Thursday, October 16, 2008

Daily Cal: Tuitama, Wildcats Pose 'Explosive' Threat

Link.

By Matt Kawahara

With the No. 25 Cal football team's defense emerging as its primary strength through the first five games of the season, this weekend's matchup against Willie Tuitama and the Arizona spread offense is shaping up to be its hardest test yet.   "When you take into consideration a veteran quarterback, explosive, talented receivers, a very good running back and a big-play tight end ... This is a very explosive offense," Bears coach Jeff Tedford said of the Wildcats. "I would say yes, this is the best offense we have played so far."

That includes the Rudy Carpenter-led attack of Arizona State that came into the season as a highly-touted unit and left Memorial Stadium two weekends ago humbled by Cal's aggressive 3-4. When asked to point out the differences between Tuitama and Carpenter, Tedford highlighted their pocket poise, saying that Carpenter is more of a "scrambler."  "Willie (Tuitama) doesn't live off of that," he said. "He is very disciplined and knows where he is going with the ball. He is very accurate throwing the football. He gets the ball out really quickly."   Tuitama ranks second in the Pac-10 in pass efficiency and has thrown just two interceptions in 188 attempts. Against the Bears in 2007, he set a school record by attempting 61 passes-largely because Arizona fell behind early-and completed 42, many of them short completions resulting from his quick release.

And unlike Carpenter, he isn't one to leave the pocket often-something that Bears defensive end Cameron Jordan sees as a positive.   "He just doesn't run out of the pocket every time he feels the pocket collapse, which is great for me," Jordan said. "I think Rudy just ran too much. As a defensive lineman, if anything I'm going to run 15 yards at the most, and Rudy was running from sideline to sideline. I'm just happy I might have a pocket quarterback this time."

Offensive Questions

After Cal tailback Jahvid Best dislocated his elbow on Sept. 27, Tedford named this Saturday as his "best-case scenario" return date.  Right now, that return is still up in the air.  Best was back in practice on Tuesday afternoon in his regular white jersey, albeit still sporting a brace on his left arm.  Tedford said that the team will "know better in the next day or two" whether or not Best will play at Arizona, and that Best's "rehab has come along very well."  Also uncertain is who will start at quarterback for the Bears. During the post-game press conference following Cal's win over Arizona State, Tedford said that senior Nate Longshore would "probably" get the start against the Wildcats.  However, in Tuesday's media luncheon, it seemed like that hadn't quite been settled.  "We have not made that decision yet," Tedford said. "They will both practice this week and we will evaluate that as the week goes on."

Bye Week Part Two

As part of a rather unorthodox schedule in 2008, the Bears had their second of three byes this past weekend.   That has led to a stop-and-go beginning of the season, which hasn't made it easy for Cal to ease into the week-to-week mindset that typically governs college football.  "Right now in the season, we have to get in the mode of game time every week," senior center Alex Mack said. "I would have liked to have one more game and then have a bye week just because it felt good to get in the mode of playing games."

Mack and the Bears do have to get into that mode now, as this Saturday marks the beginning of a five-week stretch of games.  "It's the second half of the season and now we get to have a second half kind of fresh," Mack said. "A lot of people got to go home, kind of refresh, and have a chance to come in to finish the season strong."

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