Oakland Tribune: Cal, WSU singing fourth-quarter blues

By Dave Newhouse, STAFF WRITER 

BERKELEY — Jeff Tedford and Bill Doba have something in common that's bothering them mentally, although no shrink can help them.

It's a fourth-quarter phobia.  If football were a three-quarter game, Cal and Washington State might be undefeated heading into Saturday's Pac-10 matchup. Instead, Tedford's Bears are 5-2 and Doba's Cougars 3-3.  Head cases?  "They're very similar to our play the last two weeks in the fourth quarter," Tedford said. "When it comes time to make plays, they're a lot like us."  UCLA outscored Cal 19-3 in the fourth quarter to win 47-40. Oregon State then outscored Cal 7-0 in the final period to prevail 23-20.  "It comes down to making plays, offensively and defensively," Tedford said. "You've got to play together as a team."   Doba understands that thinking because the Cougars have lost their last three games in the fourth quarter. Oregon State outscored them 21-3 in the final period to win 44-33. Stanford outscored them 7-3 to win 24-21. UCLA outscored them 17-0 and won in overtime, 44-41.  "We weren't able to finish again," Doba said. "We could be 6-0 right now or at least 5-1. But we're not playing together as a team. When we get to the fourth quarter, we all look up at the clock and go, 'Oh, boy, here we go again.' That's what we've got to guard against, and that's what we have to defeat. Hopefully, we take our frustrations out on Cal."

Tedford and Doba aren't look for a psychologist's couch, just some points in the fourth quarter. Both coaches aren't satisfied with their special teams, and both coaches are fighting injuries.  And both teams have weapons. Washington State's Jerome Harrison is second nationally with 166.83 yards rushing per game. The Cougars' Jason Hill is fourth in the country with 117.20 reception yards per game. And Wazzu is seventh nationally in total offense at 504.83 yards per game.  "They're very explosive on offense, with a great running back," Tedford said. "And the quarterback (Alex Brink) is coming along nicely."  Quarterback is where Saturday's game could be decided. Brink is ranked sixth in the Pac-10 and Cal's Joe Ayoob ninth. Brink and Ayoob haven't been at their sharpest in the fourth quarter.  "We need to win pretty quick," Doba said. "We've got a tough game coming up after this one (Oct. 29 at USC). You've got to get that skid stopped somewhere.  "Jeff Tedford is the offensive guru. He's one of the best in the country at coaching quarterbacks. But their offense is second in the conference in rushing and ninth in passing, so he's probably wondering, 'What the heck's going on?'  "Last week, they got beat by Oregon State's punter as much as anybody. And they had two touchdowns called back by penalties. We had three 15-yard penalties on UCLA's last drive, then a facemask penalty in overtime. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot."   Doba pointed out that Cal lost more starters last year than any other Pac-10 team and was ranked ninth this year based on last year's 10-2 record. Cal is currently ranked 25th in the BCS rankings.  But, at the moment, Cal and Washington State are just good enough to lose.