The day after WSU

I can’t believe you posted this. (-: Your worries in my estimation are wholly unfounded. While you are right that Riley had an off game, you are wrong in assuming it was because of him. Generally, when a team is running the ball exceptionally well, say when a running back scores on the first play, with an 8o yarder, the QB will have troubles. They need that first drive to help settle them down and find their rhythm. Unfortunately our success running the ball made that impossible, and as a result Riley suffered. I’m not making excuses here, it’s scientific fact. (-; So, no need to worry, SoCalOski, all will be fine. OK? I will expand on this further after a few cups of coffee.

hahah, only us Cal fans could find fault with a 66-3 blowout win. But, nonetheless, I do agree that there were some moments there where Riley can make improvements. Mostly on his long passes near the end of the first half. He threw a 15 yard TD pass to Sean Young, but passes beyond that generally were overthrown.

Remember, it was still only his 3rd start. And his first start on the road. And its better that he has these trials in a 66-3 blowout when it doesn’t matter than a key game down the stretch like UCLA or USC.

I do now have a greater appreciation of why the coaching staff had him throwing a lot of short passes last week against MSU.

The best champions rise to the occasion. Well, Riley rose about as high as he could yesterday. It was all the occasion would allow. 66-3 is a beautiful, beautiful thing. If the occasion is more important in the future, (i.e. SC, ASU) he will rise to it.

We’re 23 and 25 in the AP and Coaches’ poll, respectively. UCLA fell out of the rankings, much to my delight.

By the time Riley really got on to the field, we had an insurmountable lead. I don’t think we ever tried throwing on first down. The exception was the drive before halftime, where we were practicing the two minute drill. On that series, they knew we weren’t going to call timeouts, and could easily just fall into deep coverage.

This was such a blowout, we never actually had a normal offensive series, and no larger trends can be gained from it.

Except of course, that our running backs are at their most dangerous from 80+ yards out.

JO wonders if we’re really that good or is WSU is really that bad.

“It’s all about maturity,” linebacker Worrell Williams said. “Coach (Jeff Tedford) came in at half(time) and said, ‘How mature are we going to be?’ " Pretty mature, if you listen to Mack.
"We need to learn from this game,” he said, “because it’s not always going to be two plays and a touchdown. It’s going to be 16 plays and a touchdown.” Starting, well, maybe not next weekend at Maryland, which lost Saturday to Middle Tennessee. Possibly the following week against Colorado State. Definitely the week after that against Arizona State.

SFGate article saying Best will soon become a household name.

“The whole country is going to see what Jahvid is all about now,” Williams said. “They’ll see what he did today, and they’ll be talking about him. They’ll be talking about both him and Shane.”

Ted Miller looks at what we learned from week 2 in the Pac-10.

2. California is back: A solid win over Michigan State, plus a 66-3 stomping of Washington State on the road, suggests that the Bears are right there with Oregon and Arizona State as teams jostling behind USC. They were outstanding on both sides of the ball against the Cougars, piling up 505 total yards while holding Washington State to just 167. And after posting a pair of 80-plus TD runs, does RB Jahvid Best officially earn a spot on the Heisman Trophy watch list?

Ted Miller recognizes our defense and Jahvid Best as two of the top three Pac-10 performers yesterday (the other was a very worthy Rudy Carpenter).

California RB Jahvid Best: Some running backs never get an 80-yard TD run their entire careers. Best had TD runs of 80 and 86 yards in the Golden Bears’ 66-3 bludgeoning of Washington State. Best finished with 200 yards on 14 carries and three TDs. And he’s got to be on the cusp of entering the Heisman Trophy discussion.
The California defense: The Cal unit nips Arizona State’s fine effort against Stanford because the Bears held Washington State to 173 total yards and three points on the road. A dominant performance for a team that appears to be coming together.

I share the concerns as well but as I thought about it, as much as we all love Riley, he is still a RS Sophomore making his 3rd start. He is bound to have games where he isn’t firing on all cylinders. AR has a few tough games his first season as well but managed to turn out all right in the end.

I think the main positive it that even if the QB has an off day there are still plenty of weapons on offense for the team to stay competitive and that the defense seems to be able to not let a game turn into a blow out. (I’m not sure if they’ll steal a game just yet, but Syd’s ball hawking is nice to see)

I think Riley may have also got caught up with the huge running plays and wanted to add some big passes to balance things out and his youthful exuberance got the best of him.

4 catches for 70 yards, 17.5yards/catch, 47long

Hank Baskett has 90 yards but just on one catch.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/boxscore?gid=20080907021

Damn, why didn’t anyone bother to mention the Jets v Dolphins game is on! I am not ashamed to say I hope Favre fails miserably. The way he treated Rodgers was atrociously disgusting! I hope Ricky plays well. I love that guy. Stay away from the bud, buddy.

DESEAN WITH A BIG RETURN!

And I’ve been able to watch the whole game! Mebane’s getting pushed around by the Bills O-line.

Bills have blown it open (WOOOO!) on a fake field goal wideout. Might see some Forsett.

From the Bleeding Green website:

Desean’s dazzling debut

The rookie from Cal was the unquestioned standout of the preseason and so far it looks like that was no fluke. Desean showed no signs of slowing down as he turned in quite possibly the best debut from an Eagles rookie WR ever. Forget rookie WR, that was one of the best debuts from any Eagle rookie period. He was a constant threat on both offense and special teams racking up 206 total yards.

Jackson led the team with 6 catches for 106 yards averaging over 17 yards a catch. Desean is the first rookie to go over 100 yards recieving on opening day since Anquan Boldin.

I might have to start working in front of the tv in 15 minutes so I can watch Just TurnOvers QB our team.