Having Aaron Rodgers for a couple of seasons allowed fans of the California Golden Bears to see how the quarterback position should be played. It was a such a short time. It was enough for many of us to realize how bad the years since have been. Nate Longshore showed some promise but it was fleeting. Quarterback has been mostly a disaster in Berkeley for nearly a decade. Former head coach Jeff Tedford might have increased expectations for Cal football in most of his eleven seasons as head coach but a change had to be made. When up-tempo, pass-happy Sonny Dykes was hired as head coach after last season he brought some hope to a stagnant offense. That offense was on display this past Saturday night. It was most definitely a change from the past.
Cal was a couple of tipped passes away from upsetting #22 Northwestern. Instead, Cal lost by a score of 44-30. There was still a lot to like. For one, true freshman quarterback Jared Goff looks like he's ready for college football. He completed 38 of 63 passes for 445 yards and two touchdowns. 63 passes! 445 yards! My goodness, the ball is certainly in the air a lot in this new offense. That was expected but Cal still found the time to run the ball 35 times. The commitment to run the ball is one aspect of Dykes' offense that I've liked. The most stunning thing with this new "Bear Raid" offense in it's debut was the 99 total plays. That's an insane total. Tedford's offense was sometimes considered an explosive offense. I doubt that his offense exceeded 70 plays too often. Cal gained 548 total yards against Northwestern with a true freshman quarterback leading the way. That's a promising start. It would have been more promising if two of Goff's weren't tipped, caught by the wrong team and returned for touchdowns. Goff had three interceptions on the night. The last, which wasn't returned for a touchdown, sealed the win for Northwestern.
This sort of offense certainly puts a lot of stress on the opposing defense. No huddle, fast-paced, explosive. It also puts a lot of stress on Cal's defense. That was seen in them giving up 508 yards. Losing top pass rusher Chris McCain on a horrible penalty and ejection in the third quarter didn't help that defense. Still, 508 yards is a lot of yards to give. Cal has some talented defensive players. They made some nice plays but they also clearly gave up a lot. One of things that I've disliked most about these up-tempo offenses is what seems to be a lack of concern for anything resembling a decent defense. I don't want to see Cal fall into this.
An interesting development during the Cal-Northwestern game was the possibility of Wildcat defensive players faking injuries in an effort to slow down the Bears offense. The Cal fans started giving the supposed cheaters the business. I found it funny because Cal defensive players were guilty of this same tactic against the Oregon Ducks a few years ago. It was difficult for me to get upset with Northwestern when my team was once known to do the same thing. A little payback, I guess.
Despite the loss, this was a promising start to the Cal careers of Sonny Dykes and Jared Goff. Cal has some real nice receivers in Bryce Treggs, Chris Harper, Richard Rodgers, Darius Powe, Kenny Lawler, and Jackson Bouza. Dangerous runners in Brendan Bigelow, Daniel Lasco, and Khalfani Muhammad. The offense looks to be in a great place. I like many of the defensive players but they can't give up 500 yards on a regular basis. They play Ohio St. and Oregon in two of their next three games. Offenses like that will tear them apart if they don't tighten that defense. After too many years of watching a mostly floundering offense, it was fun to see Cal get an opponent, especially a talented opponent, on their heels.
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