Cal Bears take a bye: will it make them better?

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

No game for the Bears this weekend.  Bears Backers may go into withdrawals after such a complete victory last week against the Arizona State Sun Devils.  Jeff Tedford and the rest of his gang may be happy with the outcome, but are they satisfied?

I was really proud of the way our team battled against a veteran Arizona State team. One of our keys was to get out to a quick start and we scored on our first two possessions to open a 10-0 lead. Our defense played very well, picking off two passes, recovering a fumble and forcing three others. Two of those turnovers led directly to scores for us and were clearly keys to our victory. We also held one of the top quarterbacks in the country to 165 yards and seemed to put pressure on him throughout the day. I thought we rallied to the ball, wrapped up our tackles and got our hands on a lot balls in the secondary.
- Tedford on last week's win

The Bears still have plenty to improve and even more to prove in the upcoming weeks ahead, but they seem to be on the right path.  Later in the season, it's completely possible that the team and their fans will look back on the Maryland game and think, "If only...."

The Bears are improving.  In the last game, the final element of their kicking game necessary for success was no longer a problem for Cal - kickoffs.  Their punt return team, (or should we call them the punt block team?), was as stellar as it has been all season long.  The punt coverage team did even better with punter Bryan Anger stepping up his game even more.

Of course, we can't overlook the play of punter Bryan Anger. It does a lot for you when you have a weapon like that. His punts were critical and affected the way Arizona State had to play, especially that 72-yarder that pinned ASU back on its 4-yard-line in the fourth quarter. It's no wonder he was named Pac-10 Special Teams Player of the Week.
- Tedford on the punting against Arizona State

So again, I ask, are they satisfied?  Signs point to no.

With our second bye week of the season, we are taking advantage of the opportunity to work on fundamentals in practice, give our younger guys a chance to get in some extra work and allow some of our bumps and bruises to heal. Although we don't have a game this Saturday, we are focused on making this a productive week. The work we put in during the first bye after the Maryland game really helped us in our next two games vs. Colorado State and Arizona State, and we are taking the same attitude this time, as well.
- Tedford on the bye week practices

So if you think that you'll be having withdrawals while the Bears take the weekend off from beating other schools, I thought that I'd organize some of the highlights from last week to help you through the pain.

Here's some of the scoring that Cal did.

The Bears were equally good, if not better, on defense.  Facing one of the deadliest passing attacks in all of college football and winning the battle is no easy task.  It's been a while since the Cal defense was more than an afterthought for the program.  This may be the first year in the Tedford era that the defense will actually be better than the offense, and the offense isn't bad.  Here are a few highlights from the Arizona State game to wet your appetite.