SF Chronicle: Bears are spiraling - can they avoid drain?

Jake Curtis

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As Cal's opportunity for a Rose Bowl berth, a national ranking or any other highfalutin achievement vanished Saturday with its 34-21 loss to No. 23 Oregon State, the issue now becomes the team's 2008 identity.  The Bears have lost two straight, both times showing excellence on defense and limitations on offense, and they desperately want to avoid the kind of collapse that scarred the 2007 season. "What happens to a lot of teams is they sort of fall apart when they can't reach their goals," Cal cornerback Darian Hagan said.

The Bears know that first hand. Last year, an upset loss to Oregon State in their sixth game sent the Bears on a downward spiral that resulted in six losses in their final seven regular-season games after a 5-0 start that had then ranked No. 2. "We've got to see what we are as a team," Cal quarterback Kevin Riley said. "We don't want the same thing as last year." How do the Bears avoid a similar collapse? "I would love to have a manual for that," Cal center Alex Mack said. The Bears have two games left - against Stanford on Saturday and Dec. 6 against Washington, both at home - to squelch thoughts that this team is similar to last year's. They are confident this team is different, and there were no outward signs of dissention after Saturday's loss. That is becoming increasingly difficult with the defense continuing to play well enough to win and the offense unable to make enough plays.

Riley played the entire game at quarterback and had very little time to create much of a passing game. He was 11-for-25 for 117 yards, had a few passes dropped and was sacked five times behind the Bears' injury-weakened offensive line. "I thought Kevin played pretty well with what he had to work with," coach Jeff Tedford said.  Penalties and 10 plays that lost yardage put Cal in difficult situations all day, playing into the hands of Oregon State's aggressive defense. In the fourth quarter, down six with the game there to be had, the Bears netted one yard of total offense. Tedford did not hesitate to say Riley will remain Cal's starter for next week's Big Game, making him the focal point - deserved or not - in the Bears' effort to avoid another precipitous decline. This situation is not entirely comparable to last year, though. The past two weeks the Bears (6-4 Pac-10, 4-3) lost on the road to ranked teams that are competing for a Rose Bowl berth, USC and Oregon State. And both times, the Bears had opportunities to win and were in the game until the closing minutes, so they certainly did not embarrass themselves.

The only defeat for Oregon State (7-3, 6-1) in its past eight games was a three-point road loss to Utah, currently ranked No. 8, and the Beavers will be in the Rose Bowl for the first time in 44 years if they win their final two games against Arizona and Oregon. The Beavers' defense and special teams made sure they got past the Bears.  An 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by James Rodgers a little more than two minutes into the game stole all the momentum the Bears had garnered by scoring a TD seconds earlier, largely because of Jahvid Best's 51-yard return of the opening kickoff. Later in the first period, Sammie Stroughter returned a punt 56 yards to the Cal 2-yard line. From there, Jacquizz Rodgers ran it in for the score, and the Bears found themselves behind for good, 14-7, even though Cal's defense had yielded virtually nothing. "Our defense played a heck of a game," Cal linebacker Zack Follett said. The Bears did allow Jacquizz Rodgers to rush for 144 yards, but that's about all. Meanwhile, Best rushed for 116 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter that cut the deficit to 27-21. But Best's rushing total accounted for half of Cal's total offensive yardage, and that's not what the Bears needed to win.