SF Chronicle: Tedford tabs Levy, but 'anything can happen'

Bruce Adams Michelle Smith, Chronicle Staff Writers

Cal coach Jeff Tedford is standing behind his starting quarterback. In fact, he's firmly behind both of his quarterbacks.  Tedford announced on Thursday the Steve Levy would replace Joe Ayoob as the starter in today's Big Game -- quickly noting, however, that both would play.  Since the formal announcement, he has softened his comments.  "Anything can happen," Tedford said Friday evening. "Steve will probably start unless something happens to him overnight."  He was unequivocal in his plans for Ayoob.  "The main thing is to give Joe a different perspective," Tedford said, outlining again his desire to ease Ayoob into the action by allowing him to begin the game on the sidelines where he could watch the first series or two.  Ayoob became the starter after Nate Longshore was injured in the season-opening win over Sacramento State. He has thrown for 1,707 yards, 15 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. But his confidence has faltered after inconsistent play in the last two games. Levy has thrown for 86 yards, one touchdown and one interception in relief.  Leland's legacy: Ted Leland is 10-5 in the Big Game, counting his 14 years as the Stanford athletic director and two seasons as an assistant football coach in 1978-79.  "I've been to a lot of them and had my emotions connected to a lot of them,'' Leland said. "I'll miss this. This is a fun game."  Leland is leaving Stanford in little more than a month for a vice president's position at the University of the Pacific, his alma mater.  It is Leland's hope that he's leaving this football program -- whose inconsistency over the past 14 years has been his biggest regret -- in a good place under head coach Walt Harris.  "I felt like last year we had a pretty good football team and a pretty good group of athletes, six of whom went in the NFL, and I wasn't sure we had a real chance to win that game (against Cal),'' Leland said. Stanford lost 41-6, the last game in the three-year tenure of coach Buddy Teevens. In fact, the Cardinal lost the last three games against Cal under Teevens.  "Winning or losing the game wasn't the issue, it was whether we were competitive and the reality is, we weren't," Leland said. "The last couple of years Cal tried to give us the game and we didn't want it. Hopefully, if they try to give us the game this time, we'll accept it."

All academics, all the time: Stanford senior Kevin Schimmelmann made his fourth straight appearance on the All-Pac-10 Academic Team, which was announced Friday. Schimmelmann, a sociology/economics major, joined five Stanford teammates on the first team. Nose tackle Babatunde Oshinowo, an electrical engineering major, made his third appearance. Long snapper Brent Newhouse, left tackle Josiah Vinson and defensive ends Chris Horn and Matt McClernan were also on the first team.  Cal was represented on the first team by linebacker Ryan Foltz, a graduate student in education and business, and punter David Lonie, an American Studies major.  Cal injuries: Offensive tackle Scott Smith (knee) and guard Erik Robertson (ankle) are both listed as probable. Defensive tackle Matt Malele (knee) has been added to the list of players out of the game, joining Longshore, defensive end Tosh Lupoi (foot) and wide receiver Noah Smith (ankle).