The Ludwig Factor.    Who benefits more from it?  Does it matter at all?  Is too much made of it?  Is it the primary storyline of the Poinsettia Bowl?  And, by the way, who is Ludwig?

Andy Ludwig (right) was Utah's offensive coordinator last season, when the Utes finished the season ranked No. 2 -- Photo Deseret News

Andy Ludwig is Cal’s first-year offensive coordinator, and until Dec. 5, he was known mostly for succeeding Jeff Tedford as offensive coordinator first at Fresno State and again at Oregon before being hired by Tedford.

On Dec. 6, though, Ludwig was newsworthy for two other matters: First, why the heck couldn’t Cal’s offense doing anything against Washington in the Bears’ final regular-season game the day before?   Second, with Cal drawing Utah as its opponent in the Dec. 23 Poinsettia Bowl, Ludwig was in a unique position, having been the Utes offensive coordinator the past four seasons.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham suggested to the Salt Lake Tribune the advantages and disadvantages of Ludwig’s situation cancel each other out.

“He knows our defensive scheme and we are well versed in his offense,” Whittingham said.

Sounds fine, but it may be just coach-speak to avoid the issue, because it’s not acurate.

Ludwig should be familiar with Utah’s defensive personnel, and that will help him prepare, but his knowledge of the Utes’ defensive schemes may not be as thorough as you might think.   Coordinators are surprisingly unaware of what their own team is doing on the other side of the ball.   Ask Cal defensive coordinator Bob Gregory to assess the Bears’ offense, and he can give you a pretty good outline of Cal’s offensive scheme, but he could probably give you a more detailed account of what Oregon or USC does offensively because those are the offenses he is paid to stop, not Cal’s.

Still, the advantage should lie with Cal, because Whittingham’s claim that the Utes “are well-versed in his offense” does not hold water.   It is not Ludgwig’s offense, it is Tedford’s offense.      Ludwig has added a few wrinkles, but the concepts, plays and approach and much of the game planning belong to Tedford.   That’s why Tedford does not think having four different offensive coordinators the past four years has been terribly detrimental to the Bears’ offense.     Tedford is still the primary architect, and it’s still his offense.

Tedford admitted having the same turnover on the defensive side would be disastrous because he leaves Cal’s defense entirely in the hands of Gregory, who has been the Bears’ defensive coordinator since 2002.

Ludwig may be able to pass along some information to Gregory about Utah’s offensive personnel, but that will be limited, too, because he knows little about the Utah player Gregory needs to analyze most – quarterback Jordan Wynn.   Ludwig never coached Wynn, a true freshman, and current Utah offensive coordinator, Dave Schramm – not Ludwig – was Wynn’s primary recruiter last year.

Dave Schramm was promoted to succeed Andy Ludwig as Utah's offensive coordinator -- Photo by Scott Sommerdof/Salt Lake Tribune

The secondary story is whether Utah is better off with Schramm than with Ludwig.   Utah fans were not heartbroken to hear two weeks before last year’s Sugar Bowl game that Ludwig was leaving to take the same job at Kansas State (which Ludwig discarded two months later when the Cal opportunity arose).   Utah never averaged more than 30 points in Ludwig’s first three years at Utah, and even though the Utes ranked 15^th nationally in scoring (36.9 points a game) last year and laid 31 on Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finish ranked No. 2, Ludwig’s offense always came up short in the fans’ minds compared with the potent attack Urban Meyer and Alex Smith ran before Ludwig arrived.

They may be looking at Ludwig differently now.   Earlier this season, Schramm was relieved of the play-calling duties, which now belong to wide-receivers coach Aaron Roderick, and the Utes are averaging 29.3 points a game, 47^th in the country.   Of course, not having Brian Johnson at quarterback this season has a lot to do with the Utes’ offensive decline, so it’s hard to say whether they would be better off with Ludwig.

It’s also hard to say whether the Bears are better off with Ludwig than with Frank Cignetti, who left Cal after last season to become offensive coordinator at Pitt.   The Bears averaged 32.6 points last season despite never settling on a starting quarterback, and they are averaging more than three points less, 29.2 points, this season with one quarterback, Kevin Riley.

 Sometimes this season, the Bears offense has looked great, and sometimes it’s looked downright lousy.   How much of the credit or blame lies with Ludwig, who calls the plays, or Tedford, who still is the man in charge of the offense, is hard to say.

If Ludwig and Tedford can get Riley to play well on Wednesday, both will have succeeded, at least for the moment.  If a little knowledge of Utah’s defensive personnel helps in that regard, so be it.