Coach Jeff Tedford knows California won't erase the stench of its season-opening loss at Tennessee until everybody else stops talking about it. After his Golden Bears returned to the top 10 with a 45-24 victory over Oregon on Saturday night, there are many more pleasant topics to discuss: A five-game winning streak, a seemingly unstoppable offense - and maybe even that looming showdown with USC next month. "Now, hopefully I won't get asked about Tennessee every week," Tedford said after his Bears manhandled a strong Oregon team in front of a frenzied sellout crowd. "I've said it a million times: At Tennessee, anything that could have went wrong did, but that wasn't really us out there. I knew what our kids were capable of, and we're coming together very, very well."
Indeed, the Bears (5-1, 3-0 Pac-10) have routed all five opponents in their path since that 35-18 loss in Knoxville, scoring an astonishing 171 points in those five first halves alone. Cal's offense is rolling, with 447.5 yards per game despite playing few meaningful series after halftime. Quarterback Nate Longshore has been outstanding with 17 touchdowns and just four interceptions since the trip to Tennessee, while DeSean Jackson has emerged as one of the nation's elite receivers to complement star tailback Marshawn Lynch.
But Tedford is even more pleased with coordinator Bob Gregory's defense, which had its most impressive outing yet against Oregon's confounding spread offense. Gregory, the wiry former defensive back described by his players as Tedford's twin in temperament and teaching style, concocted a game plan with an answer for every scheme in the Ducks' big playbook. "Coach Gregory put in a new defense just for this game," linebacker Zack Follett said. "The team did a great job of learning it. ... Our offense was feeding off the defense, and our offense can't be stopped right now."
The Bears constantly harassed quarterback Dennis Dixon in what's emerging a pattern of strong pass rushing and blitzing. Oregon moved the ball fairly well, but the Cal defense stiffened to stop nearly every scoring opportunity until the game was out of reach. In true Tedford style, Gregory wasn't completely pleased with his unit's effort, lamenting Oregon's two late touchdowns and the Ducks' successful faked field goal to set up their other TD. But even Gregory knew it's hard to argue with his results.
"We came out and hit them so hard, they didn't want to be there any more," defensive back Brandon Hampton said. The Bears knew most fans outside the Bay Area only remembered their struggles at Tennessee. That much-hyped game was a disaster for the Bears, who were ranked No. 9, but acknowledged they were intimidated by the 106,000 fans at Neyland Stadium. Tedford, who wasn't pleased by his athletic department's decision to schedule such a tough opener, blames the defeat on nerves, a handful of poor tackles and the snowball effect when college teams struggle.
"Cal lost a game on the road early, and people had written them off," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. "They have revived themselves very well and played good football." Against Oregon, Cal had an intimidating crowd at its back - and its first national television audience since the Tennessee debacle. That's a big change from last week, when the Bears' 41-13 victory at Oregon State wasn't even televised back home - and the Bears made the most of it.
"We know more people are watching us now, so that's definitely a motivation," said Jackson, who caught a touchdown pass and returned a punt for a score. "We thought this was a chance to get back to where we were at the beginning of the season. Hopefully we can get back to No. 9." The Bears nearly did, jumping six spots in the AP poll to No. 10. Cal visits Washington State on Saturday, but after such a dominating month of football, it's hard for fans to avoid thinking about the Bears' trip to Southern California on Nov. 18. Tedford has no such problems. "We're getting closer to our potential," Tedford said. "But we're still not playing our best."
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