CGB Report Card: Grading Cal's Performance Against Arizona

Some of our CGB regulars recently had their first children.  So, to Carp and ZooNews, I present to you a few tricks from a seasoned Cal dad.  Use these to ensure your kids never get in the way of Cal football.  Because you gotta have priorities:

Kodiak - Well, I was the somewhat negligent dad and used every trick in the book to distract the 3 year-old and 5-month old so that I could watch the game.  I noticed that the Bears seemed to play better whenever I took a swig of beer, so I cowboy'd up.  I launched the 3 year-old into the air with "Go Bears!" when we stopped then in the 4th and when Vereen had his back-breaking run.  She told me, "I hope the blue people win so I can fly again, Da Da."  Well-lubricated by this point, we did victory laps throughout the house.

Let nobody ever say we're bad parents here!

Gameday

Goldblooded - i stayed in bed watching the game on the justin.tv feed on my laptop. i had to deal with obnoxious AZ fan posters who i then got to type angry things to after we won. i also coughed up a 12 oz. tub of lung butter.

Rocksndirt - f*n direct tv doesn't show Versus in our area, so the usual nice quiet bar i watch the games at didn't have it.  Had to go to the 'Grad', which is nice enough, but....1) they play music, and game audio, 2) UCDavis had a home game and won, 3) the food blows.

That said Whoo Hoo, go bears!

LeonPowe - So, we were 0-2 (Oregon and Oregon State) slingboxing at my apartment, so we decided to go switch it up and go to my friend's place for Slingboxing (also, I remembered to listen to the Cal Band CD [3-0] and wear my Top Dog t-shirt [4-0])

But we couldn't get the Slingbox to work - I blamed it on my Cal friend's brother (password was gotrojans) - so we were listening to Starkey trying to get the Slingbox to work. . . then I noticed a button on the menu "No Picture?" - clicked it, and it said - the power was probably off and to press it to turn on and EUREKA . .. picture for the 2nd half!

Also the fuzzy nature of the Slingbox made it really difficult to discern if catches were happening, but we got loud in Shanghai during the last drive. And nerdy - 5 people, 8 laptops were open.

coolingfan - The final 5 minutes of the game drove me frenzy, and I'm just grateful that we are on the winning side of this crazy game -- it was by far the most entertaining game I watched this season.

secret ASian man - Drunk on Tightwd Hill and was still able to rush the field. Life is good.  I'm having fun at Kip's right now, what a novel idea. EMERALD BOWL! WOOT!

sierrabear - Record the game and begin watching after 45 minutes have elapsed to avois commercials through the 3rd quarter.  Scream at the Cal D for missing tackles, run dancing through the house when Vereen scores the icing TD

BleedinBlue - Woke up 'round 1130 am and debated driving 60 miles to see Cal lose to Arizona. 8 hours later, am very glad that I made it out! Vereen's game sealing TD run left me with a sense of euphoria I haven't gotten from a Cal game in a long time. To boot, the game finished around 7 and I was pleasantly surprised to find my favorite taco stand at Bancroft and Telegraph.

C98 - Got a stiffy when Vareen busted that 61 yard run and I'm not afraid to admit it. So who's with me? Come on, who's with me. ... well, I'm taking the fish!

CALumbus Bear - So I woke up early to play golf in unseasonably warm Ohio weather.  Played pretty well, almost had an eagle (missed the putt but tapped in for birdie), drank some beer at what was 8 am on the West Coast (11 am local so I'm not technically a huge lush). 

So the early part of my day was like Star Wars. I was bummed watching stanfurd pimpslap USC left and right, and also got bummed watching Ohio State get to go to yet another Rose Bowl (yawn). I realized we were about to get stomped by AZ, would likely get curbstomped by stanfurd the following week, and we'd see someone other than Cal beat up on a weak Big 10 team in the Rose Bowl.

So the middle part of my day was clearly the Empire Strikes Back.  I had a nice dinner right before the Cal game, and I watched as our defense held it together and we played just well enough to beat what I thought was a far superior team.  I was jumping around and screaming as we held on 4th down and when Vereen did a Best impersonation with a long run for a TD.  I also screamed a bit when we blew the PAT, but that just made the very end of the game that much more exciting.  We then popped a good California wine to celebrate a great California win.  So that part of my day was Return of the Jedi, without the Ewoks.

ososdeseoro - Lunch at the faculty club, tried to figure out whether I was happy about the USC/Stanfurd game (answer, yes, because now the Card will be full of themselves for next week, but did they have to break our record of 52 points as the most ever scored against USC(!?), and by the way Fox Radio said that Notre Dame held the previous record with 51). Voice held up the whole game. Great sunset. Brrr. Beer.

rollonubears - Met Twist, Rags, and Turkey (plus a few others?). Twist did not honk me.

Ohio Bear - I had my drink on before this thing started, having attended a family gathering at which there was a keg and extra large beer mugs.  Prolly a good thing, as it took the edge off.  My emotions prolly would've have been much more pronounced without the pregame imbibing.  I really thought we'd blown it by not putting them away in the 3rd quarter when we had the chance.  And then I was beside myself with the thought of, "We're so pathetic now, that we have to play for a field goal on purpose with 3 minutes left in the game?!?"  But then the euphoria of the illegal double pass and 4th down stop, followed immediately by the the jizz in my pants when Vereen scored.  I nearly collapsed at the buzz kill when Mansion WTF'd the PAT.  My history of Cal fandom was telling me that Arizona would score and send the game to OT.  All's well that ends well!

NorCalNick - Spectacular game.  Spent the first half with Rollonubears and Ragnarok and the 2nd half losing my voice and spraining my ankle in the student section.  The defense stopping Arizona over and over in the 2nd half was easily the best moment/performance of the season so far.

 

Berkelium97 - I decided to take the day off from watching football.  Instead, I joined Mrs Berkelium and a friend of ours (USC alum) on their shopping trip.  Big mistake.  They shopped for FIVE HOURS.  Midway through, I found out USC lost and our USC friend and I were quite disappointed.  I was exhausted when we finally got home.  After not watching a single snap of football since OSU@Cal, I was encouraged by the 1-point deficit at halftime.  I watched the third quarter before joining the two for dinner.  I found out Cal won and was thrilled! Moral of the story: never give up football and more importantly, never go shopping with more than one female at a time.

grouchyBear - Small-ish crowd got into it and really made some noise.  You could see the team feeding off the energy.  Considering last week's game, this was an amazing turn around.

QB

Goldblooded - Riley didn't have too bad of a game considering the INTs and sacks. He was under 60% completion AND threw a redzone pick but he didn't piss away the game like Longshore or Ayoob. I'll defend him any day after we come back for an upset win.

coolingfan - It was so unlike Riley today, making bad decisions. The first pick was a bad throw but the second pick was a pure misjudgement. There were times where he hung onto the ball too long, taking sacks that were avoidable.

Jake - Riley came very close to giving the game away multiple times.  Both picks could not have come at worse times.

BleedinBlue - Riley underthrew one pass, intended for Boateng, for a pick and then threw a pass to a Wildcat DB. Seems to have trouble making passes to receivers running laterally, away from him; I think someone on CGB has remarked that he has difficulty leading receivers in those situations. Also had trouble protecting the ball. He did make some clutch passes, though. However, this game was on despite Riley's overall efforts.

Kodiak  - Classic Riley game.  Flickers of brilliance interspersed with some bad reads and bad throws.  The two INTs were uncharacteristic, but I think he was pressing and trying to make something happen.  Unfortunately, the first was a bad throw and the 2nd was bad throw and a horrible decision.  He showed better touch on the short and intermed stuff, however.  And getting us to a FG in less than two minutes at the end of the 1st half turned out to be a pretty big deal.

BatmanSF - Two awful picks (unusual for Riley, that's not normally his issue), but some big completions, and of course an incredible block.  I am just tired of people coming down on him so hard.  He is 4th ranked QB in Pac-10, he has thrown 15 TDs and only 5 picks, he has guts, and quite frankly, his OL has abandoned him at time.  Not the best, but certainly not the worst!

ososdeoro - (C+) I like Riley, but if the defense doesn't play its game of the year (so far, they'll do better next week), we lose because of his three turnovers. What the TV didn't show on the first INT is that TWO receivers were wide open short with no one on them yet he chose to throw to Boetang, who also had a bit of a jump, but it was against two defenders and the throw was against the grain. From the north the second INT looked like he just overthrew someone, but on the TV it was the OL failing to pick up a blitz.

NorCalNick - Although the interceptions can at least be partially blamed on pressure, both were poor throws and have to fall to Riley.  Still, when Riley was given time and an open receiver he usually hit the mark, and gained lots of yardage when he did (13 yards per completion).  If you took away the INTs it would have been acceptable.

Berkelum97 - Kevin Riley had a forgettable day after throwing two picks.  One was a poor attempt of getting rid of the ball on a near-sack and the other one was badly underthrown (since when does Riley underthrow anything?).  Riley's accuracy seems to be getting better, however.  I've been noticing fewer wildly inaccurate passes in recent weeks.

RB

Goldblooded - GRA-VY SHANE! GRA-VY SHANE! GRA-VY SHANE! Covaughn looked good on his single run too! Liked it. Do not like the stuffed runs up the middle.

furrybear - Shane already had 100+ yards before he broke loose for that game ending run, but really it was that final run that put the game away.

JKK - To be honest, we faired better with Vereen than with Best.  Best probably could not have gained 3-4 yards constantly as Vereen did.  Would like to have seen more of DeBoskie-Johnson carry the ball.

BleedinBlue - Shannanay, or Shane Train, or Clutch, is a beast. Time after time he ran up the middle and picked up tough yards, and then he went for Arizona's jugular with his 61 yd TD. I remember looking at Shane and Jahvid's recruiting class and thinking Jahvid would be the one to make a big impact, but, man, Vereen's a pretty killer back, too. Neh?

C98 - Shane Vareen is a stud. His downhill style brings an element JB doesn't have. He was muscling for those extra 3-4 yards all night long. Vareen/DeBoskie is gonna be good next year (and anyone can hope and speculate and drum up all the reasons you want - Jahvid Best is gone). 

Kodiak -  Vereen actually seemed a little off his game.  He seemed hesitant hitting the holes and spent more time dancing than usual.  On the other hand, how can you fault the guy's heart?  He was dragging guys and fighting for those extra inches on every play.

Wish we could have seen more Debo or even Isi to give their D a different look and keep Vereen fresh.  In his one carry, Debo showed some nice burst.

NorCalNick - Shane Vereen was clearly the offensive MVP, perhaps even before he broke off a 61 yard touchdown that should have iced the game.  30 carries is a monster effort, and he consistently found holes, pushed tacklers forward and even once gave the best Jahvid impression I've ever seen when he reversed field on a crazy run for 10 yards.

Berkelium97 - Shane was great out there.  He carried the team on his back and was instrumental to this win.  What he lacks in top speed (though he's still silly fast) he makes up in shiftiness and tackle-breaking.  I'm glad to see he can be an every-down back too.  I thought DeBo would get more touches, but Shane did a great job by himself.

WR

rurata - I don't really remember a lot of drops.  I remember Lagemann making a couple great catches.

JKK  -  Jones and Lageman have become very reliable, especially important in absense of Anthony Miller.
Curran made a nice grab in the endzone.  We no longer get the deep ball into the hands of Tucker or Boetang, as we would love to see more, but we dont see too many drops lately. Thats a good thing.

BleedinBlue - Dropsies, clutch catches, and what looked like routes that weren't run correctly. We got a mixed bag with these guys, today, and it certainly wasn't what Kevin Riley needed.

BatManSF - Not bad, although Tucker and Ross could be more consistent.  It seems to me like Marvin Jones should be getting 8-10 balls a game.  Would also like to see more of Lageman.  I wish Anthony Miller would come back

NorCalNick - Jones, Tucker, and Lagemann all had solid days and I don't recall many drops.  All of our receivers took vicious hits but held on.  Ideally I would have like to see more guys open, but it was still a solid if unspectacular performance.

iVinshe - No AWWWWWW drops that I can remember a day later, which is....an improvement, to say the least.

Run Blocking

Sec119 - I saw holes open up, real genuine bona fide holes I tell you!  It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.  And you just have to accept that any team, including Cal, won't open up 10-yard-wide holes in the line every single play.

BleedinBlue - On one hand, Shane got 150+. On the other hand, too many times he found himself facing defenders behind the line of scrimmage. I guess I'm giving the  O-line a "Good" rather than "Fair" because Shane was able to get that 61 yard TD. Hopefully they'll do just as well or step up for the last 2 games

Kodiak - Hit and miss throughout the game.  Didn't do a terrific job opening holes, but at least we weren't dominated.  Kinda sad that our standards have fallen so low.  In fairness, Az has a fast, aggressive defensive with almost all seniors in the front 7.  A lot of plays got blown up due to blitzes or because the D had a pretty darn good idea of what we were going to do.

GBears81 - Much improved over last week, but still nothing close to 2004 or 2006.  Backs still hit in backfield too frequently.  However did seem to be playing harder and getting more push.  OL seemed to play with more passion and shows in game results.

NorCalNick - Better, still not as good as we'd hoped for.  Vereen usually had tiny lanes and holes, but nothing bug enough for huge gainers like greedy Cal fans have come to expect.  Still, Arizona has a stout run defense and Cal would have had a solid day even without Shane's 61 yard topper.

Berkleium97 - I can't complain about 5.5 ypc (which does not include Riley).  I'm relieved that the numbers should only go up against the not-so-great defenses of Stanford and Washington.

iVinshe - The blocking that produced the Vereen run was what was a part of nearly every game last year, and what I've been waiting on this year. That element of "Okay, we're kind of due for a long....YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!" really makes the game that much more exciting. Grade lowered by penetration in the backfield on a few occasions.

Pass Protection

Goldblooded - Well, Riley got off the passes when he needed to, sometimes he got sacked. Our O-line leaves much to be desired. I blame myself for not coaching them better.

rurata - Pretty bad.  4 sacks allowed today?  There was one sack I remember where the D-line just passed right through the O-line like they weren't even there.  At first I thought it was a screen pass, but then Riley got picked in the endzone, and I realized just how bad our O-line really is.

BleedinBlue - Pass pro? What pass pro? Did anyone see any pass pro?

Well, ok, so there was pass protection. But not enough of it; see Kevin Riley getting sacked and pressured for more details.

CALumbus Bear - We were ok to ok minus.  I think if our O-line were minus Tepper we'd be plus 1000.  Dear Tepper, we hope you put your Cal degree to good use somewhere, and the Gold Bears thank you for your 6 years of service, but the time has come for you to leave and take your holding/false starts/standing still while allowing the defense to run around you elsewhere.

NorCalNick - Riley took a few sacks, but most of the time I got the sense that he was holding onto the ball for too long.  I'll get a better idea if I get the chance to rewatch the game but the pass blocking seemed much improved over the OSU game.

Run Defense

Goldblooded - We did well stopping that large fellow, keeping him under 4 ypc. I wasn't worried whenever I saw a run play keyed up.

JKK - Antolin ran all over us last year. Not today.  Stopping Quizz last week and Antolin this week, we certainly see improvement.  A totally different style back in Gerhart, it will be another challenge next week.

BleedinBlue - For the most part, the defense kept Arizona's running game in check. Most runs were under 5 yards, few were under 10, and there was that one play by Antolin where he disappeared amidst the scuffle in the trenches and reappeared 30 or so yards downfield. Aside from that run, I'd say our run D was pretty damn stout.

NorCalNick - EAT IT YOU FLAT IRONED GIRLY HAIRED SEASON RUINER!!!

iVinshe - Antolin up the middle....No gain.

Pass Rush

Goldblooded - Foles had alllll day. Only turned it up at the end. At least they came through at the end! And Cameron pounced like a lion at him. That was great fun to see.

LeonPowe - Bad. . . until it counted. So . . . I don't know. Huge play in the clutch - Jordan and Jordan. Did I see Richard Price in there too?

coolingfan - Finally, we saw the opposing QB get pressured, enough to break his rhythm, and the defense garner 3 sacks, against an offense that allowed only 4 the whole season.

rurata - They got to the QB a couple times at the end of the game, but were being pretty much dominated the rest of the game.  Almost no pressure at all.

BleedinBlue - Oh man, so we finally get some pass rush and it turns out our defenders have forgotten how to tackle a QB. After enough times, they got back into it, though! Like riding a bike, right? Arizona had .5 sacks per game up until today, I think, and we handed them 6 times that average in one game. Furthermore, those sacks came when Cal needed them.

GBears81 - Better than expected, but still too many times where QB had too much time.  Difficulty actually finishing sacks -- let QB escape sacks several times with bad pursuit angles and/or bad tackling.  However did get some pressure and sacks.  Price actually made impact at end of game.  Jordan and Alualu both played pretty well.

NorCalNick - The 1st half was pretty standard and then Cal somehow turned it on in the 2nd half, consistently pressuring Foles and getting 3 huge sacks.  It was the performance we had been expecting during the entire conference season.

Berkelium97 - Foles was sacked three times (after only four in the previous 8 games), but he still periodically had a lot of time to throw.  When he had time, he made us pay.  Still, it was nice to see us break through that solid O-line, particularly in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line.  Alualu had a huge, game-changing tip.

iVinshe - It bothers me how we never seem to get sacks except at the very end of games. I'm not actually concerned about Stanford's OMGERRRZ GODZLY 1337 O-line because we never get any pressure during the first 3 quarters of games anyways.

Pass Defense

Sec119 - A couple of PI calls, which were varying degrees of legitimacy, balance out the interception and overall playmaking that Mike Mohamed and others demonstrated.

rurata - Was okay, some good pass break-ups.  Unfortunately there was the one drive with 2 PI's called that led to a score.

JKK  -Syd has finally been playing extremely well in recent games.  But we gave up two Pass Inteferences on the same drive late in the game.  I think one was 2nd and 17 and the other was 3rd and 9.  We are giving chances to the opponents for free. Cant afford it. 

Also, the only scene I saw DHagan on the field today was his interference penalty.  Cattouse has been superb, in absense of Ezeff.

Jake - UA had to try to beat us through the air, and they couldn't.  It was a pleasant surprise, though the incessant pass-interference calls were kind of a downer.

BleedinBlue - WHERE WAS THIS DEFENSE IN PREVIOUS GAMES?!!!

The pass D still gave up lots of completions but they certainly looked better than last week. Notably, I don't remember many Zona receivers finding themselves wide open and then amassing ridonkulous YAC. Good day for the defense.

Kodiak - Where the hell has this been all year?  LB's actually dropping back in zones far enough to tip balls?  Safeties not being at restraining-order distance from receivers?  Microcosm:  After singlehandedly giving Az a go-ahead touchdown with a horribly boneheaded PI, and then whiffing on covering a TE in the endzone, Brett 10-Ft Johnson (Usually 10 feet away from relevance) comes up with two huge pass break-ups to stop them in crunch time.

GBears81 - Overall did well -- much better than expected.  Main downsides were couple stupid PI penalties resulting from not looking for ball.  Also helped that Foles missed long balls a couple times when receivers appeared to be open. 
Mohamed made great save 40 yards down field to save TD -- but why is LB having to do that -- where are the DBs?

ososdeoro - Really good. The PI calls were good calls, but the first one was accidental and the second was better than the completion that would have resulted. Clearly the LBs are beginning to get the underneath passing game, which is great because everyone tries it against us.

NorCalNick - WOW!  Only 61% completion percentage against an offensive style predicated on short, high percentage passes.  Plus, when they actually completed a pass Arizona only averaged 8 yards per catch.  Shane Vereen had more yards per carry than arizona had per attempt!  Arizona almost never had a receiver open deep and we allowed few YAC yards against a team trying to beat you with them.

Special Teams

Goldblooded - Do not overpursue. We always overpursue on KRs. How is this anything but a coaching problem? Even when Giorgio booted it to the 1!

furrybear - Brian A. is the man and George T. was awesome! Too bad we missed that last extra point. But it sure made it an exciting ending.

JKK - Coverage sucked. It never gets fixed.  But I give points to Tavecchio for connecting on 4 FG today. Hes gained back our trust, to some extent at least.  He also had a kickoff to 1yd line.

BleedinBlue - I think Tavecchio's consistently putting KO's between the 15 and the 5; to be honest, I don't really know if this is the norm. Are kickers supposed to put it in the endzone every time? In any case, he had one of his longest kickoffs of the season today and, when coverage couldn't stop the return man, he made the tackle himself.

FORZA ITALIA.

Anger turned in a subpar performance, I think, and KO and punt coverage was above average (judging from Zona's starting positions, if I remember correctly).

Kodiak - Punting was solid.  Mansion showed Romo-like unclutchness.

We had only one decent kickoff all game long and sloppy coverage let them advance it past the 30 anyway.

I'm still in disbelief that Giorgio hit two from 46yds.  Nice breakthrough game for him.

GBears81 - A or Tavecchio on FGs.  F to Mansion (holder) and team in general for losing focus and missing clinching extra point at end of game.  D- for kickoff coverage.  A for Tavecchio on his two saving "tackles".  Give a B grade as Tavecchio really had good game to offset problems in other special teams areas.

CALumbus Bear  - Anger great!  Salami great!  KO coverage unit FAIL FAIL FAIL ALAMAAAARRR!!! 
Dear Coach Alamar: in case you haven't noticed, you suck hard in coaching effective kickoff coverage.  So take that sucking think and stop doing it.  Like right now. Please.  We beg you.  We just can't stand having to rely on lucky holding penalties to keep the ball on their side of the field.  Sincerely, every Cal fan on the planet   p.s. ALAMAAAAARRR!!!

DrBeeper - The season-long fear that special teams would cost us a game almost came true today.  It was heart-attack time when we missed the game-clinching PAT and then almost gave up a TD on the ensuing kickoff.

Cudos to Tavecchio for 4 FGs, but when you have tries of 21 and 22 yards it's hard to not be frustrated with the offense.

NorCalNick - Good:  Georgio, Anger, Ross, Arizona's crappy punter

Bad:  Christ, I'm starting to think our coverage teams on kicks is a bigger problem than the actual distance of the kicks.  Bad Bad Bad.  Also, what's with the missed hold, party yacht?  You owe every Cal fan something for taking an undetermined amount off of our lives from stress.

Coaching

secret ASian man - EMERALD BOWL, and fuck Stanfurdddd.

rurata-  The Riley read option at the goal-line was a head-scratcher.  They really should have just given it to Shane.

furrybear - The most conservative Tedford in the past 7 years and now he decides to go for two! Next week he might surprise us and go for it on fourth down!

sierrabear - Obviously they coached well enough to win.  That being said I didn't think that we got guys open enough via our offensive playcalling.

Defense had their number - might be a few less calls for Gregory's head this week.  Linebackers finally figured out pass coverage - gotta give that to Gregory

BleedinBlue - FIRE GREGORY!

Kidding. I don't think Gregory is a terrible coach; you make do with what you have, and I think he's been trying to do it. Of course, this is me assuming things would be a lot worse if we tried something other than what Gregory has had planned. Actually, with regards to coaching, I don't know if I can really formulate an informed opinion, so I'm just going to stop right here.

Kodiak - Amazing how un-dumb Gregory looks now that his players actually execute.  It's still on him and the other position coaches to put them in a position to succeed and to accelerate their learning curve sooner rather than towards the end of the season.

Ludwig called a bit of a weird game.  Pretty conservative, but by design for ball-control, I think. 

Considering how on paper we should have been absolutely blown up, credit goes to the coaches for a solid gameplan and getting the guys ready to play.

BatManSF - Obviously the defensive scheme worked this week----first time in a long time!

Didn't like the conservatism on the drive leading to the FG that made it 18-16.  If Riley is your QB, don't stop passing just because he makes a boneheaded play.  9 times out of 10, playing for the FG in that situation will come back to haunt you.  Tedford dodged a bullet this time

CALumbus Bear - Gregory: A
(Fire) Ludwig (!): B
ALAMAAAARRRR!!!: D-
Coach Hold The Rope: A+
Tedford: still God
O-line coach (trying not to get attached by using his name, because I kinda hope he's gone next year): C---

DrBeeper - 30 carries for Vereen, almost every one right up the middle - wtf?  Many of us are annoyed by Tedford's late-game conservatism, but this is a game where it pays off.  I'm fairly convinced that if we had been more aggressive offensively late in the game, we would have coughed the game up - we almost did anyway...

Ohio Bear - Have to give credit to our coaches here.  The coaches put us in a position to succeed, and the players executed it well.  You can't really (reasonably) criticize the defensive game planning: we clearly took Arizona out of things that they liked to do and held down an offense that had been humming for the last several weeks.  Offensively, my only regret was the conservative approach we took when we got to the red zone, leading up to Tavechhio's go-ahead FG.  But with Riley's red zone foibles, it was a reasonable way to play it.

NorCalNick - I listened to Joe Starkey interview a few seniors on the post-game report and they praised Bob Gregory for his great preparation and game plan for Arizona.  Although I agree that this hasn't been Gregory's best year and that some criticism is warranted, he deserves just as much credit when he does it right.  This game shows how successful a team is when they combine talent, execution and good coaching.  Great job by the defense!

Overall

Sec119 - WE WON!!!

Goldblooded - Aaahhhh....back to the snot rag. My fever is fallign after that win, so i think I may have beaten the cold just as the Bears beat the Cats. Thank you Bears for a great entertaining game! Thank you seniors!

LeonPowe - IT'S BEAR TERRITORY!!!!!

furrybear - Great win against a great team, and a perfect way for the seniors to leave memorial stadium. Let's hope they finish with a 10 win season!  Get the axe, beat the Huskies, and hope for a good bowl game. 

JKK  - Overall, fun and scary game. The defense finally stepped up.  Riley obviously can play better, and should have gotten at least one more TD.  But in the end, he did not make too many mistakes.  Vereen covered well for Best.  If Best doesnt return this season, I would like to see Vereen get 500 yards in next 3 games including the Bowl game, and continue 1000yd rusher tradition.

sierrabear - We're still inconsistant and miss too many tackles... we need to fix that or we are in trouble against Stanfurd.  This game really belongs to the "D"... kinda felt a little bit like last year's D at times tonight.

BleedinBlue - Surprisingly enjoyed this game. The defense played extremely well, better than I could've hoped for and made up for the offense's shortcomings. Shades of 2008, I guess. The running game didn't miss a beat without Jahvid and Shane even reeled off a big play run.

Kodiak - Biggest win of the year.  It's the best team we've beaten and in a tight game that required clutch play on both sides of the ball.  No matter what the Vegas line was, anyone who had watched this team all year would not have been surprised if we had given up 400+ passing yards and 40+ points.  I'm glad that we have some momentum going into next week because the 'Furds are playing pretty darn well.

So, were we close? 
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2009/11/13/1125570/roll-on-what-will-cals-offense#25531660

Go Bears!  Beat the 'furds!  Make Hairball cry into his bidet!

GBears81 - Good win vs. good team that ensures Cal will have winning season and get to bowl game again.  But some problems remain (e.g., kick coverage, Riley turnovers, predictable play calling) that will need to be fixed before facing Furd.

NorCalNick - Huge, huge, season changing win.  Keep the momentum going on the farm.

grouchyBear - Great bounceback game, wonderful Sr day... a nice tribute to Jahvid... now they need to bring it for the Big Game...

iVinshe - It was awesome to see all the players fired up and getting the crowd into the game at the end. The west side responded, and it was the first time all season (not including the first 5 minutes of the USC game) that I could hear anything out of the alumni on defense. That atmosphere has been missing all year, and I'm a little sad that it was the last home game. Hopefully we can carry that into Circus Minimus.