Daily Cal: Despite Rout, Cal Football Lives On

By CHRIS NGUON
Monday, November 14, 2005
It's really unfortunate that one of the most significant weeks in the history of Cal football has been overshadowed by Saturday's disappointment. Just days after a brand new, state-of-the-art, multi-million dollar renovation plan was announced for Memorial Stadium, we saw coach Jeff Tedford suffer his most lopsided defeat since taking over the Cal program when No. 1 USC walked in and handed the Bears a 35-10 loss. In essence, that has been the history of Cal football-win some, lose some more. However, all the misfortunes Saturday pale in comparison to the promise the future holds for the Bears program. All the boos that reigned down from the sold-out crowd on ineffective Cal quarterback Joe Ayoob will be short-lived, because if the stadium renovation announcement has taught us one thing, it's that the Bears program and its success on the field isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Saturday's demolition at the hands of the Trojans looked eerily similar to the scene in 1998, when then-No. 4 Nebraska came into Memorial Stadium in a sea of red and methodically picked apart the Tom Holmoe-led Cal squad. That day, those in attendance pretty much knew what the outcome of the contest would be.
But, if there has been one thing Tedford has begun to instill in the Cal program over the last four years, it's that accepting mediocrity is, well, unacceptable.
Tedford's attitude has reigned over his players as well, and it showed Saturday.
The Bears' effort against the juggernaut that is the USC offense was more than respectable. Cal's brilliant defensive scheme that held the Trojans' all-everything back Reggie Bush in check for the second straight year is something that no team in the nation has been able to pull off. The lopsided outcome was not because the Bears didn't play well-it spoke more to the fact that USC is a team for the ages, a dominant army that only comes along once in a blue moon. Stopping just short of blaming Cal's offense, Bears safety Harrison Smith sat down in the press room with a towel around his neck, noticeably drained after the physical contest. "It's a struggle to sit there and keep a positive attitude when things are not going right on the other side of the ball," Smith said. "But first and foremost we are a team, and we have to come together and win games. Either side can't do it by themselves."
If there is one player under Tedford's reign that has personified perseverance, it's Smith. For someone who just finished his last home game, Smith spoke as if he expected the Bears to win. "We believed we could keep Bush out of the end zone all week, we knew we could stop those guys and we did a good job," Smith said. "It's just that when you put us in those type of situations enough times things are bound to happen for them." More than anything though, Tedford has given folks around Berkeley an attitude that fielding a winning program is possible. That feeling of expecting to win is something that has never been around Berkeley until Tedford arrived. Especially when Cal is playing a No. 1 team.