Last week the post-game press conference centered around the Keenan Allen show. This week, it was all about Clancy Pendergast's suffocating defense. Go here to see the seven-minute video of Pendergast's portion of the press conference. First up, Jeff Tedford has some comments on the D.
On Cal's Defense:
"The defense played excellent. Down within the 5-yard line they were very stubborn and knocked them back. I thought we did a very good job. I wasn't too fired up about the two drives coming out after halftime; we had to keep the pedal to the metal there. But for the most part we played pass defense really well and we stopped the run. (The defense) played really hard, and you like to see that."
"The defense was very stingy today. I thought in the first half Colorado had really poor field position. The defense did a really nice job not letting them out of there. I was concerned when we went for it on fourth down that we gave up the field position battle. That was critical coming into the game, but our defense got a turnover and took care of that."
Jarred Price, LB
On how the defense played:
"It was a whole team effort. The coaches preached all week about getting to the quarterback and bringing him down. They were hyping him up [Colorado tackle Nate Solder], saying he was a first-round draft pick, so I wanted to put him to the test to see if he was really worthy. Overall, we had a good day as a defense."
Quote of the day goes to wide receiver Scotty McKnight:
"This is the most embarrassing game of my life. I don't even know how to handle it."
After the jump Cal takes the top spot in the NCAA's rankings for defense, Darian Hagan ends the game on a high note, Colorado likely delays joining the Pac-12 until 2012, ESPN projects the bowl season, and more.
Cal Football
- Cal has taken hold of the top spot of the NCAA's rankings for total defense. Nevada is at 70th.
- ESPN sees Cal going to Texas for the bowl season. Mark Schlabach predicts a Cal-Texas A&M Alamo Bowl while Andrea Adelson predicts a Cal-Georgia Tech Sun Bowl.
- Several players on defense talk about the performance against Colorado, including Mike Mohamed, Cameron Jordan, and Jarred Price. Price used his height (5'11") as an advantage against Nate Solder (6'8") by forcing him to block outside his comfort zone.
- After playing against Colorado State, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins said his team underestimated how fast Cal was. Pendergast's active, disruptive defense has benefited both the offense (via points and field position) and the defense (players seem to love playing an aggressive D). Let's hope Nevada, who just played Colorado State, also struggles to adapt to Cal's speed.
- CCTimes recaps the game with a JO article and a photo gallery.
- Darian Hagan's touchdown was, in his words, "a fairy tail ending to this game."
- JO provides his AP ballot and justification for some of his choices (such as the choice to rank James Madison).
- "What have we learned this week?" asks Ted Miller. One answer is that picking Cal to finish 7th may have been a mistake. We have also learned that Colorado is an awful, awful team.
- Mike Mohamed's 14 tackles and pick-six have earned him one of Ted Miller's coveted helmet stickers.
- Colorado most likely will not join the Pac-12 until 2012.
- Tyler Rigsbee has finally fully recovered from a torn ACL and is beginning to log significant playing time.
- Loggy and DJ Big Red were featured on NBC Bay Area last week.
- All of his hard work is continuing to pay off, as Justin Forsett will be introduced as a starter in Seattle's opening game today.