While redemption doesn't enter into the 2007 equation, in beating a very good Tennessee
team, Cal went a long way to showing that this year's team could be unique.
"It was a big win, no question," said Cal head coach Jeff Tedford.
"We've carried this with us for a year. The guys played well and they were ready
physically, emotionally and mentally."
Led by Justin Forsett's 156 yards rushing and Nate Longshore's 19-of-28 passing for 241
yards, California outlasted the Volunteers in a shootout at Memorial Stadium that featured
52 first-half points and was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 72,516.
The Bears also benefitted from an early defensive touchdown thanks to work from Zack Follett and Worrell Williams, a DeSean Jackson 77-yard punt return for a touchdown, smart
offensive work from Jeff Tedford and Jim Michalczik, and a dominant fourth quarter which
saw the Bears outgain Tennessee 171-2.
As one-sided as last season's Tennessee's game was, California, to a man, was convinced
that the difference between the two teams wasn't nearly as big as last year's score
indicated. Yet with Les Miles banging the drum for SEC supremacy, Bear players were
subject time and time again to questions about the strength and the speed of Tennessee.
While Cal might have felt they were every bit the equal of the Volunteers if not
better, no questions would be resolved until Saturday, September 1st, when the two teams
played.
The 12th-ranked Bears battled it out neck-and-neck with the 15th-ranked Volunteers,
before a dominant fourth quarter, where all of the work put in over the off-season, all of
the hours in the weight room, all of the running, all of the time spent in the film room
manifested itself in the form of heart and determination.
"The guys went at it today," said Lavelle Hawkins, who scored a nine-yard
touchdown early in the third quarter to give Cal a 38-21 lead. "We wanted get
to this day. Last year, we knew that wasn't us. Today we did what were supposed to and we
really worked on focusing on the small things."
"We did not tackle well," said Tennesee head coach Phillip Fulmer.
"(Forsett)'s really good and (Best) gives them a dimension that is special because of
his speed. There were a number of occasions when we just looked bad. We looked bad trying
to tackle those guys. Their front did a good job moving us more than we would have liked,
so you have to give them credit.
During last year's Tennessee game, the Volunteers took the lead early and kept the
Bears in a scramble mode all game. This season, it was very much in Cal's mind to
make a statement play early. That happened at the 13:09 mark of the first quarter,
when on a 1st-and-10 from the Cal 48, Volunteer QB Erik Ainge went back to pass and was
nailed by Zack Follett. The ball went flying out and was picked up by linebacker Worrell
Williams who ran 44 yards for the touchdown.
Follett was originally lined up to the outside opposite a receiver where Ainge likely
made the assumption that Follett would remain in coverage. As Ainge went back to pass,
Follett slid off the receiver who was quickly blanketed by another defensive back and came
in untouched on a backside blitz.
"Zack was coming off the edge, and one of their receivers broke off a route,"
said Williams who finished the game with nine tackles. As Ainge pump-faked, he then looked
towards running back Arian Foster who ran a pattern in the right flat. Williams had Foster
covered and as Ainge looked for another option, he was hit.
Getting a free shot at a quarterback is any linebacker's dream. Once Follett was in the
clear, "I wanted to hit him as hard as I can."
With the ball flying loose, it fell right into the path of Williams, who was making his
first start at middle linebacker.
"I first thought it was an incomplete pass," said Williams, "But then I
saw the ref backpedaling so I picked up the ball and that was money."
The play proved to be pivotal in establishing momentum for the Bears, but also helping
Williams shake off the lingering aftereffects of a frustrating 2006.
"It was huge," said Williams. "I thought I needed to answer questions if
I could hold down the middle, and I felt like I answered them."
With the score tied at 14, and Tennessee having to punt from their own 35, the
Volunteers quickly added themselves to http://www.the1towatch.com,
by choosing to kick to Jackson who promptly reeled off a scinitillating 77-yard punt return.
The beauty of Jackson's punt returns are that they don't follow a script. He doesn't
always reverse field and he doesn't always take off upfield in a straight line. Like
a jazz musician who takes a riff and improvises on the fly, Jackson sees what's there and
does something that no defense can adequately prepare for.
After catching the ball on the 23 by the left side line, Jackson ran right, hopped twice as two defenders went
flying past him trying in vain to find an angle. Jackson took a couple more slide steps to
the right, saw a lane open up, and took off with a convoy of Thomas DeCoud and Chris Conte leading
the way. Jackson was well on his way towards the end zone when Conte flattened a
hopeful Tennessee tackler.
"I got to the end of the wall," said Jackson who notched his sixth career
punt return for a touchdown in just 27 returns. "Then I saw some space and cut
back...It was huge. It got the crowd pumped up and it got me pumped up."
"DeSean's always ready to play," said Tedford of Jackson who in addition to
his 77 punt return yards also had 45 yards receiving and 21 yards rushing. "The team
never knows where he's going. He could reverse field, so guys hustle and get in position
to make plays."
While this turned out to be the last of Britton Colquitt's punts that Jackson would
actually get a chance to field, it started a series of pooch and squib punts that ensured
that Tennessee would have a tough time winning a field position battle.
"Kicking it away is easier said than done," said Tedford. "Some of
those punts looked like they went off the side of his foot."
With the Golden Bear offense now back in Jeff Tedford's hands, Tedford and offensive
coordinator Jim Michalczik threw enough creative wrinkles at the Volunteers to keep them
off-balance.
On a third-and-one from the Tennessee two, the Bears sent both of their running backs
wide to the right and Longshore ran in a two-yard sneak for a touchdown to put Cal up
14-7.
In the middle of the second quarter, with the score tied at 21, and the Bears having a
3rd and 4 from the Tennessee 7, Forsett and tight end Craig Stevens were lined up
wide to the left side, taking two defenders who were not guarding receivers away from the
play. Longshore took the snap looked right quickly, then threw left to wide receiver
Robert Jordan who was coming inside, took advantage of a great block by center Alex Mack
who sealed off a lineman to the outside, and Jordan easily ran around him into a suddenly less crowded interior and into the end
zone for a touchdown.
Up 31-21 early in the fourth quarter and with a first-and-goal from the nine, Tennessee
was still sorting out its defensive assignments when Cal lined up. Consequently, no one
was lined up opposite Hawkins. Longshore saw this, changed the play, quickened the
snap, fired a pass to Hawkins over on the right who scored easily.
"It was a different play. But I saw [Hawkins], gave him a head nod, he saw it and
I threw it," said Longshore, who didn't recall if he even took a step back following
the center snap. "It's an early game and you'll get opportunities like that."
"Nate saw something," said Hawkins, who had one of his best days as a Bear
with 7 catches for 90 yards and 177 all-purpose yards. "It was supposed to be a run,
but he changed the play, and threw it quickly to me. I was kind of surprised."
The game also marked the unveiling of true freshman Jahvid Best, who saw duty at the
running back position as well as returning kickoffs. During a key 3rd-and-2 from the
Tennessee 38, the Bears went with a two tight-end formation, and ran a toss play to Best
who demonstrated the speed that he's shown throughout full camp, running for 34 yards
while showing smart enough instincts to run inside of a Mike Tepper block, who had his
defender walled off to the outside, but around DeSean Jackson who tied up his man and left
a lane to the outside.
"Jahvid's definitely going to contribute," said Tedford of his freshman who
had four carries for 46 yards and returned two kicks for 57 yards. "He's great as a
gunner, he's really dangerous on kickoffs and we've got some sets for him."
While it wasn't the best of nights for the Cal defense, which was challenged by the
efficiency of Tennessee's short passing game, it was resilient enough to play an
outstanding fourth quarter, where they limited the Volunteers to just two yards and one
first down in 13 plays.
The Volunteers passed for 271 yards and gained 382 yards against the Bears and Tedford
was quick to give them credit.
"It looked like a Peyton Manning offense," said Tedford. "They went
no-huddle, they handled the crowd well and they were disciplined.
"Tennessee's a great team. They made a lot of plays," said Follett. "But
we gave up way too many touchdowns and they had too many long drives."
Throughout the game, Cal kept rotating its defensive linemen, using Tad Smith, Cody Jones, Cameron Jordan, and John Allen to rotate in with Tyson Alualu, Matt Malele, Mika Kane and Rulon Davis. While the Bears had difficulty sustaining a pass rush on Ainge, they
were beginning to get better pressure late in the game.
Unlike last year's game, where Tennessee had several long completions which put the
Bears below the eight-ball, the Volunteers only managed one completion of more than 30
yards. Cal didn't play a lot of five-defensive-back coverage until late, and the secondary
of Brandon Hampton, Syd'Quan Thompson, Bernard Hicks, and Thomas DeCoud played solidly in
generally preventing receivers from running freely in the secondary as well as keeping the play in front of them.
"We started well in the first quarter and kept rolling," said Thompson, who
had six tackles. "All the talk about Tennesee kind of got under our players' skin. We
know that the Pac-10 can play against any team. We knew we're capable of doing something
and we stuck to our game plan."
With Tennesee in catch-up mode and down two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter, the
Bears went to a nickel formation with Marcus Ezeff as the fifth defensive back and using
Allen as a pass rusher. The Bears were able to disguise their pass rush better as it
wasn't as readily apparent to Ainge where the fourth pass rusher would be coming from.
Ainge's accuracy started to fall off as his passes were now behind targets or off their
hands. The Bears secondary was outstanding in the fourth quarter as Ezeff and Thompson
nailed passes from Ainge to running backs for losses and short passes to wide receivers
were met by waves of defenders.
"There were some signs of desperation [from Tennessee]," said Williams.
"It was loud, the crowd was behind us. I didn't see fatigue [on their part], but we
were in good shape and we showed who wanted it more."
On offense, the Bears gained 171 yards in the fourth quarter, running and passing with
equal facility. Cal had nine plays that went for 10 or more yards in the fourth quarter,
several coming from Forsett who had 12 carries for 92 yards in the final 15 minutes, who
looked just fine in the role of featured back.
"It felt good out there. Fortunately, I've been in a starting role before. It's
really no different, it just gives me an opportunity to be consitent," said Forsett.
"Tennessee was probably getting a little tired there. Our offensive line was getting
a great push and a lot of times I wasn't getting touched I until I reached the
secondary."
"Our offensive line was getting nasty out there," said Longshore. "They
played like it was no tomorrow. Tennessee was getting testy towards the end."
"[Tennessee's] a physical football team," said Tedford afterwards. "We
went toe-to-toe with them and we wore them down. We heard they were physical and we hope
this answers some comments [about whether we can be physical]."
Tedford, as were many of his players, were thrilled with the crowd energy on Saturday.
"The crowd was awesome," said Tedford. "It was huge. I'm so proud of our
fans and the environment we had. At one point I had to take off my headset to [hear] what
it was all about."
"Our crowd was into it tonight," said Thompson. "It really helped
us."
With the team's big nonconference obstacle out of the way, the Bears now set their
sights on next Saturday's game against Colorado State, who suffered a 31-28 overtime loss
to in-state rival Colorado. And in time the Bears will concern themselves with how to
defense quarterback Caleb Haney who threw for 229 yards and three touchdowns and stopping
Kyle Bell who ran 40 times for 137 yards.
While Saturday's win will give the Bears a swagger, momentarily restore some luster to
the Pac-10 side of the Pac-10/SEC debate, the win won't necessarily have to same sort of
lingering effect that a loss would. With no rematch scheduled for last year, there
won't be any waiting around for 365 days and being asked the same questions over and over.
For now, the Bears aren't anything other than a 1-0 team, but compared to what they
were at this point last year, they'll gladly take it.
Notes...Cal outgained Tennessee 471-382...The Bear defense did a good
job of stifling the Volunteer running game, limiting them to 111 yards on 27 caries, with
42 of them coming on one carry....The Bears' balanced attack resulted in 241 yards passing
and 230 yards rushing...Tom Schneder pulled a quadricep during pre-game work and was
replaced by Jordan Kay who made all six of his PATs as well as a 27-yard field goal.
"It was great to see Jordan Kay out there," said Tedford. "He was very
efficient with his kicking."...For Cal the leading tackler was Brandon Hampton who
had 11 tackles, followed by Thomas DeCoud, Anthony Felder and Worrell Williams, who had
nine each. Jerod Mayo led Tennessee with 10 tackles followed by Jerod Mayo's eight...For
all the talk about whether the Volunteers would bring 15,000 or 20,000 fans, the total
appeared to be closer to 10,000 and even that might be on the high side.
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