Tedford's Puzzling QB Indecision

The California Golden Bears have dropped their last two games by a combined score of 72-6. In those two losses to the Oregon Ducks and the USC Trojans, the Bears are 15-of-46 on third down conversions. Against the Ducks Cal QB Kevin Riley was 12-of-31 for 123 yards, and against the Trojans Riley completed 15-of-40 for 199 yards and 1 interception.

I don’t have a problem with Riley having bad games, but I do question Jeff Tedford’s resistance to putting in a different QB. This has been an issue with the Bears program for the last couple of seasons.

Former Bears QB Nate Longshore had a lot of bad games, but kept his job. Riley took over for Longshore for the last couple of games last year, but Tedford went right back to Longshore for the Emerald Bowl. Cal has been lacking consistent play at the QB position since Aaron Rodgers left for the NFL.

(Continue to Inside the Pac-10)

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Fall of Troy? Not So Fast

Pete Carroll's motto is "Win Forever." And by and large, that's what he has done at USC since becoming the head coach in 2001.

After starting 1-4 in his career at Troy, Carroll has laid waste to the college football landscape. Since 2002, the Trojans have gone 83-10. The 10 games they did lose were by a combined total of 39 points (by comparison, Cal lost to Oregon by 39 points just last week). During that span, each game USC lost was by seven or fewer points. In fact, the largest margin of defeat in the Carroll era was 11, a 27-16 loss at Notre Dame in his rookie season. Pete has made amends by not allowing the Irish to beat the Trojans since.


But it looks as if USC is at a crossroads. Coming into this Saturday's game at Cal, the Trojans are vulnerable. They may be ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll, but they have struggled offensively with a freshman quarterback. And just this week, they lost running back Stefon Johnson after a freak and near-catastrophic weight room accident.

(Continue to BCS Guru)

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Ducks Take Bears to the Woodshed

California entered Autzen Stadium as the No. 6 team in the country with the hopes of finally living up to expectations and capturing a Pac-10 title this season. The Bears leave Autzen Stadium with an embarrassing 42-3 loss to the Ducks. Now the USC/Cal game next week might be an elimination game, leaving the loser with no shot at the Rose Bowl.

After going down to the Ducks it will be very difficult for the Bears to come back and beat the Trojans next week. Oregon was off the radar after its disappointing 19-8 loss to Boise State in the first week of the college football season. Since that defeat the Ducks bounced back and beat Purdue, 38-36, and Utah, 31-24. After this impressive win over the Bears, Oregon will be ranked again and is back in the hunt for first place in the conference.

(Continue to Inside the Pac-10)

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