The Dark Side

"Screw California."-- Rogue Wave, California

Below I've pasted an e-mail I sent earlier this week in regards to Saturday's college football contest pitting Oregon State against #2 California, in Berkeley.

Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:15:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: "JW"
Subject: numbers
To: "TWD," "TCALFB"

Just a few items that may be of interest to no one.

OSU average points for/against 27.5 / 25.2
CAL: 39.4 / 24.4

OSU average yards, offense pass/rush/total: 244.8 / 155.2 / 400
CAL: 227.4 / 201.4 / 428.8

OSU average yards, defense pass/rush/total: 246.7 / 43.5 / 290.2
CAL: 268 / 124 / 392

So... CAL opponents outgain OSU opponents by about 100 yards per game, yet OSU gives up 1 more point per game. Either CAL is blowing out opponents and they are getting cheap yards at the end, or CAL is getting turnonvers or otherwise "bending but not breaking." I'm interested to see if we can run on them since apparently no one can.

CAL outgains OSU by about 20 yards per game, but outscores OSU by 14 PPG. This probably reflects some combination of defensive opportunism (turnovers in opponent's territory, Pick 6) and DeSean Jackson running back kicks for scores.

OSU is a 14 point underdog. Seems like too many based on the foregoing. Besides DeSean and the return game, the teams look pretty evenly matched.
OSU's early-season schedule doesn't look that much worse than ours, so I don't think strength of opponent explains things. Someone please tell me what I am missing.

Note that I do not condone playing the dark side.

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Final Score of said college football contest: Oregon State 31, California 28.

I watched the game but have not read, watched or listened to any post-game analysis. Below are some of my thoughts, ramblings and pontifications about the game.

1. Cal pretty much had no business being in a position to tie the game. Some bad coverage and tackling by OSU in the fourth quarter. I'd questioned defenses that go into the "prevent" defense, since, as they say, all it does is prevent the team from winning. Now I see it firsthand - if the offense hits some big plays they are much bigger against the base defense, and an offense can come all the way back this way.

2. The officials blew it in failing to penalize OSU near the end of the first half. QB Canfield was about 3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage when he threw an incomplete pass and this was not noticed or was ignored by the zebras. Assuming no Butterfly Effect, the penalty would have added 5 yards to the FG attempt. The kicker for OSU has a big leg, having made a 58-yarder against Cal previously in his career. The 52-yarder was easily "good", but I think there is a big difference, physically and mentally, between a 57-yard attempt and a 52-yard attempt. Tack on an extra 5 yards and you've got a kicker with a different mindset, a kick that needs to be lower to travel the extra distance, and the (unlikely) possibility the coaches would deem that too far a kick to attempt.

3. Really would have been nice to score a TD instead of failing on 4 running plays at the goal line. I don't disagree with the concept or the play calling, but would think you've got to be able to impose your will and pick up those yards, even against OSU's run defense.

4. Would also have been nice to make the FG in the first half.

5. QB Kevin Riley (henceforth, "Mr. Retardo") made one of the most monumentally stupid plays I've ever seen in a college football game, in running up the middle with no (i) clear path to the goal line; (ii) time to do such a thing; (iii) intelligence; or (iv) timeouts left. I keep a list of people who are intelligent and aware of their surroundings, and Mr. Retardo has been banned from that list for life. You almost hate to kill the kid for making a mistake that an experienced player probably wouldn't have. But not even trying to get back to the line of scrimmage and spike the ball after being tackled, but instead running off the field with the ball and flipping it to the kicker? WTF was Mr. Retardo thinking?!??

6. Mr. Retardo played his prep football for the Beaverton High School Beavers... ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? How could we not see a choke against the OREGON STATE BEAVERS coming a mile away? What's next, Cal signs a kicker named Stanford Leland who goes 0 for 18 on the season?

7. I think Cal's kicker had a pretty good shot at making the 30-yard FG and sending the game to overtime. Maybe try for the win with Nate in there, but not Mr. Retardo. Although to be honest, I like that they went for one more play when they did. Live with the kid or die with the kid... I just can't believe Mr. Retardo tried to run it in.

8. I'm interested to see what the PTI guys have to say about this on Monday. I'll bet they both go easy on the kid for being inexperienced.