After watching the afternoon appetizer that was the Military Bowl in DC where Toledo and Air Force went up and down the field to the tune of 83 points and 1,706 yards the Holiday Bowl had tough shoes to fill. While the game did not exactly live up to the point scoring, yard churning rapid pace that the nation got exposed to out of DC it did set the stage for some interesting debate.
The game itself was a 21-10 Texas win that saw both offenses struggle and ultimately Texas edge in talent beat out the California Golden Bears as the Longhorns made Cal revert to their early season, inconsistent ways. Cal quarterback Zach Maynard was 19 for 33 for 188 yards and one interception but the true story of Texas’ defensive dominance was their holding of Jeff Tedford’s squad to just seven rushing yards. Just 52 yards for for the 1200 yard back Isi Sofele.
But, it wasn’t all bad for Cal who showed that quarterback-receiver tandem Zach Maynard and Kenan Allen will be a must watch for 2012 as they combined nine times for 82 yards. Cal will have to replace senior receiver Marvin Jones who had eight catches for 88 yards but in Allen the Golden Bears will have a solid piece to build their passing attack around.
Cal, as has been the case for Jeff Tedford during his decade in Berkeley, has a shot to be a good football team but how much or little they achieve will be a toss up. This is a team that climbed as high as number six in 2009 before finishing unranked and missing a bowl the following season. No BCS bowl appearances, 1-8 record against Top 10 teams and a program that seems to have missed the USC is “down” window that Oregon and Stanford took advantage of during their rise to BCS bowl appearances.
Tedford’s 8 wins a year appears to have him in decent standing at Cal, the same eight wins this year are not exactly “acceptable” when it comes to Texas. A team that continues to beat down the doors in recruiting Texas is coming off back to back disappointing seasons where just 13 total wins were had by the Longhorns; matching their win total from 2009.
The bright spot in all of this is defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and what he has been able to do with a defense playing some key youth. While Emmanuel Acho leaves the bulk of that defense; names like Jordan Jeffcoat, Kenny Vaccaro and Jordan Hicks, returns to set the tone for a unit that showed they are ready to play football.
Last night Bryan Harsin’s offense showed some spark but was plagued with the same issues they have faced all season; inconsistency and inability to generate a reliable passing attack. Freshman quarterback David Ash got to go the whole game and while he wasn’t terrible, going 14-23 for 142 yards, he was far from being a guy who can be relied upon to carry Mack Brown’s team to Big XII titles.
There were moments in the game where Ash did look solid, his long pass down the sideline to Marquise Goodwin was on target even though the junior was unable to keep his foot in bounds. His strike to a wide open Goodwin for the 47 yard score in the third was proof of what he can do when he has time and a receiver is open down field. With an offseason dedicated to the film room, digesting Harsin’s offense and getting bigger, faster, stronger the sophomore edition of Ash will, hopefully, be better than the sophomore campaign of now departer quarterback Garrett Gilbert.
With Ash playing the whole game the question now arises as to what is to become of Case McCoy. Brother of a Texas star. Life long Longhorn. Does he stick it out in Austin and spend his next three seasons competing with Ash to try and win the starting job? Does he cut his losses now, a la Jevan Snead and search for his place somewhere else? Not a lot of quarterback depth in Austin and McCoy leavin would put the ‘Horns in a precarious situation going forward.
This game also gave the nation another look at freshman Malcolm Brown. While he ran for just 35 yards he did show flashes of why he was one of the nation’s top running back recruits entering 2011. He has the size to be a solid every down back, the speed to get loose when there is a gap and the vision to make things happen out of the backfield. The kid from Cibolo, Texas will look to build on his 700 yard season in 2011 and as that young Texas offensive line matures with him he should be one of the premier backs in the Big XII.
Ultimately this game was not a barn burner, it featured some sloppy play including five Cal turnovers and 16 total punts from the two squads but it did give us a look into 2012. For Cal the story will be getting Isi Sofele going early and often as well as getting Zach Maynard on track from day one instead of waiting until mid-season to kick it into full gear.
In Texas you’ve got a team that stayed ranked for most of the season and expects to be a Top 20, at worst, program entering 2012. The pieces are there for the defense, this team will need to find a functioning, reliable offense to be a true Big XII contender. Oregon won the Holiday Bowl in 2008 before ripping off a string of three straight BCS appearances, could Texas be gearing up for the same?
