Don't expect many 'tweets' from Tedford and other Cal bye week notes

(AP Photo/Don Ryan)

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After Thursday's practice, Cal head coach Jeff Tedford met with the press to discuss the team and what they've been doing during their bye week.

According to Tedford, practices this week have gone really well. What hasn't been going well are some of things said/written about him and the team. "I try not to read it," said Tedford when asked about some of the criticism he gets.

He was good-natured about being questioned on criticism by deadpanning, "I didn't look at it. Thanks for telling me." Then, with a chuckle, he asked for names, "Who is it? Tell me who it is."

It was a lighthearted moment in what could've been a tenuous situation, but he was also frank in his answer too.

"Would it affect me if I were to jump into it and read it?" he asked. "I'd be lying if I said no, because I think it's only natural. Because everybody has an opinion about what's going on and that's fine, but I try not to read it."

Tedford acknowledged that it's much harder for his players to avoid criticism than it is for him.

"It's easier for me because I'm kinda' in my little cocoon here and I don't get out much, so I don't run into people," Tedford explained. "It's harder for the players because they're around people and they can't control when they're walking by and somebody says something to them or whatever."

The key for the team, Tedford said, was that, "they have to have trust and belief in the mission that we're together. The guys in that room are the ones that are together."

With the advent of social networking such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, Tedford said those sort of things make it more difficult for his players not to see the criticism. While he knows what Facebook is, he doesn't use it and he couldn't remember the last time he tweeted either--so don't expect too many of those unless something changes in the future.

So what does a team do on a bye week? The Golden Bears have been both correcting issues they've had in the last few weeks and installing their gameplan for the UCLA game next Saturday. "It's just continuing to practice to get better at our fundamentals and so on and so forth," said Tedford of his team who hasn't scored a touchdown in the last eight quarters.

Cal handled those fundamentals on Tuesday and Wednesday, but Thursday they did crossover work, where they competed against each other, and then they did some of the scout work for next week. For all three days, most of the starters received much of the work.

Here are some of the notes from Thursday's session with Tedford:

• Nyan Boateng is working his way back from injury. Tedford thinks that he'll get back into the flow of things by next week. "Right now, it looks promising that he probably will be available to play," said Tedford.
• Another player expected back next week is Matt Summers-Gavin. Tedford said that Summers-Gavin didn't hit, but he did run and that he's gotten much better.
• The focus for Tedford this weekend will be recruiting, but that doesn't mean that he won't be paying attention to football--especially UCLA.
• Sorry for the pun of sorts, but Kendrick Payne is still feeling pain in his foot from a plantar fasciitis that he suffered a few weeks ago. Tedford's not sure when he'll be ready to go, but they are keeping him out to let it rest in hopes of it getting better.
• Tedford said that there was no need to demote anyone after looking at the USC game film. "We always evaluate everything that we're doing, but there have been no so-called battlefield promotions where somebody's taking over for somebody because they didn't play."
• Syd'Quan Thompson did practice Thursday, but missed Wednesday due to a sprained toe.

The Golden Bears will not practice both Friday and Saturday and they'll be back Sunday afternoon. While While he doesn't want them to completely forget about football, Tedford did say that it was important for the team to decompress and use the bye week for what it's for--rest.