Golden Nuggets: Mike Riley- "I've Seen [Cal] Be Pretty Darn Good"

If you were hoping Mike Riley and the Beavers would overlook the 3-8 Bears prior to the Civil War, you'll be disappointed with Riley's weekly press conference. Here he talks about QB Cody Vaz's injuries and bouncing back against a "tough," "capable," "talented," Cal team.

On injuries: "Cody Vaz (ankle) is sore and is going to be day-to-day. I'm doubtful he'll do much tomorrow, but we'll see how he gets through the week. D.J. Welch (he meant Alexander) is getting his ribs checked out (x-rayed) and he's out right now. We'll see his progress. Grant Enger, all his tests are pretty good, it's a matter of how he feels. With all these guys, I don't think any of them are long-term injuries, but we don't have much definition right now."

On if Vaz will start vs. Cal: "We never try to force somebody to come back before they're ready. In the meantime we'll get the next guy (Sean Mannion) ready. We'll see how Cody is Monday. If he can't practice for a couple days, that'll say a lot. We feel very confident in both guys."
...

On dealing with the disappointment of most likely blowing a Rose Bowl bid: "Players have to get over it. We’ve got another game to play. We lost a game, and that’s just life. You never heard me talking about the Rose Bowl in the locker room. We’re just talking about the next game. That’s all we have to worry about."

Early thoughts on Cal: "They're talented. They had a very impressive win over UCLA. They're very capable ... They ran the ball well in the Oregon game. They've got a lot of good players, and we're gonna have to expect another tough game. Every game they've played in is just like the ones we're in -- I know this conference, and it's tough. We have to expect Cal's best, and I've seen them be pretty darn good."

Football

• No spread has been announced for the Cal-Oregon State game. I know they don't usually have lines for FCS teams, but we're not that bad.
• Faraudo looks at the highs and lows of the Tedford era.
• Wilner ponders answers to the question "What happened to Jeff Tedford?" Although the article is long, meandering, and too heavy on speculation, Wilner has a couple good points.
• The Bears earn a D from Wilner in the loss to Oregon.
• CalBears.com gives us this week's update on Bears in the NFL, led by Tony Gonzalez's 100th and 101st career touchdown grabs.
• Steve Bartkowski was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.

Basketball

• Faraudo recpas the Bears' 78-65 win in the season opener.
• Faraudo follows along as Cal built a large then not-so-large lead over Cal State Bakersfield.
• Monty talks post-game about the win. He says Brandon Smith's shoulder was fine at first, although it started to stiffen up as the game progressed. He also expressed some concern about playing 3 games in the first week of the season, given the Bears current injury woes.
• BearTerritory has video of the post-game press conference.

Tennis

• Anett Schutting fell in the finals of the ITA Collegiate Indoor Championships. She is the third Bear in the past four years to advance to the finals.