Well, today is the 124th Cal vs. Stanford Big Game, and the first contest since The Pandemic hit the World. Everyone is excited for this game, even as our collective lives have been upended in ways large and small. We need the 124th Cal vs. Stanford Big Game, if only for the emotional stability that comes with collegiate cultural tradition. In other words, life is not grand if I can’t say Stanford Sucks!
Then, there’s the passage of time: my Mom is 87 years old, and as I write this, I’m keeping her company here in Suburban Atlanta Georgia. As much as she encouraged me to fly back for The Big Game and to check on my place in Oakland, I also have a responsibility here to be with her. My Mom raised me as a single parent since I was 7 years old, and gave me a wonderful childhood. Being here to help her has been fun because she’s a good person and full of insight and history. Moreover, she’s part of what I consider to be America’s Greatest Generation Outside of World War II: Black Americans who were the first of the emerging professional class of the 1950s. But, I digress. Back to The Big Game and Cal and Stanford.
So, this will be the first Big Game I’ve ever watched on television with my Mom (I earned my Masters Degree in City Planning in 1987 at Cal – where my classmate and friend to this day was Kofi Bonner who’s now CEO of Bedrock in Cleveland – and was on the Alumni Association Board from 1998 to 2003). So, with that, what must California Football do to win this game?
First, Cal must control the football, focus on efficient drives, and most important, score. To do that, Cal Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave should call on QB Chase Garbers to throw short passes to the backs out of the backfield on 1st down, then run read-option plays or off-tackle runs on second down. That should increase the number of 1st downs-per-drive, shorten the number of 3rd-down situations, and make 3rd-and-short scenarios more likely if and when 3rd downs present themselves.
Qb Chase Garbers Running (photo by The Seattle Times)
The reason for this is that the Stanford Defense gives up 5.6 yards per rush. Now, the drill down is Stanford has had a hard time with read-option attacks for most of the year, yet never faced an oppoent that skillfully mixed that attack with short-passing. Cal can really gash Stanford with this approach. But the moment Cal seeks to gain yards by drop back passing, it faces a Stanford Defense that can and will blitz, and effectively. Better to stay away from that situation.
Second, Cal must keep Stanford off-balance with the occasional trick, or gadget, play. Moreover, The Big Game just isn’t the Big Game without a trick play. Given Cal’s record and the desire to GET THE AXE, the most logical approach is to incorporate such plays. More pointedly we must use the Flea Flicker. It’s the best play to use if we’re going to focus on a ball-control attack that uses the run and the short-pass. I would call the Flea Flicker between four and six times, today. Why? To make Stanford nervous that it might be fooled, and so makes running the football even easier.
Finally, the Cal Defense will be helped by this approach on offense. But what bothers me about Cal’s Defense is the desire to use defenses constantly loose in formation, rather than sets that press the line of scrimmage and blitz. The latter approach would confound the Stanford Offense – if we did it.
Have Fun On The Farm, Bring Home The Axe, And GO BEARS
We can win this game. Considering the year we’ve had, we must.
And someone tell Stanford Big Game Legend Gary Tyrrell about, well, look:
Stay tuned.
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