BERKELEY So we learn again that no football coach, regardless of his intellect, his dialect or how much spittle flies during his pep talks, is better than the players at his command. To be more specific, if Cal coach Jeff Tedford can work miracles, how does one explain Joe Ayoob? Cal's offensive performance in a 35-10 loss to No. 1-ranked USC on Saturday at Memorial Stadium provided overwhelming evidence that Tedford's heralded creative genius goes only as far as his quarterback can carry it. To the visible and audible distress of the coach and most of the 72,981 at Memorial Stadium, Ayoob didn't carry Tedford's lessons very far without fumbling or throwing an interception. The latest project hand-picked by the coach who has built a reputation for developing quarterbacks, Ayoob threw four interceptions and flipped out a fumble, siphoning any hope of drama from this much-anticipated Pac-10 matchup. Ayoob completed 9 of 19 passes for 98 yards. While two passes were dropped, most of the incompletions showed every sign of a passer being overcome by his struggles. Asked about his confidence level, the transfer from City College of San Francisco sighed and said it was “a little shaken,” earning points for honesty and, on the basis of appearance, far more points for understatement. Ayoob's lack of confidence clearly affects his performance, which results in Tedford losing confidence in Ayoob. That much was clear early, when the coach leaned on his run game in hopes of bailing out his quarterback.
“You can probably call that restrictive,” said Tedford, whose basic play sheet was wrapped around his left arm. The problem with narrowing the offensive options is it practically kills any chance of pulling off the upset. There was no way the Golden Bears could even stay close to the Trojans without Ayoob having the game of his life. Instead, the Bears lived with the running of Marshawn Lynch and tended to die when Ayoob went back to pass. Tedford, who has been vocal in his support of Ayoob, the inconsistent quarterback, now finds himself reduced to displaying patience for Ayoob the foundering individual. “We've got to support Joe for the person he is,” Tedford said. “For the man he is. “I obviously haven't done enough. But I'm not going to give up on him as a kid or as a player.” A commendable posture, which does nothing to lift the spirits of those who buy tickets because they expected more from Ayoob, more from Tedford and more from Ayoob because he has Tedford. Through his first three seasons at Cal, Tedford had shown every sign of being the man to resurrect a program unable to sustain any hint of excellence since Pappy Waldorf stalked the sideline in the years immediately following World War II. Tedford was rewarded with a lush contract extension, deservedly so. He has influenced the administration to move forward, at least conceptually, in upgrading the football facilities.
All of which was buttressed by three seasons, the first two (7-5 in 2002, 8-6 in 2003) being delightful surprises and the third (10-2 last season) bordering on marvelous. Now this. Cal is 3-4 in the Pac-10, 6-4 overall and looking at a lower-tier bowl game. “I'll take some blame, too, for obviously not doing enough to (get Ayoob) prepared,” Tedford said. “We'll work on it together.” Which is only fair, because the coach needs the quarterback almost as much as the quarterback needs the coach. This latest debacle left both men submerged in their own humility. But it was Ayoob who again got the blunt end of the fan unrest. His eyesore of a game met with several rounds of boos, after which he was removed from the game and heard the loudest cheers of the day when replacement Steve Levy trotted onto the field in the fourth quarter. If Ayoob's eyesore of a game Saturday and his wildly uneven performance this season have done little to dim the brilliance emitted by Tedford's brain, they surely threaten to pierce the coach's aura of infallibility. Viewed from another angle, how good might the Golden Bears have been this season if Tedford's plans still were being carried out by Aaron Rodgers?
Rodgers' departure after his junior season to accept NFL millions from the Green Bay Packers indirectly led to Ayoob's rise. Nate Longshore, who opened the season as the starter, would have been the backup. Ayoob, who opened the season as the backup to Longshore, would have been third string. Longshore's injury in the opener thrust Ayoob into a role for which he was unprepared. Such was the abiding confidence in Tedford that the consensus was he'd get Ayoob ready, mold him into a major-college star in his first exposure at this level. This little miracle has not happened. And there is no indication it will.
No comments:
Post a Comment