Tag: Sonny Dykes

Cal returns home to host Arizona

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By George Devine, Sr.

After a 41-17 loss to Washington in Seattle, the Golden Bears return to the salubrious confines of Memorial Stadium to host Arizona at the traditional Berkeley kickoff time of 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 2.

The visitors will come into Strawberry Canyon 5-2 on the season and 2-2 in Pac-12 play, after a 44-20 win over Colorado the previous weekend. Ka’Deem Carey rushed for four touchdowns and will be the one to watch for the battered Bear defense. He is now the leading rusher around the country. In addition, quarterback B.J. Denker ran no less than fifteen keepers for 192 yards, and will likely rival Cal coach Sonny Dykes’ vaunted “Bear Raid” offense. This despite 336 passing yards for Berkeley QB Jared Goff against the Huskies.

After the Arizona game, Cal is home again for the Joe Roth Game against USC on November 9, with kickoff time TBA. That will end the home season for the Bears, who play at Colorado on November 16 and at Stanford for the annual Big Game on November 23.

Cal allows to many big plays in 41-17 loss to Washington

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By Morris Phillips

The Cal Bears ran 89 offensive plays, amassed nearly 500 yards in total offense and committed just three penalties and one turnover on Saturday night.

But the Bears were blown out, dropping a 41-17 decision to Washington and falling to 1-7 on the season, in which they lost each time by at least two touchdowns.

How’s that?

While the Bears continue to post respectable offensive numbers, their defense has been simply offensive, allowing 643 yards to the Huskies, including UW running back Bishop Sankey’s 241 yards rushing.

Sankey’s 59-yard touchdown run capped a lopsided first half that ended with Cal trailing 24-7.   The Bears fell behind 17-0 in the first quarter when their offense pushed the snooze button and went three-and-out on four of their first six possessions.

“Right now, we’re just not executing well enough on either side of the ball that we need to beat a good football team,” Coach Sonny Dykes said.  “Washington is a very good football team.  We just have to go back to work.”

The Bears continue to deal with numerous injuries and defections, especially in the back seven of their defense, where the team allowed numerous big plays on Saturday.  Besides Sankey’s big touchdown run before the half, the Bears allowed UW quarterback Keith Price and Jaydon Mickens to hook up on touchdown passes of 68 and 47 yards, the second of which put the Huskies up 31-7 two minutes into the second half.

Washington came into Saturday’s game off three straight losses to the Pac-12 elite and with numerous injury concerns of their own.  The team also paid tribute to long time coach, Don James, who passed away this week due to complications with pancreatic cancer at the age of 80.  The emotion surrounding the loss of James appeared to propel the Huskies, especially in building their early lead.

Jared Goff got the start for Cal and completed 32 of 54 passes for 336 yards and one touchdown pass to Chris Harper. Goff played into the fourth quarter and third-stringer Austin Hinder finished up.   Goff put up decent numbers, but was sacked five times and couldn’t get the Bears in the end zone, especially critical after the Bears narrowed Washington’s lead to 10 early in the second quarter.

The Bears have dropped 11 straight games to FBS competition and haven’t beaten a Pac-12 opponent in over a year.  In addition, the Bears got bad news this week when reports surfaced regarding the team’s poor performance in the classroom.   While athletic director Sandy Barbour addressed the academic issues, taking the blame for the player’s deficiencies, Dykes had to answer for the team’s play on the field.

“We’re not about losing or moral victories, but our guys play hard.  We have really good kids with great character.  I’m proud of them from that standpoint.  We just have to get better,” Dykes said.

The Bears return to Berkeley next Saturday to face Arizona, who won 44-20 at Colorado on Saturday.

Weak scores on and off the field for Cal football

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Michelle Richardson on the NCAA by Morris Phillips

SEATTLE–It’s real sad news that Cal’s graduation rate is at number 72 out of the major colleges in the nation and the team is not winning and their supposed to win in the classroom that’s what the university is all about. That’s why universities in the Pac 12 conference which is an academic conference but not at the highest level unfortunately but near the highest level.

The football team is not performing well on the field and it hasn’t been a good first year for Cal head coach Sonny Dykes in his program and that’s some bad news. I don’t think the Bears are going to win this weekend either as they get ready to face the Huskies in Washington so they would fall to 1-7 on the season.

The academic news is disturbing because if guys can’t perform in the classroom they can’t get on the field, they can’t help the school. It’s surprising but I’m sure they’ll get it worked out while it’s depressing you have to assume the school is going to work it out with the group they have now with guys going to class.

Back in 2009 Cal had some of the worst graduation rates in the NCAA until former Cal head coach Jeff Tedford got his students to turn around their academic scores in the classroom and got the team to start winning. Tedford won a bunch of recruiting battles. He had successes with his students, with recruiting and getting them good test scores even though Tedford was heading out the door.

Tedford bears a great deal of responsibility of getting the program off the ground at that time but Dykes is the coach now and these are his kids and this is his team he needs to get on the football field and to coach his problem. Dykes is not going anywhere there’s so much money involved in getting Tedford out and paying the new coach there won’t be any changes.

Cal must clean their problem up, they have to internally, they have to get it fixed. It’s not what the university is all about. Once again Tedford is the origin of the problem but it is truly and squarely on Dykes at this point. Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour did not comment on the story only to say that she will look into the low academic situation of the graduation rates and “put systems in place that we believe will raise for under preforming teams.”

None of the players with graduating issues were recruited by Dykes and a majority of them were not on the Cal Men’s basketball team, “a top priority for this program since this staff was formed has always and will always be for our student-athletes to complete their undergraduate degree.” said Cal men’s basketball head coach Mike Montgomery.

Tedford said about the low graduation rate, “(it was) very concerning, it makes it seem like we weren’t dedicated to academics, no matter what anybody says that’s not true, people have good intentions but life goes in a different direction, they rarely come back. Looking back the lesson I learned was to have them graduate in four and half years.”

Morris Phillips is filling in for Michelle Richardson on NCAA commentary this week

Cal ran over again by Oregon State, falls to 1-6

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By Morris Phillips

With California football stuck in a rut deep enough to ruin consecutive seasons, the last opponent the Bears needed to see on Saturday night was Oregon State.   So when Sean Mannion looked like Sean Canfield and Brandin Cooks approximated Jacquizz Rodgers, you didn’t need to answer a quiz to know the Bears were cooked, falling 49-17 to the Beavers.

Mannion completed 35 of 45 for a whopping 481 yards while Cooks ran and caught to his heart’s content, finishing with 13 catches for 231 yards as Cal’s deficiencies in the secondary and linebacker corps compromised the entire Cal defense as OSU jumped to a 28-3 halftime lead.

“We didn’t play well, didn’t coach well,” a frustrated Coach Sonny Dykes said.  “I’d like to be able to say something happened other than what did.    You saw what happened, I don’t need to say much about it.”

The loss was Cal’s 11th consecutive over two seasons against Division I competition.  The losing streak now stands as the longest of any team in a BCS conference with the Bears last win coming against Washington State over a year ago.  And Cal hasn’t much success with OSU in any state, losing to the Beavers for the 12th time in their last 15 meetings.

Much of that streak coincides with Mike Riley’s arrival in Corvallis in 1997 and his quick-twitch passing game that has given Cal fits.   Just as Canfield and Yvenson Bernard were hard to contain in OSU monumental 2007 upset of No. 2 Cal, Mannion and Cooks were a lethal combination on Saturday.  While Mannion flawlessly executed the quick screens and occasional downfield strikes, Cooks did the rest, scoring twice—first on an end-around run and then on a 34-yard pass play– in OSU’s first half explosion.

“He is a heck of a football player,” Dykes said when asked what tactics Cal used to attempt to slow Cooks.  “That is what good players do, make plays when they have an opportunity to do so.  He did it over and over again.”

The Bears lost their lone experienced corner Stefan McClure for the season two weeks ago, and their youthful secondary paid dearly without him as the Beavers’ quicker playmakers had their way throughout.   The Bears got back corner Joel Willis and linebacker Jalen Jefferson but the result was a hodge podge of poor tackling, inability to engage and shed OSU blockers as the Beavers and Mannion made play after play.

With the Bears trailing 35-3 in the third quarter, Dykes replaced starting quarterback Jared Goff with Zach Kline, and the redshirt freshman from Danville provided a spark, leading the Bears on their only two touchdown drives of the night.  Kline finished 11 of 16 for 71 yards and the two scores while Goff was 21 of 31 for 220 yards.  Dykes said along with the lopsided numbers on the scoreboard, he felt that Goff was having trouble holding on to the football, similar to his three fumble performance at Oregon in the rain.

“I’m extremely upset with myself,” Goff said.  “I need to play better to give us a chance to win.”

Statistically, Cal didn’t display many warts between the 20’s, but once again bogged down in scoring range due to penalties and a Vincenzo D’Amato missed field goal attempt.   Primary playmakers Chris Harper, Richard Rodgers and Brendan Bigelow combined for 18 catches but none of three could put the ball in the end zone.   On the night, the Bears ran 77 offensive plays—below the 90 plays Dykes would prefer–and amassed 366 yards in offense.

The Bears (1-6, 0-4) visit the refurbished Husky Stadium in Seattle next Saturday in a meeting with Washington.  Oregon State—already winners of three Pac-12 road contests—returns to Corvallis for a showdown with Stanford.

Cal mistake prone again, falls to Washington State

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Cal’s offensive numbers are eye-popping, but they don’t obscure the fact that the Bears are rapidly losing ground in the otherwise upwardly-mobile Pac-12.

The Bears fell prey to early miscues and turnovers again, and fell to Washington State on Saturday, 44-22.  With only one win over Portland State in the previous 12 months, Cal has dropped nine straight games to FBS competition and fell to 1-4 on the season.

Daniel Lasco’s fumble at WSU’s 3-yard line on Cal’s first possession and a bushel of penalties on the second poisoned Cal’s first quarter that ended with WSU leading 14-0.  In the previous two games, Cal trailed Oregon 27-0 and Ohio State 21-0 establishing a disturbing pattern that has Coach Sonny Dykes looking for answers.

“Right now we are having a very difficult time running the football, which is putting a lot of pressure on our offensive line,” Dykes said.  “We are not good enough up front to pass protect.  Jared (Goff) had pressure on him all day and got a little rattled because of it.”

Goff may have been rattled, but in Dykes’ system the pass plays just keep coming.  The true freshman signal caller again threw for 400 yards, attempting 58 passes that produced two lengthy touchdown plays.  But the Bears never got closer than 14-12 in the second quarter as Washington State’s Connor Halliday attempted 67 passes, completing 41 for a total of 521 yards and three touchdowns.

Ultimately, the 44,000 that attended saw another lengthy football game, filled with big plays but lacking in competitiveness.   The mistake-plagued Bears committed 11 penalties and five turnovers to rob the afternoon of any drama.

And while the Bears fluctuated between the mistakes and the home runs like Chris Harper’s 89-yard touchdown catch and run, Washington State was remarkably steady in moving the ball via the pass as Halliday was sacked just once.

“The offensive line played unreal,” Halliday said of his protectors.  “That was huge.  Those guys really got in a rhythm up front and dominated the game.  I think I got hit twice.  That’s a lot of fun back there when you have all that time to get rid of the ball.”

The Bears had beaten Washington State eight straight times prior to Saturday, but the slow start and mounting injuries put a stop to that streak.  Prior to the game, Dykes announced that center Chris Adcock will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury.  Also, this week safety Alex Logan retired due to recurring injuries and prominent pass rusher Chris McCain was dismissed due to repeated personal conduct issues.

During the game, the Bears lost linebacker Jalen Jefferson, safety Joel Willis and corners Stefan McClure and Kameron Jackson to injury, more bad news for a defense that has surrendered a whopping 45 points per game.

As for the rest of the challenging schedule and Cal’s mounting losing streak against conference competition, they will see three currently-ranked teams (Washington, Stanford and UCLA) as well as Oregon State, currently 4-1 and 2-0 in the conference in the final seven weeks.   On the positive side, the Bears could be healthier once the schedule eases in November with home games against USC and Arizona and a road trip to Colorado.

Next Saturday, the Bears face 12th-ranked UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

Bears get declawed by Guiton and the Buckeyes, lose 52 – 34

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by Kahlil Najar

BERKELEY – Kenny Guiton threw three of his four touchdown passes in the first six minutes of the game and the Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0) trampled over the Cal Bears (1-2) 52-34. Guiton went 21 for 36 and threw for 276 yards and four touchdowns including two to Devin Smith who went for a total 149 yards including a school-record 90 yard bomb for Ohio State’s first touchdown. Cal’s freshman phenom Jared Goff threw for 371 yards and connected on three touchdowns to three different receivers.

On his performance tonight, Goff sighed and said, “I felt like we had a good chance to make some plays early on. We kind of fell behind the eight ball there going down 21-0. That kind of hurt. But I was proud of the way we fought back. We never quit.”  That never quit attitude was echoed by Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer, “I never felt comfortable with the win until there was three minutes left. I’m happy we faced them early because they’re going to be really good down the road.”

On the ground the Bears were not able to muster one rusher over 100 yards while Ohio State’s Jordan Hall ran for 170 yards and nabbed three touchdowns of his own to help the Buckeyes extend their winning streak to fifteen games.

After a quick three and out from the Bears, Guiton and the Buckeyes only needed two plays and 32 seconds to give them a 7-0 lead on the 90 yard touchdown catch by Devin Smith. Thirty seconds later after another fast three and out, Ohio State took over at their own 27 yard line and Guiton found Devin Smith open again this time for a 47 yard strike to bring the score to 14-0. Cal tried to get back into the game and stop the bleeding but Jared Goff was hit hard by OSU linebacker Ryan Shazier and jarred the ball lose and Ohio State was able to recover the ball on the Cal 23. It took OSU six plays to score again on a one-yard pass to Chris Fields to make it 21-0 Ohio State after only six minutes.

Goff showed his composure on the Bears next possession as he escaped a ferocious pass rush from Ohio State and found a wide open James Grisom for a 61 yard touchdown to put the Bears on the board and make it 21-7. After both teams exchanged turnovers, Ohio State charged down the field and Drew Basil connected on a 39 yard field goal. The first quarter ended with a 42 yard pass from Goff to Chris Harper to give Cal their second touchdown of the quarter and make it a 24-14 Ohio State lead.

In the first quarter alone both teams combined for 38 points and 445 yards of offense. The second quarter saw both offenses slow down as Ohio State grabbed one touchdown and the Bears connected on two field goals to keep the game close at 31-20 at halftime.

Ohio State broke it open in the third when they scored three touchdowns, two of which belonged to Jordan Hall who was able to grab the scores deep in Cal territory but was also able to slow the game down by keeping the ball on the ground. Cal scored one more time in the fourth on a Daniel Lasco one-yard run to bring the final score to 52-34.

The game wasn’t without it’s dramatics as towards the end of the first half Sonny Dykes called for a fake punt on fourth and seven and Cal Quarterback Jared Goff snuck in for punter Cole Leininger and connected on a 11 yard pass to Stefan McClure.

Defensively, the Bears have allowed at least 500 yards of offense every game this year. Dyke’s addressed the issue and said, “We’re a very young football team…we just got to group up. We’ve got to improve. That falls on us as coaches to coach better and bring our players along and put them in a good position to be successful.”

The Bears don’t have much time to get regroup and get ready as they head up to Oregon to take on the Number Two Ducks in Eugene.