Kevin Riley

Sophomore quarterback Kevin Riley leapt to the attention and affection of Cal fans by his performance in the Armed Forces Bowl Game. We recall here just how extraordinary that performance was.

Note: The following article was published in the March issue of The Bear Insider magazine. We reproduce it here to recall just how exceptional was Kevin Riley's performance in the Armed Focess Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.

Part 1: Prologue

You couldn't write a more melodramatic football fable than the storybook game Kevin Riley starred in, even if you tried.

Who could imagine a redshirt freshman bungling a game mid-season, then rising to the heights at its final moments - the Armed Forces Bowl - without having played a single down in between?

This story is by now well known to Cal fans, but it bears repeating, if only to remind us just how improbable Riley's participation in the 2007 season truly was.

Riley beat out sophomore Kyle Reed for the number two slot behind Nate Longshore during fall camp, and Reed promptly transferred to San Jose State. Pundits pondered and pontificated (what else do they do?) about Tedford's choice, and noted that Cal now had only one game-ready quarterback - the experienced Longshore - backed by the completely inexperienced Riley.

The choice was clearly a risk for Tedford; his move left the team without a proven backup, a choice that could only have been made because he saw future potential in Riley that outweighed the risks - a potential that made Cal's long-term future brighter than those risks.

And then the injury happened. In the Oregon game on September 29, a pass-rusher rolled up on Longshore's ankle and delivered what was then called a high-ankle sprain (bad enough) but what was later acknowledged to include a bone fracture.

Longshore, hobbled by massive ankle taping, finished the game without attempting a pass, and Tedford was left with the consequences of his fall camp decision: the necessity of playing Riley in the next game against Oregon State.

Riley played surprisingly well after a few shaky initial series, but we need not recount those details here. What all will remember is that after leading a remarkable drive to give Cal a chance to win the game in the final seconds, Riley made a freshman's mistake - he ran when he shouldn't have - and was tackled as time and the game ran out.

That loss started Cal on its string of six losses in seven games, a disastrous slide after a 5-0 start that included wins against Oregon and Tennessee and had the Bears thinking BCS Bowl.

Riley didn't play after that Oregon State game, even though Longshore's lack of mobility and hampered mechanics reduced his effectiveness.

Whether Tedford stuck with Longshore out of loyalty - or a belief that Longshore's experience and knowledge made him the better choice - or because Riley was in the doghouse after the Oregon State kerfluffle - is not known to this day.

But as the season wore on, as the losses mounted, and as Tedford near-continuously reevaluated his decisions, he finally decided that he would give more playing time to backup players, perhaps to develop depth, but also perhaps to have a look at how those backups stepped up on the playing field when given the chance.

The move became unavoidable after losses to Washington and Stanford, the two worst teams in the Pac-10, to end the regular season.

Something, maybe anything, had to be done, so Tedford bit the bullet in his game plan for Air Force. He planned to have Riley run a series or two at the end of the first quarter and again at the end of the third quarter - but to have Longshore play the rest of the game.

Then Riley stepped up, in spades.

Tomorrow, Part 2: The Game

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