Bears' Gregory matches wits again with Anae in Las Vegas Bowl
By Dave Newhouse
BERKELEY — Bob Gregory and Robert Anae are becoming more familiar, but they aren't buddy-buddy. On the contrary, they're bowl game adversaries. For the second straight year, Gregory and Anae will match postseason coaching wits in Thursday's Las Vegas Bowl. Gregory wants to get the upper hand this time after a nightmarish experience last December. Gregory is Cal's fourth-year defensive coordinator. Anae is BYU's first-year offensive coordinator. Anae was Texas Tech's offensive line coach when the Red Raiders crushed Cal 45-31 in the 2004 Holiday Bowl. Does Anae have the advantage based on last year's bowl win? ''I don't know. I can just speculate," he said by phone from the BYU campus in Provo, Utah. "You approach every year as a unique year, and every game as a unique game. We swung hard and played hard last year. Sometimes the more familiar you are, the more it works against you." Texas Tech swung hard and connected often against Cal, amassing 597 yards of offense, 520 by air, as Sonny Cumbiecompleted 39 of 60 passes without an interception. Possession receiver Trey Hafferty burned Cal with eight catches for 147 yards. "Both Sonny and Trey had the game of their lives," Anae said. "Our guys seemed to be fresh and on the money that night. But comparisons are apples and oranges. We were at the back end of five years with those (Texas Tech) kids. We're at the front end with these (BYU) kids." Anae didn't call the plays against Cal last year, but he will Thursday at Sam Boyd Stadium. Cal (7-4, 4-4 Pac-10) is a 6-point favorite over BYU (6-5, 5-3 Mountain West). But Texas Tech was a decided underdog last year. And BYU uses the same spread offense.
"Cal is better in the secondary, top to bottom," Anae said. "They're tackling better, they're getting off blocks better, their zone coverage is better." But will Cal be better in man-to-man coverage? The spread offense strikes quickly. The Bears sacked Cumbie just once in San Diego. "They played great that night; we didn't play very good," said Gregory. "Our (secondary) has improved from the start of this season until now. I think we will do better against this kind of offense."
Gregory is studying film on BYU and last year's Texas Tech team to be fully prepared. "The best way, generally, to learn how somebody is going to attack you is to watch how they've attacked you before," he said. "We've faced that offense enough now, having played New Mexico State, that it won't be so much different for our kids. They feel more comfortable. "One thing you have to realize, BYU is going to move the ball. They're averaging almost 500 yards of offense (463.9) and scoring 35 points a game (33.5). So you can't panic. But we can't give up the explosive play, the 50-yard bomb that kills you. And we can't let them drive 80 yards. We've got to make them punt." Do opposing coordinators match wits cerebrally? "No coach can avoid that temptation," said Anae. "I certainly am wondering what he is thinking, and how much of what (Texas Tech) did against us that he will do this time," Gregory said. "You always learn from the past, although BYU hasn't varied too much offensively from Game 1 to Game 11. They do their plays well because they don't care how you line up, they're going to do their deal." Anae has a doctorate is sociology, but he believes game-planning only goes so far. "I don't place that much credence on the academic side (of football)," he said. "The outcome of the game depends more on the execution of plays than academics."
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