Sports Radio Service


		Bay Area Looks Forward to Football August 3, 2005

	SAN FRANCISCO (SRS) The Bay Area’s three Division I college football programs held their annual kickoff luncheon at Momo’s, across from SBC Park, on Wednesday, August 3. The tenor of these press get-togethers is always positive and upbeat – everyone is undefeated at this point of the season, after all. This year’s was no different, and yet, there might be reason for such optimism. Two of the three schools have new coaches, and their resumes could not be shinier. Walt Harris comes from a Pitt program that has sent teams to five consecutive bowl games, and six of the past eight seasons. Dick Tomey, at San Jose State, is one of the very few men to lead two different Division I schools in career victories as a coach – the University of Hawaii, and the University of Arizona. Between them, these two men have more than 200 Division I victory notches on their belts. Cal, meanwhile, returns Jeff Tedford, fresh from the most successful regular season in a half-century. In 2001, Cal was outscored by three touchdowns a game. In 2004, Tedford’s third season, they outscored their opponents by ---- three touchdowns a game. Cal also owns the distinction of being the only school to defeat USC since 2002. Harris is realistic about what faces him at Stanford, where the “Buddy System” under Buddy Teevens was unsuccessful, at best. “We have a good freshman class, and nobody on this team likes the position we are in vis-à-vis the Pac-10,” the Bay Area native said. “We’re excited about our new stadium project, and we are realistic that we’ve got a lot of work ahead to produce a team that will fill those seats.” Harris listed his priorities for the team as: 1) Find out what shape they are in physically, as they play in a humid environment early in the season when they travel to Navy; 2) find a way to run the football, getting the offensive line and running backs identified and skilled; 3) find the best spots to play some very good returning defenders, and 4) “work like hell” on the special teams – “this is where teams can be exposed athletically,” Harris noted. When asked how a coach can turn around a losing attitude on campus, Harris said “you lean on your senior, for whom this season is the end of the road. You motivate at every turn, and you demand commitment – early practices, long work hours, investments from the staff and the players alike.” Tedford, for his part, is excited by the challenge he faces – he lost 26 players from last year’s Top-10 ranked team, including the nation’s only 2,000 yard rusher (J. J. Arrington) and a quarterback drafted in the first round (Aaron Rodgers). After posting Cal’s best season in decades, and three consecutive winning seasons for the first time in anyone’s memory, Tedford is aware that expectations will be high. “We have talked with the kids every day about that. I’ve coached teams with high expectations, and I’ve had young teams, but this is the first time I’ve been at the intersection of those two factors. We tell the kids constantly that the expectations they need to live up to are those from inside the program, not those of alumni or the media,” Tedford told SportsRadioService. Tedford feels he’s got the most team speed since his arrival at Cal, and is pleased that his entire coaching staff is intact from last season. His priorities for camp are: 1) Get the young players acclimated to the speed at which the top-level college game is played, and 2) get youngsters their reps in practice, “so they can make their inevitable mistakes there and be ready for the season.” Going into camp, he views Nate Longshore, former Parade All-American, as the “incumbent” quarterback, but notes that since transfer QB Joseph Ayoob enrolled in January, he’s months ahead of where Aaron Rodgers was in his first season at Cal, in terms of understanding the playbook. Tedford looks forward to a spirited competition for the starting job, and does not plan to name a starter until the week of the first game, September 3 versus Sacramento State. All of these teams are in transition – it is unreasonable to expect more than one to have a winning record at the end of this season, but I look for Tomey to turn around attitudes in Spartan land, and 4-5 wins is not out of the question for his program. Harris will begin to right the ship at Stanford, and should be considered successful if the Cardinal post a 5-6 season. In Berkeley, however, the expectations are much higher – fans are disappointed that the team didn’t “get the BCS Bowl invitation it earned” last season. With Marshawn Lynch, who averaged nearly 9 yards a carry in the Pac-10 as a true freshman, anchoring the offense behind what may be the best offensive line in the nation, it will be a disappointing year if the Golden Bears are less than 9-2 at season’s end, and the faithful expect them to contend for not just the Pac-10 Championship, but a spot in the Rose Bowl in 2006. The Bears would love to have their first Rose Bowl appearance in more than 45 years be this season, since the Rose Bowl is host to the National Championship game in 2006.