Add Shane Vereen to the list of greatest Big Game performers, perhaps the best of the Tedford era. 42 carries, 193 yards, 3 touchdowns, gutted out first down after first down after touchdown. Like Hydro says, he runs dirty, and he got plenty mud on his boots tonight. We needed every yard tonight and Shane delivered the most thrilling Big Game win in ages.
But beyond the numbers, what really encapsulates his performance is this quote from Okanes.
After Cal linebacker Mike Mohamed clinched the victory by intercepting a pass with 1:36 remaining, the Bears needed only to take a knee three times. Vereen spent that time encouraging the Cal contingent in the back of the end zone to celebrate. When time expired, Vereen soaked up the on-charging crowd while pointing to his family in the stands. "I needed to do anything I could do to help our team win," Vereen said, his voice choking with emotion. "I've never carried that many times, and I never thought I would carry that many times. I came into the game prepared for anything."
Wow. If you don't get a little misty-eyed reading that, Moscow might be the place for you--I hear Russians dig the heartless.
Defensive performance goes to Mike Mohamed, who showed us how fierce he can be with a a solid linebacking corps anchored with him. 10 tackles, 1 for a loss, and an interception punctuating a forgettable night for Andrew Luck. This picture makes me as happy as a 10 year old girl winning Jonas Brothers tickets (HT royrules).
What are your favorite Big Game performances through the ages, offensive, defensive, special teams? Where do Shane's and Mike's efforts rank for you overall? And who are the other players (Riley, the offensive line, ) you felt deserved some, if not equal dap?
There'll be deeper insights about the Big Game coming up during the week (maybe some griping too, because, you know, we're Cal fans and all), but for now and the rest of this weekend, MORE REVELING!
Runner-up for Big Game MVP goes to the amazing Cal fans, for helping cause the most unintentionally hilarious acceptance speech in recent memory by Tiger Woods (someone needs to put that clip on YouTube, stat). For the first time that I can remember, he looked baffled and rattled, as if the chorus of boos from Cal fans and dead silence of Furd fans was as foreign as if he were addressing a group of berating Wookies. From that point on I knew the Bears would win; if you can rattle Tiger, you know something special's happening.