Brian Holley News

As the 2009 regular season wound down, it became clear that the bowl-game destinations for many Pac-10 teams would not be decided until the last games of the year.

SERIES HISTORY: Washington leads the all-time series 46-38-4, but the Bears have lost just once in the Jeff Tedford era THE STORY LINES: The Bears are trying to finish in a four-way tie for second place, which likely would land them in the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve.

SERIES HISTORY: Washington leads the all-time series 46-38-4, but the Bears have lost just once in the Jeff Tedford era THE STORY LINES: The Bears are trying to finish in a four-way tie for second place, which likely would land them in the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve.

This is the opposite of what No. 19 California did two years ago. Back in 2007, the Golden Bears were on the cusp of taking over the top spot in The Associated Press Top 25 when they suffered a 31-28 loss to Oregon State.

It was quite a way to end the season. An upset victory on the road in arguably the biggest game on the schedule.

Nothing has happened yet to let the Cal football team forget completely about its last visit to Husky Stadium in 2007-not winning the Armed Forces Bowl later that season, not beating Washington soundly last year, not even the two years and change that have passed since the game was played.

After losing their first two Pac-10 games of the season, Cal's players set a goal of going 7-0 the rest of the way.

Late at night this week, soft blue and gold light bathes the columns that front Wheeler Hall, giving it the look of a gala event that emptied out long ago.

Messages sent to the University of California athletic office over the past two weeks have not implored team doctors to put the Bears' star running back, Jahvid Best, back on the field to help Cal against archrival Stanford this Saturday.

The message was heard amid Saturday night's silence. The motto was put forward amid Saturday night's setback.

On Wednesday, tailback Jahvid Best visited with teammates in his first appearance at Memorial Stadium since he was carted off the field with a serious concussion last Saturday.

California star tailback Jahvid Best is resting at home following his frightening fall and concussion and the team has not talked about when he could possibly return to the football field.

BERKELEY, Calif. - Cal lost a football game Saturday that all but guaranteed it will have to settle once again for a midlevel bowl game this season.

While recovering from the injury he sustained during the Cal football team's last scrimmage of spring ball in 2008, Brian Holley described the excruciating agony that emanated from his right fibula by cracking a joke about prescription medication.

Even when he busts loose for the biggest day of his college career - 154 yards rushing in Cal's win over UCLA - the most popular TV highlight showed teammate Jahvid Best twisting away from tacklers on an electrifying 93-yard touchdown run.

California's meeting with USC in 2003 began in sunshine and ended in the gloaming, with the weird luminescence of Memorial Stadium 's temporary light fixtures lending a surreal tint to Tyler Fredrickson's triple-overtime field goal that sealed the Golden Bears' biggest win of the decade.

This past Sunday was like any other Sunday at Memorial Stadium. The No. 24 Cal football team went through its normal routine, breaking down film, coming together for a meeting, practicing lightly in the afternoon.

Prognosticators who have Cal penciled in as Pac-10 champion this season are making one significant assumption: The Bears will be able to win on the road.

Both coach Jeff Tedford and Holley maintain that the fifth-year senior will start the No.

Film has been pretty useless to the Cal football team's offense this season. For the second time in three games, the No.