Monday, December 01, 2008

Contra Costa Times: Cal may be home for holidays and bowl game

By Jonathan Okanes

Cal is going to a bowl game, but use that term loosely.  It's looking more and more as if the Bears won't be going too far to play in the postseason. After Oregon's 65-38 thrashing of Oregon on Saturday, Cal likely is headed to the Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park on Dec. 27.  Oregon's win dropped the Bears into fourth place in the Pac-10 standings. The Emerald Bowl and the Las Vegas Bowl share the No. 4 and No. 5 slots in the conference standings. Even though the Las Vegas Bowl has the first pick this season, Emerald Bowl executive director Gary Cavalli is working with Las Vegas Bowl officials to make sure he keeps the Bears home. "It looks good," Cavalli said. "We'd love to have Cal in the game. We'd have a guaranteed sellout. We've been looking forward to the day we get one of the local teams in the game. Cal brings a tremendous fan base." Had Oregon State defeated Oregon, Cal would have tied the Ducks for third place and likely would have wound up in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. The Bears close the regular season Saturday against 0-11 Washington. Even if the Huskies pulled off a shocker, the worst Cal could finish in the Pac-10 is tied for fourth.

Most teams consider the travel to a new location to be part of the bowl experience, but in the Emerald Bowl the Bears would be playing at a venue just 13 miles away.   "A lot of guys want to travel, so it feels like it's a real bowl experience," Cal linebacker Worrell Williams said. "We haven't even experienced their bowl yet, so we don't know what it's like. Traveling would be fun, but I've traveled a lot before. It doesn't really matter." Fellow linebacker Zack Follett said playing in the Emerald Bowl has pros and cons. "We're not going to do anything that we haven't done already," he said. "We've been to Alcatraz. But I'm happy with it. At least it's somewhere close to home. It's another opportunity to play in front of my family."  There is one scenario where the Bears still could play in the Las Vegas Bowl. If Arizona, which likely is headed to Las Vegas, loses to Arizona State on Saturday, it would leave the Wildcats 6-6 overall. The Las Vegas Bowl may be more reluctant to give away the Bears, if they are 8-4 and ranked in the top 25.

Extra points

The Bears would play a team from the ACC in the Emerald Bowl, most likely Miami, Wake Forest, Maryland or Clemson. Cal lost to Maryland 35-27 on Sept. 13. ...… The Bears returned to practice Sunday night after the Thanksgiving break. Backup quarterback Nate Longshore remained at home for an extra day to see his younger brother off on his Mormon mission.

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