Bruce Adams, Chronicle Staff Writer
Joe Ayoob smiles as he recalls students from rival high schools jeering him after games at Terra Linda High in Marin County. The smile begins to fade as Cal's quarterback recalls his journey up the tunnel at Memorial Stadium after Saturday's 23-20 loss to Oregon State as some of the home fans began taunting him with profanity-laced insults. "It kind of hurts a little bit," Ayoob said. He had completed only 13 passes in 39 attempts for 219 yards and one touchdown. He was intercepted twice. On Cal's last three possessions, when the Bears were trailing by three points, he was 2-for-11 for 15 yards. His shortcomings came in a game in which the Bears also fumbled three times, committed a series of costly penalties, gave up a 51-yard punt return that set up the Beavers' first score, gained only 75 yards in their previously potent run game and gave up 194 yards to Yvenson Bernard, Oregon State's heretofore unheralded running back. Still, Ayoob understood why he was targeted. "It goes with the territory," he said. Ayoob was asked about the encounter after coach Jeff Tedford mentioned it Tuesday at his weekly media lunch, troubled that the barrage of insults came at a time when he is trying to build Ayoob's confidence. "He has to handle it the right way," Tedford said. It wasn't so much what they said that Ayoob found unsettling. "It wasn't kids," he said. "It was old people, people in their 40s and 50s."
He was particularly alarmed by one woman. He said she was over 40, dressed in full Cal gear and was saying, "Ayoob, you suck," using the f-word for emphasis. He also saw a man in his 50s putting his hands to his throat in a choke sign. His teammates noticed the abuse, one more obstacle Ayoob is encountering as he makes the transition from City College of San Francisco, where he was a JC All-American, to Division I-A. "Come on, he's just a college kid," linebacker Ryan Foltz said. Some players stopped and talked back to the fans. And some rallied around Ayoob in the locker room. Rover Donnie McCleskey and safety Harrison Smith took Ayoob aside and told him of former quarterback Aaron Rodgers' 9-for-34 passing performance in a 35-21 loss to the same school two years ago at Memorial. That game became a turning point in Rodgers' career at Cal.
"Joe took the game pretty hard," Tedford said. "He just needs to know we're behind him 100 percent." The day after the Oregon State game, Ayoob went to his parents' home in Marin and put his City College highlight tape in the VCR. "I watched myself throwing the ball with authority and zip," he said. "I can do that." "You have to draw on previously experienced successes to have your confidence," Tedford said. "You have to try to keep that in your mind instead of dwelling on the bad part." Ayoob said he's now comfortable in his mental transition from junior college, but admits he's still grappling with the physical side, especially in throwing the ball. "I've got to let it rip," he said. "Sometimes I do." He recalled one play Saturday when, after throwing "three ducks," he saw his primary receiver covered on the next play, quickly spotted a secondary receiver open on the backside and threw a perfect pass -- without thinking. "See it, throw it," he said. "I've got to get to that point." Ayoob, who was diagnosed with dyslexia his freshman year in high school, also acknowledged the struggle he endured grasping the offense and play-calling in the huddle. He initially had difficulty with plays being signaled from the sidelines -- saying he sometimes couldn't immediately differentiate left from right in formations and odd from even in Cal's numbering system. "I was getting things backward," he said. Finally, he said he memorized "what numbers and what words go with which plays." He said learning the plays is nothing compared with the task he now faces: "Winning over the fans."
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