California's Season Can Be Defined in One Word: Dropped

The California Golden Bears had an excellent chance of being in the top tier of the Pac-10 conference. Their defense this year has been a surprising strength this year. The offense which normally the Bears strength has let them down all year with dropped passes.

In today's game, against the Oregon State Beavers, the Bears had at least three drops on passes that should have been caught. The first incident in the game was a third-and-4 with the Bears driving. If the pass was caught, it would have got the Bears a first down and they would have been in field goal range.

Cameron Morrah dropped an easy pass from Kevin Riley. The Bears' next play would have also resulted in a first down on a fake punt. The problem was that the snap was botched and the Beavers recovered. 

The second pass that was dropped was by Verran Tucker. After the Bears had scored on a 65-yard touchdown run by Javhid Best. The defense held the Beavers to a missed field goal.

The Bears decided to take advantage by throwing the ball deep down the field. Verran Tucker got past Beavers safety and Riley threw a perfect pass to Tucker. The pass was dropped.

The last drop was a key play. Jahvid Best one of the better receivers on the Bears football team. Instead of making sure he caught the ball, he let his eyes go down the field where subsequently Best dropped the pass.

Instead of having a first down and being able to set up a huge drive that could have possibly given the Bears the lead. The Bears had to punt instead.

The Special Teams defense could also dropped the ball, figuratively of course. The first was after the Bears scored the first touchdown of the game. The ball was kicked off and caught by James Rodgers at the 16-yard line.

Every single Bear player except for the kicker was on one side of the field. So all Rodgers had to do was get by the first wall of Bears and he was gone.

The second was on a punt return by Sammie Stroughter who acted like he wasn't going to pick the ball up on a bounce.

He did pick the ball up and since the Bears relaxed thinking he wasn't going to touch it he had an easy return of 56 yards to the 2 yard line where Jacquizz Rodgers ran it in for a touchdown a play later.

Hey even the Pac-10 officials dropped the ball on a replay again figuratively speaking. James Rodgers was given a 7 yard catch on the first play of the 3rd quarter. When there was no way he was inbounds when he caught it.

The officials spent too much time concentrating on where the ball was when it was caught. They did not pay attention to the fact that Rodgers was way out of bounds when the ball was caught. The very next play was a run of 31 yards by Jacquizz Rodgers.

Did the officials have anything with changing the complexion of a 2nd and 10 to a 2nd and 3? Of course they're Pac-10 officials why should we expect them to get a call right?

Another blown call by the Pac-10 official was a holding call on Will Ta'ufo'ou. Took away a big gain by Javhid Best. Their was no holding on the play.

What happened was Ta'ufo'ou blocked the Oregon State Beaver defender was knocked off balance and fell to the ground pulling Ta'ufo'ou with him. It was a legal block! 

I will say this game is what epitomized the Bears season. The one play that will stand out for the rest of the year wasn't from this game. It was from the USC game.

The play where Shane Vareen would have scored the tying touchdown and instead their was a penalty for illegal man down the field. Since the Bears wide receiver wasn't covered up on the play.   

As stated earlier, it's been the whole season where there's been a figurative drop or a drop. This game is just the capper of the teams that the Bears should have at least had taken a lead against or come out with a win. 

The good news for the Bears, though, was that the defense has been great and their next two opponents should get them a win.

The Bears next two games will be against Stanford and Washington. Hopefully, with these two teams the Bears can finally solve the problems of drops.