For once, let's pose the question that deserves to be asked: Who is this Cal team? As of now, that question has been far from the focal point of the interrogation surrounding the Bears. Instead, all season long, we've heard a chorus of queries and seen pointing fingers one after another, focusing on that all-too-familiar (and at this point, beaten to a bloody pulp) topic: Which quarterback will start on Saturday? Kevin or Nate? Nate or Kevin? As we look to this Saturday's home tilt with UCLA, that choir will no doubt strike up again. Enough.
At this point, the answer is obviously in flux. And no one, likely not even quarterback guru Jeff Tedford or his NFL-experienced offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti, can know which signal caller gives their team the optimal chance for success. But for once, let it be known that the answer to that open-ended question is somewhat irrelevant. This team's success does not rest solely on the shoulders of Nate Longshore or Kevin Riley, despite the incessant and undying chatter to the contrary. Skeptics would be hard-pressed to believe that notion, pointing to a single play from Saturday's 42-27 loss to Arizona-an errant quick out to Verran Tucker that morphed into a touchdown for Wildcats cornerback Devin Ross and turned a one-point deficit into an uphill eight-point climb.
But turning that game-changing play into a game-defining one would be a slippery jump, to say the least. As most admitted after the game, the 15-point loss was not one where one scapegoat (as some may want to believe) was adequate. Everyone, as senior linebacker Anthony Felder bluntly stated after the game, had a hand in the mischief. "It wasn't one guy that caused a problem," Felder said. "It was one guy at a time. We were taking turns making mistakes, myself included, so now we have to tighten things up." Some may think that means tightening up Longshore's leash and throwing Riley back into the fray. In fact, it means getting back to what Cal has done all season. "Tightening things up" means returning to the formula that has typified the Bears' success in their four wins in 2008, and been glaringly absent in their two losses.
When Cal wins, its equation for success relies on one thing: Control. Control the line of scrimmage, the tempo and the special teams battle. In Saturday's loss, they only truly lived up to their potential in the latter area and lost control once momentum shifted towards the Wildcats. In their season-opener, they blasted a physical Michigan State team with 291 total yards from Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen, with Vereen touching the ball 13 times. Not to mention, they held the country's leading rusher, Javon Ringer, to three yards per carry.
On Saturday, while Best had 120 total yards, Vereen recorded only two touches in the game's first three quarters. They drifted from the run, even before the game got out of hand, with only five rushes total in the third quarter. Meanwhile, unheralded freshman Keola Antolin gashed the defense for 149 yards rushing. "(Arizona) controlled the line of scrimmage, at least off the edge," Tedford said. "Off-tackle, they did a nice job of blocking us ... You have to give them a lot of credit." When the Bears play to their strengths-and control the game the way they can-it's the opposing coach who delivers a similar refrain. And in that sense, Cal truly controls its own destiny.
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