Defense had their best game of the season. The offesne was absolutely terrible. And can some find any stats for me on Ccal’s red zone offense? I think it has to be one of the worst in the country. Two times in this game, we were within 5 yards of the endzone, and we were never able to convert. Jordan Kay and our defense bailed out our offense that struggled finishing a drive.

Like I’ve iterated before, our defense, while the easy squad to blame for our losses, has been much more consistent than our offense. They nearly gave up the same number of points per game on average in our first 5 wins than in the 3 subsequent losses. We cannot squander our key scoring opportunities like this if we want to beat USC. And unfortunately, this is becoming a terrible pattern–we remember the Oregon State game, where we could convert on the one. Arizona State and ULCA also posed opportunities in our opponts territories where we didn’t get the ball in the endzone, and then didn’t even get the Field Goal.

Our offense is looking terrible–clearly, Longshore is not a 100%. With enough time in the pocket, he can make an accurate long ball throw. While that might be good enough for a Washington State, it won’t be for the USC defense who will apply more pressure on Longshore. I think the running game did get a little better this game, but still not where we should be. I am convinced that the running plays need to be amended to support Forsett’s strengths–Forsett is a much better ‘North-South’ runner than an ‘East-West’ runner. His body kinetics when changing direction are not quick enough to elude defenders. He is low to the ground and much more of a power runner who can muscle through traffic to pick up 4-8 yards per carry when things are going well. Of course, it helps to have the multi-dimensional offense and mix up the play calling to make sure Cal’s offense isn’t a predictable (like it was in the UCLA game).

I thought the play calling was better–it was nice to see some play actions on First down–we don’t usually hit it, but it’s a good sign to show our play calling is getting less conservative. What I don’t like on the playcard are the dinky screen passes thrown with no protection around the balll carrier–we are getting eaten alive by that play.

Craig Stevens has the magic hands–this guy is a 6′5 250-pound monster and he never drops the ball, always converting big plays (like 3rd and outs). I think incorporating this guy in a few plays is worth it. He is solid and hard to take down, and has a height, size, and power advantage over many defenders.

Turnovers and general ball handling are still a problem. We are not taking care of the ball–but here, luckily, our defense bailed us out by not allowing WSU to score. With a bigger, better faster team like USC, if we had those kind of turnovers, they will capitalize and get some points off of it. Even in this game, imagine WSU got a touchdown instead of a FG on one of our stupid turnovers. That would change the whole dynamic of this game, given that it was only a three-point victory. Our defense is young–our offense is experienced. The D will get better over time, but the offense should eb good now and scoring big on these teams. Longshore, as he is not 100%, needs to control the ball better too to avoid getting picked off. It’s almost expected now that he will picked off once or twice a game–in the first 5 games, he had only 2–since then, he’s been struggling to find his groove on the long ball.

Keys to beating USC are simple:

1. Good ball handling.
2. Build plays to open lanes for Forsett in the ‘North-South’ Barry Sanders-like style
3. Accurate kicking game (Kay was good in this game, but the kicks were from shorter distances)
4. Finishing drives in the red zone–our offense gets read like a book in the short field. Tedford needs to come up with some inventive plays to help us finish in these scenarios
5. Longshore needs to rework the long ball and keep getting healthier.
6. Defense needs to force turnovers by pressuring Booty and reading his plays to his favorite receivers.
7. Defense needs to prevent even the smallest movement on the round from Washington. If they sense weakness during gametime, Carroll is good at adapting and exploting weaknesses.

Longshore is gimpy, slow and has no confidence. Note to Tedford: When you run the option play, it helps if your quarterback can actually RUN!

Hawkins had a good game but dropped two very catchable passes while wide open. If Forset doesn’t bust the 42 yarder in the 4th it could have been a lot closer.

Hopefully the BEARS get fired up for next week and play like they did against Oregon and Tennessee, not like they have over the last 4 wks!