Regents vote 7-0 for High Performance S/Athlete Center

Earlier today, the UC Regents voted to certify an Environmental Impact Report in favor of the planned High Performance Student-Athlete Center. The unanimous decision is great news for the football program, as the construction of the center was an important clause of Coach Jeff Tedford‘s contract and will play a big part in recruiting.

If I understand things correctly, construction of the center will begin in the near future, regardless of City of Berkeley lawsuits or hippie tree-sitters, barring a court injunction.

Stanford head coach Harris fired

Today, Stanford head coach Walt Harris was fired by the university.

Harris’ team was devastated by injuries this season and finished with the most losses in school history and the worst record since an 0-10 mark in 1960.

The Cardinal have struggled mightily since Tyrone Willingham left for Notre Dame following the 2001 season. They have not had a winning season in five years under Buddy Teevens and Harris.

Maybe they will hire a coach to pull their program out of the gutter. However, it will be a hard sell to anyone who wants to win.

Schneider named Pac-10 player of the week

Placekicker Tom Schneider has been named Pac-10 player of the week on special teams for his performance on Saturday:

Schneider, a junior from Walnut Creek, Calif., was good on four-of-five field goal attempts and two PATs to account for 14 points in California’s 26-17 win against Stanford. Schneider tied a school record for longest field goal made when he connected from 55 yards and also was good from 25, 40 and 30 yards. It marks the second player of the week honor for Schneider this season.

Also nominated were DeSean Jackson (offense) and Zach Follett (defense).

Big Game streak continues, Cal co-champion of Pac-10

Cal’s performance in the Big Game resulted in an outcome nowhere near the match-up’s spread. However, the Bears continued the Big Game winning streak under Coach Jeff Tedford, extending it to 5 games. I’ll take a 23-17 win, but I hope the team gets things going for the Holiday Bowl.

In other news, UCLA upset USC 13-9, making USC and Cal tied for first place in the Pac-10. USC gets the Rose Bowl, but we both get the title. Thus, Cal is a 2006 Co-Champion of the Pac-10! This development is bittersweet, though: without a loss to Arizona, Cal would surely be on its way to the Rose Bowl.

Today, Stanford

The Big Game will be a showcase of Cal’s great talent this season, but also an opportunity to appreciate many of the seniors on the squad. If the game follows the blowout trend of the past 4 years, we will likely be able to see many seniors on the depth chart come out to play by the second half of the game.

In addition, this may very well be Marshawn Lynch‘s last home game as a Bear. We would love to see him return and possibly capture the Rose Bowl next year, but with first-round NFL draft projections and a limited shelf life of physical running backs, it may make sense for Lynch to go out and provide for his family.

Stanford football has been so pitiful that I have almost come to feel bad for them. However, one must remember the 7 straight years of defeat before the arrival of Coach Jeff Tedford, their student section chants of “Cal’s Our B****”, and other nasty memories of this bitter rivalry.

To close up, here is a recent article from the Stanford Review, thanks to RBBID:

Berkeley coach Jeff Tedford is consistently producing top-25 football teams with Heisman candidates. We find ourselves in ESPN’s Bottom 10 rankings. These two facts mean that we won’t be beating Cal in football for the foreseeable future, which begs the question: should we continue to care about Cal? They have a much larger student body and lower academic standards for athletes. One Cal newspaper even declared that we were unfit to be rivals.

We’re happy to take our rivalry elsewhere. Cal clearly lucked-out having us a rival; if they would prefer UC Davis, well, they can have them. We always knew that we could do better than Cal.

The task now is to find a new rival, one much more like our fine school (meaning a private school), a school that we can fairly compete against, and beat on occasion, and sometimes badly. There are a few options. We could adopt Duke as a rival; their football team is as hapless as ours. Northwestern’s is almost as bad.

Pathetic. Mind-bogglingly pompous. No mercy today, Tedford.

Holiday Bowl opponent: Texas A&M

It’s official: Cal will face Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl.

Due to some apparent bowl politics, the Bears will end up facing the #4 team in the Big 12 conference (instead of the #3 as intended). However, the Aggies are better than their record may appear: they are coming off a win over defending national champion Texas and are a nationally ranked team.

Now that the bowl situation is settled… time to set our sights back on beating the 29 point spread on Stanford and making some Big Game records.

Recruiting update

Cal has two new commits in the 2007 recruiting class, a punter and a defensive back.

Bryan Anger, a punter out of Camarillo (CA), is the #2-ranked kicker in the nation rated by Rivals and #5 by Scout. He’s a big athlete at 6’4″ with a lot of potential, and he’s already averaging 42-yard punts and getting more than 5 second hang-time on some kicks. He’s also an excellent student with a 3.9 GPA. The team has benefited greatly from JUCO transfer Andrew Larson but he will only have one more season, so this is a great get for the Bears.

DJ Campbell, a defensive back out of Las Vegas (NV), is another solid add to the class. He’s a talented recruit rated 3 stars by Rivals.

Wilted dreams, rankings and the Holiday Bowl

Saturday was beyond disappointing for Cal fans, with hopes for the Rose Bowl squashed in the Coliseum during the fourth quarter.

Clearly I was hit hard by the loss, so I took a short break to cool off. However, never fear… updates will continue as usual now.

Cal has dropped to #22 in the AP/Coaches poll, #23 in Harris, and #19 in the BCS standings. This effectively removes Cal from BCS contention, as the team must be ranked in the top #14 of the standings to be eligible for an at-large bid in the Rose Bowl, given that USC makes it to the national title game.

Is there still hope for the Bears backing into the Rose Bowl? Not really. A win over Stanford will not impress anyone, and 5 teams dropping below Cal in the rankings is very unlikely. So, it looks like we’re almost definitely headed to the Holiday Bowl. Not a bad venue at all, but still disappointing given the hopes for the season.

Decision weekend

No updates this weekend. I’m in Southern California awaiting the Bears’ game of the season. I’m going to avoid making a score prediction; my prediction is simply that Cal clinches the Rose Bowl. Wait and see…

Go Bears.

Buzz for the showdown at USC

vs.

The Bears aren’t getting much faith in the media to upset USC on Saturday. Most pundits point to Cal’s loss to Arizona and USC’s “re-emergence” with wins over Stanford and Oregon since a loss to Oregon State. However, Cal should recover from the disaster in Tucson and come back with a big game against the Trojans. The game is very well-matched and will come out close.

While the game has been eclipsed by the Ohio State/Michigan #1/#2 rivalry game, the Cal/USC match-up will probably benefit from it; both are receiving national coverage on ABC (12:30, 5:00). Thus, the OSU/MI viewers will watch the ESPN personalities hype up and preview Cal/USC and many are likely to stay tuned in to watch the Pac-10 showdown afterwards. With the nation watching, this is Cal’s opportunity to dethrone USC and clinch the Rose Bowl.

Associated Press: Preview

After the fourth-ranked Trojans (8-1, 6-1) unexpectedly climbed back into the national championship race, they face the No. 17 Golden Bears (8-2, 6-1) on Saturday night in a matchup that will decide the Pac-10’s BCS bid.

The winner of the matchup at the Los Angeles Coliseum will own the tiebreaker advantage in the conference. A victory would keep USC in position to possibly play for the national title for the fourth straight season.

California, meanwhile, can clinch its first Rose Bowl berth since the 1958 season.

USA Today:

Two weeks ago it looked like the Golden Bears were the favorites to win the Pac-10. After their loss to Arizona and two impressive wins by the Trojans, the picture has a new look. The loss to Oregon State may just be the kick USC needed to jump start its championship run. Southern California 28, California 20.

ESPN’s Ivan Maisel: “3 Games Worth TiVo-ing”

It’s late November, and USC is one victory away from clinching the Pac-10 championship. Yes, Cal still goes to the Rose Bowl if it wins, but it’s hard to leap over the hurdle when you stumble on the previous step.

California will win if it finds a way to slow down the USC offense. Cal also has picked off 20 passes. That’s important because USC sophomore John David Booty still can make the occasional boneheaded throw. The Bears have a balanced offense and a decided edge in special teams, especially with DeSean Jackson, the nation’s leader in punt returns ( 20.7-yard average, four touchdowns).

ESPN: “Pac-10 notebook”

California needs to get over its loss at Arizona, which included blowing a 17-3 halftime lead, as quickly as possible considering that the program’s first Rose Bowl since the 1958 season is on the line at USC. “At the beginning, there was a lot of disappointment about not taking care of business,” coach Jeff Tedford said. “Now it’s full steam ahead with just thinking about playing USC with a chance to compete for a conference championship.”

Sports Network: “Cal seeks first Rose Bowl berth since 1958”

A week ago it looked like California was going to steamroll the Trojans, but this team showed a weakness in the desert and perhaps isn’t ready to unseat the old guard in the Pac-10. That being said, this will probably be one of the better games of the year, one that could see several lead changes along the way. In the end however, USC knows how to win big games, especially on its own lawn. Sports Network Predicted Outcome: USC 33, California 27

ESPN’s Jim Donnan: “What to Watch in Week 12”

The Trojans looked like a well-oiled machine against Oregon in Week 11… The Trojans’ defense is creating more big plays and the coaches look more comfortable applying defensive pressure. The much-maligned secondary is also starting to look better. USC received a loud wake-up call against Oregon State, and momentum is definitely in the Trojans’ corner. The one team that has consistently given them fits, however, is Cal. If Cal can get Jackson the ball early and often, the Trojans could be in trouble.

Scouts, Inc: “California vs. USC edge”

Pac-10 fans have been waiting for this matchup all year, but don’t expect the score to be as close as some might think or hope. Although both teams are 6-1 in the conference, the Trojans seem to be playing their best football of the season and the Bears lost to a mediocre Arizona team last week. In addition, this game is at the Coliseum and USC is back in the national championship race, so the environment will be hostile.

Lynch will break some electrifying runs, but the Trojans’ talented front seven will prevent him from controlling the tempo of the game and it will force Longshore to make plays. USC will confuse Longshore with a number of different looks and pressure him into making some poor decisions and/or errant throws. Offensively, the Trojans place a high premium on balance. They will run the ball despite the many injuries in the backfield and their backs will be productive enough to keep the Bears honest. In addition, Booty will find his receivers downfield for some big plays and force Cal to back their safeties up, effectively opening up the run.

Prediction: Trojans 35, Golden Bears 21