Cal Bears at Washington State Cougars: A pummeling in Pullman?

Oski won't be in Pullman, but Cal should
be alright without him.
Photo courtesy of sfophoto/flickr

The Cal Bears travel to Pullman, Washington for their Pac-10 opener on Saturday, September 6, at 3:30pm PST.  Coming off of a thrilling victory last Saturday at home against Michigan State, the Bears will hope to put this one away early, but those types of victories within the conference are rare gems. 

In 2007, the two teams squared off in Berkeley and Cal barely came away with the victory, winning 20-17.  The last time the Bears visited the Cougars in Pullman, it was in October of 2006, they were ranked 10th in the nation, and they won easily 21-3.

Last season, Washington State was 3-6 in the Pac-10 and 5-7 overall.  Since then, the program has turned to alumni and former Eastern Washington University coach Paul Wulff.  Wulff brings with him his experience of playing for Dennis Erickson, Mike Price, and Jim Walden.  Wulff, at age 41, is the youngest coach in the Pac-10.

Wulff is not going to take the Cal running game lightly.  When asked about the Bears' running game he was adamant about how good they are saying, "If you slip up at all, they're going to take it all the way."

California Golden Bears (1-0, 0-0) ; Last Week : Win over Michigan State 38-31 

 Keys on Offense: The Bears would like to continue to do more of the same from last week.  They ran the ball 36 times for 203 yards, averaging 5.64 yards per carry.  While they won't give back the 81 yard Shane Vereen run that clinched last weeks victory, without that one carry the Bears averaged a pedestrian 3.49 yards per carry.  Their offense is predicated on the play action pass and in order to do that they'll have to give Washington State something to worry about on the ground.

Kevin Riley will be the starter and he's expected to play the entire game, unlike last week when Nate Longshore relieved him for two series ending with interceptions, one for a touchdown for Michigan State.  This will be Riley's third start of his career, so he's still learning on the job.  He's a quick study, against the Spartans he completed 17 of 24 passes for 202 yards.  What Riley brings to the table is his ability to make plays when all hope is lost and doing so without making critical mistakes.  He'll need to continue doing that for the Bears to stay ahead.

Keys on Defense: The Cougars will attempt to run a no-huddle spread offense against the Bears.  Fortunately for the Bears, that plays right into their strength, pass coverage.  What Cal will have to do on offense is contain redshirt Junior Dwight Tardy,  (18 carries, 59 yards last week against Miami Fla.), and not have any blown plays when fifth year Senior Gary Rogers attempts to get the ball to the Washington State receivers.

If the Cougars can be successful moving the ball within their no-huddle offense, the Bears will not have the luxury of subbing players out mid-drive.  It will be critical for the Bears to prevent Washington State from putting several plays together this early in the season, while players are still getting their 'game legs' under them.  Although Cal was able to pressure Spartans' quarterback Brian Hoyer last week, they weren't able to sack him.  Against a passing opponent, they'll have to finally start getting to the quarterback prior to the ball being released.

 Washington State Cougars (0-1, 0-0) ; Last Week : Loss to University of Miami Fla. 39-13 

 Keys on Offense: The Cougars will have to face a Cal defense that hurried and harrassed the Spartans' Brian Hoyer into only completing 42% of his passes with an interception.  Rogers can relate to Hoyer's plight last week.  The Hurricanes continued to prevent him from getting comfortable last week and sacked him twice.  The Cougars will have to protect their guy on passing plays if they expect to improve from 82 yards passing from 12 completions out of 24 attempts.

Washington State will also have to open some holes for Dwight Tardy if they expect to keep Cal off balanced.  It doesn't look like a safe bet to happen after the Cougars were only able to gain 114 yards off of an Oklahoma State defense that ranked 101st out of 119 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2007.  Whatever they do, they're going to have to find a way to do better against a defense that touts the most talented linebackers in college football.

Keys on Defense: The Cougars allowed 174 rushing yards and 193 passing yards last week and this week will face Cal's talented  tailback tandem of Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen.  Any defensive gameplan without an answer to those two is bound to fail.  If they can prevent the big play, stay disciplined in their defensive assignments, then they may cause Riley to win the game with his arm.

Against the pass, Washington State will have to play some zone because the Bears have too many players that they can go to for a critical score at any time.  If Washington State puts too much into stopping Cal's receivers, then the Bears can throw underneath to the tight end or one of their backs coming from out of the backfield.

Cal Bears Examiner Prediction: Cal 31 - WSU 16