Tag: Chad Hansen

By Morris Phillips

The Davis Webb era—brief and impactful—ended on Saturday night, and did so in a manner that was commensurate with the transfer quarterback’s contributions.

With a win.

Webb, referred to as a “pro” by Coach Sonny Dykes, threw a pair of touchdown passes, and the much-maligned Bears’ defense shut out UCLA for the first 34 minutes of the game in Cal’s 36-10 win on the heels of four-straight losses.

The Bears finished their season 5-7 and maintain slim hopes that they could be chosen for a bowl game in the absence of enough six-win teams to fill all the post-season slots.  Ironically, Cal’s improved academic standing (APR of 960) would be the reason the Bears would get the nod over similarly-situated, five win teams.

Webb, who put himself in the school record book by throwing 4,295 yards—second only to Jared Goff’s 4,719-yard season a year ago—was more than stopgap for a rebuilding program.  According to Dykes, Webb was a leader by example, and therefore critical to Cal’s younger players navigating the landscape of bigtime, college football for the first time.

“He is one of those guys that gets it,” Dykes said.  “I can’t say enough good things about him. His impact will be felt in our program for a long time just because of his work ethic and dedication and I think he is a great example for the rest of our players, especially for our quarterbacks, especially the time it takes to be a great quarterback at this level.”

Webb was Cal’s best player in a down year, a lead-by-example guy who took a bunch of hits and made very few excuses.  But Webb’s impact was diluted in the losing streak, the last three of which came to ranked Pac-12 foes.  But Webb and the Bears found a way to turn it around on Saturday against the Bruins, that rare opponent facing even greater adversity than the Bears.

Early on the Bears had to navigate the wet conditions as much as the Bruins, who were once again without standout quarterback Josh Rosen.  The first quarter downpour—for Cal, a reminder of the miserable conditions they experienced the previous week against Stanford—kept both offenses on skates.  Webb and the Bears avoided a pair of damaging interceptions when UCLA safeties Randall Goforth and Adarius Pickett couldn’t hold on to the ball.  Both interception drops could have gone for Bruins’ scores, instead the missed opportunities were the precursors to UCLA’s defensive fatigue that developed when they couldn’t successfully cover for their depleted offense.

Having avoided critical, early turnovers, Webb found a way to move the ball, but couldn’t translate the offense into touchdowns.  Instead, the Bears settled for four Matt Anderson field goals in the first half when their drives stalled.

The Bears led 12-0 at the half, the first time they shut out a Pac-12 foe in an opening half since 2011.  And while the defense was better than it’s been, the Cal offense had a lot to do with that.

Cal would run 102 offensive plays on the afternoon, totaling 496 yards in offense.  Khalfani Muhammad led the rushing attack with 116 yards, and Chad Hansen, Webb’s most frequent passing target once again, contributed 10 catches for 156 yards.  The 100-play barrier, an important barometer for Dykes’ Bear Raid offense, signaled UCLA’s demise, as well as highlighting their season-long issues with a lack of physicality on defense, issues they’ll need to address in the off-season.

With Cal pushing on offense, the Bruins’ defense got pushed.  But you couldn’t fault defensive lineman Takkarist McKinley and linebacker Jayon Brown, who combined for 25 tackles, capping exemplary seasons for both.  The last time the Bruins were in the Bay Area—in December for the Foster Farms Bowl at Levi’s Stadium—they experienced the same issues with physicality on defense in an embarrassing loss to Nebraska.  Off-season recruiting didn’t address those issues as the Bruins failed to add heft along their defensive front.  Now, with their off-season upon them, they’ll have another opportunity to regroup.

“We need to get our attitude right, and our focus right,” Brown said.  “We were a better team than our record shows.”

“We’ll rise again, we will,” said Coach Jim Mora, who is expected to return, but likely with significant changes among his assistant coaches.  “We have the right type of young men in the locker room.  We just have to make some adjustments and we’ll get better.”

The Bruins got within 12-7 on their first drive of the third quarter, capped by Mike Fafaul’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Kenneth Walker III.  But the Bears answered with a pair of touchdowns back-to-back, the first courtesy of 300-pound lineman turned fullback, Malik McMorris, who scored from a yard out.

The Bears capped their scoring with 9:41 remaining on Webb’s touchdown pass to Bug Rivera, the last of his 37 touchdown passes at Cal.

“I could tell everyone was playing for the seniors,” said Hansen, who faces his a decision whether to return, or test the NFL waters.  “That was the motto Coach Dykes was giving the whole week.  The seniors have put in so much time and effort, so much blood, sweat and tears for this program.  We needed to pay them back and I think we did that tonight.”

The Bears slim post-season hopes depend on two or three schools with 5-7 records and better APR numbers rejecting bowl invitations.  Of that group, Texas, who fired coach Charlie Strong on Saturday, is expected to pass on any bowl invites.  But North Texas, Mississippi State and Northern Illinois—all with better APR numbers—might be as thirsty for the post-season as Cal is.

 

By Morris Phillips

At some point on Saturday night in Corvallis, unheralded running back Ryan Nall transformed into a state-of-the-art, runaway freight train.

Then, 221 yards and three touchdowns later, Nall’s metamorphosis reached a conclusion as the Oregon State sophomore suffered a leg injury and was carted off with 11 minutes remaining to play, and OSU leading Cal, 34-24.

While what transpired following Nall’s departure may have been dramatic, it didn’t affect the game’s outcome, a 47-44 overtime loss for the Bears, all of it placed at the feet of Cal’s porous run defense which made Nall a temporary superstar, and was so poor that a 17-point Bears’ rally to force overtime went for naught.

Coach Sonny Dykes wasn’t fooled by the final score, acknowledging his team’s defensive effort—especially before halftime and the first play after halftime—put the team in an impossible hole, even as Davis Webb and the offense rallied to force overtime.

“I told them guys, I didn’t think we deserved to win,” Dykes said.  “We sleepwalked through the first half, for sure.”

While OSU came in as decided underdogs, losers of 12 straight Pac-12 conference games, dating back to November 2014, and looking for their first FBS win under second-year coach Gary Andersen, the Bears came with a leaky run defense that more than leveled the playing field between the two teams, and belied the encouraging outing Cal enjoyed in beating ranked Utah last week.

Against Oregon State, the Bears allowed 474 yards rushing (almost half of that to Nall) and allowed OSU to convert 8 of their 12 third-down opportunities.  The 474 yards ranks at the biggest rushing total in Oregon State school history against a conference opponent, and goes a long way to explaining how Cal trailed 10-0 after a quarter, 17-10 at the half, and 34-17 after three quarters.

On the first play of the second half, Nall enjoyed his tour de force, an 80-yard run that increased OSU’s lead to 24-10.

“You can’t come out that flat versus any team.  Any given day, anybody can be beaten,” Cal linebacker Ray Davison said.

Offensively, the Bears were out of sorts as well with OSU having success disguising their defensive looks and forcing Cal stars, Webb and Chad Hansen to play tentatively.  Both Webb and Hansen had their least productive games of the season to date with Webb needing 44 pass attempts (completing 23) to reach 118 yards passing, and Hansen catching four of those for just 16 yards.

“We were just trying to find ways to mix up our looks a little bit and make it a little tough for them to figure it out,” OSU assistant Derrick Odum said.

Starting outside linebacker Titus Failauga missed the game for Oregon State, as did safety Jay Irvine.  Nickelback Dwayne Williams was lost to injury during the game, leaving OSU with backups at two spots in their secondary.  But Treston Decoud, nephew of former Cal standout Thomas Decoud, drew the tough assignment of slowing Hansen, and the Beavers somehow held up defensively.

With both stars held in check, Cal’s running game picked up the slack with Tre Watson and Khalfani Muhammad combing for 299 yards rushing and three touchdowns.  Both backs scored in Cal’s late rally to tie, with Muhammad scoring on a 50-yards run with 2:39 remaining to bring the Bears within, 41-38.

After being held in check for three quarters, Hansen also suffered an injury, leaving the field with eight minutes remaining in regulation, walking gingerly on his left leg.

After Nall departed for OSU, Darrell Garretson and Artavis Pierce picked up the slack running the ball.  Cal had to settle for a field goal on their only possession in overtime.  Following that, Garretson scored the game winner for Oregon State, racing into the end zone nearly untouched from 16 yards out.

The loss—on the heels of two Cal wins over Top 25 opponents—dropped the Bears into the middle of the pack in the Pac-12 North.  At 3-3 instead of 4-2, the Bears have a lot of work to do in order to become bowl eligible and/or be a factor in the conference race.  What’s certain is the Bears will have to display more energy against better opponents with Oregon and USC next up on their schedule after they take next weekend off.