ANTHONY GIMINO
It's as if the whole weight of the Pac-10 is on Cal's shoulders. The Bears, still trying to shake off the stink of last year's season-opening 35-18 loss at Tennessee, get a shot Saturday at revenge, redemption, retribution or whatever you want to call it. Can't wait. The college football season actually starts Thursday (oh happy day), kicking off three consecutive days of games involving Pac-10 teams. Life is good. No, make that GREAT. But it will be a long weekend for the Pac-10 if Cal fails, setting off howls of laughter from the SEC sector. Do you really want those fanatics to have more ammunition in the whole "we have the best conference" debate?
Yeah, didn't think so. "The South is different. They have their own mentality down there," said Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson. "That's just the nature of the beast."
Cal's face-first flop at Tennessee last season is undeniable, indefensible. It was 35-0 midway through the third quarter. "That's the worst we've ever played, I think," coach Jeff Tedford said. It haunted the Bears through a very fine season. Cal ended 10-3 and clubbed Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl. "We won 10 games last year and I think the question that gets asked the most is Tennessee," Tedford said. "Maybe you might get a little bit, 'Oh, by the way, good job in the bowl game.' " The Cal-Tennessee rematch - the only game on opening weekend involving two ranked teams - has become the centerpiece in the discussion of the strength of the Pac-10 beyond USC. "Perception is perception," Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood said. "But the way we view it now is that perception is almost reality. So, that game is big in so many ways."
Yet, it is hardly the only key nonconference game. The reality of the Pac-10 is that the teams often need to schedule interesting opponents to fire up the laid-back ticket-buying fan base. In the South, an Alabama spring scrimmage drew 92,000 fans. Cal's spring game? Well, the Bears did have more than 2,000. Anyway, the point is the Pac-10, by necessity, often seeks big nonconference matchups, which is why the league will play eight games against teams who are ranked in the AP preseason poll. League teams also will play three games against Notre Dame and two games against dangerous Utah. And conference teams twice take on BYU, which was 11-2 last season. Arizona kicks the tires on the Cougars this week before UCLA gets a chance Sept. 8. The SEC, by way of comparison, plays five nonconference games against preseason ranked teams, but the competition basically stops there. The SEC feasts on a full platter of teams from the Sun Belt and Division I-AA. (Yes, I know that division has been renamed the Football Championship Subdivision, but I am so far refusing to recognize it.)
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6 comments:
Um, what's with the deleted comments? Isn't that the point of a blog? That with the most replies wins?
Some have responded with less than decorous comments. But this, too, is revealing...
Might be funny to have a digital bleep out of just the nasty bits.
Come on, we're starving. That's why were here. Why is less commentary better than crappy commentary?
Shows us who is in the seats in the rowdy section.
you can blame that on me - a UT fan. i had a small misunderstanding with one of your cohorts regarding Cal's blowout at UT last year. It seems that some of you dont appreciate the SEC. so, to set you all straight... if Cal played an SEC schedule they would likely end up with a losing record. That's just the nature of football in the deep south. It's a religion. I bleed orange. and i cant wait to unload on cal's sorry-ass defense again. remember this: we are going to pound the ball down you weak-ass defense's throats all night long. yeah yeah, your offense is the bomb... but they'll never have the ball because we'll be controlling the line of scrimmage and the clock. run, run, run, play action... look for it because that's what's going to happen - and there wont be a damned thing you can do about it.
Fair enough. But if you are a man about it, put some promises behind your predictions. I trust you believe that Tenessee will win. Trust it more than the sun will rise. I think you are wrong, sure as night will fall. But I want you to tell me now what you will do IF Cal wins? I have a bold prediction: You will make excuses, just like every other SEC fan. Here's where the man part comes in: Offer something real. Say you'll accept the outcome. Honor the outcome (yes, we care about honor out here, too).
I dare you to tell me you'll do this, and to mean it: IF Cal wins, buy a Cal football tee-shirt, and wear it, at least once a week, where people can see you, until Cal loses a game. Think you can do it? Still think your Vols are tough enough to win a game in our house? If you do, if you really bleed orange and don't just paint it on your face like a lady's mascarra, then take the dare. I challenge you.
And on Saturday, on our turn, in our stadium, in front of our fans, the world will know.
The bears will roll on. Are you man enough to challenge that?
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