BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -All those high hopes that California had at the beginning of the season have been erased by the two most lopsided losses in coach Jeff Tedford’s eight seasons in charge of the Golden Bears.
The Rose Bowl, a BCS bid, a Heisman Trophy campaign have all been put to the side. The focus for the Bears during their bye week is on making sure two bad losses don’t turn into a lost season.
“I still have a lot of confidence in what they’re doing,” Tedford said this week. “We still have seven conference games left so there’s a lot of football to be played. There’s no shame in being knocked down. But if we don’t get back up, there is in that. That’s the deal. There’s a lot of football left. We have a week here to improve.”
Cal (3-2, 0-2 Pac-10) plummeted from No. 6 in the nation to not receiving a single vote in the AP poll after being thrashed in a 42-3 loss at Oregon, followed by a 30-3 loss to Southern California to open the conference season. That ended any talk that this would be the year Cal would end a 51-year Rose Bowl drought.
d question about whether the Bears were headed to a repeat of the 2007 season. Two years ago this week, Cal was sent to move up to No. 1 in the county following an LSU loss to Kentucky. All Cal had to do was beat unranked Oregon State at home.
What followed was the worst stretch of Tedford’s tenure. The Bears lost 31-28 to the Beavers when Kevin Riley tried to run it in from the 14-yard line, allowing the clock to run out.
The losses piled up after that as Cal dropped six of its final seven regular season games, barely even qualifying for a bowl.
“Everybody is thinking of the ’07 team right now. It’s not true. We’re not going to have another ’07 season,” left tackle Mike Tepper said. “Our team chemistry is strong enough where don’t have to be worried because we know we’ll come back. I know we’ll do well. It’s different from the past.”
Tedford said he has seen the leadership this week from some of the players who went through the ’07 collapse, like Tepper, cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson, safety Marcus Ezeff and Riley.
The starters are getting more practice time than usual this bye week as Tedford is placing a higher emphasis on fixing the problems exposed the past two weeks than on developing young players.
raised hopes that the Bears had finally found a quarterback, but the passing game has regressed in recent weeks.
Riley has completed 27 of 71 passes, a 38 percent rate, for 322 yards, no touchdowns and an interception in the two losses. He’s been sacked seven times, often failing to get enough time to find open receivers.
Tedford benched Riley twice last season, but is sticking with his quarterback through these struggles.
“I know Kevin can make those throws. We just have to hang with him, keep working and get his confidence back to where he feels good about that,” Tedford said. “I think it’s a little unfair to put it all on one guy because there’s a lot of people responsible for pass protection, route running, catching balls and so on. I’m not letting Kevin totally off the hook because he can make plays. But everybody has to do their job.”
The lack of scoring is particularly bewildering to the Bears, who opened the season by scoring at least 50 points in back-to-back games for the first time since 1973. Cal has now gone two games without a touchdown for the first time since late in the 1986 season.
Star running back Jahvid Best has been held to 102 yards on 30 carries the past two weeks as Cal has been unable to get its most dangerous player the ball in space.
“It’s pretty hard to believe with this offense,” Riley said. “We have athletes all over the field. That’s the hardest part is how we’re not getting the ball in the end zone with everyone we have.”
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