Agree on the Garbers injury—-that kid looks good. And I still wince on the Longshore-injury season! We were going to be ranked #1 if we win against OSU, but Riley ended that dream
Agree on the Garbers injury—-that kid looks good. And I still wince on the Longshore-injury season! We were going to be ranked #1 if we win against OSU, but Riley ended that dream
It's often forgotten that Pac-10 refs actually played a key role for how the final sequence played out against the Beavers...
Late in the 1st half, Cal had taken a 14-10 lead on OSU, and kicked off to the Beavers. As Tedford would maddingly do, he had Andrew Larson squib a kick which gave OSU some favorable field position (their own 42) even though there were only 37 seconds left in the half. Oregon State's QB, Sean Canfield, on 1st down, immediately hit a 17-yard completion to set the Beavers up on Cal's 35. But then the Cal defense held, helped by an OSU penalty, which pushed them back to the Cal 41. Facing a 3rd and 15, Canfield scrambled and hit Yvenson Bernard with an 11-yard completion, which put the Beavers into range for a FG try. Except replays at the time showed that Canfield, while scrambling, actually crossed the LOS, and the pass should have been ruled an illegal forward pass. But it wasn't, and to this day, I can't recall the reasons why Tedford couldn't challenge the original call. Regardless, now on the Cal 35, the Beavers hit a 52-yard FG to end the half and draw the Beavers to within a single point, 14-13.
Now imagine if Canfield's pass was disallowed, and the teams head into the half with the 14-10 score. All things play out the same from that point on, and suddenly those final seconds aren't happening in a 31-28 deficit, it's a 28-28 tie. Riley no longer has to scramble, Cal would instead have a enough time to try to win the game from inside the Beaver red zone.
But that didn't happen, and we're left with Riley's "scramble", but while it seems convenient to simply focus upon that, there were amazing things that occurred *prior* that got Cal in that position in the first place. In fact, I'd argue that Riley's game play (and Lavelle Hawkins) in those final 3:15 seconds, were among the most heroic in Cal football history--he very nearly pulled out a win, after being down 31-21. Consider that while Riley went 20/24 for 294 yards on the day, over those final, painful minutes, the kid was a veritable gunslinger, going 6/10 for 149 yards, which included a 64-yard catch and run for a touchdown to Lavelle Hawkins that cut OSU's lead to 31-28 with 2 1/2 minutes remaining. But then, on that final drive, with a 1:19 left, Cal having been pinned on its own 6-yard line, Riley cut loose. First, there was an 18-yard strike to Hawk on 2nd down that took Cal out of the shadow of its own end zone. Cal was now out of time outs. Riley was sacked on 1st down, which pushed the ball back to the Cal 17. He had to spike the ball on 2nd down to stop the clock, and threw an incompletion on 3rd down. Facing a 4th and 17, Riley found Hawkins again--a dart for 19 yards to the Cal 36 and a 1st down. Then, after another spike, on 2nd down, with 25 seconds left, Riley found Robert Jordan steps ahead of his defender down the Cal sideline. He hit RoJo for 37 yards, but sadly, Riley didn't hit him in stride, and Jordan tumbled down to the OSU 27. At that point, after a pass interference call against the Beavers, we pretty much know how the rest went down.
Yes, Riley made a bad mistake by trying to make something happen over those final excrutiating seconds, but I've never blamed him for losing that game the way others have chosen to do so. In fact, if not for Riley's heroics, alongside those of Lavelle Hawkins, Cal never would have even been in any position to win that game at all. I'm not excusing his tragic error, but he very nearly pulled that game out, and deserves credit--given Tedford's fear of starting back-up QBs--for stepping in and balling out in the way in which he did.
I don't remember anything about the end of the first half. But I do remember it was one of the best performances I have seen from a QB. I still occasionally watch Kevin Riley highlights on YouTube and I love his performance from this game.
I feel like that day was when the curse came upon us….ever since then, we’ve struggled and struggled…few glimpses here and There through out the years but nothing compared to how we used to play pre-OSU ‘07 game.
Agree on the Garbers injury—-that kid looks good. And I still wince on the Longshore-injury season! We were going to be ranked #1 if we win against OSU, but Riley ended that dream
It's often forgotten that Pac-10 refs actually played a key role for how the final sequence played out against the Beavers...
Late in the 1st half, Cal had taken a 14-10 lead on OSU, and kicked off to the Beavers. As Tedford would maddingly do, he had Andrew Larson squib a kick which gave OSU some favorable field position (their own 42) even though there were only 37 seconds left in the half. Oregon State's QB, Sean Canfield, on 1st down, immediately hit a 17-yard completion to set the Beavers up on Cal's 35. But then the Cal defense held, helped by an OSU penalty, which pushed them back to the Cal 41. Facing a 3rd and 15, Canfield scrambled and hit Yvenson Bernard with an 11-yard completion, which put the Beavers into range for a FG try. Except replays at the time showed that Canfield, while scrambling, actually crossed the LOS, and the pass should have been ruled an illegal forward pass. But it wasn't, and to this day, I can't recall the reasons why Tedford couldn't challenge the original call. Regardless, now on the Cal 35, the Beavers hit a 52-yard FG to end the half and draw the Beavers to within a single point, 14-13.
Now imagine if Canfield's pass was disallowed, and the teams head into the half with the 14-10 score. All things play out the same from that point on, and suddenly those final seconds aren't happening in a 31-28 deficit, it's a 28-28 tie. Riley no longer has to scramble, Cal would instead have a enough time to try to win the game from inside the Beaver red zone.
But that didn't happen, and we're left with Riley's "scramble", but while it seems convenient to simply focus upon that, there were amazing things that occurred *prior* that got Cal in that position in the first place. In fact, I'd argue that Riley's game play (and Lavelle Hawkins) in those final 3:15 seconds, were among the most heroic in Cal football history--he very nearly pulled out a win, after being down 31-21. Consider that while Riley went 20/24 for 294 yards on the day, over those final, painful minutes, the kid was a veritable gunslinger, going 6/10 for 149 yards, which included a 64-yard catch and run for a touchdown to Lavelle Hawkins that cut OSU's lead to 31-28 with 2 1/2 minutes remaining. But then, on that final drive, with a 1:19 left, Cal having been pinned on its own 6-yard line, Riley cut loose. First, there was an 18-yard strike to Hawk on 2nd down that took Cal out of the shadow of its own end zone. Cal was now out of time outs. Riley was sacked on 1st down, which pushed the ball back to the Cal 17. He had to spike the ball on 2nd down to stop the clock, and threw an incompletion on 3rd down. Facing a 4th and 17, Riley found Hawkins again--a dart for 19 yards to the Cal 36 and a 1st down. Then, after another spike, on 2nd down, with 25 seconds left, Riley found Robert Jordan steps ahead of his defender down the Cal sideline. He hit RoJo for 37 yards, but sadly, Riley didn't hit him in stride, and Jordan tumbled down to the OSU 27. At that point, after a pass interference call against the Beavers, we pretty much know how the rest went down.
Yes, Riley made a bad mistake by trying to make something happen over those final excrutiating seconds, but I've never blamed him for losing that game the way others have chosen to do so. In fact, if not for Riley's heroics, alongside those of Lavelle Hawkins, Cal never would have even been in any position to win that game at all. I'm not excusing his tragic error, but he very nearly pulled that game out, and deserves credit--given Tedford's fear of starting back-up QBs--for stepping in and balling out in the way in which he did.
Challenge? I don't think coaches can challenge in college football.
I don't remember anything about the end of the first half. But I do remember it was one of the best performances I have seen from a QB. I still occasionally watch Kevin Riley highlights on YouTube and I love his performance from this game.
I don't remember much about that game for a few reasons: mental trauma and liquids used to cope with mental trauma.
Welcome back, Bob!
DONT REMIND ME OF THIS DAY 😭😭😭😭
I feel like that day was when the curse came upon us….ever since then, we’ve struggled and struggled…few glimpses here and There through out the years but nothing compared to how we used to play pre-OSU ‘07 game.
there was (and maybe still is) a youtube video titled "the long slow decline of the university of california" with the riley scramble....