Cal Football Still a Question Mark

Six games into the football season the California Golden Bears are at a crossroads in their season, with many of the questions about the team remaining unanswered.  After a beating at Arizona last week the Bears are at 4-2 and are still in the Pac-10 race. 

Starting with this week's home game against UCLA, the Bears have a lot of questions to answer that will determine the fate of their season.

Quarterback

Kevin Riley was named the starter before the season opener.  Since then the position has become a big question mark.  After starting the first four games with mixed results, Nate Longshore was named the starter, but he has also shown inconsistent play. 

Last week, at Arizona, Longshore played well for the first half before fading badly in the second half.  Longshore again threw a critical interception at the worst possible time—a familiar scene from the 2007 season. 

Jeff Tedford has not named a starter for the UCLA game yet, but one thing is clear: Better production and leadership is needed from the QB position from either one or both quarterbacks to avoid a repeat of 2007.

Receivers

After losing all of its starting receivers from last season, the wide receiver position was a big question mark.  Halfway into the season, the position remains a big question mark.  Not helping the unsettled quarterback position is the inconsistent productivity of the wide receivers. 

No one has emerged as the "go to" wide receiver.  Having someone step up at wide receiver would be a big help to the quarterbacks and take pressure off the running game.

Several wide receivers, such as Veran Tucker and Nyan Boateng, have shown some promise despite inexperience, but now is the time for someone to assume the position of "go to" receiver.

Defense

The defense has generally played well in the new 3-4 defensive scheme, but Arizona shredded them for 42 points and 149 rushing yards—including three touchdowns by unheralded running back Keola Antolin. 

This brings new questions to the defense once thought to be the strength of the team.  Was it just one bad game or will it be the start of a bad trend for the defense?  Can the defense overcome the many injuries on the defensive line in recent weeks?

The Bears lost the ability to control their destiny in the Tucson desert last week, but they are still in fairly good shape in the weakened Pac-10 this year.  There are still big games to be played in November and it is very likely that other teams bunched around them will lose. 

But first the Bears need to answer these questions, or we will likely see a repeat of the 2007 collapse.