It only took until halftime of the 12th and final regular season game folks, but the 2015 California Golden Bears have arrived! The Bears finally (FINALLY) woke up and played the inspired kind of football we have all been waiting for. But for such an unlikely and truly ecstatic victory, it’s supremely frustrating to realize this is what the team was supposed to be all along. It’s like watching someone slowly dig a trench for three months, and then at the last minute watching them realize they have been using the wrong end of the shovel.
The first half of the Arizona State game (and really, a large chunk of the last 6 weeks) was brutal. It was unbearable to watch on TV, and I’m sure even worse at the stadium. All the things that had been plaguing us throughout our 1-5 stretch continued to hurt us. Drops, turnovers, anemic offense, paper-thin defense. I honestly thought the game was over halfway through the second quarter, and I don’t think I was being unfairly cynical either. Any way you slice it, there is no possible combination of excuses for being down 24-3 after 22 minutes of game time. Either the opposition is just THAT much better than you, or you just don’t care. Or both. The first 30 minutes wasn’t quite this team’s floor… But it wasn’t very much higher.
The last 30 minutes was the ceiling.
Cal’s offense scored 38 points on 38 plays in the second half. 38 points, 38 plays. That is absurd. I’m not a mathematician, but I don’t think the numbers are supposed to work that way. Furthermore, Cal’s offense only possessed the ball for 11 minutes and 42 seconds in the second half. Meaning they scored 38 points in under 12 minutes. NBA basketball teams don’t even score 38 points in 12 minutes. The Lakers might not even score that many in their next full game (I kid! I kid! But really though, who else are they going to find who can struggle to crack 30% shooting while jacking up 28 shots a night when Kobe leaves? Again I kid, except not really).
The Goffense got back to what was working early in the year. They ran a simple offense that centered on their quarterback’s ability to read the defense, and execute smart run designs, or quick passing plays. Tre Watson, finally receiving a significant workload, flashed the kind of running back talent we were missing all year (remember that shovel analogy…), the receivers ran great routes and didn’t drop passes. Goff did everything he possibly could have. There isn’t much more you could have asked from him in what will most likely be his last half of football at Memorial Stadium.
At this point in his football career, to say that Jared Goff looks like Peyton Manning is a gross exaggeration… But if you squint REAL hard, you can see a slight and blurry resemblance. The constantly moving feet, the supernatural pocket awareness, the lightning quick release. His merciless destruction of ASU’s blitz-happy defense would have made old Chicken Parm proud. Is he the greatest quarterback the world has even seen? No - his accuracy wanders, especially on his deep ball. He’s thrown too many meaningful interceptions this year. He’s faced several top-notch defenses this season that have spent more time figuring out how to stop him, and he’s been less than spectacular. But the football IQ he displayed against Arizona State was OFF. THE. CHARTS. He’ll enter the NFL with the mental ability already there, and the physical prowess will come. Which makes him the polar opposite of Johnny Manziel.
But let’s not forget about the defense, which, of course, is still half the battle. In the first half, our defense surprised the ASU offense by throwing them a ticker tape parade that led straight to our end zone. Our hodgepodge of a secondary was continually roasted by UCLA cast off Devin Lucien, and our front seven had no answer for the Bercovici-Richard read-option that has taken the Pac-12 by storm (I put that last bit in italics to make sure you understood it was dripping with sarcasm). Sure, the defense held on the first drive (which lasted well over 5 minutes) to force a field goal. But ASU’s next three drives lasted 35 seconds, 3 minutes, and 1 minute. All of them ended in touchdowns.
So what turned this much-maligned defense around? What brought them back into contention after a 27-10 halftime deficit? The answer, dear reader, is a magical and glorious thing. Its appearance in Berkeley football lore is as rare and mystical as that of a unicorn. It’s called “an adjustment”. Yes, my friends, for the first time I can ever remember, Cal made a meaningful in-game adjustment. And given the dire circumstances, it worked TO PERFECTION.
“But Blake”, you might complain, “Arizona State continued to score points, gobble up chunks of yards, and possess the ball for extended periods of time”. You might add “And they still converted five of six third down opportunities outside of the red zone in the second half”.
All these things are true. But all of these things are fine given the proper context. I recognized our second half defensive strategy immediately, and you should have too. That’s because it was a 100%, separated-at-birth, DNA match to the Stanford defense we faced just one week earlier. Where do you think good ideas come from? Personal ingenuity? Please. How’s that saying go about imitation and flattery?
There is only one distinguishable tenant to the Stanford defense (or at least the Cal-operated Stanford defense): Do not allow touchdowns. You can throw everything else you know about defense out the window. As long as you always keep the play in front of you, you’ve done your job. It is “bend but don’t break,” only taken to the extreme. It’s not about quick stops, it’s not about generating pressure, and it’s not about tight pass coverage. Those things are great if they happen accidentally, but they aren’t the focus of the strategy. That’s why we gave up frustratingly easy third down conversions, and let ASU drive down the field 6-8 yards at a time virtually unopposed. Because all we cared about was not allowing touchdowns.
At one point in the second half, Arizona State reached the red zone on four consecutive drives, and came away with 12 points. Stanford defense. In the same time frame, the Cal offense mounted five consecutive touchdown drives and completely erased what had been a 21-point deficit. Let’s see if I can summarize all of that for you:
While the offense scored points with reckless abandon, the defense kept everything in front of them and stiffened in the red zone when it mattered.
That, Ladies and gentleman, in 25 words or less, is your unabridged 2015 Cal Football blueprint. Too bad the season is over.
And thus, the regular season ends on a high note, although it feels bittersweet. Sonny Dykes’ future with the team is still very much unknown. I have remained firmly on the fence in the Fire-Extend debate, and this week is no different. The outcome of a game does not determine the validity of all coaching decisions. A win does not erase all issues. Sonny is still far too conservative and too intent on making everyone fit into HIS ideal box. His team still can’t avoid sluggish starts and stupid mistakes, or put a complete game together. He still doesn’t own a victory against the top four teams in the conference.
But there is one “still” I have to cross off my list – Sonny Dykes is still unwilling to make adjustments. He saw his team struggling and called for a change. Whether we won or lost the game, that is important nonetheless. Was there luck involved? Absolutely. Would a change like this work every time? Certainly not. But in this case, the adjustment was warranted and brilliant. Winning was just the cherry on top
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