Saturday: Revenge vs. Arizona

Arizona Republic: “UA wary of revenge-seeking Cal”

Arizona’s 24-20 upset victory last November over the then-No. 8 Bears ruined a possible Pac-10 title and Bowl Championship Series invitation for Cal.

At a team meeting Sunday, Cal coach Jeff Tedford told his team not to forget the game, in which UA rallied from a 17-3 second-half deficit before 55,519 fans at Arizona Stadium.

“We brought it back into their minds so they know what that game was all about,” Tedford said. “There’s no question we have enough guys on this team that remember.”

USA Today: “Weekend Forecast”

We saw how motivated the Golden Bears were to get revenge against Tennessee in the opener. Now they’re focused on the Wildcats after a loss in Tucson cost them the Pac-10 title. [Note: this is wrong – Cal shared the title with USC last year] A rough start to the year gets worse for Arizona coach Mike Stoops, who has already seen his team lose to BYU and New Mexico. California 42, Arizona 21

ESPN: “Feldman: Week 4 Picks”

Cal 34, Arizona 10: The Golden Bears’ offense can score with anybody, and Arizona has been a huge disappointment thus far. Mike Stoops’ team is not responding to him and the Cats are very undisciplined. Not a good indicator for a road team.

Contra Costa Times: “One more game for ‘redemption'”

ONLY A MATTER OF HOURS now until Cal vs. Arizona and the best kind of football weekend there is — one enhanced by boiling blood and a trail of tears.

We can sense your skepticism from here. But we assure you, Arizona is indeed on the schedule this week. …

Cal should have no such problem achieving a blood-boiling, teary-eyed state Saturday. Not given last year’s loss to Arizona — that was a lookahead game, by the way, coming the week before a highly anticipated matchup with USC — in which the Bears played themselves out of a Rose Bowl berth.

That makes Saturday’s game a revenge game. Or a redemption game. Whichever, it was such obvious motivational plutonium that Tedford was already backing away from it early this week.

Tucson Citizen: “Wildcat’s defense tries to rebound”

Arizona defensive coordinator Mark Stoops says the Wildcats need to play with an edge or they could look foolish at No. 6 California.

When you play a great team that will expose you at any given moment, you have to play on edge or you will get flat-out embarrassed,” Stoops said. “That is what is so great about this week. The focus will be there.

Cal is so good. They make you execute. You better be in the right position, or they will embarrass you.”

Arizona Republic: “UA challenge: Match Cal offense”

The University of Arizona football team’s improving offense might have to score a lot of points to hang with an explosive California squad on Saturday in Berkeley, Calif. But can the Wildcats beat the No. 6 Golden Bears in the game… if it’s a shootout?

“I don’t know if we can score big numbers. I would like to think that 27 (points) would have been good enough last week to win,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said, referring to Saturday night’s 29-27 loss to New Mexico.

“I don’t know if it would be realistic to go up there and score 40-some points. Hopefully we can control the football and control the time and limit their touches. (Cal is) a hard team to slow down, but we are going to have to.”

Unless the struggling UA defense can play more aggressively, quarterback Willie Tuitama and the offense will have to keep up with the California offense.

Contra Costa Times: “Jackson, Cason eager for marquee matchup”

Not only will the Bears be attempting to atone for their 24-20 loss last season in Tucson that essentially knocked them out of a Rose Bowl bid, but the contest will feature one of the marquee individual matchups in college football this season when Cal wide receiver DeSean Jackson lines up against Arizona cornerback Antoine Cason.

Jackson and Cason arguably are the best players in the country at their positions. Both were preseason All-Americans. The Sporting News ranks Jackson as the nation’s No. 1 receiver and Cason as the No. 1 cornerback.

There’s more. Jackson and Cason are both from Long Beach and have known each other since high school. Jackson attended Long Beach Poly and Cason went to nearby Los Alamitos.

The players have developed a friendly rivalry, although the friendly part disappears once they take the field.