Mark Purdy
The rosiest Rose Bowl journey starts with a single first down. Cal running back Jahvid Best took that principle to the extreme Saturday night in the Bears' 52-13 victory over the University of Maryland.
On his second carry of the season, Rush overshot the first-down marker by 63 yards — and sprinted to a 73-yard touchdown run. The scoreboard clock said it took 12 seconds. "It felt a little faster than that," Best said. Looked that way, too. But on his very next carry, a 2-yard touchdown run, the Heisman Trophy candidate needed much less time.
At that point, Best had scored twice in the game's first six minutes. Calculators, please. This put Best on pace to score 20 touchdowns for the evening and 240 touchdowns for the season. Which would be a definite boost to his Heisman hopes. Such a disappointment, then, when Best finished the first half with only those two touchdowns — as Cal took a 31-6 lead. Yawn. Big deal. The 12th-ranked Bears were supposed to win in a romp. What's that? You think that's too much pressure for the Bears to win too big? Sorry. They asked for it.
"I know there are going to be high expectations on this team," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said before Saturday's game, "and it's something we welcome." It's something all of us welcome, frankly.
Saturday's opening of the college football season in these parts carried more of a celebratory feel than usual. For one thing, the local college game should be vastly more entertaining than what passes for National Football League product. The 49ers and Raiders, off their preseason exploits, show every indication that they will lose more games than they win — in desperately non-entertaining fashion.
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