Archive for Defense

Can Jeff Tedford Keep Cal Football’s Window Open?

We are halfway through what’s shaping like another modest California football season–decent rewards with moderate fulfillment. Naturally, only in college football would a 4-2 start get fans groaning. Coming off a head-scratching loss to an offensively potent but inconsistent Arizona Wildcats team, the murmurs of discontent grow louder than ever. The loss, by the measuring […]

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Significant Terps: Cal – Maryland Preview

(Just a programming note: Cal-Maryland liveblog starts at 11:30-11:45 AM EST, 8:30-8:45 AM PST. Mmm, bleary-eyed.) Offense-We’re not so different after all: In a hotly debated quarterback controversy, both Jordan Steffy and Chris Turner had their roles to play in the 2007 season. After Steffy epitomized the low-risk offense (67.3 completion percentage with 98 yards […]

Posted by: Avinash on Friday, September 12th, 2008

How Cal Lost in The Rose Bowl, Part IV

Click to read Part I, Part II, and Part III of the Rose Bowl series. And now, for the last part in our series, we move onto the crucial play, the Verner interception return. Here Cal has Hawkins and Jackson lined up to the top, and two running backs, fullback lined up on the weak […]

Posted by: Avinash on Thursday, June 5th, 2008

How Cal Lost in The Rose Bowl, Part III

Click to read Part I and Part II of the Rose Bowl series. As the game progressed, DeWayne Walker seemed to take into account the adjustments Cal was making to his UCLA defense. Here you can see him revert from the Cover 4 and go back to the Cover 2. In a Cover 2 set, […]

Posted by: Avinash on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

How Cal Lost in the Rose Bowl, Part II

(Continued from Part I) Today we look at particular examples of how Cal would attack the UCLA’s Cover 4. If you recall from yesterday’s post, two particular ways to attack the Cover 4 were to work the outside routes. I’m not going to go into too much exposition, just show pictures of how Coach Tedford […]

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

How Cal Lost in the Rose Bowl, Part I

Note before you start: This is an extensive, abstract, three part piece. Better grab some popcorn and chow down. Summer might be around the bend, but here at Bears Necessity it’s school time, football fanatics. Parts II and III coming later this week. UCLA 30, Cal 21. While the Oregon State game was a mixture […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, May 12th, 2008

Outsmarting the Enemy (Three Fake Handoff, Cal at UCLA)

Last week we went over attacking the Cover 2 scheme, which is to look for the mismatch on the field (read where the safeties will bite to) and to attack where the safeties aren’t in a position to make a play on the ball or the receiver. Today’s post is a little more of a […]

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Breaking Down the Cover Two (Cal at UCLA, 2007)

UCLA has one of the most feared defenses in the Pac-10. Their defense is not only very talented, their coordinator DeWayne Walker is one of the best in the biz. He mixes packages, his corners play great on the edges, his run defense stuffs everyone on 1st down. So the only ways for an offensive […]

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Turf Wars Part II: Bears Slowfooted on Grass

Hydrotech pointed out on my first post on turf performance that looking solely at turf versus grass because we have six games at home on turf, and it’s easier to win at home than on the road. Upon further review, I completely agree. I’m guessing a Cal victory achieved at Memorial Stadium is significantly less […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, April 7th, 2008

This Looks Familiar…

Well, at least we didn’t have the most prominent ankle injury of the football season. We’ll never really know how much Brady’s ankle affected him in the Super Bowl, but many of us will postulate. Yes, Brady did lead his team down the field 80 yards and score a go-ahead touchdown, but for the remaining […]

Posted by: Avinash on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008