Holy cow! Now that's what I'm talking about! CAL starts the season by spanking MSU 38-31. Don't let the score fool you, this game wasn't that close. 3 of the 4 touchdowns that we gave up were due to some glaring mistakes (i.e. Longshore's pick 6, blocked punt due to mis-catch, roughing the kicker penalty on a 4th down). But whatever, that just means that there are more things for the young bears to build upon. So, now, some might wonder why I have a picture of Riley getting sacked. Well, it's because he's not getting sacked. Reminiscent of OSU, with Cal only up 24-21 and on a 3rd and 13 on a pivotal drive in the 4th quarter, Riley makes a 24 yard pass to Morrah while being dragged down by 2 MSU defenders. What a winner.
Before I dive into the game, I thought it was interesting how there were just throngs of MSU fans on the BART. I think they seriously thought they were going to win. Walking through them, we heard cheers of "GREEN AND WHITE". While being jeered at, I calmy (okay, not so calmy) told them that they came a long way for a butt whipping. And boy was I right!
Some game thoughts:
- Dude, we look awesome in our new Unis. I don't think we really resemble bears, but more of a slashing, fangly, striking, fast animal thing. It's freakin awesome.
-Kevin Riley. Baller. 'Nuff said. Scroll down to my 2007 posts if you want to hear some commentary on my mancrush on the guy from Beaverton, OR. One thing I do want to mention is that he missed Sean Young when he was about 50 yards wide open. So, the play was obviously a screen pass to Best. But 2 MSU defenders sniffed out the play and was about to cream Best. So, at the last second, Riley stopped his throwing motion and checked to his second option, made a quick throw for some yardage. Little did he know, if he had checked his 3rd option, he would have had Young for a TD. Oh well, at least he didn't make the mistake of following through with a busted play.
- Best and Vereen. So, Clemson has been unduly hyped up all pre-season and ranked #9 for having an awesome backfield duo. They call them "Thunder" and "Lightning", well, they were spanked by Alabama. I like to think that we have the best duo in college football in B&V. Let's call them "Lightning" and "Lightning". Oh yea! But seriously, Best had almost 300 all purpose yards. It's like having Reggie Bush as a sophomore. I think after a couple more games like this, the whole country is going to take notice, no joke man. Now, let's talk about Vereen. We knew he was a baller coming out of high school, there was just no room for him last year (Forsett, Montgomery (who?), Best), but Tedford had mentioned that we're going to like him. Well, I never took Tedford that seriously on that comment because I'm just so high on Best. But whoa! Dude had a 81 yard run from scrimmage to put the game on ice. Sure he had about 5 solid blocks, but you can't make it to the endzone on a straight run like that unless you have some serious speed. Man, Lightning squared (ha!) or whatever you want to call them are going to light it up this year!
- Morrah. Our #1 receiver yesterday, but he's a tight end. I remember seeing him at FAD sitting with the defense. I was like, "HOLY! SQT looks like 2x bigger in person!" Found out later that it was Morrah. I expect to see a lot more catches from him in the future. Especially in the red zone. Just fake it to best and roll out and hit Morrah in the flat. That play should be 90% effective.
- Sean Young. Our solid, safe, experienced, 6th year Senior. He was very consistent and pretty much caught anything thrown his way. This included a 40 yard bomb to him at the 3 yard line. I remember seeing that ball rocket out of Riley's hand. I thought he was throwing the ball way too far and way out of bounds, but about 2 seconds later, the ball lands squarely in Young's chest as he was falling out of bounds at the 3 yard line. It was beautiful. I think I'm tearing up.
- Boateng. 2 dropped passes on 3rd down that ended drives. So, this is what Tedford meant when he mentioned "consistency". Consistency means catching the ball. Chin up Nyan, focus more and make a play the next time.
- Anger. It's not "Ayngher", it's "Ahngher". Whatever his name is, he's got a rocket for a foot. I think everyone was blown away by his kicks. Sometimes we should just go 3 and out just to see this guy punt it. No really, okay, not really, but you know what I mean. My only concern is that he has a sprained knee from being creamed on the block punt. I hope he's okay, he says he's going to play next, so we'll see.
- SQT. Man, met him at FAD and he seemed like a real chill, unassuming, shy guy. But boy does he play big on the field. He's starting to emerge as a shut down corner. He had countless tipped balls, broken up many pass plays and made several solid tackles, along with a pick. Hagan looked promising as the other corner (conte who?) and had some flashes of brilliance (2 overturned INTs) but looked a little green at other times (he had his hands on about 5 balls with no official INT).
- Longshore. Suicide watch? Seriously, when you came in and threw that 50 yard bomb to Morrah, just about everyone was blown away. Then you threw 2 INTs in your next 4 throws. We're sorry man, the controversy is over. Enter Riley...
