5 Thoughts (plus one) ... 2008 Emerald Bowl
California 24 ... Miami 17
GAME RECAP:
Cal gets late fumble to lead to win
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2008
CFN Emerald Bowl Preview
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2008
Emerald
Bowl
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1. The Heisman
campaign for Cal RB Jahvid Best
officially began Saturday night
in San Francisco. He is easily
one of the nation’s most
electrifying players, a long
ball hitter with great vision
and burst through the hole.
However, if Best is going to
reach all of his individual
goals, he’ll need more support
from the passing game. Nate
Longshore is a mess, so his
graduation will qualify as
addition by subtraction. Still,
Kevin Riley didn’t exactly step
up when he had his chances
during the year. The job will be
his entering spring, though
freshmen Beau Sweeney and Brock
Mansion should be given every
chance to pull an upset. This
sets up as a huge offseason for
noted quarterback guru Jeff
Tedford. He needs to develop a
playmaker behind center. As
amazing as Best can be, he’ll be
even scarier if the passing game
improves.
-
Richard Cirminiello
2. QB Jacory Harris is the
future in Miami. The future
looks bright. He was sharp in
the Emerald Bowl, but even more
impressive when you consider
he’s less than a year removed
from high school. Mature beyond
on his years, he looked like a
veteran in the pocket and
comfortable guiding the ‘Cane
offense. Sure, he needs to add
more muscle and sharpen his
passing skills, but those will
come in the offseason. Harris
carries himself like a winner,
which is going to resonate
throughout the roster once he
earns more respect from his
older teammates. He was locked
in a year-long battle for
playing time with Robert Marve.
The way Harris performed in his
first bowl game, he has earned
the right to enter spring drills
as the starter.
-
Richard Cirminiello
3.
Why start Nate Longshore over
Kevin Riley? It doesn’t make any
sense. Talk all you want about
honoring the seniors, the
importance of winning the bowl
game, blah, blah, blah, but if
you’re California, only one
things matters and there’s only
one thing the program should be
working towards: what do we have
to do to win the Pac 10 title
and go to the Rose Bowl?
Longshore is graduating, while
Riley will enter spring ball as
the odds on favorite to win the
starting job. Why not get Riley
all the extra work as the No. 1
guy in the bowl practices? Why
not let him sink or swim in the
pressure situation against a
speedy team like Miami? Who
cares whether or not the Bears
win the Emerald Bowl? How is Cal
a better team for having won
this game with Longshore under
center getting booed every other
snap?
-
Pete
Fiutak
4. Give me 11 Zack Folletts and
I’ll give you a defense that
drives opposing defenses batty.
No, he’s not Rey Maualuga or
Brian Cushing down in Los
Angeles, but I defy you to find
a more disruptive linebacker out
of the Pac-10. He’s one of those
defenders that plays with so
much intensity and energy that
it elevates the play of the guys
around him. With his hand in the
dirt, he schooled the Miami
tackles, consistently making
stops behind the line of
scrimmage. And when the game was
on the line, it was No. 56 who
was blowing past veteran Reggie
Youngblood and stripping Jacory
Harris to set up the winning
score for Cal. Certain defensive
players have a knack for
disruption. For four years in
Berkeley, Follett has been one
of those players
-
Richard Cirminiello
5.
Brutally bad coaching made this
game hard to stomach, from a
purely dispassionate
perspective. First, let's look
at the winning team:
A win over Miami is definitely
better than a loss, but Cal fans
were reminded in San Francisco
why their team hasn't been able
to interrupt USC's reign over
the rest of the Pac-10. It does
need to be said that Jeff
Tedford has made Cal football
relevant. By that standard, his
tenure in Berkeley has already
been a smashing success. But
since a heaping pile of money is
being devoted to an upgrade in
Cal's athletic
facilities--football prominently
included--one can safely assume
that lower-tier bowl wins in El
Paso, Las Vegas, Forth Worth,
and San Francisco are not the
goal in Strawberry Canyon.
So, why is Cal not about to
topple USC? You only had to
watch this game and contemplate
why Tedford didn't give the ball
to stud running back Jahvid Best
on almost every single snap. By
throwing far too many passes,
Tedford made this game much
closer than it had to
be. Without a clutch play from
his defense--a sack and fumble
inside the Miami 10 that set up
a game-winning touchdown in the
final three minutes--Tedford's team
would have failed to exceed
a meager 17-point total despite
having, literally, the Best
player on the field. That's bad
coaching. -
Matthew
Zemek
6. Continuing the coaching
post-mortem, let's go to the
losing team:
Yes, Miami has a lot of youth at
quarterback. No one expected
Jacory Harris to become Bernie
Kosar in this game. But in a
bowl game, a coaching staff
should be expected to prepare a
quarterback for certain
situations that are a regular
part of competitive football.
One such situation is the
two-minute drill.
Harris proved to be
spectacularly unprepared, and
head coach Randy Shannon failed
to intervene when a slow-motion
train wreck took shape.
Miami, down 24-17, had the ball
near midfield with 50 seconds
left in regulation. Harris
shockingly stayed in bounds on a
scramble when he had every
opportunity to get out of
bounds. The play ended with 43
seconds left, though, which
meant that the Hurricanes--with
the use of their final
timeout--could have retained an
entirely decent chance of
mounting a successful drive and
tying up the contest.
There was just one problem:
Shannon didn't call that
timeout, while his young
quarterback showed absolutely no
sense of urgency.
Harris--following his
ill-advised in-bounds
scramble--allowed 25 seconds to
tick off the clock before
receiving the next snap with 18
seconds left in the game. And on
that snap, Harris wound up
quickly gunning the ball into
the stands, the sign of a player
who was intent on... what
else?... stopping the clock.
When Harris's pass actually hit
the stands and drew the
dead-ball whistle, only 12
seconds remained in the game.
And then... only then... did
Randy Shannon call timeout.
The final Miami drive was so
poorly managed that the Canes
were never able to throw a pass
to the end zone. Not even one.
It's not just the players on Cal
and Miami who have to improve
next season, when expectations
will be rightfully high for both
programs. The coaching staffs
have to bring their A-game if
the Bears and Hurricanes are to
reach the proverbial "next
level." -
Matthew
Zemek