Friday, September 01, 2006

Oakland Tribune: If Cal wins opener, have bowl bid ready

By Paul Maguire
HERE'S THE answer to your question: We'll know after they play Tennessee on Saturday. Cal's not starting off with a team everyone expects them to beat — and I think coach (Jeff) Tedford kind of likes that. By the end of the weekend, he's going to have a pretty good barometer what kind of team he has. If Cal wins this game, look out. Talk about a great confidence-builder. They might run off 10 in a row going into the USC game. And if that happens, you're looking at playing in a pretty good bowl game.
I really don't think the Pac-10 is that strong this year. So if Cal wins this game, now everyone in the Pac-10 has to look out for them — and that has to scare the heck out of these other teams.
Here's another factor as to whether they'll make one of the big bowls or not: How healthy are they? College is no different than pros — if you don't get people injured, you have a chance. But if you have injuries, and you don't have the backup people, you don't have much of a chance.
I can't wait to see what happens in the Tennessee game. I expect Cal to come out blazing. I really do. And that's mostly because of Marshawn Lynch. He's a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate.
Read the entire article here.

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