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Articles
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Bears are up a Tree...or? By Malamute, 19 May 2004
California (Returning Starters: Offense 7, Defense 8, Specialists 0) California has a nice mix of offensive and defensive starters returning. The Bears handed co-national champion USC its only lose in a game played at Berkeley, going 8-6 for the season. In his two years as a head coach in the Pac-10, Jeff Tedford is 15-11, which for a coach at California is a most respectable stat. Tedford is one of four coaches in the Pac-10 with winning records. In the Insight Bowl, Tedford’s Bears amassed 52 points in a win over Virginia Tech, its first win in a bowl game since their 37-3 win over Iowa in the 1993 Alamo Bowl. Cal returns Junior quarterback Aaron Rogers (6-foot-2, 195), who had the third-best pass efficiency rating (146.6) in the Pac-10 last season. (To the editor: PE is a function of yards, completions, touchdowns and interceptions, all per pass attempt -- and damned if I'm footnoting it). In 13 games, Rodgers completed 61.6 percent of his passes (215-of-349) for 2,903 yards and 19 touchdowns. He threw only five interceptions. In the bowl game, he went 27-of-35 for 394 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for two scores on the way to earning the game's offensive MVP award. After the season, he underwent arthroscopic surgery for a torn ligament on his left knee and missed the spring practices; he is expected to be healthy by fall camp. Rogers is backed up by Reggie Robertson who completed 62.6 percent of his passes (62-of-99) for 797 yards and 9 touchdowns in 14 games. He threw 3 picks and had the second-best PE in the conference (154.2). Averaging 6.54 catches per game, school-record-setting WR Geoff McArthur returns; he is been projected as being the best wide out in the Pac-10, unless, of course, Mike Williams (USC) is ruled eligible. McArthur had 85 catches for 1504 yards and 10 touchdowns on the 2003 season. The Pac-10 has approved a medical redshirt for WR Jonathan Makonnen, who had surgery on his left foot last September and missed the remainder of the season. At TB, Adimchinobe Echemandu is gone. He rushed for 91.9 yards per game last season, the second best in the conference. The running game will focus on JJ Arrington (607 yards, 5.7 yards per carry, 46.7 yards per game), and the coaches are high on incoming freshman RB Marshawn Lynch out of Oakland. Recruiting gurus Greg Biggens and Brian Stumpf rated Lynch the number one running back to come out of the CaliFlorida Bowl, which was played last January. Due to a dearth of players (12 of them on the injured list) and a beat up offensive line, Tedford orchestrated a modified spring game, which consisted of a potpourri of drills followed by a limited scrimmage. Only six offensive linemen were available for spring practices. Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com, ranks Cal as twelfth best in the country, while Athlon Sports names the Bears number 14 in its preseason forecast. We rank Cal third in the Pac-10 behind USC and Oregon. Ted Miller of the Seattle P-I has them ranked as the number two team behind the Trojans. In its 54-7 shellacking of the UW last season, Cal played with the enthusiasm and spirit once seen in the Huskies of the past. Players to watch: QB Aaron Rodgers; WR Geoff McArthur; SS Donnie McCleskey; DT Lorenzo Alexander; OLB Wendell Hunter Stanford (Returning Starters, 5 offense, 9 defense, 1 specialist) Heading into his third year as Stanford’s head coach, Buddy Teevens, with a 6-16 record, is on the hot seat. He’ll need to produce this year, fare better than expected, or face the wrath of the alumni and fans at year’s end. An unexpected visit to a bowl would be more than enough to keep him employed. We rank the Tree next to last in the conference; Ted Miller of the P-I agrees with us, though he never intended such a comparison when he published his forecast. Stanford ranked last in total offense and ninth in total defense a year ago. The Cardinal finished in the bottom half of the eight offensive and defensive categories we examined. The good news for the Cardinal is they return 9 defensive players, the most in the Pac-10. On the other hand, the defense gave up 324 total points in 11 games (4-7) last season, for an average of 29.5 points per game. NT Babatunde Oshinowo anchors the defensive line and seniors Jared Newberry and David Bergeron are among the starters returning at linebacker. Led by senior Leigh Torrence, the entire secondary returns intact, with second team all Pac-10 selection Oshiomogho Atogwe (90 tackles) returning at free safety. Offensively, the Tree must keep sophomore QB Trent Edwards healthy. Last season, Edwards completed 77 passes out of 170 attempts, throwing 9 picks and 4 touchdowns. His passing efficiency was a miserable 78.48, which is a function of completions, yardage, picks and touchdowns, all per pass attempt. Obviously, he needs some help up front, along with a running game. In that vein, three new starters must help out on the offensive line, and Kenneth Tolon (522 yards), J.R. Lemon (467 yards) and David Marrero (115 yards) return as running backs. TE Alex Smith is considered one of the best in the league. The Tree open the season with four consecutive games at home, in an eleven game season with no open dates – a good reason to keep players healthy. Unfortunately for the two potential cellar dwellers, Arizona and Stanford, they don’t play each other in 2004. I’m glad the UW isn’t nicknamed the Purple, for using Stanford’s logic, not that it's impeccable, the Huskies would have an evergreen tree for a mascot, though having Spirit (home) and Junior (road) as mascots, both Alaskan Malamutes, might seem strange to people. Ya gotta love them malamutes. Unlike Frasier with his dog Eddie, I'd love to have a malamute staring me down at night, and until then, I'll be known simply as Malamute, not that that makes any sense either. :) Players to watch: FS Oshiomogho Atogwe, TE Alexis Smith, OLB Jared Newberry, NT Babatunde Oshinowo, and LB David Bergeron. Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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It would be fun to write
that the "Bears are up a Tree," but in all reality, the Tree looks mighty bare.
In this article -- bare or not, tree or not -- we
examine the football fortunes of California and Stanford for 2004.