Cal to take on EWU:

 Kickoff
California continues its 114th season of football on Saturday, Sept. 12, with a 2:30 p.m. game against Eastern Washington at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. The contest will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet California.

The Golden Bears kicked off their 2009 campaign in dominating fashion last Saturday with a 52-13 win over Maryland at Memorial Stadium as Cal redeemed a 35-27 loss to the Terps in College Park last season.

Kevin Riley threw a career-high four touchdown passes in the victory and completed passes to nine different receivers as part of his 17-of-26 performance and 298 passing yards.

Jahvid Best kicked off his campaign for the Heisman Trophy in grand fashion, running for 137 yards on only 10 carries for an average 13.7 yards per attempt. He also had a pair of touchdowns. Best’s first score came on a 73-yard run that marked his ninth career run of 60 or more yards. After D.J. Campbell recovered a Maryland fumble on the ensuing kickoff and Riley completed a 20-yard pass to Marvin Jones on the first play of the drive to put the ball on the Terps’ two-yard line, Best took it in from there for his 19th career rushing touchdown.

Cal’s season-opening win has the Bears started in the right direction to extend current streaks of seven straight winning seasons, six consecutive post-season appearances and four bowl victories in a row – the latter two school records.

The victory over Maryland also improved head coach Jeff Tedford’s all-time record at California to 60-30 one game into his eighth season at the helm. The team’s 60 wins since 2002 are the second most in the Pac-10 behind USC, while the run under Tedford is also the best for Cal in nearly a century since legendary head coach Andy Smith led the Wonder Teams to a 63-7-5 mark over eight seasons from 1918-25.

Best/Riley win honors:

BERKELEY – California junior running back and Heisman Trophy candidate Jahvid Best was named the College Football Performance Awards Running Back Performer of the Week on Monday, while junior quarterback Kevin Riley was an honorable mention selection for the CFPA’s Quarterback Performer of the Week.

Best rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns on only 10 carries to lead the Golden Bears to a 52-13 win over Maryland last Saturday. His first score came on a 73-yard run that was his ninth career rush of 60 or more yards to give Cal an early 7-0 lead. He also had a 2-yard score only 42 seconds later in the first quarter and unleashed a 40-yard run on the first play of the second half. Best added two catches for 23 yards and one kickoff return for 18.

VBall beats Hawaii:

HONOLULU – The No. 10-ranked California volleyball team (3-3) weathered the storm to come away with a five-set win (25-21, 25-16, 20-25, 17-25, 15-11) over host No. 4 Hawai’i (4-2) in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Golden Bears were led by senior outside hitter Hana Cutura’s career-high 30 kills (72 attacks) and senior middle hitter Mindi Wiley’s 11 kills (1e, 20att) and .500 attack percentage. Cutura and Wiley were each named to the all-tournament team for their performances.

Cutura’s 30-kill performance was the first for a Cal player since All-American outside hitter Mia Jerkov broke the plateau against Georgia Tech in the NCAA Regional Semifinal on Dec. 12, 2003. Cutura finished with eight digs and added two blocks to her final line. Sophomore outside hitter Tarah Murrey contributed 12 kills (7e, 34att, .147) and the Bears out-blocked the Wahine, 14.0-10.0 thanks in part to seven blocks coming from freshman middle hitter Kat Brown, who appeared in her first collegiate match tonight. Junior setter Carli Lloyd led the team with 48 assists and added four kills (0e, 12att, .333), nine digs and five blocks. Senior libero Kristen Kathan had a match and season-high 18 digs.

The Bears attacked at a .239 rate with 60 kills (23e, 155att) and the Wahine posted a .215 rate with 59 kills (27e, 149att). Hawai’i was led by sophomore outside hitter Stephanie Ferrell’s 18 kills (8e, 39att). Fellow Wahine sophomore outside Kanani Danielson had 13 kills (7e, 40att, .150) and posted a double-double with 12 digs. Hawai’i senior middle Amber Kaufman added 12 kills (3e, 22att, .409) and had four blocks for the Wahine and senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru posted seven kills (4e, 25att, .120) with nine digs.

Mens soccer loses to Maryland (oh nose!):

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – California pushed 2008 NCAA College Cup champion Maryland into overtime on Tony Salciccia’s late goal on a warm, rainy Sunday night at Ludwig Field, but Jason Herrick secured the sudden victory for the Terrapins in the 97th minute with his second goal of the game. The Golden Bears evened their record at 1-1 after the non-conference loss, while Maryland improved to 1-1.

The Terrapins outshot Cal, 19-7, including 11-3 in the first half. Cal sophomore goalkeeper David Bingham, from Pleasanton, Calif., kept the Bears in the game with eight saves. His counterpart, Zac MacMath, made two saves.

Herrick scored at the 4:41 mark to give the Terps a 1-0 lead. Bingham made four saves in the first half, which ended with Maryland leading, 1-0.

Salciccia, a freshman midfielder from San Jose, Calif., tied the game at 1-1 with the first goal of his Cal career at the 77:31 mark, after a throw in from junior midfielder Hector Jimenez.

Womens soccer beats Texas:

BERKELEY – The No. 14 California women’s soccer team outlasted No. 25 Texas, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium on the closing day of the 15th Annual Cal Invitational. The Golden Bears took a 1-0 lead into the halftime and went on 3-0 scoring run in less than six minutes to extend their advantage to 4-0. Cal improves to 3-1-0 overall with the win and Texas drops to 1-3-0.

“We had two great wins for the program this weekend,” Cal head coach Neil McGuire said. “I think, after the Portland loss, the players were probably questioning if they had what it took so we needed this. It was great for them to rebound to beat A&M and then come out and defeat Texas is just great.”

Senior defender Brianna Bak scored the first goal in the 22nd minute immediately following a corner kick. The goal was Bak’s first of the year.

“Lauren Battung did a really good job sealing off the near-post player,” Bak said. “I was there and tapped it in.”

The teams went into the halftime break with the Bears leading, 1-0. Less than five minutes into the second half, sophomore defender/forward Miranda White extended Cal’s lead with a goal off a suburb cross from redshirt junior forward Lisa Kevorkian.

Just minutes later, at 53:02 Alex Morgan scored with a shot to the top-left corner off a pass from sophomore midfielder Katrin Omarsdottir. Just under three minutes following, senior midfielder Katie Oakes fired in a goal with Morgan coming in with the assist.

Field hockey loses to Northeastern:

BERKELEY – With less than five minutes remaining in regulation, California gave up a game-tying goal to Northeastern, and the Huskies went on to defeat the Golden Bears in the second extra period, 3-2, Sunday afternoon at Maxwell Family Field. Cal falls to 2-1, while Northeastern (1-2) picks up its first win of the season. Junior Natalie Nurnberg scored both of Cal’s goals.

The Huskies got on the board quickly at the outset of the match. In the second minute of the game, Crystal Poland converted on a penalty corner to give Northeastern a 1-0 lead. It was the first goal allowed by the Bears in 2009.

Nurnberg tied the contest in the 12th minute when she collected the ball after a missed pass from a Husky defender. Nurnberg found herself right in front of the cage and beat the keeper to her left. In the second half, Nurnberg gave the Bears their first lead of the match in the 42nd minute. Sophomore Erin Magill sent in a deep pass and Nurnberg was able to get her stick on the ball and deflect it in the cage. Magill earned an assist on the goal. The two scores were the first of the season for Nurnberg, tying her with sophomore Jessica Kreck for the team lead.

“The second one was really cool because we were practicing that all last week and we accomplished it,” Nurnberg said. “I barely touched it, so it was really cool. The first one, I had been talking to Shellie (Onstead) about me not scoring any goals yet, so I was saying that I had scorer’s block. I came out and got two goals, so that was pretty exciting, but we still lost.”

Mens water polo beats Bucknell:

ANNAPOLIS, MD – The No. 4-ranked California men’s water polo team improved to 4-0 on the year with a 20-5 victory over No. 18 Bucknell Sunday, Sept. 6 at the Navy Open in Annapolis, Md. The Golden Bears are now 23-0 in six years of competing at the Navy Open and have outscored their opponents, 75-18, in this year’s competition. On Saturday, Cal had defeated Iona, 26-1, and topped No. 12-ranked and host Navy in a doubleheader, 16-8 and 13-4.

In an exhibition match at the Navy Open, the Bears defeated the University of Toronto, 12-4, behind three goals apiece from sophomore Ivan Rackov and redshirt freshman Spencer White.

Cal will next host UC Davis in the 2009 home opener, Thursday, Sept. 10 at 4 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Mens first, women second in XC at USF Invitational:

SAN FRANCISCO – California opened the 2009 cross country season at the 17th annual San Francisco Invitational at Golden Gate Park and came through with a pair of strong finishes. The Golden Bear men won the competition by a single point over host USF, while the Cal women, behind individual champion Keena Kohl, took second in the team standings.

In the women’s race, Kohl prevailed by a comfortable margin over runner-up Mikayla Murphy of UC Santa Cruz, covering the 5000-meter distance in 18:20.30. Murphy crossed the line more than five seconds back with a time of 18:25.70.

Cal’s Michelle Davis (18:35.30) and Nicole Hough (18:35.70) were sixth and seventh, respectively, while Taylor Dutch posted a mark of 18:42.50 to place ninth and give the Bears four finishers in the Top 10. Crystal Esparza rounded out Cal’s scoring with a 13th-place finish (18:58.40).

For Kohl, a sophomore, the invitational title represents quite an improvement over last year when she was eighth in her first competition as a Bear. Dutch also moved up significantly in her second tour of the course after taking 21st in 2008.

On the men’s side, Cal’s Collin Jarvis was the top collegiate runner and second overall with a time of 25:02.60 over 8000 meters. Austin Ramos, running unattached, won the race in 24:55.30.

Daily Cal on Redemption:

Ever since last year’s loss to Maryland, it seemed Saturday night would be about redemption. And yes, there definitely was that.

Within the first six minutes of the season opener, each unit of the Cal football team had earned some measure of redemption for the 2008 blunder at Byrd Stadium.

Its defense was on point, forcing the Terrapins to punt on their first possession and not giving up a touchdown until midway through the third quarter.

The offense moved the chains with frequency, Jahvid Best putting the barf behind him when he burst out of the pocket on a 73-yard runaway for the Bears’ first touchdown.

Even special teams got the turtle off its back when D.J. Campbell forced and recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff.

Daily Cal on Owusu and DLine:

The defense was expected to perform well last Saturday against Maryland, but not too many could have predicted Ernest Owusu would be one of the key contributors.

Coming into the game with just five career tackles, the sophomore defensive end nearly doubled his career output and put his name on the map in the Cal football team’s 52-13 victory at Memorial Stadium.

“He might be one of our most improved guys, but I certainly wouldn’t have guessed he would’ve had the production that he got, so it was great to see,” defensive coordinator Bob Gregory said.

Owusu’s first big play of the game occurred immediately after the start of the second quarter. On a key third-and-5 for the Terrapins, Owusu took down Chris Turner for a loss of three yards after the quarterback attempted to rush to the left side.

Really jarring awesome! Keep up the good work, boss!

Use of the word “Golden” in front of a team name. This can be applied to the Golden Gophers, Golden Eagles, Golden Hurricanes, Golden Showers and, yes, Golden Bears. I get why gold is in the name. Or maybe Prof. F. Dean Toste is paying someone off to keep it in Cal’s team name. It’s the “Cal Bears” to me, and to me the Bear mascot is an actual live grizzly bear mauling a bunch of students at midfield.

Seeing Twist in a low-cut Cal T-shirt was a first for me.

Wilner: Grading Cal Football:

Second-guess of the week: I should have put Marvin Jones on my list of five breakout players in the Pac-10 for ‘09. He’ll be one of the eight or 10 best receivers in the league by the end of this season and one of the three or four best next season …

Record: 1-0

Result: Beat Maryland 52-13

Grade: A+

Comment: The Terps aren’t as good as they were last year (eight wins, Humanitarian Bowl), but it was a first-class performance by Cal nonetheless.

Like everyone else who follows the Bears, I paid close attention to quarterback Kevin Riley. His footwork, balance and delivery all looked much better — he wasn’t slinging the ball, he was throwing it.

Wilner has a nice Larry Scott piece.

One thing I don’t like about the Alamo is that it presumably gives us two similar pairings (2nd Pac 10 vs 3rd/4th Big 12 for the Alamo, 3rd Pac 10 vs 4th/5th Big 12?

Not sure how else to change that as has been said ad nauseum. I would like to see the highest ranked WAC/MWC champion not in the BCS bowl vs Pac 10 # 3. If this cannot be met, then Big 12 # 4 would be the pick.

We also need to blow the Sun Bowl up. LV & E-bowls should be elevated.

I believe the Cotton gets to choose the 2nd/3rd Big 12 team, right?

I think U$C takes it to tOSU this week. Not that I doubted $C was good, it was that I didn’t know how much tOSU hype to buy. After Navy-tOSU, I think I’ll buy somewhere between zero and OFN.

Photo courtesy of Doc Saturday.

Froom Deep South Sports

Caption: “F%$& that, lady. No, I will not shake your icky, nicotine encrusted, yellowy hand. Although, I looove that purse…where did you get it!?!”

Cal is No. 2 in Ted Miller’s Pac-10 power rankings.

California: A blowout 52-13 victory over Maryland, which beat Cal a year ago, was impressive, particularly because quarterback Kevin Riley was sharp while throwing four touchdown passes. Coupled with Oregon’s defeat at Boise State, the Bears now are the clear top challenger to USC’s supremacy.

1. in the AP, looks like we jumped Oklahoma and LSU.

I rode my family’s motorcycle up in the national forest outside Big Bear for the first time in 3 years. I didn’t make it down the driveway without laying the bike down.

I also sealed my first driveway.

USC -6.5 at Ohio State
UCLA +7.5 at Tennessee
Furd +2.5 at Wake Forest
Oregon State -7 at UNLV
Purdue +12 at Oregon
Hawaii -2 at Wazzu
Idaho +21 at UW
Air Force +4.5 at Minnesota
South Carolina +7.5 at Georgia

Cal’s game is off the board.

Other lines
Vandy +15 at LSU
Marshall +19 at Virginia Tech
Troy +36 at Florida
Texas -33.5 at Wyoming
BYU -17.5 at Tulane
Utah -14 at San Jose State
Notre Dame -3.5 at Michigan

True story.

Oskitalk:

3) Jeff Tedford seems to be more comfortable with his offensive coordinator than ever before. It seems like he has a guy who he shares a good deal of confidence in and is almost like from the same family. He is a balance guy, but also likes to mix it up. Maybe it is because of confidence in his players, or maybe because it is that he trust this guy to get the plan in place, that he can spend more time doing the things that he needs to do.

BWNQ:

1. Gregory’s disguising of blitzes, sets and coverages.

I have always felt the most effective pressure a blitzing defense can apply is mental pressure on the offense before the ball is ever snapped. This is never accomplished on just one play. It’s accomplished over several plays that set up the big plays later. Gregory did a real nice job of this Saturday.

The team really hasn’t had the depth of talent to trust its backups for much more than occasional snaps.

But Saturday night, we saw plenty of defensive reserves come off the bench in non-garbage time and make key plays. Whether it was Bishop’s stripping the ball on a blitz or making a couple big hits, or Josh Hill’s ridiculous open field tackle, or Kendrick Payne’s pass deflection on a spin move, these were the kinds of plays Cal fans typically expected starters to make.

Payne – No dropoff versus Hill. Tedford said this summer he could be “a household name, like Mebane.” Enough said.

Holley – Showed ball carrying skills that looked a tad better than Will’s (though Will was under-utilized). Great catch and run ability. Blocking was fine – saw nothing to worry about here.

Curran – Surprisingly good blocker. Better than Miller on Saturday in my opinion.

Miller – Decent blocker, but looked more like a WR blocking than a TE. Releases nicely and has quick feet.

MSG – Very good for first start. Almost missed on a couple, but saved them. Great at finishing blocks and getting the last shove in, the way Mack used to.

Cheadle – Also really good for first start. Really strong at the point of attack and mowed some people. Both he and MSG need a little work on pass pro, but never really got used. We are going to be fine at guard.

Really should read both pieces. Nice work all around.

How ’bout these effin blockwotes!!!

First thing I did this morning was open the moring paper to chk the AP poll…none listed. So, I booted up old Betsy here, and googled AP Polls….still on 1st week. Just did the same now, (9:45am) and, BINGO! so, wtf time is the AP posted, anyway?

Gabe King’s coming to Cal-USC.

Couldn’t pick a better weekend for a visit.

KenCraw via Bear Territory on 2 key plays

Difference being LSU is in front of us still, but BYU didn’t jump us.

Remember how I said my high school classmate was in Iran this summer and was facebook status updating?

He wrote an article for Time Magazine about the return to school

LINK (at the bottom)

Boise State has disciplined the operator of the Bronco Stadium video board, spokesman Max Corbet said. Blount’s punch was shown repeatedly on the board, perhaps inciting fans who heckled Blount as he left the field. Blount nearly went into the stands to attack them.

The WAC doesn’t have a rule regarding postgame replays but will address it, Benson said.

“The Boise State replay operator did err and erred egregiously” Benson said. “He was totally out of line.”

Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier apologized to Oregon for the mistake, Benson said.

The replay operator will keep that assignment, said Brad Larrondo, Boise State’s senior assistant athletic director for promotions and marketing.

I realize Kevin Riley played a great game on Saturday, particularly after a bit of a slow start. But wasn’t Riley inconsistent last year, against Maryland he flashed his inaccuracy early and then hit a hot streak. He hasn’t proved he can be consistently accurate over a prolonged period of time. After all wasn’t everyone in Berkeley ready to annoit Riley the next great thing after last year’s season opener when he was 17/24 for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns, only to get benched four games later?

Jahvid resoundingly fills Bradford’s void in ESPN’s heisman race

http://espn.go.com/college-football/heisman09/index

Has the number of flying helmets alarmed anyone else, and why does it seem to happen to someone on almost every other play now?

Help rec spazzy! He needs his ego massaged…

From YO:

Cal basketball recruiting prospect James Johnson was strolling the sidelines at Memorial Stadium before Saturday night’s football opener against Maryland when he got a surprise from the student rooting section.

"The whole student section was chanting, `James Johnson come to Cal.’ I didn’t know what they were talking about . . . that freaked me out at first," Johnson told me this morning. "I turned around and waved."

It may not be the last time Johnson acknowledges a Cal crowd. The 6-foot-9 power forward prospect from Elsinore HS came away impressed after his official campus visit this weekend. Johnson, rated the nation’s No. 21 prospect by Scout.com, said, "I learned everything I needed to about the school. It went really well."

Johnson said he intends to take a scheduled trip to Virginia this weekend and likely will visit one more campus — either Oklahoma or Arizona — before making a decision in about two weeks. "There’s no reason to wait any longer," he said.

Asked where Cal fits into his thinking, Johnson said, "They’re at the top of my list . . . very high."

I come with no links but I’ve just heard the following:

- 96% of UC employees (10,000 peeps) said they have “no confidence” in President Yudof.

- Faculty are encouraged to NOT go to class in response to Yudof making the faculty take furloughs on non-teaching days AND encouraging Yudof to actually disclose the budget.

This is about to get messy.

:p

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/08/SPK019K3R4.DTL&tsp=1

When will the Bay Area give a shit?

1) They already do, jackass…see attendance vs. Maryland
2) After they beat USC
3) After they finish off UDub to go [can’t say it]
4) After they beat their opponent in a BCS game
5) Never. Get real. ZOMG did you see Eli Whiteside’s RBI single?

Wilner’s always controversial Top25

Cal’s # 11, USC, # 7 (behind Ole Miss!).

Calogne on WR Coach Daft:

Being a former quarterback, he’s able to help the receivers understand more than just running routes when it comes to the passing game. In fact, being a former quarterback is something that Daft points to in helping him be a better receivers coach. “Just because as a quarterback, when you play, the receivers are always—it’s always so involved and you know the depth, or you have a good perspective on what you need the receiver to do to get open, or how deep his route is, and understanding the whole passing game.”

Also, E-Wash is # 18 in the FCS and almost beat Colorado last year. Their last FBS win was in ’03 when they beat Idaho 8-5. I wonder who got the save?

Better be prepared to pick up the blind side on Halloween Tepper.

and I would ban Gfang at least for a short period from BI:

He contacted Giorgio via Facebook and gave him kicking advice…

Basically, I kindly told him that a poster observed he kicked with loose hips and good flexion during practice, but stiffened up during games. Better to make him aware of it now than wait for Alamar to notice.

This strikes me as the sort of psycho over-involved fandom that would make Tedford think twice about something like the fan-fest or womens’ huddle.

Translation: Kneecap.

Cattouse should be cleared to play in a few days. Hat-tip, Moraga Bear

Jordan and D’Amato got noms for defense and special teams respectively.

Quarterback Kevin Riley of California, linebacker Mike Nixon of Arizona State and kick returner Chris Owusu of Stanford have been named Pac-10 Players of the Week in football.

Riley, a junior from Portland, Ore., directed California to a 52-13 win against Maryland. Riley completed 17 of 26 passes (.654) for 298 yards and a career-high four touchdowns with no interceptions. His touchdown passes covered 3, 39, 42 and 15 yards. The Golden Bear offense piled up 52 points and 542 yards total offense (244 rushing, 298 passing) with no turnovers.

i’m loving the NSFW atomic energy ads on teh front page.