Riley to get a chance at redemption in Corvallis

Riley will be ready to redeem himself
on Saturday. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Even if Kevin Riley one day wins a national championship with the Cal Bears, it will always be his first NCAA start that will be forever talked about when mentioning his Cal career.  For those of you that are new to the Bears or have successfully blocked the experience from your mind, let me explain.

The Bears were at home, ranked #2 behind LSU.  The same LSU that had head coach, Les Miles, touting the SEC's power as being much more superior than the Pac-10.  Cal came into the game at 5-0, while their opponent, Oregon State, was 3-3.  Better yet, the game was in Berkeley.

To make the night even more electric, the score to LSU's triple-overtime loss was put on the stadium screen early in the second quarter - causing the crowd of 60,000+ to erupt in a cheer of, "We're #1!"  Bear Backers couldn't have asked for a better setting to see Cal vault into the top spot in the country.

Unfortunately for Cal and their fans, Oregon State wasn't ready to lay down and give them the win they wanted so badly.  The Bears fell behind in the third quarter before re-taking the lead in the fourth, but the Beavers would take and build another lead that the Bears would eventually succumb to.

Remarkably, with the Beavers up 31-21 and only 3:26 left in the game, Riley would dig down deep and begin to lead the Bears on an incredible comeback.  He would complete a pass to Lavelle Hawkins for a 64-yard touchdown to bring the score to 31-28 with 2:31 left in the game.

After a failed onside attempt, the Bears' defense was able to hold Oregon State and get the ball back on Cal's six-yard line with 1:27 remaining and no timeouts.  Riley successfully moved the Bears down to the Beavers' 27-yard line and on third and 10 an incomplete pass turned into a 15-yard pass interference call, moving Cal to the Oregon State 12 with 14 seconds left to play.

Needing only a field goal to tie it, the Bears gambled by running one more pass play to go for the victory.  This is where Riley's first NCAA start goes sour, and is what is remembered best about the game as a whole.  Not finding an open receiver, Riley chose to run the ball instead of throwing it away so Cal could set up for the game-tying field goal.  His and Jeff Tedford's gamble came up snake eyes when Riley failed to reach the end zone without enough time to get the field goal unit on the field.

As the cliche' goes, 'the rest is history.'

I saw the field and I thought I could get around that guy.  It just didn't happen.
- Riley about the final play of that fateful game

Riley will get his chance to make amends to the Cal faithful this Saturday when he starts the game against the Beavers in Corvallis, Oregon.  Ironically, it's Oregon State with much to lose/gain this weekend and they'll be at home like the Bears were last season.  Is a year long enough for the saying, "revenge is a dish best served cold?"  Hopefully, for Cal, that dish is freezing.

Another interesting note about the upcoming game is that Beaver head coach, Mike Riley (no relation to Kevin), has yet to name who his starting quarterback will be for the upcoming game.  Listening to Tedford explain the differences between Oregon State's quarterbacks sounds much like his own.

I think that Moevao is a little bit better of a runner than Canfield is. I think they both run the offense efficiently. Moevao is a guy that can scramble a little bit more. I don't know who is going to play. Canfield played last week, obviously. You just don't know if Moevao is going to get the work in practice this week to be ready to play.

Lyle Moevao, the #1 QB on the roster,  went down a couple of weeks ago with a shoulder strain.  You'd think that his being out would be a plus for Cal, but after the way that Sean Canfield filled in for him in the Beavers' 34-6 victory last week over UCLA, it's difficult to discern the lesser of the two evils.

Here are more of the quotes from Jeff Tedford's press conference today:

About being on the road this week and last week (Note - this is Cal's last road game until they play in a bowl game).

Q: What kind of atmosphere do you expect in Corvallis?

The last time we were there, I know it was one of the more hostile places that we have played. It ranks right up there with the Coliseum (USC) and Autzen Stadium (Oregon). I hear it is going to be a record crowd, and I expect that they will be amped up and ready to go. We are going to expect a hostile environment. Last week, we had pretty good training with it as we played in a pretty wild place. Hopefully, we can take some of the lessons and experiences from playing in that atmosphere last week into this week.

Q: How do you think the team handled the atmosphere at USC?

Well, there were a couple of issues with the noise. You don't know whether it was the noise or you were jumping offsides because the guy across from you is getting ready to get off the ball; you better be ready or he is going to run you over. But the noise did have a factor as in the touchdown that was called back. They were trying to communicate with each other on who is on and off the ball and they can't hear each other and they are standing 10 yards away from each other. So it was very loud.

Tedford is a coach to the core, so he's never going to answer that question saying that they handled it perfectly after a loss.  Let's put it this way though, the Bears went into a colliseum filled with somewhere near 90,000 fans and played, arguably, the most talented team in the country keeping the game in doubt up until the final couple of minutes in the game.  I'd say they handled it alright, and we all know USC - Oregon State is no USC.

About Kevin Riley - why he's starting.

Q: You said on the conference call this week that Kevin Riley is going to start this week. Can you talk about the reasons for that?

His escape dimension and athletic ability give us a few more options on offense.

Q: Is there something about this week that allowed you to make the decision about the starting quarterback earlier than in past weeks?

Last week, Kevin Riley had a concussion, so it was hard to evaluate. We didn't know from day to day how he was going to be. It was pretty difficult last week.

Q: Since Kevin Riley is healthy this week does it make it easier?

Yes.

The last answer is a pretty good indication that unless Riley really begins to play horribly or gets injured at some point, he'll be starting the rest of the year.  Longshore will have to rely on garbage time and workouts to get him a draft slot in next April's NFL Draft.

About Kevin Riley - last year against Oregon State and this year.

Q: Kevin Riley said that he has not thought about last year's game until this week, do you think that is possible?

I do. Yeah, I think that is possible.

Ok, hold on a second.  Let's see if I have this straight.  Riley is from Oregon.  He came to Cal with hurt feelings because Oregon (Oregon State's bitter rival) didn't want him.  His first start was against Oregon State and they made him a goat before he could even launch his Cal career on the right foot.

He wasn't made your average goat either, he lost a game with national title implications and you could make a strong case that had the Bears won that game, their season may have ended up differently.  Alright, I'm going to weigh in on that question: I don't think that it's possible.  I'm not saying anyone is lying, but I don't see how he doesn't go to sleep thinking of that play from time to time.  I still have a few plays from my childhood that run through my mind here and there.

Back to the questions:

Q: Can you talk about what it will be like for Kevin Riley to return to Oregon this weekend and did you talk to him at all about controlling his emotions?

We definitely will. I think that it is a given that anytime you go home to a place with a lot of people there and a place where you grew up, it probably has a special meaning. He needs to stay focused on his job as a quarterback and running the offense to keep his emotions in check.

Q: Can you talk about Kevin Riley's mental toughness after the OSU game last year?

I think that was very disappointing last year when that happened, obviously. But I thought he shook that off very well. As a quarterback, you are going to run into those things. There are going to be times where you wish you had a play back here or there. That is not the first and it's not going to be the last that he is going to encounter as a quarterback of, `hey, I wish I would have done this or wish I would have done that differently.' I know there was a lot riding on that play, but I think he did a nice job of putting that behind him. I know I am going to have that question a lot this week, but I think that it is pretty much in his past as far as I know.

This goes back to my reasoning for not believing that Riley can put last year behind him, yet.  I would expect him to be pretty pumped up this Saturday, but hopefully he'll be pumped up enough to play well and nothing more.  The last thing that Cal needs to do is go another week without scoring a touchdown.  Speaking of defense...

About Oregon State's defense

Q: Can you talk about Oregon State's defense?

If you look at the statistical categories, they are right up there in the top three in most of the categories. They play really hard up front. They play with good leverage at the pad level. They run really well. Their two defensive ends can run really well. They are kind of undersized but they can run. They move them a lot and do some nice things with them. Their linebackers are solid players. Two great corners that will bump you every down pretty much. They are a strong defense. They have eight seniors on defense so they have some experience there.

Last year, Oregon State had the top defense in the country.  Last weekend, Cal didn't fare too well against the best defense in the last decade.  If Cal is to have a chance, they'll have to bring the same great defense with them to Oregon and find their offense on the way.