By Jay Heater
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
BERKELEY - Cal coach Jeff Tedford had a hard time understanding the numbers. It just wasn't what he saw. After the Bears' 41-13 victory over New Mexico State on Friday night in Las Cruces, N.M., Tedford expected to see that the Aggies had rolled up lots of yards against a Bears defense that often utilized a three-man defensive line. Instead, he saw that New Mexico State had thrown for 164 yards and had accumulated 342 yards. Those were quite acceptable numbers. "I would have been totally wrong," Tedford said. "I just didn't feel that. I definitely thought they had the ball longer in terms of time of possession, but we had it three minutes longer." Part of the reason Tedford might have had a different feel could have been defensive coordinator Bob Gregory's decision to go primarily with a three-man line, a scheme that bucks Gregory's image as a guy who prefers an attacking, aggressive style of play.
Gregory usually goes with two defensive tackles and two defensive ends. When he switches to the three-man front, he takes out a defensive end and adds a defensive back. The result Friday was more of a bend-but-don't-break style of play that allowed the Aggies' spread offense to move the ball with short passes and runs but pretty much wiped out any threat of a big play. In the end, Cal's defense didn't allow a touchdown. "The three-man line gives you better coverage but less pressure on the quarterback," Gregory said. "I like it at the right times. It gives you good pass coverage and allows you to blitz." However, Cal had just two sacks in a game that featured 39 passes by the Aggies. The linebackers who did blitz often ran into offensive linemen who weren't occupied.
"That's the dilemma," Gregory said. "You are going to get good coverage but less pressure. And I think what hurt us on Friday was a few times when the quarterback scrambled."
It's doubtful that Gregory will go with the three-man defensive line very often on Saturday against visiting Arizona's more conventional offense. However, he said he will break out the strategy on occasion. The scheme probably would be utilized more against a team such as Oregon, which uses a version of the spread offense. "You just have to pick and choose the times you use it," Gregory said. "We looked at Texas Tech last season and that was a team that gave up just seven sacks all year. You think, 'We're not going to get to him anyway.' "We all love three-and-outs, but it's not always going to be that way. And if you look at the long drives that New Mexico State had, about four of them were kept alive by our own penalties on third down." When Gregory goes to a three-man defensive line, he often moves tackle Brandon Mebane out to defensive end. Mebane doesn't have the speed off the edge that ends usually possess, but Gregory said the switch causes problems for offensive tackles. "Brandon is such a different kind of player than what they usually see," Gregory said. "And he is such a load." Mebane had seven tackles, double what he had in the first three games combined.
"I like playing defensive end," Mebane said. "It's a good experience for me, especially if somebody goes down and I need to switch." However, Mebane knows that Cal has less muscle up on the front line when Gregory goes to the three-man front. "It's tough," Mebane said. "But our goal is to keep pushing through." The Bears have been doing just that so far. They lead the Pac-10 in scoring defense (13.2 points per game) and are second in overall defense (309.2 yards per game).
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