Contra Costa Times: Things fall into place for No. 3 Bears

Upsets enable Cal to jump three spots to only trail No. 1 LSU and USC

By Jonathan Okanes

On the heels of a weekend that turned into a defining moment for Cal's football program, the Bears have obtained their highest ranking in the national polls in 55 years.  Cal moved up to No. 3 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday (and the USA Today coaches poll), its best rating since it was ranked third for consecutive weeks midway through the 1952 season. It took a dramatic convergence of events for Cal to jump three spots from last week, highlighted by the Bears' dramatic 31-24 road victory at then-No. 11 Oregon on Saturday. The stars, though, started aligning for Cal the night before when then-No. 5 West Virginia lost to then-No. 18 South Florida 21-13. During the Cal-Oregon game, then-No. 3 Oklahoma was upset by Colorado 27-24.  The Bears boarded their charter flight back to the Bay Area knowing they would at least move up two spots in the rankings, only to find out when they returned home that then-No. 4 Florida had lost at home to Auburn 20-17. Now, Cal trails just LSU and USC in the poll. The Tigers replaced the Trojans at No. 1 this week after USC struggled to put away Washington 27-24. LSU pulled away in the second half to beat Tulane 34-9. In the coaches' poll, USC held on to No. 1.

"We can't play like that the rest of the season, or else we'll lose like a normal team," USC coach Pete Carroll. LSU hosts Florida this week -- the defending national champion Gators fell to No. 9 in the rankings -- while USC hosts Stanford.  

Cal has a bye before hosting Oregon State on Oct. 13.  “This bye week is not an off week. It's a week where you can mentally get prepared for every game," Cal linebacker Worrell Williams said. Oregon, now ranked 14th, also has a bye week before hosting Washington State. The last time the Bears had a ranking higher than No. 3 was in October 1951, when they were the No. 1 team in the country. They held that position for just one week because of a loss to USC. "No team can beat Cal except for Cal," Williams said.