Everyone bought into the hype last year, including one of the Worldwide Leader’s college football experts who picked the Golden Bears to win it all. And then they went to Knoxville.
35-18.
I certainly need not go into a whole lot of detail, especially on this blog, about what unfolded at Rocky Top but suffice it to say that there was a mass exodus on the Cal bandwagon.
The Golden Bears salvaged their season to win a share of the Pac-10 title (courtesy of UCLA) and spanked Texas A&M 45-14 in the Holiday Bowl.
People should be high on Cal coming into this season but again it’s a week one matchup against the Vols that will set the tempo for the rest of their season in ’07. If Nate Longshore is as god awful as he was last year, Justin Forsett can’t get the ground game going (the Vols completely shut down Marshawn Lynch in last year’s contest) and the defense looks as pourous as a cargo net, Cal will have an uphill battle to fight for the rest of the season. To me, that game will be decided by the play of Nate Longshore. If Longshore is patient, plays within the offense and takes what the defense gives him and maybe takes an occasional shot downfield to DeSean Jackson then UT could be in for a fight in Berkley.
On defense is where Cal will be the most effected by graduation and will need the most help. The Golden Bears are returning just 5 starters on a defense that included the Pac-10’s leading tackler, linebacker Desmond Bishop, Pac-10 defensive player of the year Daymeion Hughes and All Pac-10 first teamer Brandon Mebane. Cal will need its younger players to step up and fill the voids left by those players. The pre-spring depth chart has Jeff Tedford’s squad starting just 4 seniors and has two sophomores, Tyson Alualu and Cody Jones, starting at defensive end. The two sophs combined for 21 tackles last season. Tedford’s linebacking crew will be sured up by junior Zack Follet, who was the only non-starter named to any All-Pac-10 team (he was monorable mention). Simply put, Follet is a beast. Despite only starting one game and playing behind Desmond Bishop, Follet had 62 tackles, including a team-high 12.5 for loss, tied for the team lead with 5.5 sacks and led the Pac-10 with four forced fumbles. If the line can keep tackles and guards off Follet and weakside linebacker Worrell Williams, it’ll free them up to make tackles and stop the run, which they’ll need, Cal gave up 214 yards on the ground to UT and were the fourth-worst team in the Pac-10 against the run giving up 125 yards a game on the ground. Losing Daymeion Hughes, one of the nation’s premiere shutdown corners, will hurt Cal but even with Hughes, the Golden Bears still gave up 240.8 yards per game through the air, the second worst in the conference. Cal will give up big plays through the air, it’s inevitable.
On the offensive side of the ball is where Tedford’s genius shines and this season will be no exception. The Golden Bears are returning 8 starters on an offense that was first in the Pac-10 in scoring offense and second in total offense. When you consider that Cal is replacing Marshawn Lynch, last year’s Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, with Justin Forsett, who ran for 640 yards last year despite starting only two games, you have to figure that Cal will have no problem putting points on the board. The Cal O-line returns three starters including Pac-10 first teamer Alex Mack and second teamer Mike Gibson. The Golden Bears also return a talented trio of wideouts led by Pac-10 first teamer DeSean Jackson, who had over 1,000 receiving yards last season. Cal will be a potent offensive team again.
The road to Pac-10 supremacy will not be easy. The Bears will play host to Arizona, who put the nail in the BCS coffin for Cal last year, travel to Oregon, play USC in Berkley, and travel to UCLA. I see Tedford finally getting the best of Pete Carroll on Nov. 11 but losing to UT in the first week of the season and falling to Oregon in Eugene on Sept. 29.
2007 Bottom Line Prediction: 10-2.
Leave a Reply