First meeting S/’03 (Cal leads series 4-2). This is UT’s 7th consec bowl and they have won their L/8 SU (longest streak in NCAA) while covering 6 of the L/7. LY UT busted the BCS for the 2nd time (beat Pitt in the ‘04 Fiesta) this time taking on Bama. Not only did they cover (+9’), they dominated building a 21-0 1Q lead and finishing w/a 349-208 yd edge in the upset. Whittingham is 4-0 SU (3-1 ATS) in bowls. This will mark Cal’s 7th consec bowl appearance, all under HC Tedford (5-1 SU, 3-3 ATS) but their goals were set much higher and they just squeaked into the P10 bowl affiliation. UT has 11 Sr’s among 17 upperclassmen starters while Cal has just 7 Sr sts among 15 upperclassmen. UT plyd 5 bowl elig tms going 2-3 SU and 1-4 ATS being outscored 28-24 and outgained 329-302 in those while Cal went 4-3 SU/ATS despite being outscored (28-23) and outgained (393-353). Oreg was the only common opp that UT and Cal faced in ‘09 with UT dropping a 7 pt heartbreaker (outgained 312-297) while Cal was mauled by UO 42-3 (outgained 524-207).
After LY’s Sugar Bowl win UT lost production on both off and def incl Utah’s all-time winningest QB, Brian Johnson. JC QB Cain won the starting job and technically went 7-1 SU in his gms but was replaced at HT vs WY by True Fr QB Wynn, who sparked the 2H win. Including WY, Wynn has thrown for 991 yds (55%) w/a 5-3 ratio, going 2-2 in gms he has started and finished. UT was, once again, counting on a big yr from RB Asiata, but, once again, he was hurt, this time after 4 gms (brk leg in opener ‘08). Wide stepped up and since taking over as the feature back, has avg 107 ypg (5.8). He broke the schl rec’d w/6 consec 100 yd gms before being contained by TCU (25 yds) and SDSt (84 yds) but did record a 114 yd outing vs BYU. UT ran the “Asiata Formation” before his inj, but it has since been dubbed the “Shaky Formation” with most of Smithson’s rush yds coming out of the direct snap. WR Reed became just the 6th plyr in UT history w/1,000 yds rec in a ssn. The OL (two 1st Tm All-MWC players) avg 6’3” 300 with 1 Sr starter and has started 97% of the gms together. They have all’d 17 sks (4.6%) opening holes for 169 ypg rush (4.5). Overall the off ranks #57. The D comes in at #31. The DL has suffered thru some inj’s losing starter Shelby (knee) vs TCU while Eliapo has missed 5 gms with an eye inj, although he may return here (CS). The DL has recorded 17.5 of the tm’s 26 sks (67%). UT ranks #10 in our pass eff D all’g 173 ypg (50%) with an 11-15 ratio. With the emergence of Smithson, Matthews has not ret’d a P in the L/5 gms but still ranks #3 in the MWC avg 10.1 ypr. The PR D gives up 11.3 ypr and the KR D 21.3 ypr. K Vroman ranks #2 in the NCAA with 31 TB’s on KO’s. UT has our #40 ST’s unit.
The Cal off began the ssn on fire scoring over 50 pts in their 1st 2 gms (MD and EWU) but dropped the ball vs UO and USC putting up just a FG in each of those matchups as it once again looked to be another disappointing yr after building up high hopes early on. The tm rebounded to win 6 of their L/8 ending the yr avg 29 ppg and 399 ypg ranking #33 overall in our off ratings. QB Riley went as his tm went in ‘09 playing well in their wins and dismal in their defeats. RB’s Best and Vereen are the focus of the Cal off as they combined for 178 ttl ypg and 28 TD’s on the ssn. Best, however, missed the final 3 w/inj. His return here is ? as of this writing. Vereen stepped into the #1 role valiantly avg 148 ypg (5.0) over the final 3 keeping Cal afloat. The rec gm seems to have a new star each and every week with nobody separating from the pack. WR Jones is currently the only Cal plyr with more than 500 yds rec on the yr. The OL avg 6’4” 304 (1 Sr) paving the way for 4.8 ypc while they have all’d 27 sks (7.6%). The Cal def is ranked #42 all’g 24.5 ppg and 377 ypg but did go through a stretch in which they allowed more than 440 yds in 4 consec wks. The DL avg 6’3” 295 (1 Sr) running the only 3-4 scheme in the P10 and accounted for 17.5 of Cal’s 26 sks. The LB’s are led by Mike Mohamed who stepped into the forefront in ‘09 after being the #1 bkup at all 4 LB spots in ‘08 (leading tklr returning TY). The secondary has had its share of struggles but CB Thompson remained the only solid option again as he’s arguably the P10’s best CB. The unit all’d 259 ypg (63%) w/a 17-10 ratio on the yr ranking #81 in our pass def ratings. The KR unit struggled some w/o Best TY and while they fared well in PR’s (12.4), they struggled in P coverage all’g 12.2 ypr. Overall the unit finished with our #53 ranking TY.
Cal certainly looked disinterested in ssn finale vs UW, but Tedford has prepared them well as they’ve cashed 4 str bowls winning all by at least 6 pts each. UT has the nation’s longest streak winning 8 str bowls SU but a month ago prior to TCU, they thought they had a chance to win the conf before losing 2 of the L/3. This is also the same tm that was a BCS winner LY but is now led by a True Fr QB vs a quality BCS foe.
northcoast powersweep 12/23
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