By Jim Benton
To heck with winning one for the Gipper. The California Golden Bears will be trying to win one for the Pacific-10 Conference on Saturday when they play host to Colorado State of the Mountain West. Mountain West teams are 5-0 this season against the Pacific-10, but California coach Jeff Tedford refused this week to get caught up in a blitz of questions about the Pac-10 vs. MWC. "It's (Saturday's game), not so much for the conference as it is ourselves," Tedford said. "We have to get back on track. We lost a tough one at Maryland. So we are focused on what we need to get done." He was referring to a 35-27 loss Sept. 13 that knocked the then-No. 23 Golden Bears out of the national rankings.
"It's mainly about how we play (against CSU)," Tedford said. "We go into every game not so concerned about who the opponent is as if we can play to our potential. So it's not so much about the Mountain West or whoever we play, it's more about that we have to take care of our business, and that's how we try to motivate ourselves. I don't think that we need to say that we're trying to carry the torch of anything." He almost took the words out of Steve Fairchild's mouth.
The CSU coach also is downplaying the matchup of conferences, probably with good reason because the Rams are 7-17 overall against the Pac-10. Six of CSU's wins have come on the road; the Rams have played Pac-10 teams at home only three times. "I'm glad for the Mountain West teams that have had success against the Pac-10," Fairchild said. "But we're Colorado State, they are Cal, and this is a separate game. It will take a great effort on the road on our part to be in this game."
Colorado ties
Worrell Williams, California's starting outside linebacker, is the younger brother of Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams. Worrell Williams, a 250-pound senior, is the Bears' second-leading tackler, with 17, including two for losses. For the record, D.J. went to the University of Miami. The brothers grew up in Sacramento, Calif.
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