll win that many recruiting battles for these guys anyway), but the triple option allows teams to succeed with smaller, faster guys up front.  Although it contains elements of power football, the option succeeds when it is run with precision and excellent decision-making by the quarterback.  As a well-oiled offensive machine, it can be very tough to stop.

So what does a defense do to stop the triple option?  Discipline is key here.  Defenders have to stick to their assignments, and not get too aggressive.  All it takes is for a defender or two to go after the quarterback too hard, and suddenly the QB pitches to the halfback outside, and there’s only one guy between him and the end zone.  In essence, bend-but-don’t-break can work really well here.  The triple option is great for getting 4 or 5 yards on every play, but if the offense gets into second- or third-and-long, it can be very difficult to make up 8 or 10 yards to pick up the first down.  A single false start penalty can be enough to kill a drive.  Of course, at a school like Air Force where discipline is so emphasized, that’s not generally a problem.

Of course, many of you will recognize the Air Force attack from the last couple times when these teams met, first in 2002 (a 23-21 AFA win) and again to open the 2004 season (a 56-14 blowout by Cal).  Still, there have been changes.  Fisher DeBerry retired at the end of last year, with assistant Troy Calhoun taking over.  Calhoun, himself a former Air Force quarterback running the triple option, promised an update to the Falcon’s offense, including a move away from exclusively running the option.  From Air Force’s 2007 Spring Football Prospectus:

"You have to be a strong running team and have you have to be good on the defensive side of the ball to be able to stop the running game," Calhoun said. "In this day and age of football, you have to have some balance. You have to be able to run the ball well, but you also have to be very effective in the passing game. We want the defense to have to defend the entire field and we want to take tremendous pride in a physical approach to football."

We’ll definitely see some triple option tomorrow, but it won’t always be run from the flexbone.  It could come from a power-I formation, or possibly even out of the shotgun.  And we’ll see more of a passing attack than in year’s past.  In their 20-17 overtime victory over TCU earlier this year, Air Force found themselves down 17-3 in the fourth quarter, in part because the running game had stalled (42 rushed for only 146 yards).  Forced to turn to the air to catch up, Carney completed 17 of 28 passes for 193 yards (more passing yards than rushing!) in completing the comeback.

In any case, tomorrow’s game should be interesting.  Can our defense stay disciplined against a complicated Air Force attack?  Can they make enough plays to stall a potent ground game?  And can our offense hang on to the ball long enough to give our defense a rest?

I actually like our chances tomorrow, although you may have noticed that we here at the California Golden Blogs tend to be among the most optimistic of Cal fans.  Still, one thing that I think works in our favor:  if you’re going to face an oddball, gimmicky offense like the triple option, it’s best to have the most amount of time to prepare for it as possible.  Although Cal didn’t fare so well in 2002 (the 4th game of the season), they looked much better in 2004, when they had all of fall camp to prepare for the season opener in Colorado Springs.  Even in that game, it took them half the game to get used to what Air Force was trying to do, giving up a touchdown in each of the first two quarters before absolutely shutting them down after halftime (58 total yards in the second half).  No, our defense isn’t as talented as the 2004 edition, but I still think the extra weeks of bowl practices will give Cal the best possible chance of preparing for the Air Force Academy.

Go Bears!  Beat the Falcons!

ESPN’s John Hollinger recently unveiled some new rankings, evaluating the pro potential of top college stars.  Unsurprisingly, both DeVon Hardin and Ryan Anderson were mentioned, as both figure to have NBA futures.

The first thing to note is that Hollinger’s system is NOT a mock draft.  He doesn’t account for college freshmen (not enough data) or foreigners who will enter the draft.  He also makes no attempts to forecast where certain prospects will be drafted.  Rather, it is a mathematical system based on a player’s college stats, age, and height.  Players are assigned a score, and anyone rating higher than about 550 is seen as being an impact player worthy of a first-round selection.  Scores below 500 are bad news.

If you’re an ESPN Insider, you can read Hollinger’s lengthy article from last year, in which he introduces his system and tests it out by retroactively applying it to the last 5 NBA draft classes.  Overall, I’d say it looks pretty good.  His system manages to find several draft sleepers over the past 5 years, as well as avoid quite a few NBA Draft busts.

In this year’s rankings, Ryan Anderson comes out looking pretty darn good.  Hollinger has him 4th among the players rated (college freshmen are excluded from this list) with a score of 608.03, behind only Arizona’s Chase Budinger, North Carolina’s Ty Lawson, and Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert.  Does this mean that Anderson will be a lottery pick this June?  Not quite.

ESPN’s Chad Ford has Anderson at only No. 38 on his big board, and while Anderson could certainly play his way into the first round by continuing his "monstrous start this season," he’ll almost certainly suffer when traditional scouts get a look at him.  Basically, he doesn’t have the "NBA body" that scouts love.  The same scouts that drooled over DeVon Hardin’s long, athletic, muscular body will be unimpressed by Anderson’s relatively unathletic 6′ 10" frame.  Their loss.  All he does is play basketball.  He scores prolifically, both inside and out, he rebounds, he defends, he even passes the ball pretty well.  Whenever he turns pro, some team will find a steal near the end of the first round.

Ryan Anderson may not be the world’s greatest athlete, but he’s an awesome *basketball player*.

And what about Hardin?  Where does he rate on Hollinger’s system?  I don’t know.  Hollinger only listed the top 20 prospects, meaning that whatever Hardin’s score is, it’s surely well below 500.  Ouch.  Here’s what Hollinger had to say:

I know a lot of pro scouts like him, but his college numbers just aren’t good.  I’m not sure how else to put this.  Hardin’s rebound numbers are better this season, and that will improve his stock some, but he’s still both raw and prone to turnovers.

OK, so not exactly an endorsement.  Honestly, though, I’d say that’s a rather sober, accurate assessment of Hardin.  Yeah, he’s got value on the defensive end, playing some D, blocking shots and grabbing boards, but his offensive game, despite flashes of decency, has still not emerged.  In half of the Bears games this year, he’s had 7 or fewer points, and only 3 times had he hit more than 3 field goals in a game.

And yet, Hardin still checks in at No. 17 on Ford’s big board, with an outside shot at making the lottery.  Why?  Potential.  He’s got all the physical tools to dominate in the NBA, and with players like this, scouts always think that if you could just teach them a little basketball, they could turn into all-stars.  I don’t really buy that.  It’s one thing to take a raw teenage prospect from Europe and stash them in a developmental league for a few years, but you have to wonder — if Hardin hasn’t figured out how to score by his senior season in college, will he ever get there?

Right now, the results from Haas Pavilion are pretty obvious.  Ryan Anderson is unquestionably the best, most valuable player on the team, and I don’t think that it’s that close.  When the team is hurting for a bucket, Anderson’s the one guy they can really count on to create his own offense.  Hardin, on the other hand, has still struggled to find a rhythm at times, falling victim to foul trouble at others.  If the light ever turns on, watch out, but as the season goes on, I’m more and more skeptical that it eventually will.

The game against Utah last Saturday featured one play that really typifies where Hardin is right now.  Out playing perimeter defense (which he does surprisingly well for a big man), Hardin uses his 7′ 3" wingspan to tip the ball away from one of Utah’s guards, loping down to court undefended for an easy bucket.  He grabs the ball, goes up for the slam…and misses, the ball bouncing wildly off the rim and out of bounds.  Utah ball.  That’s what we get from DeVon.  So much talent, so much potential, but still unpolished.  Oh, if only.

Oh, and by the way, Cal ended up losing to Utah by two points.  Oh, if only.

Will it go in? With Hardin, one never knows.

Okay, because the 2007 Holiday Bowl just finished up, I thought I’d just throw out some random Holiday Bowl thoughts from this year and last year. 

First, I picked ASU to beat Texas in the Bowl Pick ‘Em.  I thought ASU would win not moreso because of their virtue but because of Colt McCoy’s high INT tendency this year.  I know a lot of you readers are ready to filet Nate Longshore over his 13 INTs this year, but Colt McCoy has 18!  Imagine the further pain and misery of another 5 INTs.  18 INTs is like 1.5 a game.  It doesn’t seem like a lot but it sort of adds up after a while. 

Second, did you see Texas’ Chris Jesse come off the sidelines and touch/almost-touch the football during a play?  If that was me last year at the H-bowl, I woulda been skewered alive on the sidelines.  Well, I guess that wouldn’t have been me because while working the game last year I purposely didn’t allow myself to get too close to the field so I wouldn’t have become overwhelmed with a stroke of stupidity and interfered with a play.  Also, I don’t think the video was conclusive enough to overturn the original call on the field (original call on the field was that there was no interference and Texas recovered the live ball).  That video was about as conclusive as Brandon Hampton’s supposed bobbled punt against Washington - TOTALLY INCONCLUSIVE. 

Third, while I was rooting for ASU to win, I guess we sort of saw what most of us all knew - ASU is good but not great.  Well, I at least never thought they were that good.  Certainly not a top-15 team.  I mean, they almost lost to us when we were sliding into the oblivion.  And we did more to lose that game against them then they did to win the game. 

Fourth, here’s a random non-H-Bowl thought about ASU’s fans throw up their supposed "trident" hand sign (thumb and ring finger pulled down with the index, middle, and pinky fingers up with a space between the three "up" fingers - see the girl on the right in the picture above).  That trident hand sign also looks like The Shocker hand sign.  Frankly, I can’t remember ASU fans doing that a few years ago.  I even went there for the ‘02 and ‘03 away games.  Their band spelled out G-O-D E-V-I-L-S on the field to show their hatred for God but never did anything with their hands to make a trident.  Only in the past few years has "The Shocker" hand sign gained notoriety.  And I guess only in the past few years has ASU been throwing around that trident hand sign.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.  I think ASU fans sort of adopted The Shocker hand sign since it so closely resembled their trident.

Bush daughter throws up "The Shocker" but because of her laziness it actually looks like the ASU Trident hand sign (b/c of the gap between the index and middle finger). 

This is "The Shocker."  Notice the index and middle finger are together (as opposed to ASU fans who leave a gap between the index and middle finger).  Often, lazy people throwing the shocker will leave a gap between their index and middle finger - thus looking more like a trident such as the Bush daughter.   

Fifth, here’s a random Cal Football practice thought.  One day at practice in San Diego prior to the H-Bowl last year, Coach Delgado thought he spotted scouts/spies watching practice from the top of an adjacent parking structure.  He notified security who then went to check out who the people were.  I remember one of the players made a "so what?" kind of comment regarding the presence of the supposed scouts/spies.  Coach Delgado wasn’t so "so what?" about the situation and was very concerned about them scouting out the DL alignments for the upcoming game.  He explained that the people where at the perfect angle (lined up at the LOS) and at the right height (elevated to better see the DL alignment) to properly scout the team.  It turns out the people were just some relatives of a player or other local football players coming to watch the team.  Anyways, I just thought I’d throw that out there since the whole New England Patriots scandel highlighted the fact that cheating happens. 

Alright finally, here are just a few pictures of mine that I took of the San Diego Chargers’ locker room inside of Qualcomm Stadium.  Enjoy.

I heard a lot of fans last year speculating that the Chargers wouldn’t allow Cal (or Texas A&M) to use the real San Diego Charger locker rooms.  Wrong.  Cal got to use the Chargers’ locker room and Texas A&M used the visitors’ locker room.

Hmm… that picture reminds me of a hit from this year.

Good to know the NFL doesn’t tolerate violent crime.

Ah yes, no strutting around naked in front of the trainers and doctors.  And being clean and clothed in the whirlpool also seems like a good rule to me.  Actually, the whole "wear shorts in the training room" (can’t be naked in the training room) thing is sort of a big deal.  Especially in college football where you have a lot of female trainers.  The rule is women can’t be in the men’s locker room (one, because it’s for men; and two, because the whole privacy thing).  So as an XY chromosome, I often had to venture into the locker room to find/fetch players for my XX chromosome trainer co-workers.  And in the H-Bowl last year, because there is no seperate exit from the training room to the Qualcomm hallways other than through the locker room, some of my XX chromosome trainer co-workers effectively became "trapped" in there and couldn’t leave due to the presence of naked men in the locker room. 

Oh, and the Chargers’ locker room isn’t that nice.  In fact, I don’t even know if I can say they are nice at all.  They’re sort of plain and mundane (maybe I’ll put up a picture later).  Honestly, I think I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Oregon’s players would probably say their lockers and locker room are much nicer.  MUCH nicer. 

Alright faithful readers.  Merry Christmas.  If you’re actually checking the blog on Christmas Day, then you definitely bleed blue and gold.  And if you’re wondering what the heck I’m doing up at this hour on Christmas morning, well, I have kid relatives over and thus I have Santa duty.  So I have time to kill before I put out the gifts that Santa brought.  Anyways, I thought I’d share with you what I was doing exactly one year ago on Christmas Day.

Well, one year ago the Cal Football team was preparing for the 2006 Holiday Bowl against Texas A&M.  The team stayed at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego - that’s the two tall buildings on the right side of the picture.  In fact, my room was in the right building on the right side.

The game was on December 28th, and the team had practice all throughout the week prior and even on Christmas Day. 

I can’t remember what everyone did on Christmas Eve.  No, not because I was sloshed and krunk and FUBARed, but I just don’t remember.  I suppose it was a quiet night in since we were all tired and just wanted to sleep. 

So on Christmas Day I woke up early in the morning.  I don’t know why since I’m a late riser - usually rising around 10am-Noon if I had my choice.  I actually woke up prior to sunrise and took the picture below from the hotel room. 

That’s the Marriott next door.  Texas A&M’s team stayed in that hotel.  The Hyatt was much nicer than the Marriott.  Apparently the higher ranked team gets the better of the two hotels.  Anyways, we had Christmas Morning off before the practice in the afternoon.  My coworker and I got up eventually and decided to get some food before we left for the mid-day practice.  Unfortunately, finding food on Christmas Day is a little tough.  The hotel was not providing breakfast that day so we hit the marina below us to find an open restaurant.  Luckily, there was one open restaurant.  It was one of very few that were open.  Without surprise it was pretty busy and understaffed. 

My coworker and I took a seat in the back porch in the nice San Diego morning sun.  Actually, the weather was quite nice.  Probably around 70 or so.  But sitting stagnant in the sun for 30 minutes while waiting for your food can become a rather hot experience.   While waiting for our waffles and fruit, who else walks by but Coach Tedford himself with his wife in hand on a Christmas morning stroll. 

I was sort of hoping he wouldn’t see us because I figured this was one of the rare moments when he could be with his wife and not be thinking about the team and the upcoming game.  It’s not that I didn’t want to send him a quick hello and an acknowledgment but I also want to respect his private time.  But my coworker and I were in our team gear, which we had to wear when we were officially out and about on team time, and thus Tedford saw us.  He gave us a little nod and my coworker and I both sent him greetings back.  Then just as quickly as he had come, he walked by and was gone. 

So my coworker and I finished off our breakfasts and went back to the hotel to get ready for practice.  Practices were held at San Diego State’s practice field and facilities.  Sadly, their facilities were much nicer than ours.  Big open and spacey areas, lots of storage room. 

So practice was a little shorter than normal on Christmas Day.  But practice nonetheless.  

Anyways.   That’s what I was doing a year ago.  Merry Christmas!

In a previous post, I suggested that JT continued to start Nate Longshore over Kevin Riley because Tedford felt that a hobbled Longshore gave Cal a better chance at winning than a healthy Riley.  I also concluded that because Tedford started an injured Longshore, that Tedford must have felt that Riley isn’t ready. 

After doing some thinking, I think I’ll have to redact that last statement (that Riley isn’t ready).

You see, I think there are really two conclusions for as to why Tedford continued to start an injured Longshore over a healthy Riley.  Either (a) an injured Longshore gives Cal a much better chance at winning games because Longshore is just that much better even while injured and despite Kevin Riley being ready, or (b) an injured Longshore gives Cal a much better chance at winning games because Longshore is just that much better even while injured and Kevin Riley isn’t ready. 

Maybe a brief illustration by numbers will make things clearer.  I’ll use a rating system from 1-10, 1 being piss poor, and 10 being god-like, to rate the QBs for the mere illustration of the concepts to the above answers.  Keep in mind, I’m just using this rating system to illustrate my answers and these rating systems aren’t representative of my opinion on the quarterbacks.  Oh, and let’s also assume that a QB rating of 6+ is considered game-ready.  So 6 through 10 is game ready and 1 through 5 is not game ready.

Alright, so answer (a) suggests that JT started Longshore, even while injured, because Longshore still gives Cal a better chance at winning than Riley despite Riley being game-ready.  So this answer suggests that on any given day Longshore is an good QB, let’s say 8 out of 10.  While he’s injured let’s just say he’s 7 out of 10, meaning not as good as when he’s healthy but still game-ready and competent.  Kevin Riley on the other hand is 6 out of 10, meaning game-ready but less capable due to his inexperience.  So if this answer scenario was what JT was thinking, then Longshore still starts despite the injury and despite Riley being game-ready because Longshore while injured still gives Cal a better chance at winning.

On the other hand, answer (b) suggests that Longshore started while injured because Longshore gives Cal a better chance at winning than Riley because Riley isn’t ready.  Using the same number rating system to illustrate this example we’ll say that Longshore is again an 8 while healthy.  But while injured, let’s just say he’s like a 4, meaning no longer game-ready.  Finally, Kevin Riley is a 3, meaning really not game-ready.  So if this answer scenario was what JT was thinking, then Longshore starts despite his injury because Riley is even worse even though Riley is healthy.  

Also answer (b) sort of encompasses the possibility that Longshore starts with the injury because he is still very game-ready and competent and Riley isn’t ready.  So using the numbers again, Longshore would be like 8 while heathy, a 7 while injured, and Riley would be like a 3.  Either way, Longshore still starts because Riley is the not as good as Longshore.   

Does that really overly long illustration by numbers make sense?  I feel like I might have gotten my point across just with the wording of my original statement but I’m a numbers guy and so I thought I’d just throw out that example with numbers. 

Anyways, my previous post was more along the lines of answer scenario (b).  Meaning that Longshore started despite the injury because he gives us a better chance to win and Riley isn’t ready.  But how did I know the true answer scenario wasn’t (a)?  Meaning that Longshore started despite the injury because he still gives us a better chance to win despite Riley being ready?  

Well, I didn’t.  So I guess for all fairness to Riley and to maintain the accuracy of my statements I must say that it could be either answer scenario (a) or (b).  Meaning Tedford started Longshore despite his injury because an injured Longshore gives Cal a better chance to win - period.  That’s it.  Maybe Riley is ready, maybe he isn’t.  But my previous post definitely concluded something which I didn’t know: whether Riley is ready or not. 

So that got me thinking.  Is Riley ready?  Is there any way I can answer that question?  

Well, yeah.  By watching the OSU game again!  So I did just that.  Because the OSU game was a home game, I was at the game and didn’t write down all those notes that I usually do for away games while I watch them on TV.  So while re-watching the OSU game, I took down all those notes.  The usual down/distance, personnel package, formation, plays, etc.  My hopes were to try and gain an understanding of whether Riley was ready or not. 

I suppose the fact that Riley started the OSU game seems to suggest the he is ready.  But that could be because Longshore was really hurt that week.  So, again using my numbering system, Longshore was a 2 that week, and maybe Riley was a 3.  Meaning that both weren’t game ready, but Riley was moreso than Longshore.  

So it seemed to me that the only way to really tell if Riley started was because Riley was game-ready (so like a 6 rating or higher, while Longshore was a 3) or if Riley started despite not being ready but Longshore was even worse off (so Riley was a 3 and Longshore was like a 2), was to watch the game.  So yeah, I watched the game again looking for anything to suggest that Tedford felt Riley was or wasn’t ready. 

What did that mean I was looking for?  Well if Riley wasn’t ready then I suspected that Tedford would baby him.  Meaning calling more run plays than normal, and only passing when absolutely necessary.  And if a pass play was called, it would be a very basic pass play.  On the other hand, if Riley was ready then I suspected that Tedford wouldn’t baby him and we’d see the regular offense we’ve seen all season.

Now normally I would jump into the plays and what they suggested as to JT’s opinion of Riley.  But actually, the answer to my question was answered during the telecast when the announcers relayed information from a Tedford interview.  They said that Tedford said he was not going to change the gameplan for Riley. 

That right there is pretty much the answer to the question of whether Riley is ready.  That answer given by Tedford means that Tedford thinks that Riley is ready.  If Riley is ready, then he should be capable of running the normal offense.  If on the other hand, Riley wasn’t ready, then Tedford would change the playcalls to protect Riley. 

Well, despite knowing my answer, I still looked at the game and playcalls.  I specifically just focused on the first 3 quarters because that’s when the game was still close and I assume that JT was calling normal plays (as opposed to desperation pass plays when we needed multiple scores to win).  

So let’s go through the playcalls (below are my much shortened version of my notes which don’t include formational information.  The first part is field position, the second part is down and distance, the third part is personnel package, and the fourth set is a much abridged description of the plays):

1st Drive
C24    1st 10   12   under - run right
O31   1st 10    21   gun - pass - sack
         2nd 11  11   gun - zone read
         3rd 10   11   gun - pass

1st Drive thoughts:
*1st play, the first play of the game is a run.  It’s 1st and 10, so it can be run or pass.  The fact that JT called a run doesn’t necessarily mean that JT was babying Riley. 
*2nd play, the second play is a pass on 1st and 10.  Again, it’s first and 10 so it can be a run or pass.  But the fact that the play is pass suggests that JT has confidence in Riley.  Afterall, if JT didn’t have faith in Riley and was babying Riley, then it would be more natural to assume that JT would have called a run. 
*3rd play, the third play is a zone read from shotgun.  This play -while it is a run- is not your typical run play.  Unlike regular run plays where the QB just hands off the ball, on these zone read plays the QB is required to read the defensive end and choose to either keep the ball or hand it off.  Again, the fact that JT called a zone read play as opposed to a run out of, say, the I-formation for example, shows JT’s confidence in Riley to not only perform a zone read but to run with the ball if Riley had chosen to keep the ball. 
*4th play, the fourth play of the first drive is a pass play.  After this play, Riley was showered with boos.  This is because Riley threw the ball to the corner of the endzone… and there wasn’t a receiver within 15 yards.  But, this was because the defender prevented Hawk from running his corner route to the corner of the endzone.  So while the result of the play looked to be Riley’s fault, it wasn’t.  While this pass play was a pass play, and more dangerous than a run play, because it took place on 3rd down in a situation where Cal pretty much needed to pass, you can’t say that because it was a pass play that JT wasn’t babying Riley.  RECAP: So, while JT does stress a balanced run/pass attack in his offense, if JT was babying Riley then JT would probably call more runs than passes.  But in this drive we say JT call a pass play for Riley on a 1st down suggest that JT was willing to let Riley pass, thus bringing to mind the inference that JT has faith in Riley and Riley is ready.  Also, the zone-read playcall suggests that JT is confident in Riley’s ability to read and perform the tricky zone read.  So… so far, it looks like JT is calling plays like normal and calling plays which do not baby Riley. 

2nd Drive
C14     1st 10     21    gun - draw
         2nd 8       11    gun - zone read
         3rd 8       11     gun - pass

2nd drive thoughts: 1st and 10 draw, eh, could have been a run or pass.  The fact that it’s a run doesn’t seem to suggest that JT feels or doesn’t feel that Riley isn’t ready.  The 2nd and 8 zone read, well, this doesn’t really suggest much either.  2nd and 8 is probably more of a passing down than a rushing down, but you can still run and it’s not a sin.  This play occurred out of shotgun and a passing formation.  So it looks as if JT was trying to trick the defense into thinking pass then throwing a run at them.  Typically in a 2nd and 8 situation you either want to pass, or show pass formation but run.  JT chose the latter, which is more conservative, but inconclusive as to whether he was babying Riley because running out of a passing formation is just as acceptable as passing.  Now, the 3rd and 8 pass, well, that’s an obvious passing down so the fact that JT called a pass play for Riley doesn’t really indicate whether JT feels Riley is ready or not.   RECAP: nothing really from this drive suggests whether JT thinks Riley is ready or not.

3rd Drive
C32    1st 10    12    under - play action bootleg pass
         2nd 12   11    under - run
         3rd 8     11    gun - pass

3rd drive thoughts:
*1st play: 1st and 10, and JT calls a pass.  Normally this would suggest that JT is suggesting that he has faith in Riley and Riley is ready.  Afterall, JT did call a pass play -which is more dangerous than a rushing play- on a down when JT could have done either.  But the type of pass play called (a playaction bootleg pass) is one where the QB benefits from playaction and essentially just dumps off the ball on the short route without much reading of the defense.  So, while it seems like JT is willing to pass with Riley, then again, this play wasn’t one where Riley had to take a straight dropback and read the defense.  But, JT does call these playaction bootleg pass plays for Longshore too.  So they are a part of the normal offense.  Thus, the fact that he called one is NOT indicative of him babying Riley. 
*2nd play, the 2nd and 12 run sort of suggests that JT doesn’t want Riley to pass.  2nd and 12 is (more or less) a passing down but JT didn’t call a pass.   Does this suggest that JT is afraid to have Riley pass?  Sort of, but JT did run out of a passing formation.  Again, just like in the previous drive, JT is showing a pass formation on 2nd and 12, but then rushing which is perfectly acceptable and not really indicative of JT babying Riley. 
*3rd play, the 3rd and 11 down is a pass.  Because this is a passing down, the fact that JT called a pass isn’t conclusive as to whether JT is babying Riley or not.  RECAP: nothing from this drive to really suggest that JT doesn’t think Riley is ready. 

4th Drive
I’m gonna skip the fourth drive.  It’s one play, because Forsett fumbled.  It was a run on 1st and 10.  Again, rushing on first and 10 isn’t really indicative of JT’s opinion of Riley. 

5th Drive
C23   1st 10   12   under - playaction boot pass
        2nd 4    20   gun - zone read
C35   1st 10   12   gun - WR bubble screen (option play)
        2nd 3    21   under - run
        3rd 2     22   under - max protect pass
O22   1st 10   21   under - run
O10   1st 10   12   under - PA pass
TOUCHDOWN

5th Drive thoughts:
*1st play is another playaction bootleg pass.  Again, this can be interpreted as JT babying Riley but then again these are regular plays that get called when Longshore is the QB.  So it’s hard to say really if JT is just sticking with the gameplan or making things simpler for Riley. 
*2nd play is a zone read.  Nothing special here.  It could have been a run or pass being 2nd and 4.  The fact that JT chose to run doesn’t really say much. 
*3rd play is an option play (QB can either hand the ball off or pass).  In this play Riley passed.  As with the zone read plays, this playcall requires the QB to read the defensive end.  As stated earlier, these types of plays seem to suggest that JT has faith in Riley to be decisive. 
*4th play is a run on 2nd and short.  Obviously you can run or throw on a 2nd and short.  A lot of fans will suggest that you pass on 2nd and short but it isn’t mandatory.  The fact that JT called a run doesn’t really suggest anything as to whether Riley is a capable starter or not because JT runs about 90% of the time on 2nd and short. 
*5th play is a deep pass on 3rd and short.  Now I think this play does reflect JT’s opinion of Riley.  Rushing the ball -even when the D knows you’re probably going to run- is much safer than a deep pass down the sidelines (to Hawk).  Even when the QB puts the ball on the money, it’s still a tough pass if the DB coverage is decent.  Nevertheless, JT called a play requiring Riley to heave a deep one down the field requiring substantial deep ball accuracy to place the ball in a catchable and non-interceptable position.  Obviously, I doubt JT would have called this play if he didn’t think Riley wouldn’t be able to make the tough throw. 
*6th play is a run on 1st and 10 - nothing really to be inferred here. 
*7th play is a playaction pass approximately 10 yards out from paydirt.  Calling this kind of play definitely shows JT’s faith in Riley’s abilities.  While the QB sort of gets the protection and deception from the playaction, he is still required to throw against LBs facing the LOS (and thus the QB), as well as against a very short field meaning there is less room for error.  Riley executed this play perfectly, made an excellent throw and connected on his first career TD to Hawk. 
*Recap: two plays really stand out to me on this drive, the deep sideline pass to Hawk, and the touchdown pass to Hawk.  These two plays really suggest to me that Tedford believes that Riley can make the throws.  Obviously, the deep sideline pass is always a toughie.  And the touchdown pass was actually fairly high risk.  Riley was required to make a throw against linebackers spying him, throw into the windows (gaps between defenders), and over the middle (as opposed to a playaction bootleg dump pass). 

I suppose I could go on with the rest of the game but I won’t.  We only really need to look at the first few drives to see whether JT changed the gameplan for Riley or not.  Like many coaches, Tedford scripts the first 15 plays or so.  How do I know this?  Well, I just straight up asked him one day.  Now, like most coaches, he does come off the script on 3rd downs, so we only really need to look at the first 15 non-3rd down plays.  What was covered above was 18 plays, of which 4 were 3rd downs.  So we covered enough plays to get an idea of JT’s OSU script. 

In my opinion, this script, along with the 3rd down playcalling seems very normal.  JT called 8 pass plays, 9 run plays, and one run/pass option play.  If JT were babying Riley, or didn’t think Riley was ready to play, we would probably expect to see fairly run-heavy playcalling but we didn’t.  Even if you take out the three 3rd downs where Cal had to pass (and ignore the run/pass option play), we passed 5 times and ran 9 times (35.7% pass; 64.3% run).  This percentage seems a little run heavy, but a 60/40 run/pass ratio is perfectly normal for JT.  If you count the run/pass option play as a pass, then JT’s run/pass playcalling was exactly 60/40 (6 passes, 9 runs).  If you just looked at the raw run/pass ratio for the drives above, then JT’s playcalling was practically 50/50. 

What does this all mean?  In short, I believe it means that Tedford’s playcalling did not change to accommodate Riley.  Meaning that Tedford believes Riley is a capable starter ready for playing time.  Riley is ready!  Using that funky numbering system I concocted, Riley would be a 6 or higher meaning capable of starting.  That would also knock out conclusion (b) as a possibility for why Longshore started over Riley.  Remember, conclusion (b) suggested that Longshore started despite NOT being game-ready only because Riley wasn’t game-ready and was a worse option than Longshore despite the Longshore’s injury.  Since I think JT’s playcalling for the OSU game suggests Riley is in fact game-ready, then conclusion (b) gets the axe. 

This of course leaves conclusion (a) which suggests that JT started Longshore, even while injured, because Longshore still gave Cal a better chance at winning than Riley despite Riley being game-ready.  I suppose this will still have some Cal fans scratching their heads.  An injured Longshore is still the better option than a healthy Riley despite Riley being game-ready?  Yup.  I know a lot of Cal fans might disagree, but then again, we’re just fans and Tedford is God.  God has also put a bunch of QBs in the NFL and knows more about his QBs than we do.  Certainly God can make mistakes.  Afterall, he made women, then cars, then let women drive cars… JUST KIDDING… okay, certainly Tedford can make mistakes, but I think this is one area of expertise where if the man says Longshore gives Cal a better chance to win than Riley then we just gotta accept it as fact. 

Anyways, I hope this post made some sense.  I worked on it over a couple of nights in the wee hours of the morning when I’m sleepy.  In case you missed my point or I didn’t make it clear enough, I’ll recap: Longshore with bum ankle > healthy Riley.  And Riley is ready,  There.  If you actually made it through this long post and didn’t quite know what I was talking about or trying to prove, then there ya go.  After the Oregon State game, Longshore was like a 7 and Riley was like a 6.  Both were game-ready but Longshore still gave Cal a better chance at winning. 

Happy Holidays.  

Is Alex Mack going pro early?

Cal has just opened up recruitment of offensive center Dominic Galas from Modesto, California.  Cal already has three centers on the roster right now: Alex Mack, Chris Guarnero, and Todd Huber.  Why would Cal begin a late recruitment of a 4th center?  Most teams usually carry three pure centers.  Having four is definitely a little unusual.  Maybe Cal is anticipating Alex Mack on checking out early. 

If Alex Mack goes pro early, Cal would lose 3 starting offensive linemen: LT Gibson, LG De La Puente, and C Alex Mack.  Losing Mack would be huge but I do think Chris Guarnero can be a more than adequate replacement.  While I was with the team, what did stand out to me was Guarnero’s solid work ethic and willingness to learn.  He was the kind of guy that was always giving 100% physical effort, and 100% mental concentration.  Guarnero was also one to ask questions, showing that he was thinking about his blocking assignments.  Let’s not forgot that the coaching staff was seriously considering moving Alex Mack to tackle prior to the season.  That move would have put Guarnero into the starting center spot.  If the coaching staff was willing to move Mack and thus have Guarnero start, then they obviously must be impressed enough with his knowledge of the offense, knowledge of defenses, and ability to block.

So, is Mack going pro early?  While nothing is official, it sure seems like Tedford & Co. are making preparations for his absense.   

…but it’s not a very big one, so Ragnarok’s advice about not losing to "X State" still holds.  Cal plays its first game in over a week tonight against the Delaware State Hornets, and its first home game since my date with Ragnarok two weeks ago. While hosting the World Pumpkin Chunking Championship is nothing to sneeze at, Delaware’s basketball history is a little less robust.  Two native sons currently play in the NBA, twin brothers Stephen and Joey Graham who attended high school in Florida and college at Oklahoma State.  Delaware State sent THE Emanual Davis (native to Philadelphia, alas) to the league in 1996, where he averaged 4.9 points per game over 6 partial seasons.  Yes, I am grasping at straws.

If only residents of Delaware spent as much time on basketball as they do on pumpkin relocation technology…

The Hornets are 3-6 this year.  Two of those losses are to Pac-10 teams; Arizona St. won 77-38 on December 5th, and USC won by 29 on Monday.  With the Pac-10 looking particularly nasty this year, winning against common opponents is imperative for NCAA tourney selection.  Not losing to very mediocre, small conference teams at home is also pretty important, but it’s a lesson Ben Braun teams don’t always heed.

If history isn’t enough of a cause for concern, consider this:  Delaware State was the preseason pick to win the prestigious Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.  It gets worse - senior guard Roy Bright is the preseason MEAC player of the year, and he even has his own NBA Draft profile page (projected second round or undrafted).  Does this not sound like the type of team that seems to beat us every year?

Well, I may be a fool and doomed to repeat the past, but this Cal team is looking like our strongest in at least 5 years and would be undefeated if not for some seriously home cooked officiating (though 9 turnovers by Randle didn’t help).  I doubt the Pac-10 refs will give Delaware State a 29 free-throw advantage, ala the Kansas St. game, so I’m going on record to predict a victory.   Pretty big limb, I know, but Cal basketball has taught us to be cautious.

Cal continues its homestand against Utah on Saturday.  Utah is another common opponent, with losses to Oregon and UW already, and we get the added bonus of seeing Duke transfer Jamal Boykin suit up for the first time.  Besides being the 2005 California State Player of the Year, he’s already become a vocal team leader, an enthusiastic supporter from the bench, and seems from this interview to fit Braun’s preferred mold of the intelligent and well adjusted player.  These players are easy to like and they’re playing pretty solid basketball.  Go support them and GO BEARS!

Hey, so after a long layoff, we finally get to see some college football again tomorrow!  Utah vs. Navy in the San Diego Country Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl!  Whoo!

This gem of a game is definitely worth watching, if only to hear the announcers attempt to say the entire name in one breath (Navy’s triple-option is also fun to watch, especially if you think the forward pass is symbolic of all that is wrong with modern society).  Anyway, this game, currently the record-holder for the longest bowl name, is also a contender for the title of "most ridiculous corporate-sponsored bowl name", though I think both the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the Papajohns.com Bowl are worse.

Now, while we all love our new corporate-sponsored bowl name overlords (who needs a Tangerine Bowl when you can have a Champs Sports Bowl!), I sometimes long for the days of my youth (or perhaps my parents’ youth), when bowls had simpler, fruit-inspired names.  Everyone knows about the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl, but few remember some of the other great bowl names and games that, for whatever reason, just didn’t stand the test of time.

Come, follow me on a trip down memory lane (a.k.a. Wikipedia).  Here are some of my favorites:

Someone apparently thought that Fresno could become a tourist destination, because not only did the Raisin Bowl (great name, isn’t it?) last for 4 years (1946-1949), but the California Bowl (much lamer, still in Fresno, sometimes marketed as the California Raisin Bowl) lasted for 11 before calling it quits after 1991.  Almost all of the games featured either Fresno State or San Jose State, so at least someone came to the games.

Other games in crappy locations (especially during winter) include…

the Cherry Bowl (Pontiac, Michigan - 1984 and 1985)
the Aviation Bowl (scenic Dayton, Ohio on Dec. 9, 1961)
the Garden State Bowl (East Rutherford, New Jersey - 1978-1981;  Cal lost the 1979 game 28-17, to Temple, a team now so bad it got kicked out of the Big East)

…and, of course, just what I’m sure Kentucky and Villanova were waiting to hear in December of 1947 - "Hey, congrats on the great year, and welcome to the Great Lakes Bowl in Cleveland, Ohio!!"  What a coincidence!  That’s where I was hoping to spend my Christmas vacation!

Now, while the Poinsettia Bowl currently holds the record for longest bowl name, few remember that San Diego was also the previous record holder for longest game name, and they didn’t even have a corporate sponsor back then!  Back in 1921 and 1922, the country (or at least the greater San Diego area) was treated to the San Diego East-West Christmas Classic Bowl.  In the inagural edition, Arizona lost, 38-0, to something called Centre, which, although I don’t know what it is, sure sounds British to me.  Now, I don’t know the actual circumstances of the game, but if you lose in football to anything British, the ball damn well better be checkered black and white.

Some of my other favorite bowl names…

the Freedom Bowl (in lovely Anaheim - freedom from what?) 1984-1994
the Mercy Bowl (in Los Angeles - mercy from what?) 1961
the Oil Bowl (in Houston, of course) 1946 and 1947
the Salad Bowl (in Phoenix, Arizona.  Honestly, who doesn’t want to win the Salad Bowl?) 1948-1952

…and finally, who couldn’t get excited about playing in the Bacardi Bowl, held in Havana, Cuba!! (sometimes referred to as the Cigar Bowl or the Rhumba Bowl).  The first 5 bowls featured an American University versus a Cuban school, while the 1937 game showcased Auburn and Villanova.  That game was played in a revolutionary atmosphere, as Fulgencio Batista, the dictator who would be overthrown by Fidel Castro 22 years later, had just assumed power.  The game was almost canceled because Batista’s picture was not in the game program.  However, a quick trip to the printer saved the Bacardi Bowl.

Yessirree Bob, bowls sure have come a long way since the Pasadena Tournament of Roses decided to host a football game on January 1, 1902.  By the way, for those of us Cal fans who revel in Stanford’s misery (that’s pretty much all of us, right?), here’s an account of the first Rose Bowl game, lifted entirely from Wikipedia (who apparently lifted it from Bowl Games: College Football’s Greatest Tradition, by Robert Ours):

Originally titled the "Tournament East-West football game," the Rose Bowl was first played on January 1, 1902, starting the tradition of New Year’s Day bowl games.  The inaugural game featured Fielding Yost’s dominating 1901 Michigan team, representing the East, who crushed a previously 3-1-2 team from Stanford University, representing the West, by a score of 49-0 after Stanford quit in the third quarter.  Michigan finished the season 11-0-0 and was considered the national champion. Yost had been Stanford’s coach the previous year.  The game was so lopsided that for the next 15 years, the Tournament of Roses officials ran chariot races, ostrich races, and other various events instead of football.

Way to almost kill the Rose Bowl, Stanford.  Quitters!

So with things slowing down in the football world, I guess we should turn our attention towards recruiting. 

In case you didn’t know, this past weekend was Cal Football’s biggest recruiting weekend of the season.  Cal brought in  12 recruits this past weekend.  Everyone from the highly touted 5 star JUCO WR Carl Moore, to a few lesser known under-the-radar guys.   

Of the 12 guys that came in this past weekend were a few recruits that had already committed to Cal such as: 3-star/4-star QB Beau Sweeney (Rivals profile, Scout profile), 4-star OT Tyler Rigsbee (Rivals profile, Scout profile), and 4-star WR Marvin Jones (Rivals profile, Scout profile).  [Note: these profiles do require membership to see all the info and videos.  I cannot copy/paste stuff from their articles either because that’d get us in trouble.  Also, I’m not pumping up these websites in hopes you sign up for them or anything - I’m not working for them on commission or anything.  I linked their profiles because I figure some of you guys probably just want to associate a face with a name.]

The measurables on these guys look pretty good.  While Beau Sweeney might be slightly shorter than prototypical QB height - he’s listed as somewhere in the 6′1" range and in the 185-200 pound range, word is that he is pretty mobile.  Now don’t get too hard.  By mobile I mean like probably somewhere in the 4.6-4.7 range (40 yard dash time).  Certainly he’s not Vick or Vince Young but I think he can move around pretty well. 

Tyler Rigsbee is listed at around the 6′4-6′5" range and about 250 pounds or so.  Obviously he’s going to need to bulk up for college ball, but being that weight for a high school kid isn’t underweight.  I’m not sure what his 40 time is but that’s fairly irrelevant since OL never run 40 yards full speed. 

Finally, Marvin Jones is listed at around 6′2" 175-185 pounds.  Obviously he’s got the height going for him.  He’s not as heavy as maybe Mike Williams but his lighter weight definitely helps him stay speedy.  I think his 40 time is somewhere in the 4.5 range which is decent and will undoubtedly get better as he strengthens up with a college workout regimen and diet.   

I mentioned Carl Moore earlier.  He’s a 5-star WR from Roseville Sierra CC.  He’s around 6′4" and 225 pounds or so and everyone and their mom wants him on their football team.  Cal supposedly offered Mr. Moore but he’s going to Florida to play for Urban Meyer.  This guy has definite NFL potential.  Like 1st day NFL pick potential.  He’s fast for his size and possesses great hands and route running ability.  Enough compliments about him though since he’s not coming to Cal.  

While Cal wasn’t able to sway Carl Moore to play WR for us next year - Cal was able to sway a few others.  

Before I get to that though, let’s go over Cal’s WR situation next year.  First, the obvious ones.  Robert Jordan lost to graduation.  Lavelle "The Hawk" or "Hawk" Hawkins, lost to graduation.  Desean Jackson?  Well, I already covered that in a previous post.   Quite frankly, besides Jonathon Okanes hinting on his blog that what he’s seen and heard suggests that Desean Jackson is going pro early, what I’ve said in the previous post is the most concrete thing out there that suggests THA1 is leaving us.  I mean, it all depends on whether you believe me.  Whether I truly did have a class with THA1 (true), whether THA1 truly said what he said (true), and I heard what I heard (true).  If you believe me, then heck, you know what I know: as of 1.75 years ago THA1 was wanted to go pro early.  That was *1.75 years* ago though.  It’s *possible* that THA1 has had a change in heart.  It’s *possible* that THA1 might return to Cal next year.  It’s also possible that THA1 hasn’t had a change in heart and carries with him today the very same thoughts on going pro early as he did 1.75 years ago.  With that last statement, I’m going to assume THA1 is NFL bound. 

[UPDATE: As of very recently and after I began writing this post, Carl Moore reported to the newspapers that he was told on his recruiting visit that THA1 was going pro early.  Mr. Moore did not cite his source - whether it was THA1 himself or just 2nd/3rd/4th hand info, or mere assertion of speculation as fact.  Without knowing who Mr. Moore’s source is, I don’t know how credible this information may be.  I mean, did the guy behind the counter at Boston Market tell Mr. Moore this information or what?  (BearInsider joke)   Anyways, this situation is very similar to last year when James Montgomery told the media that Marshawn Lynch divulged to him his intentions on going pro early.]

Okay, so THA1 - gone.  RJ - gone.  Hawk - gone.  Cal’s 4th WR?  Desa - gone.  5th WR?  Sean Young - gone.   

Cal loses its top 5 WRs next year.  HOLY HELL.  Why this concerns me?  Well, unless you’re named Michael Crabtree or Desean Jackson, WRs in college football really don’t have a substantial impact their freshman year. 

Anyways.  Cal has 5 WRs spots to fill.  Needless to say, if you’re a highschool WR recruit looking for a chance to compete for playing time and a chance to see the field as a freshman, then Cal’s the place to be.  With so many WR spots opening up on the roster, Tedford & Co., hasn’t had much trouble getting kids to commit.  

As I said earlier before this (much longer than anticipated interlude), Cal was able to snag a few commits this past weekend.  

The first is WR Jarrett Sparks from Merced (Rivals profile, Scout profile).  He’s about 6′2" and 215 pounds or so.  Obviously a taller WR with a very thick/muscular body.   He apparently is fairly fast too despite his heavier weight and runs a very acceptable 4.5.  I watched his videos and here are my thoughts.  First, he’s a WR that doesn’t seem to mind going over the middle.  Tons of the plays on his film are of him going over the middle for passes.  He doesn’t seem scared to do it either (although going over the middle in highschool is a tad different than in college).  He has a good ability to go up for the ball (high bullet throws and lobs) and will move upfield quickly.  Sparks does have decent vision and can find the cutback lanes after the catch, but his biggest asset is his ability to get YAC (yards after catch) with his big body.  He doesn’t dance after the catch and just plows away at the defense with his big body.  Sparks also played some RB in highschool so he does know how to utilize his blockers and wait patiently for a hole.  Also he’s a hand-catcher (as opposed to a body catcher).  Overall, I think Sparks provides an excellent total package of ball-catching prowness, size, and speed.  It’s hard to see his route running ability on the videos (b/c they focus on the QB and don’t follow the WR down the field) so I can’t comment on that.  I think what intrigues me the most about Sparks is that he can be one of those throw-it-up WRs.  As in, if the QB is in trouble you can just put the ball up high and so either Sparks catches it or it goes out of bounds (think "The Catch").  Also with that tall thick frame he can easily out-muscle smaller DBs as well as provide a decent YAC threat too.

The other WR that committed this past weekend is L.J. Washington from Stockton’s Stagg Highschool (Rivals profile, Scout profile).  Well, another recruit from Stockton, my home town.  The other Cal players from Stockton being Lavelle Hawkins and Tad Smith.  Anyways, L.J. Washington is listed at 6′0 and 180 pounds.  He’s another decent sized WR but not on the heavier side like Jarrett Sparks.  Nevertheless, he runs a great 40 time and can definitely fall under the "speedy WR" label.  Unfortunately, neither recruiting service offers video on L.J. Washington just yet.  Actually, he’s unrated by both services right now.  What does this mean?  He’s sort of under-the-radar.  Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean he’s not good.  Some guys just get more exposure than others, thus get rated earlier/faster, and thus more offers.  This might be the case of a guy not getting enough exposure.  Obviously though, the Cal staff found him and were impressed enough by his tapes to offer him a scholarship.  L.J. Washington does have a pair of offers from two other respectable west coast football programs neither of which are anything to snuff at.  So it does appear as if a few other programs are onto L.J. 

So between L.J. Washington, Marvin Jones, and Jarrett Sparks, there will be plenty of freshman competition for playing time.  But not to get lost in the shuffle is also the already-committed WR Verran Tucker from El Camino Community College (Rivals profile, Scout profile).  A 6-2 180 pound player, Tucker has exceptional size and speed.  While watching his videos, what really shined out the most was his speed.  Great speed on the routes and after the catch.  He also appeared to be very athletic showing the ability to go up for balls while at top speed and stretch out for the deep ones.  Overall, Tucker provides high-energy and a speedy threat within a tall frame. 

Cal currently has 4 WR commits this year.  It is uncertain as to how many Tedford will take total.   I would assume Tedford would take 1 more to at least fill all the spots that will open.  Taking 2 more would mean a total of 6 WRs this year which is a lot (although by taking a few JUCOs they won’t all leave by graduation at the same time).  I doubt JT will take 6 WRs unless JT gets another WR commit AND Deion Walker commits to Cal (Rivals profile, Scout profile).  Deion Walker is pretty much a consensus top-50 recruit and has offers from just about every major college football program including Cal. 

Anyways, the offensive recruiting looks pretty good so far.  Watching the WRs battle for those top 3 spots should be very interesting and make for a fun summer and fall camp. 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention.  All the WRs that Cal is recruiting this year are all 6′1"+ (with the exception of L.J. Washington but he’s only 18 or so and is still growing).  I think it’s quite obvious that JT & Co. are moving in the big WR direction.  Not like there is anything wrong with smaller WRs, but if you can recruit bigger guys that are just as fast and talented, then they’re even more of a threat due to their size and strength. 

"Air Force is easily my pick to win!" 

First, lets get the pleasantries out of the way.  Golden Blogs Bowl Pick Em.  Go to this link.  Plug in this info:

Group #:1177

PW:  calbears

If you don’t do it the terrorists will win.  Of course, if you are a terrorist and you join and win, the terrorists will also win.  But that’s the risk we are willing to take.

Now that that is out of the way, let’s get to the second duel to which you are being challenged.  This might be the most stupid, insane, craziest thing ever, but since I thought it up, it is easily the most stupid, insane, craziest thing ever.  Either way, I’m slapping you across the face with my white gloves and challenging you to the First Annual TwistNHook Twist And/Or Hook Challenge.  Many of you might be going on holiday vacations to crazy and far away exotic locales.  It doesn’t have to be as crazy out there as where I’m going (beautiful, downtown Ahmednagar), but it still might be something beautiful and different and not too knowledgeable about Marshawn.  And no, Fort Worth, Tx doesn’t count.   

Take a photo Twisting And/Or Hooking at the most exotic of these exotic locales and send it in at the contact email (Goldenblogs at gmail dot com).  If we get some cool ones, we’ll post them up on the website.  If nobody sends anything in, we’ll never mention it again and I’ll delete this post so as not to look stupid.  More so.  

If you don’t know what Twisting And/Or Hooking is, it’s that hand symbol that the extended Lynch family does.  Here are some photos:

It’s like crossing your fingers with your thumb stuck out.  And don’t worry about looking lame, because nobody could look lamer than Michael Silver up there.   

So, there you go.  Two slaps across the face.  One for the potentially terrorist-defying Golden Bears Bowl Pick Em.  The other for the unimaginably stupid First Annual TwistNHook Twist And/Or Hook Challenge.  Make those picks!  And send in those photos!  And, no matter what, wherever you may be going, GO BEARS!