Ron Kroichick
It was hot and humid, they fell behind 21-3 early in the second quarter, they hurt themselves with penalties, they sputtered in the red zone, they struggled to stop the run and tailback Jahvid Best absorbed a crunching hit and promptly vomited on national television. Otherwise, Best and his Cal teammates had a lovely time last year in Maryland.
The memories of the Bears' 35-27 loss to the Terrapins - it was 28-6 before a late, meaningless rally - linger in Berkeley nearly one year later. They remain strong enough for coach Jeff Tedford to plan to include them in his pregame speech before tonight's rematch at Memorial Stadium. Quarterback Kevin Riley, unprompted, called this season opener "a revenge game." Tedford stopped short of echoing Riley, but he also embraced the motivational value of last year's loss. "I think redemption may be a little better word, just because we didn't play very well last year," Tedford said. "It's redemption for what we did to ourselves. We can play better. It still comes down to us."
Cal players mostly dismissed the widespread perception the time change was a factor in the 2008 loss to Maryland. The game began at 9 a.m. PDT and the Bears, after flying east Friday, sleepwalked through the first three quarters before springing to life. This time, the body-clock equation is reversed: Tonight's game will start shortly after 10 p.m. EDT and could end close to 2 a.m. in Maryland's world. Not coincidentally, the Terps flew west Thursday.
Maryland's dangerous offense and reshaped defense might be more relevant to tonight's outcome. Quarterback Chris Turner was not even firmly established as the starter when he took apart Cal last year, completing 15 of 19 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns.
No comments:
Post a Comment