So there I was, all by myself in Berkeley for the first time, for a Cal game. I guess I am well and truly assimilated now, enough that I’m with the rest of the crowd (and an ugly crowd it was): Tedford has lost his way.
Three years ago, I wrote that the legend of Jeff Tedford was dead, left in a sodden heap on the turf at Qualcomm Stadium because he refused to adjust to the reality of his personnel situation. With three of the top four receivers injured and unable to play, Tedford insisted on sticking to the air game, despite the presence of J.J. Arrington and Marshawn Lynch in the backfield, and Cal paid. Badly. In some ways, the team has never really recovered from that loss, although last year’s Holiday Bowl went a long way. Nevertheless, the fact remains: Tedford tends to stick with his vision irrespective of circumstances.
Now Cal has a quarterback controversy. The kids in the stands, and their older predecessors in QQ, are literally screaming for the same Kevin Lynch whose brain-dead scramble lost the Oregon State game three weeks ago. But Tedford is sticking by Nate Longshore, who missed all of said OSU game with an injury apparently sustained in the waning moments in Eugene two weeks earlier. Longshore is plainly not the quarterback he was. Never mobile before, he is positively sedentary now, and there’s something missing off his passing touch. And the fact of the matter is plain: he’s not going to get any better. If he had an injury that, two weeks later, was enough to hold him out of an entire game, then he is not going to have an opportunity to heal and get it together until the off-season. Which means that for purposes of 2007, Nate Longshore is as good as he’s going to be for the rest of the season, and that’s not that good.
This is not to throw Longshore under the bus. He seems to be a fine gentleman and played effectively through the first five games of the season, so it’s not like the talent isn’t there. But Longshore at something well under 100% may well not be as effective as Kevin Riley, and let’s face it: the time to find out is not against USC, or when the Axe is on the line. A game against Washington State, near the basement of the Pac-10, was the best remaining chance to see what Riley can do, and now we’re just going to have to wonder with the Trojans coming to town next week.
The bigger concern is the play-calling. On multiple occasions in the past month, Cal has had 1st and goal inside the 5 and come away empty – largely because they only have two plays at the goal line: Justin Forsett straight up the middle and a desperate throw to the corner to DeSean Jackson. Cal’s offensive line is not horrible – they’re better than the defensive front, which is seemingly incapable of pressuring a quarterback on a consistent basis – but they’re not the sort of line that can just blow people off the line and let a back bull ahead for 3 or 4 years. Nobody’s going to mistake the Golden Bears for the early-80s Hogs in Washington. Nevertheless, Tedford is committed to running between the tackles.
Now, this is not in and of itself a bad idea. In theory, the pass should be setting up the run, with 3 receivers stretching the defense and giving a broken field to the runner. But it’s not happening – Cal isn’t passing often enough, or effectively enough when they do, to force linebackers into coverage. Quite the reverse – teams are stacking an extra safety in the box and stifling the run. With extra coverage on Jackson, this has basically led to Lavelle Hawkins becoming the big-money receiver, and #7 has basically carried the team for the last month on offense. Well done to the Hawk, but this is supposed to be more than a one-man show.
Three years ago, Cal had creativity and verve on offense. Every so often, Aaron Rodgers would just tee up and throw the ball fifty yards down the field, where Chase Lyman had left some hapless DB gasping for air. And usually, it was a free six points. It’s not like the talent’s not there now; DeSean Jackson is a Heisman contender and freshman Jahvid Best is so electric that he can’t go in the whirlpool without shocking himself. But I haven’t seen one long vertical deep ball all year. Long plays because “Tha 1” did his shake-and-bake and rattled off 40 yards after the catch, sure, but no bombs-away air raid-type throws. And the thing that bugs me most of all is this: you have speed and talent on the field, but the passes aren’t there: why wouldn’t you do something else to get your playmakers involved in the offense? They have a student-body-right play where everybody is pulling right except Best, who gets the ball on a blind flip to the left, and he tends to get about fifty yards every time they run it – but they haven’t run it in weeks. This week, they ran Best on an end-around sort of thing, and since he’s already at full speed when he gets the ball it’s just a chase scene once he decides to turn. Why not do more of that? Why isn’t Jackson on a reverse? Is there anybody who can throw a halfback pass on the roster? (If Forsett could do that, turn another one of those off-tackle dives into a deep throw to a receiver a la Ernest Byner to Gary Clark back in the day, I guarantee you’d probably get a touchdown for your trouble.) And one more thing – I didn’t want to say anything, I didn’t know if the rules are different out West or what – but the tight end is ELIGIBLE. He can catch a pass. Maybe Cal’s tight end has hands of iron, I don’t know, but that’s a whole ‘nother body who can make a short reception to keep a drive alive. Hell, Alabama went to the Sugar Bowl in 1989 because Lamonde Russell was always there in the flat.
Long story short: the kids are doing the best they can with what they have. But if Cal has aspirations beyond the Deez Nutz bowl, it’s time for Tedford to get his testicles back out of the blind trust and start playing gunslinger football again. And it’s time to get the kids involved, because think about it: the skill positions on offense right now are a senior running back, a senior tight end, two senior receivers, and DeSean Jackson, who will probably be playing on Sundays next year. Two starting defensive backs are also seniors – and the defensive secondary has been the most reliable part of the defense all season. And on a roster of 111 players, 48 are freshmen. If the youngsters don’t start getting reps now – and lots of them – next year’s team will have to change from Golden Bears to Chartreuse Bears, because there’s so much green in there I’m afraid they might spoil in warmer weather.
In September, you could say that the future is now. Three losses later, next year has to be taken seriously again. If Tedford’s going to turn things around, there’s not a day to lose.