Syd'Quan Thompson News

The Bears righted their ship at midseason and earned another bowl appearance, but it will be hard to forget the way they absorbed those four losses.

Late in the fourth quarter, after Riley fumbled for the third time, he walked slowly to the sideline with both hands atop his helmet, his expression a mixture of dejection, anger and exasperation.

Confused by the myriad bowl possibilities in the crazy, congested PAC-10? Dizzied by the fact Cal, even on Dec.

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

As Cal contemplates its many possible bowl destinations - anywhere from El Paso or San Francisco to San Diego or Las Vegas - it does so without tailback Jahvid Best anywhere close to returning to action.

With one game left on its regular-season schedule, the Cal football team can still finish this season with 10 wins, in a multi-way tie for second place in the Pac-10 and ranked in the national top 20.

Freshman tailback Dasarte Yarnway participated in full-contact drills with the Cal football team for the first time in more than three months Wednesday.

Syd'Quan Thompson might be the most subdued player on the Cal football team. His words usually come with very little intonation; his emotions are often self-contained. Yet there he was at the center of it all, taking in a 34-28 triumph on the field at Stanford Stadium after the 112th Big Game.

Midway through the first quarter Saturday, the idea of the Axe staying in Berkeley counted as similarly preposterous, with the Bears already in a 14-point hole.

Bo McNally and Syd'Quan Thompson, the active career interception leaders at Stanford and Cal respectively, each added to his total recently.

It's easy for Eddie Young to slip under the radar. Television broadcasters, for example, have incorrectly attributed his standout moments to a different dreadlocked defender on the Cal football team.

The natural evolution of a player suggests that Cal cornerback Darian Hagan shouldn't have been too far behind All-America teammate Syd'Quan Thompson this season.

Sean Cattouse first showed his independence at age 2, when he bounded out of his chair, climbed on the counter and snagged some food.

It's no secret -- the Cal football team has struggled against fast running backs of late.

California star tailback Jahvid Best was released from the hospital Sunday and will miss at least one game after sustaining a concussion on a terrifying fall in the end zone.

Last week, Cal linebacker Mike Mohamed said he would know better after the game against Arizona State "what are all about." Facing another team in the Pac-10 would reveal which was "the real Cal"-the team that scored six points in two losses or at least 35 in each of its five wins.

Jeremy Ross joined Cal's big-play brigade Saturday. Ross returned the opening kickoff 54 yards, scored on a 76-yard punt return later in the first quarter, and hooked up with quarterback Kevin Riley on a 61-yard, third-quarter pass play to set up another touchdown.

Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen , meet Arizona State's Sun Devils. They're waiting for you.

Another prolific offensive performance on Saturday put a little more distance between the Cal football team and its aberrant struggles of four weeks ago.

Then again, some other images were more than mildly discouraging: Oregon and USC cruising downfield with little resistance and prancing into the end zone.