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Rusty Simmons
Cal quarterback Nate Longshore and middle linebacker Worrell Williams found themselves in odd circumstances Saturday night. Longshore was standing in his living room, doing the Florida Gators' chomping motion with his arms, while Williams was in Los Angeles, cheering for Stanford. "We're competitors, and we're fighting to be No. 1," Williams said Sunday, hours after Cal moved to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll. "Being No. 1 has to cross your mind. There aren't too many chances to be No. 1 in college football ever, so whether it's for a week or for a whole season, you want to be there." The Bears last climbed to No. 1 on Oct. 16, 1951, a week before losing to USC. The 1937 team, which went 13-0, including beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl, was the only Cal team to win the national title. It appeared the Bears would reach No. 1 for a while Saturday. Cal had a bye week, Stanford pulled off an improbable 24-23 road win over then-No. 2 USC and No. 1 LSU trailed Florida by 10 points late in the third quarter. LSU went ahead by scoring a touchdown with 1:09 left in the game and beat Florida 28-24 - despite Longshore's animated cheering.
"It just goes to show that you have to be prepared to play each and every week," coach Jeff Tedford said. "There are no weeks off in this conference. Everything is tough, because there are a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches." Cal (5-0, 2-0 Pac-10) hosts Oregon State (3-3, 1-2) at 4 p.m. Saturday. Before Tedford addressed reporters Sunday, he had to ask a media-relations assistant where the Bears were ranked. His standard answer to questions about rankings is: "I'm not worried about rankings. Right now, I'm worried about third-down offense. Tomorrow, I'll look at film of the red-zone offense." Apparently, he has a standard answer for the players, too.
"Coach would tell us to focus week-in and week-out, even if we weren't in the Top 25," receiver Lavelle Hawkins said. "He's right that the rankings don't mean anything, because we still have to win all of our games." Late Saturday, Williams started passing along that message to his teammates. "It's seriously time to go to work and take every (practice) serious," he said. "We've been trying to do that on every play to this point, but we have to do it a little more now. "We've got that much more focus and that much more pressure on our team. That's what we want. It's not time to back out now."
Briefly: Tedford said Longshore (ankle) and linebacker Zack Follett (neck) should play Saturday. Fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou (knee) and defensive end Rulon Davis (foot) are questionable.
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