Bending to Heartbreak (Why Gregory’s System Failed Us)

Posted by: Avinash on Sunday, October 14th, 2007

(Post six of millions)

To be honest, I wasn’t terribly surprised when the defense folded on the two crucial TD drives in the second half. Want to know why?

The teams we’ve played the past few weeks have either been anemic on offense (Arizona, Louisiana Tech, Colorado State), or garnered towards high octane plays (Oregon and Tennessee). Our defense plowed through the weak offensive lines of the former and made the big plays against the latter, and it was enough to pull us through.

Yet we still spotted plenty of points to all our opponents, even rag-tag Arizona, who I’m still not sure has a tailback that understands the idea of off-tackle running. Hell, we were tagged the best “500 yard defense in the country” two weeks ago, that should have sent out the warning signs.

So guess what happens when you do play a conventional offense like Oregon State, that can (A) run the ball with an experienced tailback, and (B) have a QB that doesn’t kill himself with stupid errors? The gaps open up, the defense wears down, and eventually the spoon snaps in two. The Beavers converted six crucial third and fourth down plays on their way to 21 points, all of it capped off by one yard runs. On the biggest plays of the game, Cal’s defensive scheme came up short on a long field (and remember we did hold them to field goals on two of our three turnovers, so it’s not as if our gifts gave away the game on their own).

And I would like to point out to Gregory, that yes, pass-rushes do exist. In military history we call them encirclement maneuvers. Generally when you keep a QB enclosed within the pocket you put more pressure on him to release the ball, which forces more mistakes. Instead, Canfield was able to roll left and right, get out of the pocket, find the open man, get the first down without any serious pressure. (There was that one time he went past the line of scrimmage to pass and set up that field goal, but whatever, that’s griping).

So on the remainder of our schedule, we play one anemic offense (Washington State), one conventional offense with no QB (UCLA), one offense whose only weapon is the QB (UW), one conventional offense with no defense (Stanford), and two big-time conventional offenses with solid defenses (ASU and USC). I think you know who stands out here, and unless things change up I can see two more losses in our future.

Those of you sipping the Rose Bowl wine better not get too tipsy. Because Bob Gregory is still coaching our D, and he will be mightily tested these next few weeks with the most powerful offenses in the Pac-10 coming up.



Topics: Cal Football, Sports

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Seth's avatar

Seth · 911 weeks ago

Dude! Are you my freakin clone or something! This article is dead on! So, how do we convince Tedford to do something, if he even can at this point? How do we save our Bears!?!
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Avinash · 911 weeks ago

That's the funny thing about the Pac-10--despite all these defensive lapses and offensive mistakes, we still nearly won. So the strategy still nearly paid off, again.

I don't think the Bears are in need of saving. I just think we'll keep on piling up 9-3 and 10-2 seasons, and we'll almost never end up in the BCS with this type of unoriginal playcalling. I'm not saying blitz all the time, just mix it up. Playing one style of D and not letting your defenders make plays is a recipe for impending defeat.

As for convincing Tedford...well, I'll need to do some tape review. I'll get back to you on that one.
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Mark · 911 weeks ago

Perfect analysis. While uneducated fans are blaming Riley (who overall played a great game) for a last second poor decision, the real culprits are Jeff Tedford and Gregory. When your bend no break defensive strategy is so predictable, there is little margin for error and losses like these are inevitable. I never thought that vanilla could taste so poorly; but watching Tedford/Gregory's vanilla defense left a very bad taste in my mouth. Conservative Tedford will continue to play the percentages and will never "seize the day" - -much like he failed ot seize the opportunity last year against USC. Yes, this is a bad song that will continue to be replayed for a long time -- no championships, just bigger salary increases for Jeff and continuing "almost" disappoints for long suffering Cal Fans. And everyone will continue to voice the tired sentiment about how much better Cal Football is now versus the days of Holmoe and Gilby. I refuse to drink that cool-aid.
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Avinash · 911 weeks ago

Uhh, wait a minute. I never put Tedford in that category; he calls the offense, not the defense. I'm sure he's not been pleased by the yards the D's given up, but like any coach, he's incredibly loyal--a trait I admire in a college coach.

I think he'll have to see the defense truly blow a game (because both sides of the ball contributed to the failure in this one) before he considers making a change. As much as we gave the Beavers in this game on the offensive side, 13 points came from turnovers--if we take care of the ball we still win.
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