Nate Longshore News

For the second time in three years, Cal's football team failed to live up to expectations.

Breaking down the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl between California and No.

It often becomes a blur of faceless jersey numbers and nameless defenders. Not this time.

You leave one job for another - and take a $350,000 pay cut - people are going to surmise that you were pretty miserable at the first place.

Finally, a Big Game that lives up to its name. This, folks, is what rivalry week feels like in Eugene and Los Angeles and Columbus but something Bay Area fans haven't experienced in nearly 20 years.

One moment, Jahvid Best galloped seven yards and leaped into the end zone to the delight of the Memorial Stadium fans.A A An instant later, the crowd went from cheering to stunned silence.

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Not the shoulders of 70,000 screaming fans, not in a sea of blue and gold, not on a bed of roses.

It's much easier for an underdog to cover the spread than win a game outright, especially when getting double-digits, but don't tell that to Oregon State.

When Oregon State last visited Berkeley two years ago, it resulted in quarterback Kevin Riley's most forgettable moment at Cal.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller How does a team define a successful season? Here's a guess that both California's and Oregon State's definitions includes a victory this weekend.

Oregon State's beleaguered secondary probably won't want to hear this, but California quarterback Kevin Riley is playing his best football.

The drive down the I-5 freeway from Berkeley to Pasadena can easily be done in just over five hours by a properly motivated driver.

Remember the good old days, when the knock on Jeff Tedford was that he couldn't develop a quarterback who excelled in the NFL? As an assistant coach at Fresno State and Oregon and as a head coach at Cal, he helped mold Trent Dilfer, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington and Kyle Boller into first-round draft picks.

Pac-10 Football Against the Spread joined the Bears on their bye week last week but returns to action in Week Seven to find Cal staring down the possibility of Jeff Tedford's third three-game losing streak in eight years.

The California Golden Bears have dropped their last two games by a combined score of 72-6. In those two losses to the Oregon Ducks and the USC Trojans the Bears are 15/46 on third down conversions.

California is one of the nation's great research universities, so in the spirit of the Golden Bears, we researched.

Will the Bears ever come out of hibernation? You know? Hold a blockbuster coming-out party? Stick the landing on a national stage? Not two years ago.

Kevin Riley is currently in his second year as starter for the California Golden Bears.

Jeff Tedford should know that there has been questions that he doesn't have the ability to win big games specifically in the Pac-10. Usually it's centered around the fact that the Bears have not been able to pull out a victory over USC, but today's game was the start of what was supposed to make the Bears season.