Pac-10 Week 7 Notes and Observations: Cal Bears
Cal Bears 4-2 Overall (1-2 Conference)
This Week’s Score: Cal 45 – UCLA 26
Next Week’s Opponent: Washington State
A win’s a win, and a win full of explosive plays is always a fun one. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a few more weeks before we figure out whether or not the Cal we saw through the first three games of the season is back, because I couldn’t tell if this game was the result of Cal’s explosiveness or UCLA just collapsing.
Sadly, I’m slightly leaning towards the latter. UCLA’s defense just isn’t anywhere close to as good as advertised this season, and all six of Cal’s touchdowns came on huge plays; Shane Vereen with a 42-yard run, Marvin Jones with a 42-yard reception, Jahvid Best with a 51-yard reception and a 93-yard run, Jones again with a 24-yard reception, and Mychal Kendricks with a 68-yard pick-6.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see so many huge plays; but they also masked some issues. Jahvid Best’s day looks fantastic by the stats; 102 yards on 18 carries and 51 yards on two catches. But take away the 93 yard touchdown run (which was a phenomenal one, don’t get me wrong) and you are left with 17 carries for nine yards. Best also broke a nice 22-yard run, but for the vast majority of his carries, he was picking up little-to-no gain or a loss.
As the huge plays show, Best is still a home run threat even when he’s not at his best. But he just hasn’t been the consistent threat that I’ve grown used to seeing him be. Maybe Washington State will be the game that everything falls back into place.
The most troubling aspect of this game for the Bears was the defense. UCLA has been one of the worst offenses in Division I football this season, so for them to rack up 448 yards and 26 points was a surprise. This marks the third straight game that the Bears have given up 440+ yards (457 against USC and 521 against Oregon), a disturbing trend for a team coming into the season with what looked to be one of the conference’s best defenses.
My personal doubts aside, Cal got their road to redemption off on the right foot with a big win. With Washington State all but certainly making it two straight this Saturday, time will tell just how good (or bad) this Bears team can be.
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