GREG BEACHAM
BERKELEY, Calif. - Nate Longshore's first three appearances at Memorial Stadium this season haven't been much tougher on him than the average California intrasquad scrimmage. His 16th-ranked Golden Bears took commanding halftime leads every time, and the quarterback spent the rest of the afternoon killing the clock and admiring the scenery in gorgeous Strawberry Canyon. Longshore expects no leisure time Saturday night, when the stadium's temporary lights will be trained on a showdown with No. 11 Oregon - probably Cal's most anticipated home game since a triple-overtime win over USC three years ago. "I think we're going to thrive in that situation," said Longshore, who has passed for 1,136 yards and 14 touchdowns in his last four games. "That's part of why we have letdowns in the second half. We're not mentally in the game any more because we have a comfortable lead. It'll be interesting to see how we play when it's a close game all the way through." Cal (4-1, 2-0 Pac-10) has been unstoppable in the four games since its season-opening loss at Tennessee. The Bears have scored a jaw-dropping 143 points in the first halves of their last four victories, all blowout wins against everyone from Division I-AA Portland State to nationally-ranked Arizona State. But Oregon (4-0, 2-0) has been just as potent, with a controversial one-point win over Oklahoma highlighting another strong season with coach Mike Bellotti's ever-inventive schemes. The Ducks have played more tight games this season, but the Bears say they learned mental tenacity from their pressure-packed trip to Tennessee. "We're a different team now," Longshore said. "I feel like we've made some real strides from that game. I don't see that happening to us again."
There's a wealth of respect between two schools that have emerged as the Pac-10's best behind the Trojans - but this meeting probably will eliminate the loser from national title contention, and both teams know it. "They compare well to Oklahoma," Oregon linebacker Blair Phillips said of the Bears. "Oklahoma had some athletes at receiver, and they had Adrian Peterson back there. It's going to be a similar team. We'll have to play a lot better than we did against Oklahoma in that fourth quarter." Both teams clearly have the talent to touch off one of the Pac-10's typical high-scoring affairs, yet their last three meetings have been fairly low-scoring - and all three were decided by 12 total points, with Oregon winning two.
When Cal coach Jeff Tedford rattles off the best features of Oregon's offense - mobile quarterback Dennis Dixon, emerging tailback Jonathan Stewart and a slew of confounding spread formations - it's difficult to imagine how any team could counter all of this ingenuity, let alone a squad with Cal's inexperienced secondary. "I'm excited to watch him," Longshore said of Dixon, who grew up 15 miles from the Cal campus in San Leandro. "Everybody talks about his feet, but he's got a real rocket attached to him. I'm looking forward to seeing our D go up against him." But Bellotti is similarly rhapsodic about the Bears' offense, with tailback Marshawn Lynch opening up defensive mismatches for receivers DeSean Jackson and Lavelle Hawkins while Longshore patiently finds the holes. "I know they've got a couple of my boys over there who are going to come after me," Lynch said, referring to his extensive network of friends and former high-school rivals who went to Oregon. "We talk during the season, but not this week. We'll meet each other afterward." The Ducks lead the Pac-10 in points, total yards and yards rushing per game, but Cal is second in the conference in points and total yards. Both defenses will attempt to force the quarterbacks into tough decisions, but both have been steady under pressure in recent weeks. "We know it doesn't get a whole lot better than this," Cal defensive back Brandon Hampton said. "This is the kind of game that can be real memorable."
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