Jahvid Best prognosis good - Cal football is a different story

November 9, 2:00 AMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Jahvid Best was released from Oakland's Highland General Hospital on Sunday and given a clean bill of health after undergoing a battery of tests.

After Best's highlight-reel injury during Cal's loss to Oregon State Saturday evening, he spent the night getting cat scans, x-rays, and being observed by medical personnel. The university released a statement from head coach Jeff Tedford saying the following: "We are relieved and thankful that Jahvid has been released from the hospital, and that the CT scans and x-rays have come back normal."

That's the good news. The bad news is that the tailback won't be playing for Cal in the very near future. Cal has already announced that he won't be playing Saturday when the Golden Bears face Arizona.

But wait, there's more. It's uncertain when Best will return. From Cal's release, "His status for future games will continue to be evaluated." Considering what could have been, there should be no rush in bringing him back.

Cal's press release

Cal is no longer ranked

Due to Oregon State's convincing win over the Golden Bears, Cal fell out of the BCS standings. Formerly ranked No. 20 going into Saturday's contest, they weren't ranked in the coaches' or the AP poll's as well. Oregon State moved in to the No. 23 slot of the BCS, and Stanford received enough votes to move into the AP at No. 25.

Victories over Arizona, (ranked No. 18 AP, No. 19 coaches', and 17 BCS), and Stanford could put Cal back into the mix nationally. Even with those victories, There's no telling if voters will take the Golden Bears seriously again this season.

Whether voters take the Golden Bears seriously or not, it would be a big boost for the program to win the final three games. Doing so would guarantee Cal finishing ahead of rival Stanford in the Pac-10 standings.

Thompson a CFPA honorable mention

Syd'Quan Thompson was a College Football Performance Awards DB honorable mention this week. He had eight tackles (three for loss) and a pass breakup against Oregon State on Saturday. For more on the award, you can click here.

For those of you unhappy with the defensive performance against the Beavers can be thankful that Thompson was on the field. Even in the loss, he came up big on more than a few plays that would've made the outcome worse. By my count, he had five great plays to one not so great and I'm not sure that his one bad play was a result of his mistake.