View Single Post
Old 01-15-2006, 09:42 AM   #357
hoopsguy
General Manager
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Chicago
Cal takes a short kick back to the 47 to start the game.
2 straight incompletions for QB Luis Witherspoon. He is then forced out of the pocket and tries to scramble for 10 on 3rd down. OLB Hank Swilling pops him and ILB Bryant Bruschi dives on the loose ball. We take over at the 45.

The Cal defense is not accomodating. 3 and out. Punt.

Witherspoon finally completes a pass on his 5th attempt.
Cleo Barlow makes a great catch on a 26 yard reception.
Another 3rd down completion to Barlow. Cal is 3-3 so far this game.
Make it 4-4 as Witherspoon is heating up and getting manageable 3rd downs.
4th and 3 at the 4. We block the 22 yard field goal attempt!

The offense goes out with a whimper - Rattay appears to be having a hangover effect from last game.
Terrible punt - 33 yards, returned 18 + 15 for spearing. They are at our 28.

The Cal offense bogs down inside the 10. So, 29 yard field goal attempt - and it is good. 3-0, 2:40 left in the 1st quarter.

J.R. Jackson returns the kick out to the 49.
OT Lonie Smith leaves the game with a groin injury - he is showing some glass-like qualities of late.
WR Kai Olsen fumbles after picking up a 3rd down and Cal recovers.

26 yard pass to Dennis Johnson. The freckled one gets a foot in bounds to finish the play.
We stuff Cal inside the 20. 30 yard field goal is good. 6-0, 11:56 left in the half.

And we have our initial first down of the game on a 71 yard TD pass to Mike Voight. He eluded a tackler early and ran down the sideline. 7-6, 11:01 left in the half.

Cal punts on 4th and 1 from their 24.

Holding on OT Yale Givens.
We aren't able to pick up 20 yards and punt.

DE Phil Patten gets injured while being blown off the ball by the offensive line. He is out for the game.
Cal is running the ball effectively this drive. But it ends at our 40 when they miss Barlow on an out pattern.

Rattay gets our 2nd 1st down of the game on a 13 yard pass to Martin on 3rd and 10.
Morris runs for 19 yards on just his 3rd carry of the afternoon.
Gain of 20 to Martin, who is starting to work over the Cal secondary.
10 more to Martin, down to the 11 yard line.
2 yard TD pass to Kai Olsen. 14-6, 1:01 left in the half.


Halftime Notes:
Very, very slow start for the offense. Good job by the defense in the red zone.
Only 6 carries for Morris in the first half; we need to get him some touches.
We settled for a ton of short passes early in the game and Cal made the tackles until the Voight TD.
We converted our last 3 3rd down attempts to get to 3-8 for the half.
Cal controlled time of possession, 19.5 to 10.5.


Rattay is sacked on 3rd down. 3 and out.

The defense was ornery - three and out after some big hitting.

Morris is getting the ball this drive. 3 straight carries for 2 first downs, including a 17 yard run.
Pickup of 15 to Olsen on 3rd and 12, into field goal range.
16 more to Olsen on 3rd and 8. Nice to see him clicking with the QB.
And Rattay finds Martin on a 12 yard post pattern for the touchdown. 21-6, 7:37 left in the 3rd.

A screen on 3rd down nets 11. Up to midfield.
DT Chuck Wayne leaves the game with an ankle injury. Our D-Line is a MASH unit.
And the QB Luis Witherspoon burns us on a 27 yard run, tackled inside the 10.
FS Barron Starr leaves the game with a back injury. We could not afford this injury either
We stop Cal from getting 6. The 25 yard field goal attempt is good. 21-9, 3:05 left in the 3rd.

J.R. Jackson returns the kickoff 90 yards for a scoer. 28-9, 2:50 left in the quarter.
He has now scored on punt, kickoff, and defensive return - big play guy.

Dennis Johnson makes a tough catch over a linebacker for a 19 yard pickup on 3rd and 10.
16 yard run for the fullback - into scoring territory.
19 yard TD pass to Barlow on the 1st play of 4th quarter. 28-16, 14:36 left in teh game.

And Rattay is overdue for his pick - he gives it to Cal near midfield.

But we take it right back. Simms forces a fumble and Jackson recovers it.

OT Yale Givens is whistled again - illegal crackback block.
Ineligible receiver - now 1st and 30.
False start - 2nd and 35.
Rattay buys time before unfurling a deep pass to Voight for 39 yards.
Gannon Dawson is getting carries this afternoon - six so far. Hope that Nic isn't hurt ...
22 yards to Voight on 3rd and 3.
Nope, Nic picks up 5 on 3rd and 4 from the 7.
2 yard TD pass from Rattay to Martin - 2nd of the day for him. 35-16, 8:07 left to play.

32 yard pass to Johnson, who now has 7 catches for 136 yards.
Witherspoons numbers are right with Rattay for completion % and yards, but he doesn't have the TDs to match.
CB Curry Thompson does give him the INT to match, however.

Another catch for Voight, who has 8 for 148 yards on the day.
Morris gets his 100 yards on his 20th carry of the day.
We are up to 9-15 on 3rd down conversions after an 0-5 start.
Dawson runs it in from 9 yards out. 42-16, 0:47 left.

DT Wayne Martin (who?) hurts his nose on the final play of the game.

Hope that the injuries have time to heal before the USC game. I feel like this has been our best season yet but I know they have a very strong team as well.
hoopsguy is offline   Reply With Quote