The Novel: Idaho State
As this was a matchup that hardly in doubt after the second quarter, I didn’t quite devote myself to the minutiae I would normally pay attention to for the whole game, so the normal format of the Novel has been traded for a general overview this week.
When you have an early season schedule like Cal’s, with the FCS tuneup game coming before the bye, and a large measuring stick one after it, the number one goal is to simply emerge unscathed.
By that measure, Saturday was a wildly successful game for the Bears, who:
a) won
b) won in an encouraging, confidence-building fashion
c) won and stayed healthy – outside of Cameron Goode’s lower leg issue, a late game issue with what appeared to be Malik Psalms, and whatever kept Kanawai Noa sidelined for Saturday’s matchup against Idaho State, they look like they’ll have a relatively clean injury report entering the Oregon game, not to mention a week to prepare while the Ducks face a 60 minute visit to the Stanford meat grinder.
It’s not yet clear how good their chances will be to snag the upset, but everything that can be in their favor entering it, is, for a matchup that now has all kinds of larger implications – a win, or even a strong showing against the Ducks could signal that the Bears are up for a legitimate run in a down conference this year. Arizona and UCLA follow, and splitting those games – if not outright sweeping them – seems far more likely than it did in July.
(The boldest ((bowldest?)) among us might even begin postseason plans as soon as Week 7, but that discussion is neither here nor there at the moment. Ask me again in a different state of sobriety though, and…)
At a time when much of the Pac-12 can’t feel too great about themselves, the Bears offered at least some panacea for every major worry facing the team:
Early inconsistencies on offense aside (mostly due to penalties that cannot be afforded and no success running Laird), the quarterback situation has almost certainly settled, and Chase Garbers is the winner. Brandon McIlwain will keep playing going forward – his ability to consistently make positive gains is too valuable to sideline – but after seeing Ross Bowers not even take garbage time snaps, every indicator is that the job now belongs to the redshirt freshman from Newport Beach, who threw for 3 touchdowns in a 20 of 25, 224 yard performance. For the moment, no one will mistake Garbers for the NFL-caliber Cal quarterbacks of yesteryear, and that’s completely fine. He should not be held to that standard. Against Idaho State, he made things happen with his legs, avoided pressure, and generated enough explosive plays through the air to keep things honest, with the one turnover that wasn’t his responsibility – all of which are part of a winning formula for defense first teams, which Cal now is. Regardless of opponent, all of that matters. Weber State required 4th quarter heroics, for god’s sake, and that was just last season!
With Laird chugging his way to a 2.0 YPC and a long of 6 against FCS competition, it’s probably time to ask if he’s hurt or if something’s wrong. Lincoln Kennedy pointed out early on broadcast that he’s stopping his legs early, and that’s only one of a myriad of issues with our star running back at the moment. To this, we did discover Marcel Dancy using his opportunities in a big, big way – the Laney College transfer had patience, power, and the ability to make someone miss. There should be more carries in his future based off the strength of this performance. Just about the only question left with him is how he can do in the pass game, where Laird’s flexibility and general safety with the ball is still crucial to Garbers’ development. This is going to become a bit more of a timeshare (I am not sure if Chris Brown has passed Derrick Clark entirely, but the latter wasn’t given any opportunities to redeem himself after last week.)
Similarly, it’s probably fair to wonder about the mainstay at the tight end position, because it was another brutal game from Ray Hudson. You want to root for him as a person for all he’s gone through to get on the field, and I don’t question whatever value Baldwin sees from him the run game or his general leadership, but Ian Bunting earned more snaps – the Michigan grad transfer had 48 yards on 4 catches, the former of which is one first down short of Hudson’s career high, and the latter tied it.
Encouraging work without Kanawai Noa from the young receivers, who are starting to arrive, right on time. The offense opened the game with more of the Hawkins as RB look, then threw six targets his way on top of his carries, while Jordan Duncan took the lead through the air with two touchdowns and 63 yards. Again, I wasn’t the biggest Jordan Duncan guy heading into the season, but he’s starting to look like someone who can carry the passing offense next year, he’ll join Khalfani Muhammad on the Guys I Was Completely Wrong About List.
I saved Nikko Remigio for his own bullet, because while he hasn’t really broken through on offense and might not yet ready there, there’s a good chance he’s secured the punt return job, ironically due to a lack thereof from the guy he subbed in for. Breaking off a near touchdown sure didn’t hurt.
Only one sack allowed on the afternoon by the line, pressure that Garbers was able to slip, and all the non-Laird backs got a bunch of successful yardage. Penalties still have to be cleaned up by the group, but an encouraging afternoon.
The defense, of course, needed none of this, but in general, they did the thing we’ve become accustomed to them doing:
- Team MVP on the day was surely Ashtyn Davis, who saved four points with the touchdown saving tackle, then scored on the first return since the last Davis to take kicks. Then the interception? Whew. His development has been tremendous from being a walkon, and it’s so nice to see him succeed with his returns when he’s been working so hard and so close to breaking one the last few weeks.
- Outside of Davis, the defense was fairly successful getting after ISU with 4 or 5, and then fast enough to rally around every other threat. That’s basically the story of this one, since they went punt, punt, int, punt, fg, punt, punt, punt in the first half on the way to a 25 point deficit. They 3 and outed on 6 drives, then 5 and outed on another.
- Outside of Tanner Gueller’s brother, the rest of the ISU receivers combined (combined!) for 9 catches and 23 yards.
- Cal substituted pretty liberally all afternoon, so we got look at a lot of the second stringers, including Aaron Maldonado, who got his first sack and a half as a Cal Bear. I won’t hold the late scores against the group.
- The secondary is truly a good tackling bunch. Hicks missed the first egregious one I remembered seeing in awhile.
- Obligatory Evan Weaver note.
- Tevin Paul continues to hold strong in place of Cam Goode, but I would wonder if they’ll play him this much still with Oregon coming up. They’re sure to test him. Same with Kunaszyk.
- Lone looked good again in limited action, but next game might not be the matchup for him.
Unofficial Advanced Stats:
