BERKELEY - Any college football coach worth his six- or seven-figure salary knows the drill. When your players get too high after a big win, you knock them back down to earth before another team can slap the ego and overconfidence out of them. And when your players get too low after a tough loss, you lift them back up onto their feet before another team can kick them while they're down. Cal coach Jeff Tedford has done some heavy lifting this week preparing for today's home opener against Minnesota in the wake of last week's disheartening 35-18 loss to Tennessee. The Bears' humiliating defeat knocked them from No. 9 to No. 22 in the Associated Press rankings. It all but killed their national championship dreams.
It was the type of loss that could send some teams into a football death spiral. History, though, tells us that Tedford, despite the cyber attack dogs nipping at his heels, won't let that happen to the Bears. Tedford arrived at Berkeley four years ago and took over a Cal team that had gone 1-10 in Tom Holmoe's final season. The Bears' collective psyche was lower than Alex Smith's passer rating last season. Quarterback Kyle Boller was so embarrassed during that one-win season that he wore a hooded sweatshirt whenever he walked across campus so that no one would recognize him. When Tedford replaced Holmoe, we didn't know much about him beyond his reputation as a skilled offensive coordinator and quarterbacks tutor.
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