Daily Cal: Midweek Notebook, Week 15

By Jack Ross

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Not often does a team get the opportunity to face a winless opponent towards the end of the season. Yet on Saturday, that is exactly the situation that sits in front of the Cal football team.  Washington comes in with an 0-11 record, the only winless team in college football's Bowl Subdivision. They Huskies have lost all eight games in the Pac-10, the most recent coming in a 16-13 defeat at the hands of rival Washington State. Worse still, Saturday represents the last game of coach Tyrone Willingham's four-year tenure in Seattle.

If there was ever a game that the Bears were to overlook, this would seem to the be one.  Not surprisingly, though, Cal is doing its best to do nothing of the sort. Almost to a man, the Bears expect Washington to come into the weekend with a chip on its shoulder searching for its first win.   "They will be very motivated," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said of Saturday's opposition. "There are a lot of reasons for them to come to play. Obviously, it's the seniors' last game, last chance to get a victory, (Willingham's) last game--all those things. They'll be very hungry and it's important that we understand that they have a lot of potential and a lot of ability to make things happen."  At least two Bears pointed to one specific reason why they expect Washington to come out fired up.

"They can't be going through the motions," defensive end Cameron Jordan said of the Huskies. "At 0-11, you can't just keel over. They have to be fired up. To finish off with zero wins for a season, I don't see them just keeling over ... People have too much pride."  Junior receiver Jeremy Ross agreed.  "Just knowing pride in general, as an emotion," Ross said, "I can definitely assume that they are going to come out to play. I know if we had an 0-11 record, our seniors would want to go out with a bang."

Going Bowling

With only one week left, Cal's bowl possibilities are quickly coming into focus.  Last week, it looked like the Holiday Bowl was the Bears' likely destination. An Oregon State win over Oregon in the Civil War would have propelled the Beavers into the Rose Bowl and Cal to San Diego.  Now, with the Ducks headed to the Holiday, Cal has two possible destinations-and it's looking more and more likely that it will stay close to home for the bowl season.  Normally, the Las Vegas Bowl would be the place for the Bears, as they have a tie-in to the Pac-10's No. 4 team, which Cal will be with a win over Washington.  But this year is different.  Arizona will be playing in its first bowl game in 10 years and would be a very attractive team for Vegas, perhaps more so than the Bears.  Similarly, the Emerald Bowl would likely prefer to have Cal slide down and play in the Bay at AT&T Park. Assuming the Wildcats beat Arizona State, that is likely the scenario that will unfold, a scenario which has drawn mixed feelings up and down the Cal roster.  Some, like Will Ta'ufo'ou and Kevin Riley, put forth standard one-game-at-a-time words.  Not Jeremy Ross.  "I personally want to go the Vegas Bowl," Ross said. "I've never been to Vegas ... and it's a bowl better than the Emerald Bowl. I'm originally from San Francisco so it would be nice to see a different city.  "A lot of people wanted to go Vegas. Vegas has been the talk of the town."  Ross went a bit further to say that many of his teammates weren't especially angry about the fallen Holiday Bowl chances.   “A lot of people weren't too disappointed about it," he said. "We were surprised Oregon went out and whooped on (Oregon State) the way they did. That gets us on our toes, like now we've got to get on Washington ... and hopefully Arizona State can get a win."

Making the Grade

The Pac-10 conference office announced on Tuesday that four Cal players have been named to the conference's All-Academic first team.  Center Alex Mack-the Bears' only two-time first-team representative-was also named a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete earlier this year. Furthermore, the senior is a finalist for the Draddy Award, given to the top football student-athlete in the country.  Offensive guard Mark Boskovich, fullback Zach Smith and linebacker Mike Mohamed were also named to the first team.  In addition, fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou and offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz were chosen honorable mention.