By Jack Ross
In the waning moments of Saturday's opening win over Michigan State, Cal running back Jahvid Best sent a message without even knowing it. Spartans cornerback Johnny Adams got the memo loud and clear. With the Bears protecting a 38-31 lead and needing to run 2:59 off the clock to secure their first win, Best took a handoff wide right on a simple dive. Sensing a bit of daylight, Best sprinted towards a small opening. But with both hands fiercely wrapped around the ball, he lacked his usual explosion, allowing Adams to enter the picture. The 165-pound freshman jumped aboard Best with the intentions on wrestling him down. Things didn't quite go according to Adams' plan. In a flash, Best hit a figurative eject button, throwing Adams to the ground and making him look as if he'd just failed his first bucking bronco ride. Physical moments like those typified the Cal victory and served a simple notice that the Bears are trying to deliver to the rest of the college football country-Pac-10 football is anything but soft.
"They give the Big Ten more credit than the Pac-10 as far as physicality goes," senior linebacker Anthony Felder said. "The Pac-10, and us in particular, are just as tough as anyone in the country. The physical game is our style of football. We're ready to go toe-to-toe with anybody when it comes to that." That newfound style was clearly on display for the 62,956 fans in attendance at Memorial Stadium, especially concerning the Bears' ability to dominate the run on both sides of the ball.
The contributions of Best and fellow sophomore back Shane Vereen-both of whom are only 19 years old-were practically impossible to ignore. Combined, the duo compiled 46 touches, 394 total yards and two touchdowns. In fact, Vereen's 81-yard touchdown carry equaled Michigan State back Javon Ringer's rushing total-except Ringer needed 27 carries to get there. Spartan safety Otis Wiley acknowledged that his team's defense wore down towards the end of the game. "I don't really know what was going on," Wiley said. "They were just pounding us. I don't know if it was miscommunication or the calls, but we need to get better at that." On the other side of the ball, the Cal defense may find it difficult to defend the run better than it did. Prior to Saturday, the Bears' front seven fielded a litany of questions concerning the susceptibility of their 3-4 alignment, with many wondering how a smaller bunch would stand up against the bruising, downhill Michigan State ground game.
Yet the Bears were up to the challenge in slowing down Ringer. Despite coming into the game with glowing national recognition, the Heisman candidate was limited to only three yards per carry with no run longer than 10 yards. To put that into perspective, Ringer's 2007 campaign saw only one game in which he averaged less than three yards a carry-against the stingy defense of national runner-up Ohio State. "The biggest emphasis for us (was stopping the run)," Felder said. "(Michigan State) likes to run the ball a lot, even in their conference games. And they might've had the misconception the Pac-10 was the soft conference." Chances are, they don't anymore.
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