Rusty Simmons
Cal middle linebacker Worrell Williams had a surprising reaction to Saturday's news that quarterback Nate Longshore's iffy right ankle would keep him out of the lineup. "It made the defense go, 'Yes!' " Williams said. "Now, the pressure is on us. Now, we have to pick up the slack." The Bears' defense, often the whipping boy of a team that had risen to No. 2 without playing a complete game, finally had its chance to shine. Instead, the unit allowed 31 points to an Oregon State team that had averaged 20.8 points against Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) opponents and forced no interceptions against a team that had thrown a nation's-worst 17 picks. The result: Oregon State 31, Cal 28.
"The emphasis was on how the defense would respond, and we didn't do our jobs," Williams said. "You can put that on us." One play - or even one unit - can never take the complete blame for a loss, but this much is clear: With the meat of the schedule looming, Cal's defense is going to have to play better. The Bears' offense has proven that it will continue to score, but question marks abound for the defense as it prepares to play at UCLA on Saturday, at Arizona State on Oct. 27 and at home against USC on Nov. 10.
"It's past time to step up," Williams said. "I'm sure those guys are sick of hearing that they're the weak link of this team," receiver Lavelle Hawkins said after Cal's defense limited Arizona to 21 rushing yards. The Bears' defense also had two fourth-quarter interceptions and forced a game-saving fumble in their 31-24 win over Oregon, but the highlights have, at times, been outweighed by the lowlights. Cal, which opened the BCS rankings at No. 12, ranks No. 58 nationally in both yards and points allowed. Of the top 15 teams in the BCS - presumably the teams left in the national-title discussion - only Kentucky (381.29) and Oregon (392.17) give up more yards than the Bears (380.0), and 10 of the top 13 BCS teams are in the top 20 in scoring defense.
Of course, in many ways, the cards have been stacked against the Cal defense, which lost three first-day draft picks. Defensive tackle Brandon Mebane drew a double- or triple-team on every play, linebacker Desmond Bishop led the conference in tackles and cornerback Daymeion Hughes was second in the nation in interceptions. Cal's current defense has lost five starters for a total of eight games because of injuries, and it has played some unusual offenses, including three that ran no-huddle sets and two forms of the spread attack. Also, the Bears' quick-strike offense and trouble on kick coverage have left the defense in some tough predicaments. "We hear that we're the weak link from a lot of various places, and it is a little bothersome to hear that the offense is carrying you," linebacker Anthony Felder said. "That motivates us, but we're not trying to hide from the fact that we need to get better." Many of the yards netted against Cal have come via the air with the Bears ranking 94th, allowing 254.3 passing yards a game. Only three of the 93 teams ahead of Cal allow a worse completion percentage than the Bears (65.46 percent), and 23 teams with a better pass defense have less than three wins this season.
Cal has its highest defensive rankings in turnovers (25th, 16 interceptions or fumble recoveries) and rush defense (36th, 125.7 yards a game). However, none of the 35 teams ranked ahead of the Bears in rush defense allow a worse yards per carry average (3.63).So, when the Bears don't cause turnovers, they have trouble finding ways to get stops.
The Bears rank 72nd in time of possession (29:21), which appears to be a stat closely related to wins. Five of the top 10 in this category are in the top 10 of the BCS rankings.
Part of the problem in getting off the field comes on third downs, which are converted by Cal opponents 36.7 percent of the time. Six of the top 10 third-down defenses are in the top 13 of the BCS, and the best third-down defense, UCLA, gets off the field 13 percent more often than Cal. In the Oregon State loss, the Bears allowed the Beavers to convert only 4 of 16 third-down chances, but those four were ultimately painful. There was seemingly no pressure on mistake-prone quarterback Sean Canfield, and he picked easy targets for first downs that led to scores. "When you get pressure on the quarterback, he's going to make bad decisions," cornerback Brandon Hampton said. "We need to get more pressure, because it helps us out in the secondary a lot and we can get the ball back to our offense."
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