Wednesday, September 13, 2006

SF Chronicle: Tedford suddenly content with quarterback situation

CAL NOTEBOOK

Rusty Simmons, Chronicle Staff Writer

Cal coach Jeff Tedford just laughed it off, but there was a noticeable sigh of relief in his chuckle.  For the first time this season, the opening questions at the media luncheon didn't involve his quarterback.   All the queries that surrounded the position during the first two weeks of the season seemingly were answered Saturday, when sophomore Nate Longshore completed 22 of 31 passes for 300 yards and four touchdowns in the Bears' 42-17 win over Minnesota.  "That's more of what we expected," Tedford said. "The difference this week was that we had guys blocking and guys catching, and (Longshore) did his part."  One play into the second quarter, Longshore already had put up personal-best statistics for a single game, completing 9 of 13 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns. By the end of the game, he had surpassed the career totals posted in his first two starts combined. Still, Longshore hasn't noticed much of a difference this week.  "It's always the same," he said. "There's always going to be questions. The subject changes every now and then, but the goal for us always remains the same: to win games."  

Return to glory: Tedford stopped short of predicting that Cal would return a kick for a touchdown this week, but you get the feeling he's had a premonition. "We were pretty close the other day," he said. "If we would have fielded the ball cleanly on the first one, we might have had a chance there."  Junior tailback Marshawn Lynch has averaged 20.2 yards on five returns this season. He led the team with 271 kick-return yards last season and averaged 24.8 yards a return as a freshman.

History lesson: On top of rushing a career-high 27 times, Lynch reached three other milestones with his 139-yard, two-touchdown performance against Minnesota. He became the ninth Cal back to run for 2,000 career yards, moved into a tie for fourth all-time in school history with his 10th 100-yard game and scored his 20th career rushing touchdown.

Film festival: Cal left guard Erik Robertson noted a change in this week's video sessions.   "We were just having fun the whole time," he said, "because we had a bunch of knockdowns and pancakes. It's contagious when we're having fun and running the ball out there."  Cal ran for 231 yards against Minnesota after being limited to 64 in the opener against Tennessee.

Briefly: Tedford said left tackle Andrew Cameron (ankle), who was carted off the field in the fourth quarter of the Minnesota game, is day-to-day. "He's not ready yet," Tedford said. "He's still limping around pretty good." ... Tight end Craig Stevens, who had a concussion in the season opener and played a limited role Saturday, also is listed as day-to-day. ... Decisions remain about which true freshmen to redshirt, but Tedford said he would like to redshirt highly-touted tailback James Montgomery.

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