Daily Californian: Arizona Victory Over Wazzu Gives Reason to Beware of 'Cats

Although there is only one game left until the No. 8 Cal football team’s much-anticipated matchup with No. 7 USC, coach Jeff Tedford said he does not think there is any chance of the Bears overlooking Arizona this Saturday in Tucson.   He said the Wildcats’ 27-17 win over then-No. 25 Washington State last Saturday should show Cal that Arizona does have the potential to pull out a victory.  “I know they’ll be fired up after a big win. I know the fans will be fired up,” Tedford said. “It will be a hostile environment, no question.”   In case the Bears players need more evidence of how dangerous the Wildcats can be at home, they need only look to last year, when an undefeated UCLA team was blown out in Tucson.  “Those are reminders of what can happen if you're not ready to play,” Tedford said.  Quarterback Nate Longshore, who threw for three touchdowns against the Bruins in last week’s win, said he is keenly focused on the task at hand.  “I don’t know if there is any chance of an emotional letdown,” Longshore said. “More than anything else, we just want to play well for each other.”

• Tedford said that the noise level at Arizona Stadium is a concern.  Watching tape of the Arizona-Oregon State game from two weeks ago, Tedford noticed that the Beavers began the game in their regular formation, but were holding hands and huddling up by the end of the game because of the deafening crowd noise.  

• Defensive end Rulon Davis suffered a painful bone bruise and has been on crutches for a few weeks. He was competing for playing time before the injury. Safety Thomas DeCoud should be fully recovered from the high-speed collision that ensued en route to DeSean Jackson’s punt return for a touchdown. DeCoud laid a key block that led to the score.

It seems as if everyone but DeCoud himself could tell how important the block was at the time. DeCoud spent some time in the video room Sunday morning trying to piece the events together.  “I know he was in there watching because he didn’t remember it,” Tedford said. “I’m sure they played it a couple of times in the special teams meeting.”

• Although Cal easily defeated UCLA, the Bruins managed a season-high in total yards of offense and quarterback Patrick Cowan had a career game of his own.  While Tedford is not entirely concerned with the bend-but-don’t-break strategy of the Bears defense, he is emphasizing tackling this week.   “We could’ve tackled better,” he said. “The bottom line is when we were able to shrink the field in the red zone, we kept them out of the end zone. The defense did a nice job of not letting them score.”