BearTerritory.Net: Thank Goodness For Cal-USC

A.W. Prince

BearTerritory.net Senior Writer

"I know, I can hear the static too but I think it's going to go into overtime," I remember telling my wife September 27, 2003 over the scratchy radio noise, not really caring about the poor signal. We had just pulled up outside a furniture store in an attempt to stock up our new home in Northern California – back when you could afford a house in Northern California. "Go on in, I'll be there in a couple minutes. I have to listen to this." Manderino celebrated early as Cal took a first half lead.  My wife understands that about me. I grew up listening to games on the radio and I partially credit it for pulling me into sports. In my opinion, home runs do indeed travel farther when you hear them hit over the radio and game-winning basketball shots are rainbows that just drop in. Everything has always felt more dramatic during broadcasts. On this day, I learned that field goals shoot like a star across the sky over the radio. "Sage or olive couches?" she asked, interrupting and tapping on the window just as I am starting to zone in. Is there a difference in sage and olive? "Honey, I don't care if we have lawn-chairs," I said. "Let me listen. I'll catch up with you okay?" I have always been impressed with college football fans who know their history. It is one thing to listen to games but those folks that have been there year after year in attendance are amazing. Nothing is more permanent than soaking in the atmosphere and being part of the crowd. It doesn't matter if you've been to 150 straight Notre Dame home affairs or 3,000 Fresno Raisin Eater ballgames, that is total dedication. And whether gridiron fans enjoy tuning in to the radio or absorbing the live action of college football (or even both), some fans can recall games twenty, thirty, even sixty years ago in full detail. I can't. I didn't know until a few days ago both teams involved in Berkeley's Memorial Stadium that late September evening had already faced each other 90 times – the most meetings either program had shared against any one opponent. I recall most of the game broadcast on that afternoon with announcers Joe Starkey and Lee Grosscup because at the end of the third overtime, I realized a rivalry was born. What began as another Saturday Pac-10 game in the fall of 2003 evolved into the most important college football battle held on the west coast. After the game, despite the fact that one team lost both programs have skyrocketed in stardom.

The University of California football program, along with their passionate but tenuously optimistic faithful, finally had a foothold and a new identity after the 34-31 triple overtime victory against USC. Prior to the game, the only image college football fans had of the Golden Bears was through the eyes of a lucky Special Teams player running over Stanford band members in Cal's 1982 "Big Game". In that sequence, Cal football has been defined as somewhat of a joke to major college football. Everyone around Cal had dealt with it for years; twenty years and change to be exact. You'd meet people in the airport and talk college football and they'd say, "Isn't Cal the team that scored on that play where the football player ran through the band? I remember that game. That was so funny." "Yes, it was hilarious," fans would all mumble begrudgingly, tired of the joke. It was like having a goofy last name you could never shake. Like Frankenberry, Jerkov, or Cheater. I've met a few of them. I don't care what culture you're from, those aren't great last names to have in the U.S. While "The Play" is legendary and unbelievable, nobody wanted or expected it to be the defining moment of Cal football.

That's why beating 'SC gave Cal a brand new college football identity. Cal was just 2-3 heading into that September game. While they lost three more times that season in narrow games, Cal thumped Arizona State and Washington before axing Stanford to gain bowl eligibility. Later, they beat Virginia Tech 52-49 in the Insight Bowl; perhaps the most exciting Bowl Game during the 2003 season. The program has a completely different outlook now, plus a support base that has multiplied like no other. Of course, to a certain degree, Cal has to be appreciative what USC has done since that game. They haven't lost. For USC, the game was really the spark of a dominant run that college football has never seen before. Sure, they lost. But it took three overtimes to beat them and it hasn't been done since. The Trojans were tested a few times since, with Cal giving them a pretty big scare a year later, but the boys from Troy just won't lose. The Trojans have been the Associated Press' top-ranked team for a national-record 29 straight polls – a position they've held towards the conclusion of the 2003 football season. The Trojans have won 31 straight games since that day and a win this Saturday would give USC football the sixth longest streak ever recorded. USC has also won 21 straight Pac-10 games and one more win would equal the Pac-10 record set by nobody other than Cal, who recorded 22 straight wins from 1947-50. The Trojans have secured wins in 14 consecutive road games, including 10 in a row against Pac-10 foes.

Oh, and they've also won two straight National Championship and our aiming for an unprecedented third during the current 2005 season. Any foe in their way is pretty much up a creek without a paddle. The Trojans have made college football teams nationally feel like they are picnic ants on a hot sunny day; USC the magnifying glass. Before my wife and I left the house, it appeared as if the Bears had actually sealed the upset. Golden Bear junior safety Matt Giordano had just intercepted a Matt Leinart pass and returned it to midfield. Cal, holding on to a slim 24-21 lead ran off two-and-a-half minutes of clock. Despite an ensuing field goal block by the Trojans, Cal was still looking good less than a minute later. USC faced a 4th and 4 on Cal's 43 yard-line and that became a 4th and 9 when a Trojan jumped early. Berkeley's Memorial Stadium was rocking like a Springsteen concert on New Years Eve in Jersey – a three-hour marathon that hurts your own voice, even if you haven't said a word. It was just straight tension. "I know, I'm listening – where are you?" I asked picking up my cell phone to answer a call. It was my friend Rich, at the time a UC-Berkeley senior who was working at a museum a few blocks from Memorial. "I am listening on the radio," he said. "I can't believe it. I can hear the crowd. They have to stop them." But 'SC obviously wiggled out of it. Leinart to Mike Williams a few times did the trick. With 16 seconds left, the Trojans forced overtime when Ryan Killeen booted a 33-yard field goal. Cal fans, along with USC's most hated rivals, vividly remember the rest. USC received the ball first and drove predictably deep into Cal territory with their patented "Shock and Awe" offense. But amazingly, they fumbled their scoring chance away and Cal's talented linebacker Wendell Hunter recovered in the end zone.   USC's Ryan Killeen missed to the right in the third overtime.

Sometimes at this point of a game amazingly competitive fans feel their minds wonder a bit. Though they all know from early on how football is played and scored, the desire to win begins to cloud any sense of logic. I truly wasn't pulling for one team more than the other - I grew up in Los Angeles and now live in a ridiculously expensive home in Northern California. But I always tend to pull for the underdog and well, Cal was always the perpetual underdog.

So at this moment, it sure felt like Cal's monumental chance. And I was thinking about how they could indeed do it. That's when I started down that road; my wife says she can tell when I'm thinking like that because it sort of looks as if I'm heading into a trance. As Hunter dropped on the fumble, I remember thinking "Now, isn't there a way to score just a single point? There has to be a way, like in Canada…there's that 1-point punt thing when it's not returned out of the endzone. Or was it on a kick-off? Something like that. I know there has to be a way to get a single point. " Right away, I'm thinking punt from the 25. First play. Just do it. That's a point. Coach Tedford must know that - he played and coached in the CFL.

By the time I snap out of it, the Bears have run three plays, have the ball centered on the USC 13-yard line, and are snapping their next play – a field goal on 2nd down. Senior kicker Tyler Fredrickson has it rejected by Trojan Greg Guenther, the same 6-foot-8 menace that plays basketball for USC too. I had to get out of the car. There was no luck left in that seat. The human heart can only take so much. When I got inside the store, the nasty feeling that I left my kid in the car was crawling all over me. Why did I just leave? They were still playing. Sure, Cal had excruciatingly missed on two golden opportunities to win the game. They couldn't stop the Trojans 4th and 9 late in regulation and they couldn't make a gimmee 29-yard chip shot. USC fumbled away their shot in the first overtime by coughing it up on Cal's 1-yard line. But they were still playing. "Honey, they are still playing," I said. "I can't do this; I can't concentrate. Just pick what you like – I'm sure I'll like them."  I can't remember what she said but it probably wasn't fruity. Upon my Ben Johnson-like sprint to the 4-Runner, I came back to realize that Reggie Robertson, Cal's back-up QB had tossed a 20-yard strike to Jonathon Makonnen and USC retaliated with a 10-yard TD from Leinart to Keary Colbert.  "Rich, they aren't stopping them," I said, getting my friend on the phone. "How are they going to beat these guys if they don't get a stop? Where's your girlfriend right now? I know she's stopped some Trojans." Rich countered with something pretty good but I can't mention it. We talked through the beginning of the 3rd overtime not believing the twists and turns we had already heard. Starkey and Grosscup had been around a long time and both had never made up anything like this before. They didn't make up "The Play" and they couldn't be kidding us with all this. That's when the "stop" finally came for Cal.  "I think I'm going with the sage but…(click)." I realized I'd have to answer for hanging up on her later but I couldn't take it. C'mon. This was turning into the best game ever and I wasn't going to miss it for a green couch. I don't even like green. At that moment, I like Cal-USC football games. This stuff was just incredible. In 2004, the Bears and Trojans played another thriller. I've only seen two games that matched that type of intensity since and that was the recent 2005 USC-Notre Dame game in South Bend and the Michigan-Texas Rose Bowl at the conclusion of 2004. Those have been the only two games that have come close to sharing the twists and turns of Cal-USC. After playing USC in 2003 and 2004, the "Big Game" for Cal must have felt like winning a toy axe.  Killeen, the junior USC kicker missed from 39 yards out. The kick sailed wide right just as left hook sailed in from the drivers' side window. The wife softly connected to the sternum. "What are you hanging up on me for," she demanded while laughing at me. "Are you coming in or what? I can't decide what to get."  "Get in and be quiet or go back and pick," I replied. "You have no idea. This is the third overtime. They've blown two chances to win and they are getting a third." I think by the time I said "3rd overtime" she had turned around to head back into the store. My wife enjoys sports – as long as they are incorporated on a reality TV show. God Bless her for putting up with me though.

Berkeley was rocking that night.

Cal didn't miss on their third try. Fredrickson sank a 38-yarder and Berkeley fans across the country finally had a new moment to talk about. USC had a new (but very old) opponent inside the Pac-10 to battle both on the field and in the year-long recruiting wars across California. In just a diminutive time period, the rivalry has accelerated beyond everyone's greatest imagination. It goes long beyond the typical SoCal-NorCal battle-lines. It's a potential feature for the paparazzi-driven tabloids with USC fan Nick Lachey, husband to the new and improved Daisy Duke (Jessica Simpson) and longtime Cal fan Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) on separate sidelines. Duritz even gave a speech to the Bears two days before the 2003 game. The Bears and Trojans also have two of the best offenses in college football. While Cal's offense was still starting to come into focus in 2003, both the Bears and Trojans have unleashed a brand of balanced but attacking football that keeps opponents completely challenged. In 2004, Cal's running game was the best in the country, averaging 6.0 yards per carry. Leinart, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy, finished 7th in passing efficiency while Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers finished 8th. This season, USC leads the country with a 6.4 yards per carry average; the Bears are 3rd at 5.9 yards per carry. The Trojans an incredible 49.8 points per game in 2005 – tops in the country; Cal ranks 13th with 35.8 points per game.

Today, typing away on my sage couch, I think about how much Cal and USC have really benefited from the 2003 game. Perhaps it seems a bit odd for a Trojan fan to think they benefited from a loss but since nobody has beaten them since, the Trojans have obviously been motivated never to lose again. Cal's program is completely different. A new stadium is on the horizon, talented recruiting classes are coming to Berkeley every year, and a devoted coaching staff has continued to build on their success.

The fans around Cal are different too. By and large, they are more competitive and believing since the win. The 1-10 2001 campaign might as well have happened in 1492. Cal football is about NFL Draft Picks, Top Recruits, and more importantly head coach Jeff Tedford who continues to push the Bears in the right direction. While Cal has suffered some setbacks with their revamped roster in 2005, the three losses this year were extremely competitive; potential wins that slipped away. In fact, Cal has suffered only one true blowout (Holiday Bowl 2004) since the USC victory. They've been competitive in every regular season game for two and a half years straight. That's not likely to change against USC either. USC football stands taller than any program in the country. They have the set bar so high that only head coach Pete Carroll knows where its at. Troy has built a monster that only Cal – nearly 800 days ago – was able to tame. Nearly every fan across the country believes that if someone is able to beat USC in 2005, they'd have to have a Trojan Horse to pull it off.  I still dislike the sage couch but I would never say anything. Perhaps this article might change that. Since USC travels back to Berkeley this Saturday for the first time since that fateful September evening, I'd gladly go out and get some furnishings. The shock of the house payment is over and since Cal is still the underdog, I know who to root for. Thank goodness for Cal and USC football games.