#7 Trojans bigger, stronger, faster, and better than #21 Cal in win

November 8, 11:01 PMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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After an inconsistent first half from Cal's starting quarterback, Nate Longshore, coach Jeff Tedford chose to bring in this week's backup, Kevin Riley.  Riley started last week against Oregon, but suffered a concussion early in the game.  He may have started against the Trojans had he been able to get more reps during practice this week.  The lack of reps, showed as Riley often missed his receivers when they were open and held onto the ball too long on some plays.

There was a lot of pass rush in the first half, and we felt like Kevin was going to be able to move around a little bit and maybe make some plays.  And no, I didn't think Nate was playing all that poorly.  You know, a couple of decisions in the first half, that luckily there were penalties on them, but there were two interceptions down there that I didn't think that were great decisions.  But it felt like there was a lot of pressure on Nate, you know, so I felt that maybe Kevin could make some guys miss.
- Tedford on why he switched to Riley in the second half

Quarterback play wasn't the reason that the Bears lost on Saturday night, it was a team loss.  USC was able to move the ball on offense and make life miserable for Cal on defense.  Had it not been for the many bone-headed penalties that the Trojans were called for and a few breakdowns at inopportune moments, the Trojans might have been able to cover the 22-point spread.

On USC's first drive of the game, the Trojans drove down the field from their own 34-yard line without having a third-down play until the drive stalled at Cal's 10.  The drive concluded with a 27 yard field goal by David Buehler.

The first quarter would end with the Bears at the beginning of their only scoring drive.  After a 12 play drive that started in the first and ended in the second quarter, the Bears were tied 3-3 with the Trojans.

That score almost didn't happen.  At USC's 33-yard line, and second and seven, Nate Longshore moved out of the pocket to the right and threw a sideline pass into the hands of a USC defender, but a questionable roughing the passer penalty gave the Bears a first down and kept the drive going.  After a timeout and a play, and a penalty, Longshore would throw over the middle to the five-yard line into the hands of another USC defender.  This time, it was a pass interference call that gave the Bears a first and ten at the USC 11.  Cal couldn't capitalize as they began to make their own mistakes.

A five yard false start penalty, a ten yard holding penalty, and a couple of plays for a net of -1 yards, put the Bears at the USC 24, with a third down and 26 play to go.  They ran a delayed handoff to Jahvid Best for nine yards, and Giorgio Tevecchio came on for the field goal.

After waiting for over eight minutes on the sidelines, the USC offense was even more lethal on the following drive.  Starting from their own 30-yard line, the Trojans scored the half's lone touchdown on a six play drive.

After reviews of the scoring play, Patrick Turner's touchdown grab looked to be more of a touchdown trap.  When he came down on the diving grab, the ball was seen to be touching the ground, which is considered 'trapping' the ball.  The Bears didn't stop play and dispute the touchdown, so by the time that viewers were able to see the replay, the Trojans were already getting set to kick the ball back to Cal.

Down by seven at the end of the half, the Bears came out in the third quarter much better prepared to play the Trojans.  The Cal defense was able to halt the first drive of the Trojans by only letting up one first down and nearly forcing a costly turnover by quarterback Mark Sanchez on third down.

Riley commanded a Bears offense that finally showed signs of life on their first drive of the second half.  After starting from their own 21-yard line, the Bears moved like they had for most of the season, to the USC 27-yard line.  An apparent touchdown catch by Verran Tucker was then called back when Shane Vereen and Nyan Boateng both lined up on the line prior to the start of the play.  The penalty was originally called an ineligible man downfield, but was actually an illegal formation upon review.

The Bears still continued that drive to the USC five-yard line, thanks in large part by another penalty on USC - a pass interference call.  The drive ended when a Riley pass into the end zone was tipped and intercepted by USC's Josh Pinkard who brought it out to the three-yard line.

After the Riley interception, Cal would gain just one non-penalty first down the rest of the game.  The Bears never found an answer to the Trojans' pass-rush, nor could they ever find a way to gain yards on the ground.  The Bears, who's strength is their ground game, gained only 27 yards for the game, averaging only one yard-per-carry.

USC would later drive the final nail in the coffin by scoring a late-game touchdown, but the game was never as close as the score would indicate.  Even though it wasn't, the Bears will be thinking of what could have been.  For as poorly as they played, they still had opportunities to win the game.

We keep fighting.  This is a good team man.  We're gonna' keep fighting.  Just because we have a little slip-up, you know, we got Oregon State next week, we're gonna' go bring it to them.  Keep moving forward, you know what I mean?  This ain't going to slow us down.
- Captain Zack Follett on where the Bears go from here after the loss

Next week the Bears will travel to Oregon to take on the Oregon State Beavers.  The loss dropped Cal into third place in the Pac-10, with the Beavers and the Trojans in first and second.  Should the Bears lose against the Beavers, it will take USC getting into a BCS game for Cal to get a Holiday Bowl bid.  Other than a complete collapse by both schools, Cal's Rose Bowl dreams will continue to be just that - at least for another year.