Win The Bay

Cal Excited to Host #1 Team in Nation
On second thought, no they're not.

The headline in the Contra Costa Times reads "Quarterback Brock Mansion embraces the challenge of facing No. 1 Oregon in his first home start". It goes on to talk about how he played fairly well in his first start last week -- a 20-13 win over WSU. He took over after starter and Beaverton High star Kevin Riley injured his knee against OSU.

"It's a great opportunity," Mansion said. "Everybody on the team is excited."

Well good luck to you Brock. In times like these, it helps to have a yippy-skippy attitude.
   In the following article, Cal demonstrates that they aren't shirking away from this meeting. They're going to give it everything they got; but they're not deluding themselves like USC did.
   If Oregon's mantra is "Fast, Hard, Finish",  Cal's will be "Fast, Hard, Hope it works out."
From the SF Chronical:
Cal needs depth to counter Oregon's speed

John Crumpacker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, November 11, 2010

To stop the machine that is Oregon football, the Bears will counter with bodies, lots and lots of bodies, and hope for the best.

The task seems as daunting as that in the original "Terminator" movie that pitted valiant humans against the forces of mechanized mayhem.



Ya. It's merely a college football game.

In reality, it's merely a college football game, No. 1 Oregon against Cal on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, but what makes the analogy apt is the machine-like nature of the Ducks' offense, smoothly and swiftly cranking out nearly 55 points and 570 yards per game in a 9-0 start.
What makes the Ducks the dreadnought they are on offense is their speed and the hyper-tempo in which they peel off plays. It's the rapid pace of the Oregon offense that does in defenses unable to stop the onslaught of nearly 80 snaps per game from a spread formation run to perfection by sophomore quarterback Darron Thomas.

"We're going to have to play a lot of guys," Cal defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast said. "That's a big concern of mine. You've got to be able to play (many) people. Getting everyone reps during the week when you know you've got to play guys makes you a little uncomfortable."

Pendergast said his defensive position coaches will be mindful to send in fresh bodies when starters need a break from the breakneck pace of the nation's No. 1 offense.

Cal has some defensive stalwarts in end Cameron Jordan, linebackers Mychal Kendricks and Mike Mohamed, cornerbacks Darian Hagan and Steve Williams and safeties Sean Cattouse and Chris Conte, but the unit's depth will be put to the most severe test of the season.

The Bears are No. 1 in the Pac-10 in total defense, No. 1 in pass defense and No. 3 in rushing defense and they are playing at home, where they have achieved a 4-0 record against teams with losing records (UC Davis, Colorado, UCLA, Arizona State).

"We're going to have to bring our 'A' game," Mohamed said. "It's going to take a lot of preparation and focus if we want to compete with these guys."

Asked how Cal might slow down Oregon's hyperactive offense, Mohamed said, "That's a good question, because nobody's been able to do it. They wear guys down, they get (defenses) tired. A lot of it is based on you being tired, and they break a big one on you."

LaMichael James is the one Duck the Bears will try to keep from breaking the big one, not that anyone else has been successful this season. He leads the nation in rushing at 166.4 yards per game and averages almost 7 yards per carry.

Thomas, an upgrade over the disgraced and dismissed Jeremiah Masoli, has passed for 2,070 yards and 22 touchdowns and run for 400 yards and another four scores. Wideout Jeff Maehl is Oregon's leading receiver with 54 for 746 yards and 10 touchdowns.

To try to simulate Oregon's speed and pace in practice, Cal runs a scout team that features a wide receiver playing the quarterback Thomas in Coleman Edmond and another wide receiver giving a look as James in Kaelin Clay.

"The scout team has been doing as good a job as can be expected with the tempo. It's been great," head coach Jeff Tedford said. "We have the scout team doing the best they can to simulate the speed of things. Coleman Edmond has done some of the quarterback stuff because of his speed. Kaelin Clay plays tailback because he might be the fastest guy on the team."

Drilling the scout team on the particulars of Oregon's spread offense is defensive graduate assistant Taggart McCurdy, a Cal player in 2003-04.

"He's done an excellent job of meeting with the offensive guys and showing them tape" of Oregon, Pendergast said. "That's been very impressive what he's done."

Whether it's enough to stop the rise of the machine is another matter. For the Bears, it's all hands on deck.

The ace up their sleeve is a graduate assistant meeting with the guys and showing them tape . . . . . Yep. They are SO terminated.

One note: You may have heard that Nate Costa definitely played his last game as a Duck after tearing up his good knee last week against Washington. 
   The new backup QB is freshman Bryan Bennett. But don't look for him to take snaps for field goals or come in for mop up.  He's currently redshirting, and Coach Kelly would like to keep him that way if possible.
   Look for punter Jackson Rice to hold for kicks. And at the end of games, Thomas will apparently just stay in and run plays not designed to get him clobbered.


From the "Can We Please Move On" Department:
Washington came. Washington played. Washington lost. That should be the end of all Washington talk for the rest of the season. And it would be if it wasn't for UW's AD Scott Woodward calling Oregon's academic system an embarrassment.
   He got criticized pretty thoroughly, especially from Washington's Interim President, Phyllis M. Wise. She told him to call Oregon's President and AD and apologize personally.
   Oh by the way, funny story about Ms. Wise. Not only is she a highly respected, renowned scholar and educator, she's also on the board of directors of a major company:

 Nike. 

  How ironic after Woodward spewed all that crap about Phil Knight and his beloved alma mater.
   I was waiting for the blowback to come out of Seattle -- someone to stick up for Woodward's comments. I was not disappointed.
   Leave it to a Husky student. A reporter for UW's student newspaper, The Faily, stuck up for Woodward in his article: No apologies needed from Woodward (Click title for link).
   I'm not going to bother commenting on his premise, conclusion, research or fact checks because if you scroll down, you'll see that over 30 respondents and counting had already done so.


I Believe that Children Are Our Future
Teach Them Well and Let Them Lead The Way.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha . . . . . . Hey c'mon now. That's not funny.

Oregon at Cal. Saturday @ 4:30 Pacific on Versus Network.