For obvious reasons, that confidence has dissipated over the years so all could imagine the joy of watching the Bears perform like they did last week against Ohio State. Was it partly luck? Maybe. Sometimes things just "click" on the field for no apparent reason only to go back towards the norm the following week.
Let's all hope that's not the case this time around.
Coaches often talk about football as a chess match and Cal vs. USC (from 2002-2008) really defined that mantra. The amount of preparation, attention to detail and overall effectiveness and crispness of the play on the field when the two programs butted heads was obvious as each game came to a close. Players played hard, knew their assignments, knew their opponents and generally exuded a confidence that all winning programs have deep in their gut. You could just tell the stress that Tedford put on Carroll and vice versa.
What changed in 2009, 2010, and 2011? We can and have speculated ad nauseum, but only Tedford can truly answer that question.
Over the last year three seasons, instead of playing like an equal to USC, the Bears crumbled at the first sign of adversity, never showing a hint of desperation or will to fight back. That's why last week's contest against tOSU was so encouraging. Not saying Cal is going to win, because it's going to be damn tough to do so for more reasons than one, but I'll feel better about how the rest of the season is going to play out for the Bears if they hang on strong against a USC team itching to erase the nasty taste of the Stanford loss off their collective psyches.
Having said all that (and even though I don't think the Bears are going to pull this one out), I honestly feel that Cal walks into the Coliseum on Saturday with a coaching advantage for the first time in a while. Tedford needs to show more consistency before anyone is ready to say the old Tedford is back but for one week the Tedford against tOSU did indeed look like the Tedford of old. On that same front, I've never been a huge fan of Lane Kiffin (I'm a Raiders fan) and after watching him in the college ranks for three years now I'm still not entirely sold.
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| Thank goodness Cal doesn't have this guy leading its program |
Since his failed days in Oakland, Kiffin has showed time and time again that he is incredibly stubborn when coaching a game. Against Stanford last week, I felt that a truly great coach would've come up with a strategy to protect his AA quarterback as the second half rolled along. Instead, Kiffin stuck to his guns and it hurt USC tremendously.
Is it a big advantage? We'll see. In years past, the x's and o's between these two teams were a mirror image of each other: two pro-style offenses looking to establish the run in an attempt to be balanced. This time though, with Cal going all-in with its spread principles, we'll see what happens after one team throws the first punch.
OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS
-- I can't emphasize enough how great the game-plan was against tOSU. That was vintage 2003 Jeff Tedford.
-- Forget the call to kick the FG late in the fourth quarter last week. Tedford has always and will always make that call. Why people were shocked by that was beyond comprehension for me.
-- Coming into the season teams were going to key on Keenan and that obviously hasn't changed. So imagine my pleasant surprise when the Bears started to move Keenan around a little bit on Saturday (especially in the slot). Beautiful execution by the coaching staff.
-- Zack Maynard played the best game of his career last week against tOSU. In all honestly, he probably won't put together another game like that the rest of his life.
--Also on Maynard, it'll be nice if a Cal center could give him a string of waist high snaps for once.
-- Major (and I do mean major) props to Wes Chandler. He has gotten his unit to play tremendously. The wide receivers as a whole have been the biggest surprise so far this early season. Treggs, Harper, and Powe have all been contributors way sooner than expected. I've been most impressed with the blocking of these three and the rest of the receivers to be honest. Just take a look at the blocking on Bigelow's big run below. Treggs literally held his block for four seconds. Outstanding.
-- On Bigelow ... let's not get too carried away with the Jahvid comparisons. Is Brendon explosive? Absolutely. A ton of potential? Sure. Jahvid? I don't think so. Let's wait till the end of the season before making any assumptions.
-- Chris McCain is an absolute stud. When it's all said and done and their pro careers are over, don't be surprised if McCain ends up being the best of the North Carolina crew.
-- Leadership: something Cal has been lacking lately. Could that tOSU game be a turning point? We'll see.
On the leadership point, I agree that it's been lacking in a major way. Perhaps McCain can establish himself as a leader on defense. But on offense, Maynard just does not seem to comport himself in a manner that leaders do. And it doesn't have to be a skill player either. You could argue Marvin Philip was the leader of the 2004 team from his center position...he was just a guy that people looked to. I think Treggs could be a nice leader eventually, but as a freshman it's hard.
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