Cal Bears Examiner

For the third time this season, the Bears have fallen out of the polls after having a two-game winning streak halted on the road.  This coming week will be the first time that the Bears will have to go on the road after a loss.  Ironically, they'll be on the road against the team that has supplanted them as the second Pac-10 team in the polls - Oregon State (#23 AP / #25 Coaches).

The prize for beating the Bears on Saturday night for the USC Trojans was moving up one spot in the AP Top 25 (#6), and remaining in the same spot as last week in the USA Today Coaches Poll (#6).  Apparently, the coaches weren't all that impressed with the victory over Cal since Texas leap-frogged the Trojans this week.

Oregon State made the polls for the first time this season.  They had been close earlier in the year after beating USC, but lost the following week to then #15 ranked Utah.  Getting into the rankings is rather remarkable for the Beavers who started the season losing to Stanford and Penn State, who was ranked #19 at the time.  At 6-3 on the year and being 1-2 against ranked opponents, it's arguable that they deserve to be ranked over Cal.  The Bears are 1-1 against ranked opponents and 1-1 over currently ranked opponents.  They'll be able to make their case this coming Saturday, and attempt to avenge last year's loss.

Here are the polls:

Nov. 9, 2008
Rank	Team (first-place votes)	Record	Points	Last week
1.	Alabama (44)	10-0	1,508	1
2.	Texas Tech (17)	10-0	1,469	3
3.	Florida	8-1	1,348	5
4.	Oklahoma	9-1	1,314	4
5.	Texas	9-1	1,300	7
6.	Southern California	8-1	1,268	6
7.	Utah	10-0	1,104	9
8.	Penn State	9-1	1,074	2
9.	Boise State	9-0	1,028	10
10.	Ohio State	8-2	936	12
11.	Missouri	8-2	883	13
12.	Georgia	8-2	842	14
13.	Oklahoma State	8-2	808	8
14.	Brigham Young	9-1	679	16
15.	Michigan State	9-2	660	17
16.	Ball State	9-0	590	18
17.	North Carolina	7-2	543	19
18.	TCU	9-2	475	11
19.	Florida State	7-2	426	24
20.	LSU	6-3	409	15
21.	Pittsburgh	7-2	311	NR
22.	Cincinnati	7-2	183	NR
23.	South Carolina	7-3	155	NR
24.	Tulsa	8-1	144	NR
25.	Oregon State	6-3	71	NR
Dropped out
Dropped out: No. 20 Georgia Tech (7-3, lost to then-No. 19 North Carolina 28-7), No. 21 Maryland (6-3, lost to Virginia Tech 23-13), No. 22 California (6-3, lost to No. 6 Southern California 17-3), No. 23 West Virginia (6-3, lost to then-unranked Cincinnati 26-23 OT), No. 25 Northwestern (7-3, lost to then-No. 12 Ohio State 45-10).
Others receiving votes
Others receiving votes: California (6-3) 50; Oregon (7-3) 49; Georgia Tech (7-3) 38; Virginia Tech (6-3) 34; Air Force (8-2) 25; Northwestern (7-3) 13; Wake Forest (6-3) 13; Arizona (6-3) 11; Kansas (6-4) 11; Maryland (6-3) 9; Connecticut (6-3) 8; Minnesota (7-3) 8; Boston College (6-3) 7; Iowa (6-4) 6; Miami (Fla.) (6-3) 5; West Virginia (6-3) 5; Western Michigan (8-2) 5.

The Associated Press Top 25 Poll

Nov. 9

The entire Pac-10 played in conference games this weekend.  The game of the week was the Cal at USC game, but here is a brief summary of the other four games.

Stanford 28 at Oregon 35

While this wasn't the game of the week, this was definitely the most exciting.  After jumping ahead of the Cardinal in the first quarter 17-3, the Ducks allowed Stanford to scratch and claw their way back into the game.  Stanford didn't take their first lead of the game until with 2:18 left in the game.

Down by five, with the ball at their own 35-yard line, Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard drove the Cardinal to the Ducks' seven.  Tailback, Anthony Kimble, ran around the left side of the line and fumbled while stretching the ball over the goal line.  Lucky for him, he also recovered the ball just as the ball crossed and right before it went out of bounds in the end zone for an Oregon touchback.  The two-point conversion failed leaving Stanford with the one point lead.

Oregon put a drive together from their own 12, and drove down the field on the strength of quarterback, Jeremiah Masoli's arm and legs.  Masoli passed the Ducks down to Stanford's 33-yard line, but on third and eight, it was Masoli running for 25 yards that put Oregon in position to win the game.  The Ducks made sure to score with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game, when LeGarrette Blount ran around the left end for a three-yard touchdown score.

Oregon State 34 at UCLA 6

The Beavers took advantage of good special teams play and a porous run defense to easily defeat the UCLA Bruins in Los Angeles.  After hanging with the Beavers in the first half defensively, the battle for field position was the key to the Beavers getting ahead for good.

In the third quarter, UCLA punted from their own one-yard line after being pinned at their six to start the drive.  The 38-yard punt and 18-yard return resulted in the Beavers starting their drive at the UCLA 21-yard line.  Needless to say, they were able to score their first touchdown soon after.

On the Beavers' second touchdown score they began the drive at their own 39-yard line.  They would've started at their own 24, but a facemask penalty on the punt return gave them a 15 more yards.  UCLA remained competitive in the third period with another field goal, but in the fourth quarter Oregon State proved to be too much for the overmatched Bruins.

Arizona State 39 at Washington 19

Arizona 59 at Washington State 28

The important thing to know about these two games is that the state of Arizona beat the state of Washington 98-47.  Only the Arizona Wildcats will be playing in a bowl game at the end of the season, unless a ton of things happen enabling Arizona State to get in one as well.

Surprising is how many points that Washington State scored in their game against Arizona.  After being shut-out the previous 10 quarters, they scored the most points for them in a game all year.  Previously, the most they had scored was 17 against Baylor earlier in the season.

The Huskies have two chances in their next three games to get a victory for the season.  They get UCLA at home, then they travel to Pullman to play Washington State.  Their last game against Cal, in Berkeley, is a pipe dream of being a victory for Washington.  Cal rarely loses at home, and all indications are that a bowl bid will be on the line for the Bears.

Here are the Pac-10 Standings:

 * - bowl eligible; x - cannot become bowl eligible