Saturday’s matchup: at Oregon State

Saturday’s matchup is away in Corvallis, OR and untelevised, but it is an important conference matchup against a decent team who upset the Bears last season. Here are some articles and thoughts:

Associated Press: “Beavers see a chance to define themselves”

Enter conference play and the Golden Bears… Cal brings the momentum of a 49-21 win over Arizona State. Oregon State’s defense returned to form in a 38-0 win over the Vandals Saturday, but coach Mike Riley cautioned against putting too much stock in that win…

California embarrassed the Beavers in its last appearance at Reser Stadium — a 49-7 win in 2004. Oregon State returned the favor last year, beating then-No. 18 Cal 23-20 in Berkeley.

ESPN’s “Pac-10 Notebook”:

During the Bears’ three-game winning streak, [Longshore]’s completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for 795 yards with 10 touchdowns and has become the Pac-10’s highest-rated quarterback. Each of those games were at home, however, and now he takes the Bears on the road for the first time since the ill-fated trip to Knoxville. Last year, Oregon State ended Cal’s 10-game home winning streak with a 23-20 upset. On the other hand, the last time Cal went to Corvallis, it prevailed 49-7.

Contra Costa Times: “Oregon State has a proven record of running past Cal”

Oregon State coach Mike Riley wouldn’t boast about tailback Yvenson Bernard rushing for 194 yards on 42 carries in his team’s 23-20 victory over Cal last season at Memorial Stadium…

The Bears’ confidence might be high, but they have given up 164.8 rushing yards per game. Cal senior linebacker Mickey Pimentel said the Beavers are sure to test the Bears’ front seven early on Saturday.

“They wanted to pound us last year,” Pimentel said. “And they did. We have pride on defense. We always want to shut down the run, but (Bernard) had ridiculous yards against us. Our focus is going to be stopping the run.” Pimentel said it’s rare that an opponent can dominate the Bears physically. “That’s just not us,” he said. “We don’t get beaten up physically. We are going to answer the challenge.”

Jay Heater’s (Contra Costa Times) blog:

The theme of today’s media conference was very clear. Jeff Tedford told his players “you got your butt kicked last season, now what are you going to do about it?”

Tedford has been very good about issuing challenges to his players. When Oregon State has been able to run against the Bears, it has handled them. The Beavers also have mugged Cal’s receivers at the line of scrimmage and that has had a significant effect on the game.

Tedford wants his players to understand this is another of those smack down challenges, a physical war along the line of scrimmage. And that just doesn’t mean the front seven. Those defensive backs and wide receivers will be hammering each other the entire game.

ESPN’s Bruce Feldman picks:

No. 20 Cal 41, Oregon State 17: The Bears have way too many weapons for Oregon State to handle. On paper, this sounds like a nice challenge for Cal QB Nate Longshore since the Beavers lead the Pac-10 in passing defense by a fairly large margin. (Opposing QBs are only completing 45 percent of their passes and have thrown just one TD against 5 INTs.) But I think Longshore and his speedy collection of receivers are going to light them up.
Thing that has me sold: Cal’s skill level.