Saturday, September 06, 2008

San Jose Mercury: Cal must work on its passing game

Jon Wilner

Cal Coach Jeff Tedford said the Bears have "room for improvement everywhere'' as they prepare for today's visit to Washington State. He's a bit hard to please.  The 3-4 defense allowed just two touchdown drives in the season-opening victory over Michigan State. Sophomore quarterback Kevin Riley had a mistake-free game. Tailbacks Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen combined for more than 300 total yards. The offensive line was solid. The receivers ... OK, maybe Tedford has a point there. The rebuilt unit had just five catches, four by senior Sean Young. There were numerous busted routes and dropped passes, including two by Nyan Boateng, the heralded transfer from Florida.

"Sean made a couple of nice catches, but besides that we need to come up with a couple more balls,'' Tedford said. "We didn't catch the ball well.'' LaReylle Cunningham had one catch for 6 yards. Not a peep was heard from Jeremy Ross. Cal's best aerial option was tight end Cameron Morrah. Upcoming opponents should have Morrah well-scouted, which means Cunningham, Calvin, Boateng and Ross must ramp up their production. They don't have to morph into Lavelle Hawkins or DeSean Jackson. But five catches for 87 yards and no touchdowns won't cut it — not today, not next week and certainly not during the heart of Pac-10 play. "We need to be more productive in the passing game,'' Tedford said.

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