Cal Report Card
Here's the grades for the USC-California game:
RESULT: NO. 4 USC 23, NO. 22 CALIFORNIA 9.
RECORD: 9-1, 7-1.
WEEK 10 GPA: 2.98.
QUARTERBACK
John David Booty was awful on some passes, especially in the second quarter, but as Matt Leinart showed last year, the only thing that matters is how you are on the big plays, like the touchdown passes to Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith.
C+
RUNNING BACKS
C.J. Gable showed grit and explosiveness, which is why he started against Arkansas. Why didn’t he play much after that?
B-
WIDE RECEIVERS
Dwayne Jarrett made a huge catch on the 25-yard touchdown even though he knew two Cal players would crunch him. Steve Smith more than held his own with All-American candidate Daymeion Hughes.
B+
OFFENSIVE LINE
No sacks allowed which is the most important thing. Some false starts remain a nagging shortcoming. But like everything else, when you win, people don’t notice so much.
B-
DEFENSIVE LINE
Fili Moala did a nice job replacing Chris Barrett, with three tackles, a deflected pass and a personal foul. And Lawrence Jackson proved last week was not a fluke with a sack, a forced fumble and deflected pass.
B
LINEBACKERS
It seems like a nice balance emerged between alternating Rey Maualuga and Oscar Lua. But shutting down Cal’s Marshawn Lynch was problematic, much like Oregon’s Jonathan Stewart the week before.
C+
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Terrell Thomas, and whoever else DeSean Jackson credited, limited the talented wide receiver to two catches. Kevin Ellison might be turning into the defense’s top player while Taylor Mays is no longer playing like a freshman.
A-
SPECIAL TEAMS
David Buehler’s field goal turned the game around and Pete Carroll liked Greg Woidneck’s punts (even 13-yard one) because they kept the ball out of DeSean Jackson’s hands. Now if USC could only figure out how to catch a punt.
B
COACHING
Pete Carroll won an unprecedented fifth straight Pac-10 title, which is impressive even if USC is the most-talented program in the conference. His defensive scheme to shut down DeSean Jackson demonstrated he still has it in the X’s and O’s dept.
A-
For all of DeSean Jackson's mouth-running, did anyone else see the Lynch interview at by FSN at the end of the game? Dude was classy - was all smiles, gave usc 'big ups' and said he hopes we 'go to the natty and bring it back home for the pac-10.' hey, thanks Marshawn!
"Now if USC could only figure out how to catch a punt."
Don't you know the deep man is not back there to return/catch punts, but is just a safety for fake punts?
Our defense holds Cal's prolific offense to one touchdown, gets into the backfield all night, and holds cfb's best RB (Peterson is out) to 88 yards and you give the DLs a B and the LBs a C+? Scott, would the 2004 Orange Bowl game even get a B+ average under your system?
I predicted 2.91 overall GPA. Not bad huh? A win over ND may be worth 3.1...
DWAYNE JARRET IS STILL DROPING TOO MANY BALLS. HE DIFFENTLY IS INCONSISTENT AT BEST. IF HE LISTENS TO THE WRONG PEOPLE HE WILL LEAVE SCHOOL TOO SOON. I HOPE HE COMES BACK NEXT YEAR AND WORKS ON CLEANING UP HIS PERFORMANCES, BOOTY AND JARRET COULD BE A DEADLY COMBO.
Funny how you list USC as #4, which was their ranking before the game, yet you list CAL as the #22 ranked team (their AP ranking AFTER the game).
Whatever it takes to minimize the victory, huh Scott?
I also noticed that you didn't post your AP votes this week. Did you still list USC as the #7 team in America, while propping up WVA, Miami, FSU and a whole lot of other posers? Whatever it takes to penalize USC!
"It seems like a nice balance emerged between alternating Rey Maualuga and Oscar Lua. But shutting down Cal’s Marshawn Lynch was problematic, much like Oregon’s Jonathan Stewart the week before."
How on earth was Lynch problematic, USC only allowed 88 yards on 20 carries by Lynch and 99 yards overall rushing by Cal. How is keeping Lynch to 4.4 yards a carry a bad day at the office?
His overall yards per carry equals 6.3 yards and he has an average of 107 yards per game rushing. I personally feel that they did a great job containing Lynch and feel they deserve a better grade then a C+!
I agree with matthew Marshawn Lynch showed nothing but class, his comments were amazing.
matthew, that FSN interview was with Marshawn Lynch, not DeSean Jackson. Marshawn was indeed classy.
Not sure about your ratings for the linebackers. I'd consider what they did to Marshawn as close to shutting him down as you can get and grade them a B+. They kept him out of the endzone and held him to under 100 yards. I don't think you can ask for a whole lot more. I don't think he broke one big play all day (not counting that garbage time run and the ridiculous non-whistle by the refs on a play the entire stadium knew was down - even before the replay was on the big board).
I also thought that JDB was solid and would grade him a B. Why is it that when SEC QBs have a 150 yard day with 1 td and 1 int they are considered great game managers but when PAC-10 QBs complete 60% of their passes, throw for 250 yards and throw 2TDs they are considered mediocre. Booty had a rough first half (mostly due to the Oline IMO) but stuck in there and made the plays when he had to.
When was the last time USC graded out to a better than B average? The Orange bowl in 2005? You are one tough professor.
pathetic grades, you know nothing about football.
Booty made good decisions and threw the ball away a lot against a pair of solid CBs. They prey on QB mistakes and Booty made good decisions. You are an idiot. Who are you measuring JDB against? Peyton Manning asa pro?
Tell me why the DBs don't get a solid "A" completely shutting down the Bear passing game, esp. when they were going all air after they entered the 4th?
You are a dork.
Is West Virgina still #1 by your vote? I thought USC did a good job on special teams and should have a better grade.
Marshawn leaves Cal with a 0-3 record against USC. Gl to him in the NFL.
QB I think he was 1 for 9 at one point. All throw-aways? I don't think so. Was happy PT actually held on to a pass to his body. Cal scored 9 points! How could any defensive group get below a B+?