(#1 3-0) California 70- (1-2) Ariel 0 BERKELEY -Cal closes out their non-conference schedule with a visit from Ariel out of the Big East. Ariel and their spread attack had started the season at #25, but an early season loss has knocked them out of the Top 25. Memorial Stadium is the worst place to go if you want to get back into the ranks.
The Golden Bears continued to roll with the ball in their hands, and won this game easily. Kyle Boehm did throw his first INT of the season, but balanced it out with 4TD. The arrival of freshman WRDexton Fields has proved helpful, but costly for TE DeAndre Brown. Fields caught 8 passes for 113 yards and a TD, proving to be a real target for Boehm opposite Brown.
Green continues to roll.
On defense the Bears were turnover machines. CB Terrence Miller notched his first two INT of the season, one of them a TAINT. Ariel's QB Justin Sanders managed to pass for 107 yards, but his inexperience showed when he threw 4INT. DE/OLB Austin English lived in the Ariel backfield and racked up 3 sacks.
(#1 2-0) California 63- (1-1) Aegis Tech 7 BERKELEY -Cal returned home to face the Aegis Tech Tigers out of the MWC. The Bears would look for more consistency on offense, especially from QB Kyle Boehm, a loss to a MWC team would be heartbreaking.
Anyfears of a let down were quickly dissipated, and Aegis Tech had an enormous amount of trouble doing anything on defense. Boehm went 12/13 for a whopping 397 yards, and HB Darrell Green rolled for 236 yards. Green had a huge day on the ground and the through the air, Green caught for 100 yards and a TD. Boehm managed to spread 100 yard games over Mike Brown, Dexton Fields, and Green.
Green makes a bid for his second Heisman.
Defensively the Bears were completely dominant. Their blitzing kept the passing game in check and their LB core made rushing a nightmare. Aegis Tech managed to find the endzone due to shit AI and the EA's legacy of doing as little to improve gameplay as possible every year.* The Tigers managed a 55 yard pass to a slow TE being covered by Travon Harvin** and followed it up with one of the most bullshit TD passes I've ever seen.***
*I was going to make an entire "NCAA 11 Is Shit" post, but I'm just going to mash it in here. ** TE (72OVR, 81SP, 83ACC) smokes Harvin (99OVR, 99SP, 99ACC) in man coverage. No play action pass, but at the snap of the ball as the TE runs a corner route, Harvin runs forward and to the sideline as though it was a sweep. How does this make ANY sense? It doesn't, either the CPU cheats or the game is shit. *** WR (80OVR, 91SP, 83ACC) runs a drag route across the endzone, he is being covered man-to-man by JR CB Terrence Miller (99OVR, 99SP, 99ACC). Miller is all over him, no way he can get open without some bullshit. Miller stops running, just flat out stands still in the middle of the endzone. TD. Fuck you EA.
(#10 0-1) West Orion Union 0 - (#1 1-0) California 56 PENSACOLA -California opens their season on the road against West Orion Union. After beating the Panthers 42-0 at home the Golden Bears are making the trip to Florida. The MAC upstarts would love to stay in the Top 10 and get revenge. The Panthers have played well, but Cal has looked invincible and have probably gotten better during the summer.
Cal's offense was basically a carbon copy of last year, the only difference being the addition of freshman WR Dexton Fields. QB Kyle Boehm was a bit off, going 18/33, but he managed to get Mike Brown (150) and Fields (129) the ball all over the field. West Orion Union did their best, but the only way they were going to stop Cal was to keep them off the field.
Keenan Allen starts the season with a INT.
Cal's defense struggles to get the Panthers off the field, but didn't struggle to keep them off the scoreboard.The big story today was the play of DE/OLB Auston English, and its starting to look like the early departure of Chris Martin won't be such a big deal. English and LE Cortney Grixby were all over the field and managed to torment the West Orion Union backfield. The running game was nowhere to be seen, so the Panthers had to rely on passing every down.
Florida, Ohio State, Texas, and now California. The Golden Bears, thanks to Coach London, have become a national superpower. Cal starts off the 2013-2014 season at #1 and will do everything they can to stay there all season. If the Golden Bears can hoist the BCS trophy a fourth time they could be heralded as the greatest dynasty of all time, with the weapons at hand odds are it could happen.
Cal fans have been on cloud nine for the past three years, and they can continue being happy as long as Coach London stays. It wasn't a surprise when the traditional superpowers (Texas, LSU, and Notre Dame) came knocking in the off season, London has become a hot commodity and turned down alot of money to stay at Cal. The Golden Bears can also look forward to two more years of QB Kyle Boehm, unless he decides to leave as a redshirt SO after this season, so the Bears could run their title streak to five. 2012 Overall Record : 13-0
Top Returners : HB Darrell Green, CB Terrence Miller, WR Mike Brown, SS Keenan Allen, QB Kyle Boehm
Key Losses : RE/OLB Chris Martin, CB Steve Williams, CB Vachel Samuels
2012 Statistical Leaders (*Returning Starters) Rushing : Darrell Green (2732)* Passing : Kyle Boehm (4089)* Receiving : Mike Brown (1752)* Tackles : Dalvin Glass (65)* Sacks : Chris Martin (17) Interceptions : Terrence Miller (9)*
SPRING ANSWERS
1 - Heisman Fight. HB Darrell Green made it three in a row for Cal, but QB Kyle Boehm and WR Mike Brown were right behind him at #2 & 3 in the voting. The offense shouldn't change much, so the three will probably be back in NY, but the addition of Dexton Fields could tip the scales toward Boehm. Brown excelled as Boehm's top target at WR, but with TE DeAndre Brown, FB Austin Box, and WR Dexton Fields it could be tough to repeat as a Heisman contender.
Could Green be a repeat Heisman winner?
2 - Speed, Speed, Speed.Cal will probably field the fastest team in the nation. ATH Travon Harvin will move to FS full time and take over return duties, so the defense and special teams will have the nation's fastest player. Add in CB Terrence Miller and true freshman burner Sean Black and you get the speediest secondary in the nation. If that wasn't bad enough for opposing offenses the LB's and back up CB's (Andrew Booker and Dallas Winston) are also incredibly fast. Pac-10 defenses are also in for a long season, the four headed beast of Green-Brown-Brown-Fields will stretch coverage, that isn't even taking into account Boehm's ability on the run. 3 - Monster Defense. Cal's defense was the best in the nation last year, and it could get better. The Golden Bears allowed an eye watering 14 rushing yards in 2011-2012, not once did they allow 50+ yards rushing in a game. Cal added two new edge rushers, Auston English and Cortney Grixby, and mammoth DT Johnathan Utah to shore up the defensive line. The return of CB Terrence Miller and the nations best LB trio (Brian Friday, Kevin Towers, Toshi Zojirushi) will only make it harder to score. Look for some kind of rotation opposite Miller, top prospects Black, Booker, and Winston should see alot of action as teams will want to avoid "Miller Island" at all costs.
FALL QUESTIONS
1 - HB Depth.Darrell Green is still there, but recent graduations (Covaughn Deboskie-Johnson) and transfers (Trajuan Briggs) have left Cal thin at HB. Green will most likely be backed up by SR Dasarte Yarnway, who has 0 career rushing yards, but FB Austin Box could get some snaps at HB. Coach London is going to have to hit the recruiting trail hard this season, if Green leaves for the NFL draft his HB cupboard will be quite bare. 2 - Offensive Line Depth.The O-Line returns a number of starters, and after spring practices it looks like true freshman OJ Murdoch will start at RT, but after that it looks bleak. Cal added another top prospect, but he may be a year away from starting or being a solid back-up. If someone gets hurt the Golden Bears could have a huge hole on the line, lets hope they can avoid the injury bug. 3 - Even More New Faces. The true freshman experiment worked well last year, lets hope it works out again. Cal lost four starters and a solid contributor on defense, it could have been five starters but Coach London managed to talk SS Keenan Allen into staying for his senior year. Cal's depth chart lists seven freshman starters (Def 4, Off 3) and a few that should get solid playing time. The Bears look to be a juggernaut again, but their freshman could be a weakness down the stretch.
2012 Recruiting Round-Up
The Golden Beats basically reloaded on defense with a stunning recruiting class. The best recruits in the class are all on defense, aside from ATH Dexton Fields out of Compton CA, offenses will have quite a bit of planning to do. Stepping into Chris Martin's vacated DE/OLB spot is Austin English, a prized prospect out of Bastrop LA. Lining up across from English is talented DE Cortney Grixby, who was highly sought after by Texas and LSU. Coach London was also able to round up a giant DT to pair up with Dalvin Glass, Johnathan Utah figures to start and clog up running lanes along with Glass.
With so much talent filling starting spots there is a fear that it could negatively impact recruiting in the following season. There will be alot of pressure to find a replacement for HB Darrell Green and QB Kyle Boehm, if they decided to leave early.
Projected Starters (*Returning Starter)
QB - K.Boehm* HB - D.Green* FB - A.Box LT - R.Riboudeux* LG - S.Good* C - M.Brazinski* RG - R.Schwenke RT - OJ Muroch TE - D.Brown* WR - M.Brown* WR - D.Fields K - J.Holmes
Aug. 31 at #10 West Orion Union Sept. 7 Aegis Tech Sept. 14 #25 Ariel Sept. 28 UCLA Oct. 5 at Washington State Oct. 12 Washington Oct. 19 at Arizona Oct. 26 at Oregon State Nov. 2 Oregon Nov. 9 Arizona State Nov. 16 at #24 USC Nov. 23 #9 Stanfurd
Coach London continued to rake in prospects and finished with the best class in the nation (#1 Rivals.com) for the second season in a row. The most important thing to learn from this class is that Cal has established themselves in valuable recruiting grounds like Florida and Louisiana. If this trend continues Cal could keep on winning BCS Titles for years to come.
***** D.Winston, CB (FL) ***** D.Fields, ATH (CA) ***** J.Utah, DT (CA) ***** O.Murdoch, T (TX) ***** C.Grixby, DE (TX) ***** F.Toussaint, SS (LA) ***** S.Black, CB (CA) ***** A.English, DE (LA) ***** A.Booker, CB (CA) ***** A.Box, FB (CA) ***** P.Jones, G (HI) ***** D.Smith, CB (TX) ***** J.Holmes, K (CA) **** R.Howard, WR (TX) **** A.Robinson, C (CA) *** B.Young, WR (LA) *** J.McBride, WR (LA) *** B.Smith, OLB (FL) *** L.Keyes, MLB (FL) ** D.Brown, CB (FL) ** B.Vinson, DE (LA) ** K.Smith, OLB (FL)
MIAMI - California would regain their #1 spot in the rankings after Alabama got revenge in the SEC title and knocked off #1 Callisto. This opened the door for Titan to represent the Big XII, finally breaking the streak of Cal-Alabama title games. The Bears come into this game heavy favorites, and most pick them to win comfortably.
Titan came into this game very excited, but left looking shell shocked. Much like their last game against Stanfurd, HB Darrell Green was the star of the show. Green trampled the Titans, and QB Kyle Boehm only had to sit back and manage the game. Boehm was a bit off target, going 9/14, but it didn't matter with Green running wild.
Brian Friday stars at MLB.
Titan's offense looked even more unprepared than their defense, and basically packed it in for most of the game. Titan put together one good drive, but quickly stopped it with a INT to star MLB Brian Friday. To make things worse they added a safety to their repertoire of negative gains and off target passes. In the end Cal enjoyed a 514-20 advantage in offense yards, a disappointing performance in a BCS Title game.
This year the Heisman ceremony was not much a surprise, and Cal took home their third consequtive heisman. Darrell Green beat out fellow Golden Bears QB Kyle Boehm (#2) and WR Mike Brown (#3) to take home the trophy. Green was dominant to close out the season and leads Cal into their third BCS Title game in a row, a new record.
(#9 10-2) Stanfurd 7 - (#2 12-0) California 84 PALO ALTO - Cal made the trip across the bay to play rival Stanfurd in the Big Game. Once again the Big Game would have Pac-10 title implications, a win by Stanfurd would send them to the Rose Bowl and exact revenge on Cal for last season.
Apparently Stanfurd didn't prepare for Cal's running game, and it showed from the start of the game. QB Kyle Boehm barely broke a sweat, going 13/13, and managed the offense perfectly. HB Darrell Green sewed up his Heisman bid with 303 yards and 5TD, which wouldn't have been so bad if Stanfurd hadn't allowed 3 rushing TD to Boehm. The Cardinal barely knew what hit them.
Green finishes off Stanfurd.
Stanfurd's offense was completely impotent, its hard to believe they won 10 games. The focal point of their offense, QB Andrew Luck, was not very good at all. Luck threw for 107yards and a TD, but he was picked off twice. Adding to their woes was their punting game, which constantly gave Cal a short field over and over. Stanfurd's back-up was taking kicks, which explains why they couldn't do anything.
BERKELEY - California returned home for a game against the Pac-10's worst team, Washington State, and looks like a good bet for their 3rd straight Pac-10 title. Washington State is in a real tail spin, so a visit to Berkeley is probably the last thing they need to turn their season around.
Cal's offense, especially HB Darrell Green, took advantage of the Cougars soft defense and ran wild. Green put a real exclamation point on his Heisman resume with his most dominant performance of the season, he may have wont he Heisman today. Green rumbled for 335 yards and 2TD on the ground, then added 107 yard and 2TD receiving. Two of Green's TD runs were for over 90 yards, putting him quite a bit ahead of the competition.
Green batters weak Cougars.
The Golden Bears ruled the ground, but struggled to contain the Cougars' spread passing attack. Cougar QB Jeff Tuel threw for 173 yards, but ended up getting picked off twice. FS Travon Harvin scooped up a fumble and took it back for a TD, officially outscoring the Cougars by himself.
(5-4) Arizona State 0 - (#2 10-0) California 56 GLENDALE - Cal went from the rainy Northwest to the sweltering desert to take on Arizona State this week. Apparently pounding Washington wasn't impressive, so the Bears dropped their #1 ranking. Callisto beat #2 Alabama 36-24 to leapfrog over Cal, setting up a possible Bears-Calicos title game.
Cal's offense finally took a hit this week, although you couldn't tell looking at the score. QB Kyle Boehm had his worst game of the season, throwing 2INT and only 3TD, but he still managed to rack up 300 yards. HB Darrell Green's Heisman resume got another boost with 156 yards on the ground and 142 int he air, the 6 total TD will look great when voting starts.
Green tramples the Sun Devils.
Cal's defense must have been in Arizona State's huddle, because the Bears were a brick wall as far as the Sun Devils were concerned. The Sun Devils ended up with -35 rushing yards, which helped them to finish the game with 45 total yards of offense. RE/OLB Chris Martin added to his career sack total with 3 more today, the Bears head home to close out the Pac-10 with all the momentum in the world.
(4-5) Washington 0 - (#1 9-0) California 77 SEATTLE - The Golden Bears head north to rainy Seattle to take on Washington. The Huskies had looked good for a time, but the hard times have returned. Washington has struggled to get to .500, but a visit from Cal will surely set them back below .500.
Cal's offense went to work quickly today and completely humiliated Washington at their home field. Kyle Boehm only needed 16 completions to rack up 6TD, and Darrell Green nearly matched him by rushing for 5TD on 16 carries.
Green continues to make his case for the Heisman.
Cal's LB corp basically ate Washington alive today, Sarkisian barely knew what hit him. LB Kevin Towers was all over the field, along with Chris Martin, and the Huskies couldn't get anything going on offense. Martin even managed to pour some salt on the wound by setting Cal's new career sack mark with 32. At the final whistle Cal enjoyed a 590-91 advantage in total yards.
BERKELEY - Cal continued their home stand against Oregon State today, and a win would get them through the meat of the Pac-10 schedule. Cal is just four games away from winning the conference again, but they will have to survive three rough road games to do it.
Cal's offense came to play again, and the use of the read option completely destroyed Oregon State. QB Kyle Boehm spread most of his 276 yards between twins Mike and DeAndre Brown, but most of the damage was done in the second half. Boehm (140) and HB Darrell Green (147) lit up the Beaver's defense for 287 yards and 4TD on the ground, completely crushing any chance of them getting into the game. This marks Boehm's first 100+ yard game.
Boehm's legs are proving dangerous.
Mike Riley must have forgotten to watch tape of the Cal-Arizona game, because they managed to do even less on offense. Oregon State doesn't look the same without HB Jacquizz Rodgers, and Cal completely ate them alive on offense. The Beavers still have senior QB Ryan Katz, but it didn't do much for the offense. Oregon State could barely get across Cal's 30, and specialized in 3-and-outs and sacks. Cal finished this game with a 563-32 advantage in total offense.
BERKELEY - The Golden Bears returned to Berkeley this week to host Arizona, who are in a serious tailspin. The Wildcats have dropped 3 in a row, and Cal is riding a 30 game winning streak. Who knows how this game could turn out.
Cal's offense has been excellent, but nobody could have seen this coming. A combination of Arizona getting a serious case of turnoveritis and being unable to defend anyone let Cal hang 91 points on the hapless wildcats. QB Kyle Boehm had a career day and went 16/17 for 379 yards and 7TD. Arizona couldn't cover WR Mike Brown (141 yards and 2TD), but they really couldn't handle HB Darrell Green. Green exploded on Arizona for a school record 416 rushing yards on 24 carries. If that wasn't bad enough Green caught 4 passes for 105 yards and 3TD. Green may have won himself the Heisman today, and highlights will be all over ESPN for the next two months.
Apparently this isn't a safety.
The reason Cal managed to score 91 was Arizona's freshman QB Mike Cook. Cook had an epic day, going 4/23 for 44 yards and a whopping 7INT.Cook completed nearly as many passes to CB Terrence Miller (3) as he did his own team, Miller managed to set a school record for career INT (19) by the time this game was over. Cook can thank the officiating for escaping further embarrassment when a clear safety was ruled a sack and the ball was placed on the 1. Arizona seriously needed to get off the field and head home, Cal enjoyed a startling 804-45 advantage in offensive yards. Mike Stoops may just lose his job unless the Wildcats can turn their season around.
(3-3) Oregon 0 - (#1 6-0) California 56 EUGENE - Cal fans braved the unfriendly confines, and pouring rain, of the Autzen Zoo this week and faced off against Oregon. Cal enjoyed a rankings boost over Alabama after beating #10 USC and came into this game the top team in the nation. At this rate we could see a third Cal-Alabama BCS Title game. Boring.
Cal continued to roll on offense, and after today Oregon fans will be sick of Green. HB Darrell Green completely ate up Oregon's defense in the second half and finished with 237 yards on 20 carries. QB Kyle Boehm continued to look sharp passing the ball and added 56 rushing yards and 2TD of his own. ATH Travon Harvin managed to follow up his performance against USC with a 3TD game today, at this rate Cal's offense could be unstoppable.
Boehm uses his legs to put away Oregon.
The Golden Bears defense continued its drive to humiliate every QB in the Pac-10 with a real whipping of Oregon QB Darren Thomas. Oregon's spread offense could not get going, especially the running game, Thomas and HB Kenjon Barner combined for negative rushing yards. HC Chip Kelly is going to have his hands full rebuilding their program.
Cal's performance against Oregon was enough to convince yet another top recruit to commit. Coach London received the verbal commitment of the nation's top G prospect Paul Jones from Louis Heights HI.
BERKELEY - The Golden Bears prepared to take on their other LA foe, the USC Trojans, and looks to maintain their place atop the Pac-10.
QB Kyle Boehm continued to make Coach London feel good about putting him under center and continued to develop into a top QB. Boehm went 16/19 and threw a career high 6 TD, 7 if you count the bogus TAINT gifted to USC by an incompetent official. A deflected pass hit the ground and was scooped up by a Trojan defender, but the officials called it a INT and the Trojans were more than happy to take the points. USC managed to hold HB Darrell Green to only 100 yards, but they failed to account for ATH Travon Harvin. Harvin had a breakout game at WR and caught 6 passes for 143 yards and 3TD.
Cal's defense played well, but surrendered quite a few yards to QB Matt Barkley. Barkley used a suspiciously out of bounds pass to get within FG range and give the Trojans their first points of the game. Barkley played well but was picked by CB Terrence Miller. USC's offense looked flat outside of Barkley, it may be tough for #10 USC to recover from such a beating.
Coach London was pleased to get Cal's first commits of the season after the game. 5* CB Daniel Smith out of Denton TX, the top CB in the nation, and 4* WR Robert Howard from Pecan Grove TX were both in attendance and gave Cal their verbal commitments.
(1-3) UCLA 0 - (#2 4-0) California 44 PASADENA - The Golden Bears made the trip south to face off against the UCLA baby bears, opening conference play. Cal has enjoyed quite a bit of success against UCLA lately, and things probably won't be changing anytime soon.
Cal didn't break 70, but they didn't really need to against a feeble UCLA side. Kyle Boehm threw another INT, but he also threw 3TD. HB Darrell Green continued his good season and helped put away UCLA in the second half.
Mike Brown goes deep.
UCLA's QB Kevin Prince is starting to hate facing the Bears, he should be excited to graduate. Cal's defense didn't do anything spectacular, but they did manage to keep UCLA under wraps and out of the endzone. Kevin Price had a terrible day and spent most of the game trying to peel himself off the Rose Bowl turf.
BERKELEY - Cal played host to Iowa today and looks to be in line for another trip to the BCS Title game, the Bears rose to #2 after being ranked #4 last week. Cal has had a brutal non-conference schedule so for, so a win today would be huge when the BCS rankings come out. It looks as though Cal may be developing into a national superpower.
Cal started off on the right foot, again, and put Iowa away very quickly. Kyle Boehm looked much sharper today, going 12/14, and spread the ball evenly between twin receivers Mike and DeAndre Brown. The surprise on offense today was ATH Travon Harvin, who had an incredible day on both sides of the ball. Harvin caught a TD, ran one in, and managed to pick off Iowa's James Vandenberg.
Travon Harvin enjoys a huge day against Iowa
Iowa barely knew what hit them on offense, aside from a FG drive QB James Vandenberg lived out a turnover nightmare. Iowa had 148 passing yards, but a Steve Williams and Dalvin Glass TAINT managed to outscore the Iowa offense. When the dust settled Vandenberg threw 7INT, the poor guy will be having nightmares for the rest of the season.
(#4 2-0) California 42- (#9 2-1) West Orion Union 0
BERKELEY - Cal hosted West Orion Union out of the MAC for their first home game of the season. Fans were finally able to enjoy the upgrades to Memorial Stadium, hardly a concern for the denizens of Tightwad Hill, but any visiting prospects should be impressed. After thumping LSU the media was sure Cal would have no trouble with a MAC upstart.
Even though Cal managed to win comfortably they stumbled along the way and found it incredibly difficult to find their stride. QB Kyle Boehm was more on target today, going 18/23, but he struggled in the pocket and failed to break off any big gains on the ground. Boehm did manage to find the Brown twins, Mike (135 yards) and DeAndre(118), for 3 of his 4TD passes. The biggest surprise in this game was West Orion Union's run defense which held HB Darrell Green to 37 yards, a career low, on 7 carries. Boehm and Green could not get the ground game going, if they had found their stride this game could have been 70-0 like the previous week.
Cal's defense played very well but struggled to usher the Panthers off the field quickly. West Orion Union's QB Davis Loux was very accurate, going 17/22, but he fell prey to two drive killing INT inside Cal's 20. The Panthers managed to use a decent offense as the best defense, eating up the clock and keeping Boehm and Green on the bench. Despite their best efforts Cal's defense shut them out and left no doubt that the MAC has a quite a way to go before it can dominate the Pac-10.
(1-1) LSU 0 - (#4 1-0) California 70 BATON ROUGE - Cal chose one hell of a way to open this season with a trip to LSU's Death Valley. Traveling to one of the loudest stadiums in the nation is not an ideal way of testing a mostly freshman team, but this would be an excellent test for the Golden Bears. Few expected a big win with a freshman under center, but with the level of pure talent Cal has on its team a win was definitely within reach.
Things started off slowly for the Golden Bears and QB Kyle Boehm was off target on a number of plays. Despite his shaky start Boehm led the Bears down the field and ran the ball in himself to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The second quarter was very different and sealed the game for Cal. Boehm settled in and silenced the Death Valley crowd with a number of amazing drives featuring a few scrambles for a 1st down. Choosing Boehm over Bridgford has already paid off for Coach London, and its starting to look like Cal could be just as good as last year. With a healthy lead at halftime the Bears went to Heisman hopeful Darrell Green and ran out the clock and ran up the score.
Kyle Boehm silences the Death Valley crowd.
Cal fans can breath a littleeasier and opposing coaches can start pulling out their hair after the show Cal's defense put on today. The Bears started right where they left off last season; destroying opposing offenses. CB Terrence Miller took his first step toward leading the nation in INTs by picking off hapless LSU QB Zack Lee twice and being an all around pain in the ass in pass coverage. To make matters worse for LSU the Zojirushi-Towers-Friday trio at LB proved to be a great haul by London and the all excelled in pass coverage and stopping the run. LSU was completely blindsided in this game, if this game is any indication of Cal's strength they could be looking at a third BCS Title.
After two consecutive BCS Titles Coach London has bought himself all of the patience in the world, and he may need to cash it in this year. The Golden Bears survived a year at AT&T Park and return to their completed facilities and soaring expectations. Cal is going to go through a rebuilding effort on the field, but it seemed to work out better than expected last year.
The Golden Bears return the fewest starters of any Pac-10 team, but the media ignored that and gave them a #4 preseason ranking. It isn't completely clear yet if Cal has any chance at staying in the Top 10 with so many starters leaving, looks like HB Darrell Green and defensive stars CB Terrence Miller and DE/OLB Chris Martin will have to lead the team. Coach London has his work cut out for him, but after the last two seasons he would have to go 0-12 for the next ten years to get fired.
California has been picked to finish 3rd in the Pac-10 this season, behind #7 Stanfurd and #20 USC. 2011 Overall Record : 13-0
Top Returners : HB Darrell Green, CB Terrence Miller, OLB/LE Chris Martin, SS Keenan Allen
Key Losses : WR Marvin Jones, QB Beau Sweeney, TE Anthony Miller, DT Kendrick Payne
2011 Statistical Leaders (*Returning Starters) Rushing : Darrell Green (1446)* Passing : Beau Sweeney (3887) Receiving : Marvin Jones (2229) Tackles : Chris Martin (80)* Sacks : Chris Martin (12)* Interceptions : Terrence Miller (12)*
SPRING ANSWERS
1 - Ground Game Settled. Cal's running back situation is settled, and should be for at least the next two years. Darrell Green took the starting job from Covaugn Deboskie-Johnson and never looked back, Green played so well he came in 3rd in the Heisman vote. Both HB's that started games return, so if Green were to get injured nobody would worry with Deboskie-Johnson starting in his place. Green starts the year as the Heisman favorite, so the pressure is on in Berkeley .
Could Green be Cal's third Heisman winner?
2 - Linebackers Aplenty.Coach London struck some serous gold on the recruiting trail last year, and its most apparent at the LB position. Cal landed the three top LB prospects, and as camp closes all three of them will be starting. London isn't afraid to start freshman so it isn't that shocking considering how many players left, but the Zojirushi-Friday-Towers trio have been amazingly good in practice and could end the season as the nations top LB corps. 3 - Defensive Stars Return. The giant whooshing sound you hear in Berkeley is the mass exodus of starters, most damaging to the offense. Luckily Cal's best defensive players return and look to continue leading the nations top defense. The junior tandem of Chris Martin and Keenan Allen are going to be captains, but Terrence Miller is going to do his best to prove that he is Cal's top defender. Miller lead the nation in INT as a freshman and looks to be more than comfortable on an island.
FALL QUESTIONS
1 - QB Depth.Beau Sweeney was a breath of fresh air after the Riley years, but he decided to leave early for the NFL. To make things worse his backup, Brock Mansion, was a senior and won't be returning. When camp opened the roster had four QB's that haven't taken a single snap in a game, not to mention first team practice, so things were very much a mystery. At first it looked like the job was JR Allan Brigford's, but he quickly lost the job to redshirt FR Kyle Boehm and surprised everyone. Boehm managed to come into spring practices with a new found burst of speed and impressed coaches with his legs as much as his arm. Coach London is looking to use more option plays, so Boehm's running ability put him ahead of Bridgford in the end. .
Kyle Boehm will have to sink or swim.
2 - Defensive Front Four.Chris Martin returns, and that is about it. There will be three first time starters on the defensive line, the only notable player being massive freshman DT Dalvin Glass out of Austin TX. Cal's D-Line managed to contain the run and post the top rush defense in the nation, but things could change very quickly if this line doesn't gel quickly. An opening game at LSU's Death Valley will be an excellent litmus test for this unit. 3 - Lots Of New Faces. Cal is going to have seven first time starters on offense and defense, and nine of them are true freshman. This will be Cal's least experienced team during London's tenure, so nobody really knows how they are going to perform. From the look of things Cal should be competitive, as some of the true freshman look legit, but starting such an inexperienced team will probably be an issue eventually.
2011 Recruiting Round-Up
California's 2011 recruiting class could be one for the ages, not just because London took them from 91st to 1st. Cal raided the Lone Star state and brought in the nation's top DT (Dalvin Glass) and MLB (Brian Friday), beating out Texas, LSU, and Florida for their services. London's biggest triumph was landing an arsenal of top prospects on offense, all of which are expected to start right away. Cal was losing alot of players at skill positions, so London was able to promise the moon when it came to starting time. The jewels of this recruiting class are ATH Travon Harvin, the nations top overall prospect out of Florida, and massive T Reggie Riboudeux out of Louisiana. Harvin will probably start at FS and get some snaps at WR, his position in HS, look for Cal to use him as a speedy slot receiver or HB out of spread formations. London was also able to bring in the nation's top WR and TE prospects, Mike and DeAndre Brown, twins out of Compton CA. The Golden Bears look set for the future, if London could do this playing out of AT&T Park the nations superpowers could be in trouble as Cal heads back to completed facilities in Berkeley.
Projected Starters (*Returning Starter)
QB - K.Boehm HB - D.Green* FB - M.DeLuca LT - R.Riboudeux LG - S.Good C - M.Brazinski* RG - T.Rigsbee* RT - M.Summers-Gavin* TE - D.Brown WR - M.Brown WR - S.Hagan K - G.Tavecchio
Sept. 1 at LSU Sept. 8 #11 West Orion Union Sept. 15 Iowa Sept. 22 at UCLA Sept. 29 #20 USC Oct. 6 at #21 Oregon Oct. 13 Arizona Oct. 20 #23 Oregon State Oct. 27 at Washington Nov. 3 at Arizona State Nov. 10 Washington State Nov. 24 at #7 Stanfurd
California finished with an amazing recruiting class (1st, Rivals.com), with a second BCS Title in hand they could improve next year. This class features a number of players who could, and may have to, start immediately.
NEW ORLEANS - Same teams, different venue. Alabama and California would meet again to decide the BCS National Champion, this time in Alabama's back yard. Crimson Tide fans would fill the seats, but most were worried about an upset similar to last year.
This game was similar to last year, but both teams managed to be less impressive on offense. Cal took the lead with an 83 yard TD strike from Beau Sweeney to Marvin Jones, and then settled into wearing down Alabama's defense. Sweeney went 12/15, and then went to Green/Deboskie-Johnson to eat away at the clock and tack on another 14 points.
Heisman winner Jones impresses in his final game.
Alabama's offense was missing WR Julio Jones and QB Greg McElroy, but they still had HB Mark Ingram. unfortunately they would need Jones and McElroy as AJ McCarron would struggle, and Ingram couldn't support the offence. Ingram was held to under 100 yards rushing, and Cal's blitzing managed to keep McCarron on his back or off target all game.
Alabama managed to hold Cal to their lowest point total of the season, but failed to get on the board themselves. Cal would become the first team ever to win back-to-back BCS Title games, and fans couldn't be happier back in Berkeley.
Marvin Jones became the second California player to take home the Heisman trophy at an exciting ceremony in NY. Jones had been off the radar for most of the season, but as Cal approached #2 in the rankings the media couldn't ignore him. Part of Beau Sweeney's success is due to Marvin Jones developing into a true #1 WR. Jones caught for at least 100 yards in every single game this season, and in the end he was the clear cut winner. Cal's freshman superstar HB Darrell Green finished third in the voting, so he could be back in NY next year.
Green continues to roll.
