I just took a look at the stats for the game and notice that on paper, this was a very even game. But there's almost always one stat that tells the story, and for me it was penalties. The Bears committed 5 penalties for 45 yards versus Illinois' 10 penalties for 89 yards. The Illini penalties were, from the best of my recollection, really bad. They had several on defense that kept our drives alive and even their small penalties (delay of game, etc.) came at really bad times and were quite damaging. Sloppy play will kill you.

Now for my question, what conference supplied the officiating crew?

It was an SEC crew. Credit to Wilcox and the team for being the more disciplined, cleaner executing team. Other than Weaver's late hit, I can't remember a bad penalty that went against us.

evanluck said:

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It was an SEC crew. Credit to Wilcox and the team for being the more disciplined, cleaner executing team. Other than Weaver's late hit, I can't remember a bad penalty that went against us.

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Thanks, evanluck. I agree, Wilcox has the penalty situation much improved over past years. I think it was either the late third or maybe even the fourth quarter that we remarked that there hadn't been a single holding call--on either side.

Valleyblue said:

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I just took a look at the stats for the game and notice that on paper, this was a very even game. But there's almost always one stat that tells the story, and for me it was penalties. The Bears committed 5 penalties for 45 yards versus Illinois' 10 penalties for 89 yards. The Illini penalties were, from the best of my recollection, really bad. They had several on defense that kept our drives alive and even their small penalties (delay of game, etc.) came at really bad times and were quite damaging. Sloppy play will kill you.

Now for my question, what conference supplied the officiating crew?

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One thing that would show in the box score, but which was maybe unappreciated is that Cal took care of the ball. This was the first game all year that Illinois did not force a turnover. They were 12th in the nation in TO margin and 5th in the country in TO forced. For comparison, they forced 28 TOs this year and Cal forced just 16. To not turn the ball over against them was huge

These are the overall stats for the two teams for the game:

First Downs:
Cal: 24
Illinois: 24

Total Yards:
Cal: 395
Illinois: 450

Passing Yards:
Cal: 272
Illinois: 285

Rushing Yards:
Cal: 123
Illinois: 165

The real difference is when you look at before and after Cal went up 35-13.

Before Cal went up 35-13:
Cal Total Yards: 393
Illinois Total Yards: 299

After Cal went up 35-13:
Cal Total Yards: 2
Illinois Total Yards: 151

Cal had 0 first downs after going up 35-13 as they clearly took the foot off the pedal. They also started playing much softer on D giving up more yards.

The other interesting note is that 2 penalties / 25 yards of the 5 penalties / 45 yards against Cal came on a 2 play sequence. Weavers late hit out of bounds followed by a block in the back on the interception return, both of which occured after Cal went up 35-13.

Was a different game before and after the game was more or less settled midway through the fourth. A tad disappointing we couldn't salt the game away and didn't get a single first down...but the game was more or less in hand before the stats got close.

dimitrig said:

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Valleyblue said:

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I just took a look at the stats for the game and notice that on paper, this was a very even game. But there's almost always one stat that tells the story, and for me it was penalties. The Bears committed 5 penalties for 45 yards versus Illinois' 10 penalties for 89 yards. The Illini penalties were, from the best of my recollection, really bad. They had several on defense that kept our drives alive and even their small penalties (delay of game, etc.) came at really bad times and were quite damaging. Sloppy play will kill you.

Now for my question, what conference supplied the officiating crew?

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One thing that would show in the box score, but which was maybe unappreciated is that Cal took care of the ball. This was the first game all year that Illinois did not force a turnover. They were 12th in the nation in TO margin and 5th in the country in TO forced. For comparison, they forced 28 TOs this year and Cal forced just 16. To not turn the ball over against them was huge

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Very good point, Illinois pretty much lived and died by the turnover this year and ball security takes away their firepower.

This is what I didn't like....

After Cal went up 35-13:
Cal Total Yards: 2
Illinois Total Yards: 151

And don't forget that one pass that went straightt up in the air (or was it really a fumble?) and was almost intercepted. We could not move the pile, but Baldwin kept doing it...

Agreed the play calling got real conservative... tick tock, tick tock...

MrGPAC said:

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...

The real difference is when you look at before and after Cal went up 35-13.

Before Cal went up 35-13:
Cal Total Yards: 393
Illinois Total Yards: 299

After Cal went up 35-13:
Cal Total Yards: 2
Illinois Total Yards: 151

Cal had 0 first downs after going up 35-13 as they clearly took the foot off the pedal. They also started playing much softer on D giving up more yards.

.

Was a different game before and after the game was more or less settled midway through the fourth. A tad disappointing we couldn't salt the game away and didn't get a single first down...but the game was more or less in hand before the stats got close.

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Thanks, this is an excellent insight.

Valleyblue said:

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I just took a look at the stats for the game and notice that on paper, this was a very even game. But there's almost always one stat that tells the story, and for me it was penalties. The Bears committed 5 penalties for 45 yards versus Illinois' 10 penalties for 89 yards. The Illini penalties were, from the best of my recollection, really bad. They had several on defense that kept our drives alive and even their small penalties (delay of game, etc.) came at really bad times and were quite damaging. Sloppy play will kill you.

Now for my question, what conference supplied the officiating crew?

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Cal was the least penalized team in the P12 and Illinois was 13th in the B10. The game played out accordingly.

Weaver did not play after his penalty. Why? Could be they just wanted to get the senior Doughty into a bowl game, but the game wasn't really salted away yet so I wonder what the reason was.

JimSox said:

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Weaver did not play after his penalty. Why? Could be they just wanted to get the senior Doughty into a bowl game, but the game wasn't really salted away yet so I wonder what the reason was.

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Weaver's penalties late in the game are possible killers and I think Wilcox took him out as punishment. I was sitting right there when he came out and Wilcox took him out - Weaver seemed irritated.

Oski87 said:

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JimSox said:

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Weaver did not play after his penalty. Why? Could be they just wanted to get the senior Doughty into a bowl game, but the game wasn't really salted away yet so I wonder what the reason was.

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Weaver's penalties late in the game are possible killers and I think Wilcox took him out as punishment. I was sitting right there when he came out and Wilcox took him out - Weaver seemed irritated.

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I also read it as a lesson to the rest of the guys returning that even stars can be pulled.

Oski87 said:

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JimSox said:

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Weaver did not play after his penalty. Why? Could be they just wanted to get the senior Doughty into a bowl game, but the game wasn't really salted away yet so I wonder what the reason was.

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Weaver's penalties late in the game are possible killers and I think Wilcox took him out as punishment. I was sitting right there when he came out and Wilcox took him out - Weaver seemed irritated.

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You know that's exactly what I was thinking. It was a dumb penalty. Maybe Weaver was frustrated that he wasn't getting into the action as much as he'd hoped. If Wilcox took him out as punishment I think it was entirety appropriate. Tough coach.