Tedford should keep the faith with Ayoob

Marin Indepedent Journal
Dave Albee
BERKELEY
In his much-anticipated debut with the Cal Bears yesterday in front of a record home-season opening crowd of 65,938 at Memorial Stadium, Joe Ayoob was perfect. Holding the ball for placekicker Tom Schneider, that is. Ayoob was 7-for-7. Passing the ball? Oh, boy. This is going to take some explaining. Hold on. Be patient.
Ayoob, the former Terra Linda High School quarterback, was 0-for-10 in his Division 1-A debut against Sacrificial, er, Sacramento State, a Division 1-AA team whose pass defense in its last three games of a three-win season last year allowed an average of 394 yards. Nevertheless Ayoob could start - and should start - next Saturday when the Bears play Washington in Seattle. Why? Simple faith.
Faith that Cal coach Jeff Tedford believes that his prized junior college recruit is better than the alternative - former fullback-turned-quarterback Steve Levy - now that Bears starting QB Nate Longshore is out three months with a fractured fibula.
"I think Joe's very resilient. I think Joe's mentally tough," said Tedford, who said he will reach a decision on his starter tomorrow. "Now is the time to stay behind him more than ever and let him come out and get better." Faith, too, that Ayoob can do the job Tedford brought him from City College of San Francisco to Berkeley to do. Faith that that 0-fer was a total fluke.
"I just have to show him that's not who I am. The way I threw the ball is not the way I throw the ball on a consistent basis," said Ayoob, who was a stand-up guy yesterday in answering post-game questions and skepticism. "I'm better than that and I just hope that he has the faith that he knows I'm better than that and just come out next week and show him. Show everybody." Ayoob replaced the injured Longshore in the second quarter but Ayoob was benched in third and replaced by Levy, a 6-foot-1 junior who last season was a third-string fullback for the Bears. Levy had worse luck than Ayoob. His first collegiate pass was intercepted. But the guy who intercepted it fumbled and Cal recovered and things got much better for Levy. His first completed pass was a 46-yard touchdown.
Ayoob's first completed pass was nearly a touchdown, too. But he underthrew DeSean Jackson at the 1-yard line on an out pattern. The closest Ayoob came to completing a pass was to an ineligible receiver. But tight end Craig Stevens dropped it anyway, then the Bears were penalized five yards because one of its wide receivers lined up on the line of scrimmage outside Stevens on his side of the field, making Stevens ineligible.
About the only thing that was wide open that Ayoob hit yesterday was the cross bar on the goal posts on the north end of the field in pregame warm-ups. It's apparently a tradition for Cal quarterbacks to toss a football before home games from the 30-yard line at the cross bar 40 yards away.
Ayoob is convinced he can hit moving targets, too. "I just need to deliver the ball and I'm not too worried about it because I know that's one thing I can do," Ayoob said. "I've just got to come out and forget about this week and play next week."
Ayoob admitted to being amped-up, overexcited and nervous about playing in his first big-time college football game. That may account for the fact that most of his passes were overthrows.
"It wasn't just high. They didn't have a lot on them," Tedford said. "You can contribute a lot of that to nerves, first game, trying to be too perfect. Probably trying to make it happen too hard where you've just got to relax and let it flow and play unconsciously. That happens when you put too much pressure on yourself and you try to be perfect."
Ayoob, at least statistically, wasn't perfect. He can't remember having a worse game and it came on his mother's birthday. "I've never had one like this. Not even close," Ayoob said. Still, the Bears quarterback said he was bothered when Tedford took him out of the game. Ayoob said his confidence was wavering to the point that he was conscious of his streak of incomplete passes.
"When you start thinking about that, that's when you have problems," Ayoob said. "I feel if I had had just one completion and kind of got that first one out of the way I would have been fine. I just didn't get that first one." Maybe Tedford could have called a screen pass or a short swing pass out of the backfield just to get Ayoob settled. The Cal coach was somewhat miffed at that suggestion.
"Those throws were not about mental things. They were very straight forward," Tedford said. "He can throw it better than that. I know that. And that's what the good thing is about. That."
That's Cal spin. Ayoob's performance was an aberration. Ayoob was pleased with how he read defenses and Tedford didn't mention any concerns about Ayoob's decision making. Yet Ayoob, who has insinuated he's a better game-day player than practice player, has something to prove and he's got little time to do it.
"I'm going to have to see something a little different from practice," Tedford said. "There's no such thing as just a game player. We've got to see it in practice."
That said, Tedford is wisely giving Ayoob the benefit of doubt in game that amounted to a glorified scrimmage. Yesterday's game was expected to be so lopsided that Las Vegas didn't even enter a betting line on it.
In the end, Tedford assumes Ayoob will throw the football with more authority against the Huskies than the way he floated it against the Hornets. "There's no way we're giving up on him," the Cal coach said. "I'm sure he's disappointed. He's not used to playing like that, I'm sure, but he's got to hang in there.
"These are the times when you don't play to your potential that you really have to bounce back. We'll stay behind him and keep him going." So Ayoob, hopefully, can show Tedford - and everybody - what he can really do. Throw out the 0-for-10 and keep the faith.