SF Chronicle: S.F.-native Ross itching for Vegas

By Rusty Simmons

Link.

Sophomore receiver Jeremy Ross, who was raised in San Francisco, said he'll be cheering for Arizona State on Saturday. Some believe that if the Sun Devils beat Arizona, the Bears will go to the Las Vegas Bowl instead of the Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park.  "Going somewhere else makes it that much more fun," Ross said. "During the season, we travel to a lot of places, but it is business travel. With the bowl games, we get a chance to explore and see different things.  "I'm not putting my city down, but growing up there, you've already seen everything. That's why any other place would be better."  The Bears are bowl-eligible for a school-record seventh consecutive season and will go to a school-record sixth straight bowl.

"If we do stay home, I know we'll make it a good experience for them," coach Jeff Tedford said. "They'll stay in the city and stay in a hotel, and it will feel like a bowl game to them. They'll go through the activities, and I know our administration and the bowl will do a great job of making it nice for them."

Home cooking: Cal has won 28 of its last 32 games in Strawberry Canyon and has a chance to go undefeated at home for the third time in five years with Saturday's game against Washington. "We take a lot of pride in playing in front of our home crowd and protecting this house," offensive lineman Noris Malele said. "In honor of the guys who came before us, we want to defend this place."

You can't go home again: Last year's embarrassing road loss to cellar-dweller Washington was especially tough on senior inside linebacker Anthony Felder, who is from Seattle.  Felder didn't play much as a sophomore, so he was looking forward to putting on a show in front of family and friends. Instead, he was ill and a non-factor as the Huskies piled up 360 rushing yards.  "I remember the defense getting beat up pretty much the whole game," Felder said. "To lose in the fashion that we did was pretty embarrassing for us as a team and for me, in particular. I left that as the lasting impression of me at home."

Making the grade: Cal had four players named to the Pac-10 All-Academic first team Tuesday, tying Oregon and Oregon State for the conference lead. To be eligible, players must have at least a 3.0 grade-point average and be a starter or a significant reserve.  Senior center Alex Mack made it for the second time, and senior fullback Zach Smith, sophomore linebacker Mike Mohamed and sophomore left guard Mark Boskovich joined the first team. Redshirt freshman left tackle Mitchell Schwartz and senior fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou were honorable mention.

Briefly: Senior quarterback Nate Longshore returned to practice after seeing his brother off on his Mormon mission. ... Junior cornerback Syd'Quan Thompson (calf) and senior outside linebacker Zack Follett (neck) sat out practice but are expected to play Saturday.