By Jack Ross
For the last two years, the season-opening story of Cal football has read the same-a menacing SEC opponent and a steady chorus of questions about the team's national standing.
Tennessee is finally out of the picture but, for the third consecutive year, the Bears get an immediate test. Big Ten challenger Michigan State hits Berkeley's Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 5 p.m. for the first time since 1957. The dangerous Spartans equaled Cal's 2007 win total-seven-and only fell short in their six losses by a combined 31 points. "The schedule is what it is," Bears coach Jeff Tedford said. "Obviously, the Tennessee game last year was a great experience. The year before, not such a good experience. It's great to get that tough test early. We're going to figure where we are." Thanks to last season's opening win over the Volunteers, there are now fewer questions concerning the Pac 10-SEC debate-but more questions about the altered face of the Cal squad. That said, this season's most pressing question no longer needs to be asked-sophomore quarterback Kevin Riley will be Cal's starting signal caller. Last week, Tedford handed the reins to Riley, starter of only seven collegiate quarters, over incumbent Nate Longshore, the second winningest quarterback in Cal history. Tedford did maintain that the senior will be under center at some point on Saturday.
"They both had great camps," Tedford said. "It just felt like Kevin ended up very well last year in the (Armed Forces) Bowl. I think he brings a little more elusiveness to it, being able to make some plays with legs a little bit more." Both quarterbacks will scan the field Saturday for fresh faces at receiver-goodbye DeSean Jackson and Lavelle Hawkins, hello LaReylle Cunningham and Sean Young-as well as a playmaking Spartan defensive unit nationally ranked in the top 15 in sacks and tackles for a loss last season. Returning linebacker Greg Jones is the most decorated of Michigan State's six returning defensive starters. As a true freshman, he compiled a team-leading 78 tackles en route to Freshman All-American honors. Now, the sophomore is leading the charge to put his team's late struggles, including a Champs Sports bowl defeat, behind them. "I don't think anyone wants to look back on that," Jones said at a press conference. "Every game last year we were so close, we just couldn't punch it in. We really want to go into Cal and get that taste out of our mouths."
To do so, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio will likely need to find a way to contain electrifying Cal sophomore running back Jahvid Best. After sitting out three games in 2007 with a hip injury, the swift-footed Best has proclaimed himself 100-percent healthy and was anointed as the Pac-10 preseason Offensive Player of the Year by an ESPN.com writer. "We see him in practice, and people who have an angle on him to catch him, they just don't," All-America center Alex Mack said. "It's going to be exciting. Hopefully we can open up some holes and get him into some open field where he can really show off that speed."
On defense, the Bears will have their own containment issues in stopping the powerful 5-foot-9, 202-pound Javon Ringer. The Heisman Trophy candidate gained almost 1,500 yards last year and, like Best, gets touches in multiple ways-through rushes, kickoffs and passes from senior quarterback Brian Hoyer, who threw for 20 touchdowns last season. Then, there's the Bears' ballyhooed switch to the 3-4 defensive alignment. Everyone in the Bears' front seven-from senior linebackers Worrell Williams, Anthony Felder and Zach Follett to redshirt sophomore lineman Derrick Hill-sound comfortable in the new scheme.
Ready or not, here they come.
"I think we're ready just to hit other people," Follett said. "We've been going against each other for four weeks straight now and that's getting kind of tiring, and I think I'm ready to just go out there and hit other people, make a play and I think a lot of guys are." Does that mean the Berkeley crowd should expect the same game-changing, bone-jarring hit that Follett delivered against Tennessee's Erik Ainge in last year's opener? "At Fan Appreciation Day, I think every person I saw wanted another hit like that against Michigan State," Follett said. "I told them I'd do my best."
No comments:
Post a Comment