Trojans face stern test in Bears
USC was a unanimous preseason choice to win the Pac-10. California was a unanimous choice to finish second.
Last season, USC was a co-national champion. A co-champion with one loss — to Cal. On Saturday, the two teams are squaring off in the most anticipated matchup of the Pac-10 season and one of the biggest games in the nation this year.
USC will get a shot at some revenge, not to mention a 5-0 record and the inside track at making those preseason predictions come true. But the Trojans won’t have to go to Berkeley like they did in 2003. Instead, they’ll be playing before a sellout crowd of 90,000-plus in their own backyard.
“It’s going to be a great atmosphere,” said Cal coach Jeff Tedford, whose team has streaked to a 3-0 start while outscoring opponents 146-35. But Tedford insisted that his team is looking at this game like all others on the slate. “It’s business as usual. We’re going to prepare the same exact way. If it were any different, we should be doing it every week. Our players are going to do the same thing they’ve done each and every week.”
As the aggregate score on the season would suggest, whatever the Bears have been doing on a week-to-week basis has worked awfully well. Cal won its first game of the year by 42 points, then the last two by 35, a fact that has USC coach Pete Carroll a little nervous.
“They don’t make a lot of mistakes, they’re not a highly penalized team or a high-turnover team,” Carroll said. “Their consistency is obvious in all phases. They’ve been able to maintain a high level of production for a long time now, dating back to last year. They really crank it up. They run the football real well and they’ve done that real well again this year. The quarterback efficiency is outstanding.”
Of course, the Trojans pose a problem or two as well, no surprise considering their No. 1 ranking in both polls from the outset this season. Running back Reggie Bush has continued to amaze opponent after opponent with his versatility, and the USC defense that was so important in 2003 has been stout once again.
“They have tremendous talent, no two ways about it,” Tedford said. “They don’t have any holes. They have a tremendous front four, tremendous linebackers, great safeties, very good corners. And they’re so well-coached and have so much variation in their defense that it makes it very difficult to prepare for them.”
But USC hasn’t looked stellar in each and every outing this season, especially when compared to Cal. The Trojans have trailed at halftime in two games this year, including their last one against Stanford. In that game, they had to recover from a 28-17 deficit at the start of the third quarter to win 31-28.
Carroll said there are plenty of reasons why his team might be getting off to slow starts, but there’s one certainty: A solution needs to be found this week if USC is to remain undefeated.
“We’re still trying to put our best games ahead of us and see if we can put a real good game out against a top opponent,” he said. “We always want to play well from start to finish.”
Notes
Earlier in the week, San Diego State coach Tom Craft had called UCLA’s blocking, specifically three instances of chop blocks, from last Saturday “a blatant, irresponsible practice.” On Tuesday, Dorrell responded. “I take offense to it,” he said. “I don’t think we coach our players to do chop blocks, which is what has been alluded to. … That’s not something we eagerly want our kids to do.” … Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter said he appreciates having the bye week now, even though his team is 5-0 and on a roll. “We have momentum right now, so yeah, you risk losing that, but we’re not a deep team,” he said. Koetter thinks the bye will help his thin roster rest, with a game at USC looming on Oct. 16.