By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter
As Joe Ayoob walked into his father's house Sunday, he casually threw his jacket and tie in the direction of a nearby chair, instead hitting mostly floor. "O for 11," cracked his father, also named Joe. The younger Ayoob, a junior quarterback for the Cal Bears, couldn't help but laugh at his dad's ribbing reference to his game the day before, when Ayoob went 0-for-10 passing in a 41-3 win over Sacramento State. "It was kind of joking about it to try to get over it," said Ayoob. And Ayoob insists that's exactly what has happened this week as he prepares to start tomorrow for the Bears against Washington at Husky Stadium. "I'm over it, my team is over it, and we are all just prepared to come out Saturday and try to play our game," Ayoob said.
That Ayoob is starting tomorrow wouldn't have been a surprise last winter, when he arrived at Cal as one of the most highly touted recruits in the country after a sophomore season at San Francisco Community College in which he threw for 3,679 yards and 35 touchdowns. Ayoob, who grew up in nearby San Rafael, was expected to immediately step in and replace the graduated Aaron Rodgers. But Ayoob struggled in the spring and was beaten out in fall camp by redshirt freshman Nate Longshore. "The mental part of the game was tough for me when I first came into camp," Ayoob said. "I grasped the mental part fairly well by the end but Nate was just more consistent than me." Ayoob was expected to play in the third quarter last week, but was thrust into action late in the second quarter when Longshore broke his ankle — Longshore will be out for the rest of the regular season. Ayoob missed on all 10 passes he threw — many by a wide margin, according to media accounts — before being replaced by third-teamer Steve Levy. But he got a vote of confidence the day after the game when Cal coach Jeff Tedford called and told him he would be the starter against UW.
Still, Tedford said this week that "I was a little shocked that Joe struggled like he did." But Tedford said there were a lot of mitigating circumstances — Ayoob came in as Cal was in the middle of running a two-minute drill and immediately started throwing rather than easing into the game; and at least two passes were dropped and another went awry due to miscommunication with the receiver. "He was making the right reads, so I was happy with that," Tedford said. Ayoob said he thinks some of his struggles "were due to nerves and it being the first game." But Ayoob also said his mechanics were a little off, that he was taking too many steps on some of his dropbacks, "which throws the timing off and then you're rushing the throw and the ball comes out high. I'm working this week on fixing the little things that had a lot to do with what happened Saturday."
Coach and player know, however, that Ayoob's mental state may loom largest. Tedford is sure to take some pressure off Ayoob by utilizing a running game that features super soph tailback Marshawn Lynch and an offensive line that might be the best in the Pac-10 and is one of the biggest in the nation, averaging 334 pounds from tackle to tackle. But considering UW's depth problems in the secondary, Cal seems certain to throw the ball a lot, as well, which will put the onus on Ayoob. "It's important for him to relax and understand that if he misses a couple, don't worry about it, we will be fine," Tedford said. Tedford tried to massage Ayoob's ego this week by relating the story of how Rodgers went 9 for 34 in a game against Oregon State midway through his first season at Cal but came back to be almost flawless the rest of the season. "If I get a couple of incompletions, I'm not going to worry about it," Ayoob said. "If the crowd gets on me, I'm going to try not to worry about it. I've never been in situations like that. If I don't complete my first couple passes I don't think I will be rattled, but you never know what will happen. "But all my teammates have faith in me, and I don't think they will let me get down."
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