Stanford @ California preview
California Memorial Stadium
Last Meeting ( Nov 21, 2009 ) California 34, Stanford 28
A week after nearly changing the landscape of the entire college football postseason, California gets ready to host another national power when Stanford comes to town in a Pac-10 Conference game Saturday afternoon.
Cal, as an 18 1/2-point underdog, nearly stunned top-ranked Oregon last week. The Bears held the powerhouse Ducks offense to just 15 points in a 15-13 loss at Berkeley, Calif.
What made the outcome even more stunning is that Oregon shut down its offensive attack in the fourth quarter and held on for dear life. Oregon moved to 10-0 on the season and remained atop the BCS standings – barely.
While many may think that Cal (5-5, 3-4 Pac-10) is in for a letdown this week, that doesn’t seem likely with rival Stanford headed to town.
The Bears have won the last two meetings in The Game. California has also won seven of the last eight games in the series. And this time they’re the underdogs.
Stanford has lost just once on the season, a 52-31 defeat also to Oregon. In that game the Cardinal led the Ducks 21-3 but had no hope of trying to outscore the nation’s top-scoring offense.
Cal stayed in the game the whole way against Oregon with its lock-down defense.
The Bears are still minus starting quarterback Kevin Riley, who suffered a knee injury in Cal’s 35-7 loss at Oregon State. Brock Mansion has played since but with limited results. Mansion has thrown for just 378 yards in three games with only one touchdown and two interceptions.
Riley was off to a fantastic start. He had 1,409 yards with 14 touchdowns in his first seven starts of the season. Shane Vereen leads Cal’s potent run game with 998 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Stanford (9-1, 6-1) continues to climb in the national polls but its BCS bowl hopes are slipping away.
The Cardinal held off Arizona State 17-13 last week. It was an unimpressive performance for Andrew Luck and the nation’s No. 8-ranked team.
But when Stanford needed him, Luck was up to the task.
After throwing an interception and losing a fumble, Luck took the Cardinal down the field in the game’s final minutes and Owen Marecic capped a 10-play, 85-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring.
Stanford then salted the game away with a nine-play drive to run out the clock.
Luck has vaulted himself into the outskirts of the Heisman Trophy picture.
While Auburn’s Cam Newton has become the subject of sports talk shows around the nation for his alleged recruiting improprieties, Luck’s squeaky clean image and gaudy numbers have given the Cardinal an outside shot at a Rose Bowl berth. They’ll need some outside help to get there. For now they’re projected for an Alamo Bowl bid.
Luck has thrown for 2,505 yards and 22 touchdowns against just seven interceptions.
One of Luck’s top targets, Chris Owusu, is questionable for Saturday’s game with an undisclosed injury.
Stepfan Taylor will be ready to go. Taylor has given Stanford a one-two punch by rushing for 849 yards and 11 touchdowns on the season.