Another CAL meltdown against USC; Is Tedford 'on the clock?'

BERKELEY, CA
9: 50: 45 PST


As the CAL Bears suffered through a complete meltdown to the pro-like USC Trojans in frigid Memorial Stadium, I asked, semi- tongue-in-cheek, if CAL coach, Jeff Tedford was now "on-the clock."

A few hisses and you-gotta be kidding's, but also some notable nods from the local scribes. When you get beat by USC, it's not big news, particularly when you're a Bears team that was clearly the inferior squad. A 30-3 poleaxing by the Pete Carroll south land machine confirmed all the ugly truth.

What's more disturbing for CAL was the MANNER in which they were outplayed, out-classed and out-coached too.

Kevin Reilly is not very good, but we sort of knew that already. He tends to either overthrown, under throw and simply miss his receivers all together. To be fair to Riley, he was missing his best receiver, Nyan Booteng, to an injury, but even his addition to the game would not have helped the Bears.

USC is down this year, having lost to Washington a couple of weeks back, but true freshman QB, Matt Barkley, looked like the second coming of John Elway, throwing passes with ease and showing enough poise to make even Carroll blush. Who needs Mark Sanchez anyway?

Certainly not CAL's defense. Between Barkley and USC's obscenely terrific offensive line, the Trojans path to victory was monumentally swift and methodical. And their vaunted defense made the Bears look like utter silly puddy. The game could very well have been a shutout, save for a meaningless field goal early in the first quarter. Jeff Tedford concession point well-received in Berkeley: read BOO!!

Shocking news in Berkeley: another non-Rose Bowl year; more than likely, a 3rd-tier bowl game; (can you say Emerald or Las Vegas?)

No doubt Tedford has elevated the football program at CAL and resuscitated a dying program that was drawing flies to the stadium, but as programs elevate and expectations get higher, so do, we'll, expectations.

It's not Tedford's fault that Riley is not that good, but Jahvid Best is a play maker, isn't he? And weren't the Bears ranked #6 just a few weeks back--oops, those rankings; I forgot.

Hello Emerald Bowl.

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