After disposing of Division II Western Oregon 35-14 last weekend, Eastern Washington University takes a dramatic step up the competitive ladded on Saturday when it goes on the road to face 10th-ranked California, an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision power that is expected to challenge USC for supremacy in the Pacific-10 Conference this fall.

Kick off is set for 2:35 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., and you read more details on the game and other related stories below.

 

Coach Jeff Tedford's Golden Bears raced past Maryland 52-13 last weekend, with junior quarterback Kevin Riley throwing for 298 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. Junior running back Javid Best, a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, added 137 rushing yards and a pair of TDS, and that pass-run comnination has EWU coach Beau Baldwin rightfully concerned.

"They're such a threat to run the ball, you already know that," Baldwin said. "But on top of that, you have a quarterback playing really well and receivers making plays. It makes for a tough task

"I don't think anyone they play the entire year will ever shut that offense down -- it's just that good. So it becomes of a matter of trying to make them work for things and getting stingy in the red zone.

Also working against the underdog Eagles is the fact that several of their defensive linemen are first-year players who will be getting their first taste of playing an FCS opponent in front of 70,000-plus fans.

You can read what Cal's sports information department published about Saturday's game here, and see the weekly press release from EWU' sports info folks here.  This Q&A piece on Eagles running back Taiwan Jones is a good read, as is this Oakland Tribune article on Jahvid Best's backup Shane Vereen.

I've also included this link to the Big Sky notebook that ran in Thursday morning's S-R.

And once you finished reading all of the "scouting reports," let us here what you think about Eastern's chances of upsetting the Bears.

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