ANG Newspapers: Pressure's off Bears, and that's good news

FOOTBALL COACHES, particularly those prone to regular readings from the sports clich handbook, like to say nothing can be gained by a defeat. Maybe it's true, but if it came from a coach, probably not.  We offer up Cal's football team as the antidote to such tired old axioms. The Golden Bears got roasted in the season opener at Tennessee yet proceeded to win eight straight and scored 40 or more points in the first five of those wins.

Now Cal is coming off a surprising 24-20 loss at Arizona to end that streak, and there seems to be a sense that something got permanently punctured, that the Bears will never recover from a result so surprising and deflating.  Wrong again. Saturday's upset by the Wildcats might be the best thing that could have happened for Cal heading into The Real Big Game (sorry, Stanford).  The only thing Cal lost last weekend was unneeded hype and pressure heading into its showdown at the L.A. Coliseum with USC. Now Jeff Tedford's team can just go play the football gamewithout the distractions of its long win streak and people talking about a possible national championship berth. The Bears can go in humbled and motivated by outsiders' diminished expectations of their chances for victory.  Let USC have all that pressure, and to be sure, the Trojans will carry multiple burdens going into this game against Cal. They're back in the BCS title picture, they've got Notre Dame the following week, they've got the national media all over them right now. Great. Wonderful. In past seasons, they could handle it, but it remains to be seen whether this particular USC team is dominant enough to be squeezed from all sides.

It could be that USC might even overlook Cal now based on what happened last weekend. That's not likely with the Pac-10 title and an assured berth in the Rose Bowl at stake, but you never know. Playing in L.A., where the home-field advantage might conjure a false sense of security, that traditional USC haughtiness might take root.  One thing's certain, a wounded Cal team freshly reminded it must play four full quarters to win will be exceedingly dangerous. The team USC whupped 35-10 at Memorial Stadium last year doesn't even compare to this one, and if the Bears play to their potential and avoid turnovers, there's absolutely no reason they can't win. They have a distinct edge in offensive balance, special teams potency, red zone defense and turnover capability.  The real key for Cal this week will be defending the pass, where it ranks last in the Pac-10 statistically. Daymeion Hughes will have to shut down one of the Trojans' two outstanding receivers, Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith, and the rest of the secondary somehow will have to contain the other. To do that, the Bears will have to put pressure on SC quarterback John David Booty as well.

Offensively, Cal just needs to do what it has been doing all year — run the ball with Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett, as well as protect quarterback Nate Longshore so he can get the most of his deep receiving corps led by DeSean Jackson and Robert Jordan. Last year, the Trojans didn't have to worry about Cal's anemic passing attack and stacked the line to slow down Lynch and Forsett. This year, they'll have to play it a lot more honestly.  It should be a terrific game, even if the national luster was lost a bit in the wake of Cal's loss to Arizona. But again, that's good for the Bears because none of the stakes have changed. A win still guarantees them at least a share of the Pac-10 title, and they'll be in the Rose Bowl for the first time since the'58 season. A loss, even if they'd beaten Arizona, almost certainly would knock them out of the BCS derby anyway.

If the Bears win Saturday, nobody who has suffered with Cal football fortunes the past several decades will feel shortchanged. Ending the Rose Bowl drought has become such an obsession for Old Blues that in some ways, getting to Pasadena might be more satisfying than playing in a national championship game in Arizona.  Even though Cal might have jumped into the top five in the BCS standings this past week, the title-game scenario still would have been a longshot anyway. For starters, if this week's Ohio State-Michigan game is close, there'll be considerable momentum for a rematch in the Fiesta Bowl. Even if the Buckeyes or the Wolverines tumble in the BCS, there's still Florida to climb over, and the specter of Notre Dame to combat.  Now, thanks to Arizona, the Bears don't have to worry about any of that nonsense. The objective is clear, the spoils spelled out to the letter, the clarion of buildup suitably muted for the Bears to go down to SoCal and play their best game.  If they do, they'll win, and every Blue young or old will be so thrilled, nobody will even remember the Tucson "tragedy." Except perhaps to say thanks.