Jeff Tedford is pleased with the honor of becoming the all-team leader in wins at Cal, but he was also concerned about several issues he saw on and off the field yesterday. It's worth it to watch the video of Tedford's press conference; he gets choked up at one point when he's talking about everyone who deserves credit for his 75-win milestone.
On reaching 75 career wins, most all-time at Cal:
"(The acknowledgment) was very nice. It has a lot to do with all the players and coaches over nine years and three games. That is who really deserves the credit. Over the years, it has been a family affair with the support from my wife and kids; (having them with me) makes it extra special."
On the past 10 years at Cal:
"(When I first got here) I didn't think this far ahead. I was just thinking one game at a time. It has gone by quickly. I didn't think about (the record) much until this week when I got asked a lot of questions about it. It made me reflect about way back when, our first year here, the players and coaches that first year. It makes you think of Kyle Boller and Nnamdi Asomugha, and that whole first team that had the best turnaround in college football. There are so many guys, not just the star players, each and every player over the past 10 years who have been on this football team and helped us prepare. When you reflect on that it is pretty emotional."
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On playing at AT&T Park:"It was odd. I hope next time we come here it is a little more like home-field advantage. It was really quiet out there. We are used to having our student section right behind us where it creates a buzz and energy. It felt really dead out there today."
On the strong start to the season:
"It is huge to start off 3-0, but we all know what is going to be coming at us in conference play. Every week is competitive. We go on the road to Washington, it is tough. Every opponent in the Pac-12 is highly competitive. We didn't play well enough today. We had 10 penalties and a blocked punt for a touchdown. We just need to get better at certain things."On QB Zach Maynard:
"He still needs to be more consistent. He missed a couple of balls. He got fooled on the interception, thought it was zone and it was man. We just need to be more accurate and consistent. Some receivers made great plays on some balls. Spencer Hagan made a great catch when he was wide open. We had Marvin (Jones) wide open on a deep post and missed him. All those things are things we can improve on."
After the jump Cal Athletics celebrates Tedford's accomplishment, Cal volleyball continues its dominance, and Ted Miller predicts the Bears will not venture far from home this bowl season.
Football
- The Bears keep climbing in the rankings: Cal now has 21 points in the coaches' poll (good for 32nd) and 3 points in the AP poll (42nd). If the Bears lose this weekend, at least we won't hear that old, tired story that the Bears wilt under pressure/when ranked.
- CalBears.com has a photo gallery highlighting some of the high points of Tedford's tenure at Cal. They also have a photo gallery from yesterday's game.
- Avi recaps the game at SBNation, with updates as the game progressed.
- JO recaps the game and provides some quotes from players as they talk about Tedford's accomplishment.
- CalBears.com has an extensive set of stats from Saturday's game. The most striking is the difference in number of first downs. Cal had 27, Presbyterian had 3. Presby had 48 yards on 48 plays.
- Bigelow had a very impressive debut and demonstrated some tremendous speed and versatility. Tedford said Bigelow will see more playing time, particularly as a kick returner, as the season progresses.
- Despite the dominant victory, the Bears had plenty of mistakes this week.
- A couple notes you may have missed: Kendricks did not start due to a rule violation. He joined the team on the defense's second series. Sofele had his first 100-yard game as a Bear. Three games into the season, he is on track to break 1000 yards.
- Ted Miller's bowl projections have the Bears playing at AT&T Park in the
EmeraldKraft Fight Hunger Bowl. Interestingly, he projects no team to fill the conference's slot in the New Mexico Bowl (who want to go to New Mexico for the holidays anyway?). Washington State and Arizona are absent this week after making appearances in the projections over the last couple weeks. - The Cal defense earns a helmet sticker. Sure, it was only Presbyterian, but that was as dominant of a defensive performance as you will ever see.
Volleyball
- The Bears' dominance continued on Friday with a sweep over Colorado.
- They followed it up with a sweep over Utah on Saturday. The Bears are now 13-0 (3-0) on the season with a remarkable 39-1 record if you count individual sets.
- No. 2 Cal scored a ridiculous 27 goals in a victory over Vanguard. Later that day they defeated Pepperdine 8-7 to advance to the semifinal of the NorCal Tournament.
- Several members of the women's team wrapped up play for the USA National Team at the Junior World Championships, held in Trieste, Italy.
Soccer