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Five Things: Oregon State

Well. It was within the realm of possibility, and then it actually happened -- the Bears gave UCLA their first win, by doing all the things we hoped they wouldn't, and allowing the Bruins to do all the things against them that they were supposed to excel at.

1) Defend homefield -

Nope. Reports were that they sold 40-45k or thereabouts, with many people leaving early in the 4th.

2) Play cleanly -

A big nope here too. Five more turnovers.

3) Bully DTR -

Two sacks aside, DTR was clean all day. Unfortunate for Cal.

4) UCLA DBs vs Cal WRs -

Draw, at best. Probably a draw, if we're being kind, but they don't deserve that kind of benefit at this point, so it's justifiably ruled a loss, when we had no real passing game to speak of.

5) Run damn the ball, Beau

You know damn well this was a nope.

Week: 0-5 (3-3 on season; won all games in which they won Five Things, lost all games in which they lost Five Things)

Season: 12-16-2

No surprise that the worst performance of the season in Five Things also resulted in the worst loss of the year, too, and next week is the very last likely "winnable" game of the season against Oregon State. With it being on the road and the team already reeling, there's no guarantee they'll avoid the stain of such a defeat.

1) Play Cleanly

Okay, gettin real tired of this one, but as long as Cal insists on being a liability with the football offensively, this has to continue to be said. The last two weeks have dropped the team to the very bottom of the country in turnover margin, enough to sink their chances of victory in two games where they were the favorite. A third game going -3 or -4 would surely doom them again.

2) Tackle

The last two weeks haven't been the cleanest efforts on running backs -- particularly with UCLA's Joshua Kelley, who fell forward in domino-type fashion on every carry -- and this week brings Jermar Jefferson, who is an incredibly productive guy on the ground at 6.7 YPC and a 9.1% Marginal Efficiency (meaning he produces "on schedule" yardage 9.1% more than expected). He, and the rest of Oregon State have a collective +10% Marginal Explosiveness as well, which they showed off as early as week one against OSU, when they produced several 60+ yard TDs. In short, they'll give the ball to Jefferson a lot. Knocking him off schedule will be paramount, as will wrapping up the rest of the Beavers, who have been known to explode for yardage.

3) ...Push

But one of the reasons why the Bears have struggled so much to tackle is due to a lack of productive pressure up front from their three down linemen.

UCLA:

3 hurries by down linemen (Bequette 2, Becker 1)

Arizona:

2 hurries by down linemen (Palmer 1, Johnson 1)

For what we ask them to do, there isn't a great way to measure how effectively the 3-4 defensive line is at taking up blocks, getting off blocks, and allowing Kuna/Weaver to shine, but this is in some ways a glimpse at their effectiveness -- if they were dominating, these would at least be somewhat higher. Instead, over the last two weeks, Kuna and Weaver have had to engage the back at the 4-6 yard mark, rather than closer to the line of scrimmage. There's just a general lack of domination up front, which shows too, in the general eye test. Brett Johnson will be among those guys who will be given every opportunity to get in right away.

4) Youths

If this is going to be a lost season offensively, there's no harm in continuing to give snaps to Nikko Remigio, Jeremiah Hawkins, and Chris Brown -- the three guys who figure to actually be a part of the offense next year. The latter had their moments, and have had them throughout the season. Keep letting them play, and keep getting them those touches.

5) Weather

This is not so much in the climate sense of things, but rather, in reference to what Wilcox said earlier this week -- that the Bears were amid a storm, and that they'd get through it. This is the week that that'll happen, if it does. Things are not likely to get any easier this year, and no matter what outcome there is against Oregon State, be it blowout or otherwise, is going to satiate the Cal fans. But perhaps it can lay the groundwork for whatever lies after Washington, when they'll need to win 2 of 4 to reach bowldom...

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