2008 Week 9

Most successful football teams develop along a theme. And according to most who follow the Huskies, the team consists of Jake Locker (aka the Messiah) and 69 other players nobody has heard of. They figure that when an opposing team takes another loss at the hands of the Dawgs, they must be wondering: 'Who are them boys?"

So it goes that the 2008 Huskies have become known as 'Dem Boys.

These boys, as it were, are 7-1 on the season after handing a 35-21 loss to the Cal Bears on the road yesterday. The Bears are having a horrible season despite having a very talented football team. Going in, the discussion was that if the Bears could get their turnover problem under control, they stood a great chance of upsetting the #22-ranked Huskies.

Reality was that the Bears again had turnover problems in another difficult loss that benefited the Huskies. They had three turnovers, and all three were particularly painful. One was returned 51 yards for a touchdown. Another was picked off in the end zone to end a promising drive. A third was thrown moments after the Huskies scored on a 70-yard touchdown play and allowed the Huskies to take a 14-0 lead on a three-yard touchdown run by Jason Howard.

"We just can't continually overcome so many mistakes," said head coach Jeff Tedford. "We're just not a very disciplined football team this year, and that falls on my shoulders. I feel comfortable saying that this season has been my fault. I need to do better."

Particularly surprising is the Bears' lack of success this year (2-7 after this loss) despite such awesome talents as DeSean Jackson and Nate Longshore on offense, and Thomas DeCoud, Syd'Quan Thompson, and Marcus Ezeff on defense.

"Going in I looked at the tape of their defense in particular and figured this would be a real difficult game," said head coach Jim Mora. "I could tell they were just snake bit a little bit, and luckily for us, that continued today."

Jake Locker and J.R. Hasty opened the scoring when Locker motioned Hasty out into the flat, and Hasty ran a quick out route. Nobody covered him, and he broke one tackle and went 70 yards for the score.

Moments later, Longshore threw the first of his three interceptions, which allowed the Huskies to go down the field and score two minutes after their first for a 14-0 lead.

Cal then showed some signs of life, with Longshore hooking up with Drew Glover for a six-yard touchdown to cap off a long drive. The Husky offense went in the tank for nearly a quarter, so the Bears were able to put together another scoring drive resulting in a field goal, 14-10.

Locker and company were able to get things in order just before the end of the first half as he winged a 15-yard touchdown strike to emerging talent Anthony Broyles. The sophomore receiver has caught 28 passes for 498 yards and 8 touchdowns with four games to play.

Cal seemingly never had a chance in the second half, as Longshore came right out of the gates and threw an interception in the third quarter. Mike Byrd returned the interception - the first of his career - 51 yards for a touchdown.

Coach Mora indicated that the team's main concern was the lethally talented DeSean Jackson. "He caught four passes today, you're never going to completely shut him down but we had a safety deep on his side on every play and doubled him, rolled coverages his way, etc. Anything to keep him contained, and luckily we were able to do that."