Opener dogs Bears
It’s the game that, for whatever reason, won’t go away.
California opened the season with a big intersectional match against Tennessee, traveling to Knoxville with conference and even national title aspirations. The Golden Bears left with an embarrassing 35-18 loss and the scorn of national attention gone bad.
“I’ve never seen such a hangover for one game,” Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. “Now we’re into whatever it is, the sixth game of the year. And people are still talking about the first game.”
There is, however, one problem with the continuing talk about Tennessee. Cal’s actually played exceedingly well since.
At 4-1, the Bears have scored at least 41 points in every game since that season opener and have outscored those four opponents by 25, 26, 27 and 28, in that order. Their ranking, which slipped from No. 9 to No. 23 after the loss, is back to 16.
And yet …
“It seems like every question I answer is, ‘Since the Tennessee game …’ ” Tedford said.
The Bears get their best test since playing Tennessee – and maybe their best test, period – against Oregon this week. But Tedford said his team isn’t going out to try and set the record straight regarding Tennessee. Rather, Tedford’s Bears are playing with something more significant in mind.
“It’s what we need to do this week to stay in the conference hunt,” Tedford said. “Our motivation isn’t to put that other thing behind us. It’s to move forward.”
USC receiver Jarrett may play
USC wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett again has his heart set on playing despite a fairly serious shoulder injury suffered just more than a week ago.
Jarrett wanted to play last weekend at Washington State, but head coach Pete Carroll decided not to take him on the trip. This week, Washington visits the Trojans.
Carroll said Jarrett would try to practice at least once this week and is “extremely committed to try and play this weekend.”
Arizona grounds to a halt
Arizona’s anticipated rise through the Pac-10 standings this season has not yet happened, and it’s largely because Mike Stoops’ team can’t get a running game going.
The Wildcats are averaging a conference-worst 68.4 rushing yards a game – not to mention just 2.7 yards a carry.
“We just have to find ways to run the football and that’s difficult against good teams,” Stoops said. “Our execution needs to be better. We need to find some better plays to give us better opportunities to run the ball.”
Arizona also ranks last in the Pac-10 with 12 points a game, worse than even Stanford’s anemic offensive attack.