Bears unprepared for Tennessee in rout

Today, the Bears were humbled 35-18 by a very underrated Tennessee team. Cal looked uncharacteristically inexperienced and unprepared in a deafening and hostile environment, and the team fell hard.

Coach Jeff Tedford quote: “We just weren’t very sharp. We didn’t execute. We didn’t catch it very well. We didn’t tackle well.”

Some things stilll looked improved from last season:

• Special teams: Punter Andrew Larson and coverage appeared quite good, especially compared to last season.
• Joe Ayoob: Despite only facing Tennessee’s second-string defense, Ayoob looked better than last year after taking over for Longshore in the third quarter. He did make some mistakes and wild throws, but he looked improved overall. I’m not sure whether I’d take him starting at quarterback over Longshore, though.

Several areas seemed to need improvement:

• Defensive secondary: The Vols picked on redshirt freshman cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson time after time, showing how much Tim Mixon‘s knee injury affected the team. Thompson needs more experience to be at the potential of his talent, but I hope this experience has not shattered his confidence.
• Wide receivers: The number of catchable balls dropped was alarming.
• Offensive line: The line didn’t seem to be jelling too well, letting Tennessee’s powerful defenders through and failing to open up holes for the running backs.
• Playcalling: I’m no coach, but I think the selection of plays could better utilize Cal’s personnel.

I hope that the loss gives the Bears a renewed focus. They must play better on both sides of the ball. With some adjustments and this experience under the belt, Cal should still be a contender for the Pac-10 title and a BCS bowl.