By Rob Calonge
If you were told that Cal would only have one offensive lineman start all 12 games at the same position, their top receiver would average a little over two receptions per game, they would lose their starting tailback for a few games and play with him injured for a few more, and that Jeff Tedford would have trouble determining who his starting quarterback was throughout the season, how many games would you have predicted the Bears to win? Normally, with so many different scenarios playing out, you'd think that this would be a team in turmoil on the losing side of most of the games they played. The word "normal" does not apply to the Bears' extraordinary depth and coaching, so thankfully for Bears fans this season wasn't a bust by any measure. Cal finished the regular season at 8-4, and while losing to USC and Arizona are probably the two most stinging losses, there is plenty of reason for everyone rooting for Cal to be optimistic. Even though seniors Zack Follett, Alex Mack, Rulon Davis, Will Ta'ufo'ou, Worrell Williams, Nate Longshore, and Anthony Felder are all finishing up their Cal career at the Emerald Bowl, many are just getting ready to make their impact on the program next season.
For the Bears, not winning the Pac-10 title and going to the Rose Bowl is definitely a goal not achieved, but with so many returning players that received their christening into the world of FBS football this season, it should only make them better in 2009. What worked? What didn't? It's too early to hand out the Cal Bears Examiner football awards, but it's not too early to rate the performance of Cal's positions: QB, RB, WR, TE, OL, DL, LB, DB, P, K, and Special Teams. On a scale of 1-5 stars, we rate them here. Be sure to let us know how we did in the comments below.
Here's the scale:
5 - Dominant - No weakness / perfect play all season long
4 - Strength of the team - Very good all-around play with very few mistakes.
3 - Average - Played well at times, but wasn't as consistent to be a strength.
2 - Below average - This position was a weakness on the team.
1 - Sub Par - This position needs an overhaul.
QB - 3
Kevin Riley and Nate Longshore shared this position, with Brock Mansion getting garbage-time opportunities on several occasions. While this position was a strength when it came to depth, Tedford made three quarterback changes during the season because of the inconsistent play at the position. Looking forward, Riley will have another year of experience under his belt and should be the type of quarterback that he was expected to be coming out of high school.
RB - 4
It's hard to fault Jahvid Best for being injured for part of the season, but thanks to the running by Shane Vereen and Tracy Slocum, the Bears didn't have any issues with handing the ball off when Best was out. There were a few games where the Cal running game wasn't extraordinary, and for that reason we can't give them a perfect rating.
WR - 1
While this low of a rating can be attributed to several factors, there were many dropped balls and blanketed receivers during the season that if it hadn't been for the running backs and the tight end, the Bears would've been running the wishbone offense. Only two actual wide receivers (Nyan Boateng 26 and Verran Tucker 20) caught 20 or more balls on the season. In fact of the top five pass-catchers for the Bears, Best (27), Vereen (25), and tight end Cameron Morrah (26) were a big reason that the Bears didn't scrap the passing game completely.
TE - 4
We have a rule in these ratings - no half-stars! If we could do a half-star, this is where it would be. Since we would rate the tight end position as 3.5, we instead act like good little math students and round-up appropriately. Morrah was a big reason that the Bears were able to move the ball at times, but there were also dropped passes and disappearing acts in games too. In the end, his blocking on running plays and his pass catching abilities moved this grade up to where it is. Luckily for the Bears, Morrah is a junior and will be better when he comes back next year.
OL - 3
Alex Mack was a star this season, but it takes five guys to make an offensive line. While there weren't any glaring weaknesses on the season as a whole, they were often inconsistent in their run-blocking and their protection in the passing game was shaky often. This is probably the toughest to grade since it requires all five guys to play at a high level. For the most part, these guys did enough to warrant the 'average' rating, but had they been just a hair better we could've raised the grade. Injuries and personnel shifting didn't help this grade either.
DL - 4
Injuries play an important role in this rating. Against lesser competition, this group was a force on the field, but when they played the better opponents in the Pac-10, their contributions were limited. Even so, when the defense ranks 26th against the rush and 24th overall, you have to give credit to the linemen for doing their jobs. In a 3-4 defense, most of the big plays go to the linebackers and the safeties, while the guys up front eat space. There is good news for Cal is that they have nearly everyone returning on the line. While they'll miss Rulon Davis and Mika Kane, they have plenty of experienced talent to step in and fill the void.
LB - 4
This was easy. The top three tacklers on the defense were linebackers, the top tackler for loss was a linebacker, and the top sacker on the defense was a linebacker. They weren't perfect, but they were good. It's only a shame that they play in the same conference as the linebackers down south at USC. Had they played together in another conference, they may have gotten more recognition.
DB - 4
Cal ranked 5th in the nation in pass efficiency defense. That's good coverage. For those of you unfamiliar with the stat, that's the opposing quarterback rating for the opponents that they faced this season. What was that stat? 97.01. You could take a college course on calculating passing efficiency, but according to Wikipedia, if you completed every pass for a 99-yard touchdown, you'd have a rating of 1,261.6 and if every pass was for a 99-yard loss, it would be -731.6. The nation's leader had a passing efficiency of 186.28, while Cal's Riley ranked 78th with a 117.85. In other words, the Bears holding opponents to sub-100 is outstanding. This group was the closest to getting a perfect rating.
P - 3
Bryan Anger made the CFN Freshman All-American first-team and was in the running for the Ray Guy Award for the best college punter in the nation, but he also had some trouble at times with consistency. One thing that Cal has had during the Tedford era is good punting, and Anger just may be the finest yet. He also suffered blocked punts and missed snaps, but that is probably due to him being a freshman. It's exciting to think of what's on the horizon for such a raw talent who averaged 43.65 yards-per-punt in his first season as a starter.
K - 2
Another freshman, Giorgio Tavecchio, walked on to the roster and finished the season as the team's kicker. He finished strong, but the kicking game was a problem for half the season. This rating is for the entire season, but it would definitely be four-stars for the last three games. As with the punting game, the future is bright when it comes to kicking.
Special Teams - 3
The Bears didn't have much trouble returning punts with Syd'Quan Thompson (12.29 ypr) handling the duties. When Best was returning kicks, he was ranked fifth in the nation, but his injury caused trouble for the return team. After trying several players, Jeremy Ross (19.82 ypr) handled the duties and got better every game. The trouble was with the coverage units. They allowed a touchdown on both the punt and kick teams and opponents averaged 20.67 yards on kick-returns and 12.55 yards on punts. The punt returns may have something to do with a punter kicking the ball out of the stadium, but there were still break-downs causing an otherwise good unit to fall to average.
Cal's Season - 4
It wasn't perfect. In some ways, it was a ho-hum year, but in others it was a great success. The team was young, coming off of the collapse of 2007, and in many ways still regrouping from it. While they aren't ranked (right now), they aren't going to the Rose Bowl, and they weren't in the top three in the Pac-10, they finished the regular season 8-4 and took back the axe. They also finished undefeated at home, which in the Pac-10 isn't as easy as it sounds. In the end, it may not be what Bear Backers wanted, but it's a big improvement over the 2007 season.
No comments:
Post a Comment