The California Golden Bears have dropped their last two games by a combined score of 72-6. In those two losses to the Oregon Ducks and the USC Trojans the Bears are 15/46 on third down conversions. Against the Ducks Cal QB Kevin Riley was 12/31 for 123 yards and against the Trojans Riley completed 15/40 for 199 yards and 1 interception. I don’t have a problem with Riley having bad games, but I do question Jeff Tedford’s resistance to putting in a different QB. This has been an issue with the Bear’s program for the last couple of seasons. Former Bear QB Nate Longshore had a lot of bad games, but kept his job. Riley took over for Longshore for the last couple of games last year, but Tedford went right back to Longshore for the Emerald Bowl. Cal has been lacking consistent play at the QB position since Aaron Rodgers left for the NFL.
If you look at the Pac Ten Conference there are a number of teams starting young QB’s that are producing in games. Pete Carroll decided to go with first year QB Matt Barkley and Barkley has led the Trojans to victories at Ohio State and California. UCLA was starting red-shirt freshmen Kevin Prince at QB until he was injured and Prince led the Bruins to a victory at Tennessee. Red-shirt freshmen Andrew Luck has led Stanford to a 4-1 record and the Cardinal are in first place in the Pac Ten. These teams have proven that they can be successful with a freshmen QB under center.
The question is does Cal have a young QB that was highly rated coming out of high school that could be playing? QB Allan Bridgford was the 15th rated QB in the country from last year’s recruiting class according to Phil Steele. Phil Steele had USC QB Matt Barkely #5, Kevin Prince was # 49 in 2008 and Andrew Luck was #8 in 2008. Why have coaches like Pete Carroll, Rick Neuheisel and Jim Harbaugh come to the realization that starting these young QB’s this year will make their programs extremely better over the next three seasons, but Tedford seems to lack that same kind of vision. If Matt Barkley can take the Trojans to the Rose Bowl his confidence will be out of this world at the start of next season. Andrew Luck has a great chance of leading Stanford to their first bowl game since 2001 and once Kevin Prince returns from injury the Bruins will probably make their first bowl game since 2007.
Jeff Tedford has been touted as a QB guru so he should not have a problem getting another QB on his roster ready to play. Cal has a bye week before traveling to UCLA on October 17th. If a change is going to be made this would be a good time to make it. If Tedford sticks with Riley for the rest of the season, Cal will begin the 2010 season with Riley being the only returning QB on the roster with starting experience. USC, UCLA and Stanford will be ranked ahead of the Bears in every pre-season poll in 2010, because all three programs would be returning second year QB’s who were productive and gained valuable experience in the 2009 season.
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If you look at the Pac Ten Conference there are a number of teams starting young QB’s that are producing in games. Pete Carroll decided to go with first year QB Matt Barkley and Barkley has led the Trojans to victories at Ohio State and California. UCLA was starting red-shirt freshmen Kevin Prince at QB until he was injured and Prince led the Bruins to a victory at Tennessee. Red-shirt freshmen Andrew Luck has led Stanford to a 4-1 record and the Cardinal are in first place in the Pac Ten. These teams have proven that they can be successful with a freshmen QB under center.
The question is does Cal have a young QB that was highly rated coming out of high school that could be playing? QB Allan Bridgford was the 15th rated QB in the country from last year’s recruiting class according to Phil Steele. Phil Steele had USC QB Matt Barkely #5, Kevin Prince was # 49 in 2008 and Andrew Luck was #8 in 2008. Why have coaches like Pete Carroll, Rick Neuheisel and Jim Harbaugh come to the realization that starting these young QB’s this year will make their programs extremely better over the next three seasons, but Tedford seems to lack that same kind of vision. If Matt Barkley can take the Trojans to the Rose Bowl his confidence will be out of this world at the start of next season. Andrew Luck has a great chance of leading Stanford to their first bowl game since 2001 and once Kevin Prince returns from injury the Bruins will probably make their first bowl game since 2007.
Jeff Tedford has been touted as a QB guru so he should not have a problem getting another QB on his roster ready to play. Cal has a bye week before traveling to UCLA on October 17th. If a change is going to be made this would be a good time to make it. If Tedford sticks with Riley for the rest of the season, Cal will begin the 2010 season with Riley being the only returning QB on the roster with starting experience. USC, UCLA and Stanford will be ranked ahead of the Bears in every pre-season poll in 2010, because all three programs would be returning second year QB’s who were productive and gained valuable experience in the 2009 season.
