Does Nate Get More Chances?

Riley inspires and seems to play his best at the highest stakes moments

Your definition is nebulous. “Highest stakes”? What does that mean? Tied game? Trailing by 7? Up by 7? Cal didn’t trail the entire game, so there was never a “highest stake” moment. He had that one very impressive pass to Morrah.

Obviously the OSU ending sucked, but Tedford put him in that situation at the end of his very first game when they should have already been kicking.

Uh, there were 13 seconds left and time for one more play. And yet you blame Tedford. Good one.

I find it funny that Riley playing 2 and a half solid games immediately vaults him past Rodgers. Let him play an entire season before we start making those armchair judgments.

I’m sure we will gain a fairly large lead in at least one of the next three games (which are against opponents who looked between mediocre and poor this weekend). I would like to see Longshore put in during that time so he can get more comfortable out there. He has the physical tools and experience to perform well, but he didn’t look like himself out there last night. Unless we have a large lead or are at home with the lead, I will be uncomfortable with him out there until he can start performing to his potential again.

Is Tedford puts Nate back in it will really call into question his motives. If you recall when he handed over the reigns to Rodgers and benched then senior Robertson, he was decisive and stuck with his decision. Now I hear that Tedford will decide this week whether or not to continue the two QB system. I have to believe he only said that to placate Nate, but if not I would be seriously concerned.

Also, about all the booing of Nate. I think it was more an indictment of Tedford by the fans than being exclusively directed at Nate. Sure some of it was meant for Nate, but certainly not the majority of it. Given coaches exorbitant salary I figure he can take a few boo birds when he makes such a questionable personnel decision. I really hope this QB experiment is over. Many are already making the call that if there is any mop up duty in the future this season, it should be Brock and not Nate getting the snaps. I agree.

Cal fans are like little kids who can’t stand to see anyone’s feelings hurt. Nate is a senior, why should he still get playing time? What does he do to make this team better now or in the future? And, more importantly, it is obvious from the exit interviews of last season that a majority of the team became demoralized because they wanted Riley in. Nate had his chance, bless his little heart. Any other team would have kept him on the bench months ago. This ridiculous discussion long since silenced. Only in Berkeley now seems to apply to football.

First off, I have no problems with JT putting Nate in there during the 2nd. It was early in the game, nothing was really “on the line” and in all honesty, JT needed to see both Riley and Nate in an actual game situation.

After the 2nd pick, I think JT saw all he needed to see, and Nate was on the bench. Why this is some sort of point of contention or discussion is beyond me. Given that both Nate and Riley had good camps, JT needed to see both of them in real play. He did. That 1st int was equal parts bad choice by nate and outstanding play by the D. The second INT was all on Nate. And he was done afterwards.

As far as whether Nate sees the field again, well, yeah — he does. In garbage time. After all, it’s a long season, and Riley could get hurt. The last thing we want in that situation is a degraded, destroyed, and dejected Longshore coming in.

Seriously, if you guys need to gripe about something, it ought to be the pass defense, because it sucked loud and often. Way too many big plays given up by soft coverage. Too many 3rd and long conversions by MSU and too many open receivers. Teams like ASU, $C, and Oregon are going to kill us if that doesn’t get better.

passing skill is evident after seeing someone throw for a few games. He has that. Whether or not a QB is a good decision-maker, which is very important, does not become clear until much later. At this point, Nate has completely failed that test, and there is not really time for him to redeem himself. It seems like most of his INTs stem from him being locked into the first choice of whatever play is called, regardless of the coverage. Riley doesn’t have that problem, and he has every bit as much natural talent as Longshore does.