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USF faces lawsuit by former coach The break up of former men’s basketball head coach Jessie Evans and the University of San Francisco got messy with a lawsuit slapped on the university by Evans who is suing on the grounds that he was unlawfully terminated last season. Evans was fired last month, despite having two mores years left on his contract after being told to take a leave of absence in December. Eddie Sutton took over for the rest of the season. Evans is seeking emotional distress and punitive damages in his case. Evans claims that the leave of absence was not his choice, but he was forced out of his position by the university. OSU to look elsewhere for new coach Bill Grier guided his San Diego men’s basketball squad to a WCC Tournament title and a first round win over UCONN in the NCAA Tourney in 2008. That made him a hot commodity as a head coach. Grier will remain at USD after turning down an offer by Oregon St to become their new head coach next season. Grier was the second WCC head coach to turn down an offer from the more high profile Pac 10. St. Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett did not try and pursue the vacancy created at Cal when their head coach, Ben Braun, was let go after 12-seasons at Cal. Coach Bennett has guided the Gaels to a pair of NCAA appearances in his short time in Moraga and the Bears were thought to be interested in him, but they went out and hired former Stanford head coach Mike Montgumery to coach the Bears. Montgumery took over a Stanford team in 1986 that had not gone to the NCAA Tourney since 1949. They became staples in the tourney during Mike time on the Farm.
Stanford marches on A 28, second half outburst by center Brook Lopez helped Stanford advance to the Sweet 16 by beating Marquette 82-81 in an overtime thriller in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tourney. The win was sealed when Lopez, held to just two first half points, caught the ball down low and turned to make a ten foot jumper that hit the rim then the backboard before dropping through the hoop. Brook's shot gave Marquette only 1.3 seconds to make something happen. They did not helping Stanford cured their first round problems and they will now face Texas in the Southwest Regional semi final's, otherwise known as the Sweet 16. It has become the bench mark for a very successful season. Making the NCAA Tournament is nice, but if you do not win a game in the tourney you can look like a charity case. Just ask the Cardinal, who have been ousted in the first round of the past couple of times. Against Marquette, the Cardinal survived the loss of their coach, Trent Johnson, who was slapped with two technical fouls late in the first half and ejected. Assistant coach Doug Oliver took over and he kept it simple. Find Brooke Lopez. Stanford was done by as much as 11 in the first half closed the gap to 36-30 at the half. This was a game of runs and Stanford went on a 18-6 run of their own to go up six with 11-minutes left in the game. Foul trouble to their two big big, Brooke and Robin Lopez slowed down Stanford. The twin towers had to sit four over four minutes in the second half with three fouls each. Marquette took advantage, racing to a six point advantage with six minutes left. Stanford made up the six little by little until a Robin free throw with eight seconds left forced overtime. Jerel McNeal did his best to help Marquette win the game in overtime. He hit three trey's in the extra period, but the last one with 2-minutes left in overtime made it 81-80 Golden Eagles and it would be the last points Marquette would score in the game. Stanford's Mitch Johnson would finish off a great game at the point with assist number 16 on Brook's game winner. That was the second most assists in one game in NCAA Tourney history. More click here
St. Mary's light's it up down south The St. Mary's Gaels were never hotter then they were Monday night in their 100-64 win at Pepperdine. The Gaels hit a school record 17 three pointers in the win.
The Gaels jumped out to a 21-6 lead and never looked back. Diamond Simpson was perfect from the field hitting all five of his shots and both of his free throw attempts scoring 13pts and pulling down 13-rebounds. Todd Golden continued to play well scoring 15pts and dishing out 10-assists. The Gaels were 17 of 29 from behind the arc against the Waves and they are now 23-3, 10-1 in the WCC. St. Mary's steps out of conference Feb. 23rd when they host Kent St. in a bracket buster game for NCAA hopefuls. Next Monday San Diego comes to Moraga giving the Gaels a chance to pay back the only WCC team to beat them this year. USF gets another win for Eddie USF got career high's from Danny Cavic 25pts and Vince Polakovic 20pts in their 73-60 win over Portland Monday night. WCC leading scorer Dior Lowhorn added 14pts in the win. USF lead by as much as 14 in the second half before Portland made a game of it, taking a brief lead, 51-50 with seven minutes left in the game. USF outscored Portland 23-9 the rest of the way. Santa Clara rode the big back of center John Bryant to a win over Loyola Marymount to cap off a sweep of the LA schools over the weekend. Big John had a career high 36pts to go along with 15-rebounds against Loyola. The Bronco's led 32-19 at the half. The second half is where Big John made his mark, scoring 23 of Santa Clara's 34pts. San Jose St. tops Utah St. 70-67 The San jose St. Spartans got a career high 21pts from second year forward Chris Oakes in their win over Utah St. (18-9, 8-4 WAC). It was the second win in a row for San Jose St., now 12-13, 4-8 WAC.
Stanford sweeps Arizona schools while Cal drops to 9th in the Pac 10 It was not a good weekend if you follow Cal men's basketball. The boys got swept in two games they could have won leaving them all alone in ninth place in the Pac 10. The Cal women are a different story. They are rolling along at 15-2, 3-0 in the Pac 10 as they get ready to face #5 Stanford down on the Farm Jan. 26th. The Lady Bears are healthy for the first time all season after center Devanei Hampton returned from injury. Hampton lit up Arizona St. for a career high 28pts in the Bears 64-51 win over their league rival last week. It was Cal's first win at ASU since 1999. The Bears raced out to a 16-0 lead and they led by as much as 33-10 late in the first half before ASU went on a 11-1 run to close out the half. Cal missed 9 of their first 11 shots in the second half and ASU got as close as 40-36 before Hampton scored five points in a row to get Cal back on track. # 7 Stanford tuned up for their game against #9 Cal by sweeping the Arizona schools over the weekend.
St. Mary’s heads into conference play on a roll The Gaels got a much needed boost towards a possible berth in the 2008 NCAA Tournament later this year. They are a gaudy 14-2 on the eve of their WCC league opener, a home game against cross bay rival Santa Clara at 5pm Saturday.
St. Mary’s went on the road and beat Fresno St. 77-68 behind 17pts and six rebounds from Jr. forward Diamond Simpson. St. Mary’s only two losses were at So.Illionis and Texas and winning road games, especially out of conference games, looks good on a teams resume when they are trying to get a ticket to the Big Dance. Over 9,000 fans packed into the Save Mart Center and the Gaels responded to the hostile environment by taking a 37-24 halftime lead. Center Omar Samhan chipped in with 13pts and 12-rebounds as the Gaels exploited Fresno St. inside. St. Mary's won the rebounding battle 41-24 and they led by as much as 17 in the second half before Fresno St. made a run to make it close. Fresno's Bryan Harvey hit back to back three's to make it a 54-48 Gael's advantage before St. Mary's Ian O'Leary and Patrick Mills hit three of their own to spark a 8-0 Gaels run that put the game away. Could this be the year St. Mary's gets past Gonzaga and win the WCC regular season title. They have finished second the past few years and they look like they have the talent and depth to give Gonzaga a run for the title. The Zags enter conference play 11-4 with wins against Georgia and at Virginia Tech and UCONN. Their four losses are all against NCAA Tourney type teams, #8 Washington St., #11 Tennessee, at Oklahoma and Texas Tech. The Zags are being led by guards Matt Bouldin and Jeremy Pargo. They are also working forward Josh Heytvelt back into the rotation. Josh, a talented but troubled player, was arrested and kicked off the team after he was stopped while driving impaired and booked for drug possession. After the top two, it seems to be a wide open race for third place in the WCC. Santa Clara has come back down to earth after starting the season out 7-3. Six of those wins came on the road. The Bronco's enter conference plat 8-7 after losing 62-59 to San Jose St. Monday night. That is not the way new head coach San Diego might the dark horse in conference play. They showed they can play with anybody in the conference after heading out to hoops country and beating Kentucky in front of over 19,000 strong at Rupp Arena.
Beavers end season on a good note Senior tailback Yvenson Bernard also had a going away party at the expense of Maryland. Bernard rushed for 177-yards and one TD, carrying the ball 38-times. He could of had two scores, but he fumbled at the Maryland one yard line.
It was almost like he was passing on some sort of torch because freshmen James Rogers scooped up the ball and scored what proved to be the winning score with ten seconds left in the third quarter. Yvenson finished his colligate career as the sixth all time leading rusher in the history of the Pac 10. Rogers ran for 115-yards of his own and he caught a short touchdown pass in the first quarter for Oregon St's first points of the game. The Beavers defense was nasty against the run. The first three quarters saw Maryland produce a grand total of two yards rushing. Oregon St. came into the game was the nation's second ranked run defense. Maryland had only 19-yards rushing in the game and they did not score in the last three quarters of the ball game. Their two scores came through the air. QB Chris Turner threw for 205-yards and he connected with Isaiah Williams and Darrius Heyward-Bey to give Maryland a 14-7 first quarter lead. This was Oregon St's seventh win in their final eight games of the 2007 season and it was their fourth straight bowl win under their head coach Mike Riley
Stanford stuns top ranked USC in La La Land No way did anybody really think that Stamford could come into Los Angeles and beat USC. They were 40pt underdogs for crying out loud. They started a QB that was making his very first start in college. Tavita Pritchard threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on fourth-and-goal with 49 seconds remaining Saturday night, giving the Cardinal a 24-23 victory over No. 2 Southern California. That set off a party in Palo Alto that has not stop yet. The team was greeted by a few thousand fans when their bus got back to Stanford a couple of hours after the game. Pritchard got the start when T.C. Ostrander had seizure last week. T.C. is okay and so are the Cardinal after watching Pritchard throw for 130-yards and the game winning TD. The Cardinals defense was solid the whole game, making USC work for just about every thing they got. USC QB Josh Booty was 24 of 41 (362-yards) and two touchdowns. Booty broke his finger in the second quarter and then he proceeded to throw four interceptions the rest of the game. Head coach Pete Carroll new his starting QB was hurt at half time, but he stayed with him. Stanford played great defense. They forced five turnovers, four interceptions, and they had a goal line stand at the end of the first half. USC lead 9-0 at the half but it could have been 16-0 if Stanford's D did not hold on 4th and 1 with eight seconds left in the first half. The Cardinal D got the upset ball rolling in the 3rd quarter. Safety Austin Yancy made his first career interception and ran 31 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter to make it 9-7 USC. Wopamo Osaisai return Booty's final pick 18-yards to set up Sanford for the game winning drive at the USC 45. Pritchard was two of six passing on the final drive, both completions came on 4th down. The first one was a 4th and 20 that he hit Richard Sherman for 20 and a half yards and a first and ten at the USC nine. UCLA dashed a lot of people dreams of Notre Dame going winless in 2007. The Bruins welcomed back So Cal QB and one of the top rated high school players of 2007 in Jimmy Claussen out of Oaks Christian. Now starting as a freshmen at Notre Dame, Claussen scored his first touchdown and he got his first win in front of the home folk. Jimmy's TD came rushing and not passing like a quarterback is known for. It came in a win and as Notre Dame fans know, those are hard to come by these days. It took a lot of help from UCLA themselves who had to throw a third string walk on into the game after the first two QB got hurt. Starter Ben Olsen hurt his knee in the first quarter and McLeod Bethel-Thompson, the pride of Balboa HIgh in San Francisco, got his chance to play. It did not go as Bethel-Thompson would have liked. He had a touchdown pass dropped in the 20-9 loss, but he did throw four interceptions and he fumbled three times. He only lost one of them, but you can't throw away plays like that. UCLA as a team turned the ball over seven times, giving the Irish great field position. Notre Dame took advantage of the short field's to put up the most points that they have scored all season. The Bruins have a bye week to get ready for the Cal Bear's at home. UCLA will head into the game 3-0 in the Pac 10 and the game could go a long ways towards a Rose Bowl Berth. USC is now behind UCLA, Cal and Arizona St. in the Pac 10 standings. The Bears still have to play each of those teams so if they can get by those three they will have earned their lofty rankings.
San Jose St. in the thick of the WAC race After losing their first three games by a combined score of 115-17, San Jose St. has come back to take three straight and they have scored at least 23pts in each of their wins.
Next up for them is a home date with league favorite Hawai'i Friday night. Their is a four way tie atop the WAC standings with Hawai'i (3-0), Fresno and San Jose St. (2-0) and Boise St. (1-0). This is money time for San Jose St. After Hawai'i the Spartans travel to Fresno and Boise St. The Spartans got some help in the running game in their 28-20 win over Idaho. James T. Callier rushed for 93-yards on 31-carries and San Jose St. rushed for more then one hundred yards in a game for the firs time all season. They will have to keep that up if they are to compete with the big boys of the WAC the next three weeks. QB Adam Tafralis has heated up as the season has gone along. he was 22 of 30 for 302-yards and two touchdowns against Idaho last week. Kevin Jurovich caught 10 passes for 161 yards to become the first Spartans receiver with back-to-back games of 100 receiving yards or more in five years Kevin has emerged as Tafralis' go to man in his first year as a Spartan. Replacing two wide receiver's who are now in the NFL has been tough, but David Richmond ( 29-catches, 423-yards three TD's) and Jurovich (37-catches, 521-yards three TD's) have filled the void well in the last three games. San Jose St. three wins came against teams that had a combined record of 3-15 and UC Davis has two of the wins. It is a good sign that San Jose St. wins the the games it should. Before head coach Dick Tomey got there, the Spartans would lose those games as well. Now, before a national audience the Spartans get a chance to shine.
Cal, Stanford and San Jose St. gear up for the 2007 football season With practice for the up coming season starting all over the bay area, their are many questions to be answered. Take Stanford for instance. The Cardinal opened up a brand new stadium only to have one of their worst season's in school history. In comes a new head coach, home grown Jim Harbaugh, to try and get the program back on it's feet. Over at San Jose St. and up at Cal, they are just trying to keep the ball rolling. Especially over at San Jose St. The Spartans had a break out, 9-4 season in 2006 that was capped off with a bowl victory. They return Adam Tafralis at quarterback. San Jose St. will also have the emerging Yonus Davis at tailback, but they will have to replace the talented duo of James Jones and John Broussard who combined for 1,737-yards receiving and 17 touchdowns last year. They are now in NFL camps trying to play on Sunday's. The Spartans open up at Arizona St. and Kansas St. before they play a game in the bay area. That game is up at Stanford who will be waiting for them after the Spartans win last year. A road game at Utah St will be waiting for them after Stanford. The well traveled Spartans will finally play at home against UC Davis Sept. 29th. If San Jose St. can come home with a couple of wins things could get interesting for San Jose St. San Jose St. will have have two top 25 teams remaining in a league schedule that starts at home when Idaho comes to town. The next week, preseason #24 Hawai'i heads to San Jose. This will begin the make or break stretch for the Spartans. Games at Fresno St. and #23 Boise St. follow their game against Hawai'i. The Bears must replace the impact of Marshawn Lynch, Buffalo's first round draft pick (12th) in the 2007 NFL Draft. Cal does have one of the best group of receivers in college. DeSean Jackson, Robert Jordan and LaVelle Hawkins should create problems this year for opposing teams secondaries giving returning QB Nate Longshore plenty of options to throw to. Just having Longshore back for his second full season as starter will be a blessing for head coach Jeff Tedford. This will be the first time in his five years of coaching at Cal that he will have his starter from the previous year back under center. Stanford is just looking to get back to respectability after going 1-9 in 2006. You name and it went wrong for the Cardinal in 06. Zero wins at home in a new stadium.
New head coach Jim Harbaugh prepped across the street at Palo Alto High and he has kicked up quite a bit of dust before holding his first full team practice. He shined a light on his college alma mater, Michigan, saying that he along with many other top players were told not to take any hard classes while they played football there. That did not go over so well in Ann Arbor or with some of his former teammates in college. Non of that will matter when UCLA hits town in the first game of the season Harbaugh was successful at UC San Diego, a D2 school that does not offer scholarship's but it did offer the same thing Stanford does. A tough admissions board. If he could win with non scholarship players, then having that bonus should help him get into the living rooms of some of America's top high school football talent's homes and apartment's. Stanford will look to T.C. Ostrander as their quarterback in 2007. He got some on the job training the last two years playing behind the oft injured trent Edwards who is now trying to make the move to the NFL. A lot of Stanford's chances for a good season will lay with an offensive line that has four starters returning from a season in which they gave up a NCAA D1 worst 50-sacks last season. T.C. will have two experienced receivers to throw to, if they can stay healthy. Fifth year seniors Evan Moore and Mark Bradford have seen it all in the Pac 10 since coming to Stanford. After UCLA and San Jose St., Stanford hosts Oregon and Arizona St. Their first road game is a dozy. A trip to LA and a date with Pac 10 favorite USC. Stanford Pac 10 fate will be decided quick in 2007.
Bay area prep stars shine at the 2007 Pac 10 track and field championships UCLA's Kevin Craddock, who prepped at nearby James Logan High in Union City, took another step towards becoming an elite hurdler by winning the 110 hurdles in 13.48.
It was his career best and he picked Mother's Day to do it. "I am so happy that I could do this at home, in front of my mom. She told me that I would run 13.4 today and she was right." said a happy Craddock after the race. Former El Cerrito sprinter Ashley Lodree, now a senior at Washington, did not get a victory in the 100m hurdles or 100m dash, but she did finish second in the hurdles (13.31) and fourth in the 100m dash (11.54).
UCLA long and triple jumper Renee Williams won a state title a couple of years ago while at Skyline High of Oakland in the long jump. Now a senior, Williams got a chance to compete in front of her family and friends one more time placing 4th in the long jump and triple jump at the Pac 10 championships. More click here
Stanford sweeps Cal in the Big Meet Stanford enjoyed the home cooking by winning on both the men and women side of things at Cobb Track and Angell Field on the Stanford campus. This was the 113th edt ion of the Big Meet between the two good friends. On the women's side the Cardinal got past the Bears 86.5 to 76.5, while the men defeated Cal 88-75. The Stanford women finished one, two, three in the 100m dash with Jakki Bailey taking first (11.53), Janice Edwards came in second (11.63) and Sarah Matthews rounded out the sweep (11.89). Bailey and Edwards times were under the NCAA Regional qualifying standards. In all 21 NCAA Regional's marks were set by the Cardinal track and field squad. Josh Hustedt (24'-01.5") won the long jump and made it past the regional mark. Adrian Munabi came in second with a leap of 24'.25". The Bears did have a few highlights. One bright spot for Cal was Thomas Mack who got under the NCAA Regional standard with a 13.95 in the 110 hurdles. He did not stop their. Mack, a junior, was the fastest man at the track during the meet. Mack took first in the 100m dash (10.57) and the 200m dash (21.62). Stanford's Michael Garcia got under the regional standard in the 800m, clocking a 1:50.19. Three people got under the standard in the 1500m. Russell Brown won the event in 3:44.38 followed closely by Sanford's Garrett Heath (3:44.66) and Cal's Michael Coe, just a freshmen (3:46.68). Cal Jr. Ed Wright cleared 7'00.5" to remain the only Pac 10 high jumper to clear seven feet in 2007. He has done it twice now, both times he pulled it off at Stanford. Cal's Kelechi Anyanwu got over the hump in both the shot put and discus throw. Anyamwu toss the shot 15.43 meters, easily passing the NCAA regional standard of 14.30m. In the discus, Kelechi was 17-feet farther then second place Emilee Strot of Stanford. Strot threw the Discus 163'-11", but no where near the 180'-11" Kelechi threw the discus. Strot, just a freshmen, placed second in the shot put with a heave of 14.88. More click here
Tickets are getting punched as teams make plans for the Big Dance Conference tourney's are underway and chase is on to win the national title in college basketball. If you root for a so-called bubble team, you want the regular season conference champs to run the table and win their conference tourney. Their are a whole lot of big name teams that are sweating out the details trying to make the NCAA Tourney. The biggest winner in all of this could be the NIT, who might see a field of big name teams looking to make amends for not getting a chance to dance. More click here UCLA states case for #1 seed in the NCAA Tourney The UCLA Bruins got back at the Stanford Cardinal with their 75-61 win. Aaron Afflalo scored 20-points to lead the way for the Bruins, now 25-3, 14-2 in the Pac 10. Stanford kept it close, thanks in large part to freshmen center Brook Lopez who had a game high 23-points and nine rebounds. The Cardinal might not be a lock to get in the Big Dance after getting swept in LA. USC completed the double sweep with their 84-66 win over Cal. USC broke open a close game with three quick buckets to push their lead to 61-49 with seven minutes left in the game.
St. Mary's lights it up in 92-83 win over USF It is hard to lose when you shot over 50% from the field and St. Mary's put that theory to the test in their 83-92 victory over cross bay rival USF Monday night in a battle of third place teams in the WCC. The Gaels hit just 48% from the field building a 39-33 half time lead. The second half is where the Gaels shined, hitting 16 of 26 shot attempt (61.5%) and scoring 53-points in the process. Senior Brett Collins led the way with 26-points. He was a prime example of the Gaels hot night. Collins hit 10 of his 13 shot attempts and he was 3 of 5 from behind the arc. All of that offset a career night by the Dons Manny Quezada who scored 35-poinhink that today was a little set back, but overall we have been playing well." said Quezada after the loss. The Dons came into this game winners of five of their last six games with an outside chance of locking down second place in the WCC and the two game bye in the WCC Tourney that it brings. Point guard Todd Golden was just that against the Dons. He was only 3 of 7 from the field, but his stat line at the end of the night was 15-points, 11-assists and nine rebounds. With that kind of production from the point guard spot it is hard to lose. "I think Todd played his best game here at St. Mary's tonight. He was all over the place. The way he controlled the tempo was a big reason why we were able to hold on to the lead like we did." said Gaels head coach Randy Bennett. Down 11-4 to start the game, the gaels began chipping away at the lead. They would go on to build a 17-point second half led on the way to the victory.
St. Mary's making their push for the post season St. Mary's hit bottom during a four losing streak that ended with a home loss to Southern Illinois. The Gaels were 6-8 at the time, but they had some close defeats
The Gaels lost to Cal Poly 72-59 which they followed with a win over Cal St. Bakersfield. Then came the four game losing streak with losses on the road to #21 Nevada, #8 U-CONN, St. Joe's and a home loss to S. Illinois. The Gaels are 6-1 since after getting past San Diego 85-78 down south Monday night. The win keeps the Gaels even with Santa Clara who got past USF up on the Hilltop 61-58 Monday night. Scott Dougherty paced Santa Clara with 19-points, making four of five three point shots. The Dons did not have a very good week. They started it in first place and after losing in over time to St. Mary's and by three to the Bronco's, find themselves a game back at 7-13, 3-2 in the WCC. Santa Clara lost to Gonzaga which lost to St. Mary's which lost to Santa Clara. They are all 4-1 in league play. The Gaels catch a break in the schedule with four in a row at home. Pepperdine followed by Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara and San Diego come through Moraga before the Gaels have to hit the road again. The Gaels are 10-2 at home this season. More click here
San Jose St. closes out regular season with a win over rival Fresno St. The Spartans jumped out on Fresno St., scoring on their first play of the game. San Jose QB Adam Tafralis hit wide receiver John Broussard in stride for a 85-yard TD 35-seconds in the game.The Spartans D got into the act after Fresno got the ball. Defensive back Christopher Owens made the first of his two interceptions setting up a second Tafralis touchdown pass, this one a 10-yard strike to James T. Callier with 11:36 still left in the first quarter .Fresno St. got back in the game in the second quarter, scoring 14 straight point to tie the game, but San Jose came right back to take the lead before the half. Tafralis went deep again, this time connecting with James Jones for a 41-yard TD with 3-minutes left in the half. A 25-yard John Strubeck field goal would be the only scoring in the second half by either team.San Jose St. improved to 8-4, 5-3 in the WAC. It was the first victory over Fresno St. since 1990, breaking a 12-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. Cal, USC to duke it out for Pac 10 title Saturday They are finally going to meet on the football field. Cal lost a heartbreaker to Arizona taking some of the shine off this game, but the fact remains that the winner of this one has the inside track to the Rose Bowl.For USC, the game game has bigger implications. The Trojans have moved back up into the third spot after a Saturday that saw six of the top 20 teams lose.The Trojans sit behind Michigan and Ohio St, who play each other this weekend. One of those teams will lose and a USC win over Cal should put them back in second place in the country and a spot in the title game. If that happened and Cal beat Stanford in the Big Game, then the Bears would be back in line for a Rose Bowl appearance for the first time since the 50's. We all know what happened two years ago when Texas got picked over the Bears for the Rose Bowl. Bear fans hold your breath. It could get shady once again when it comes time to give out bowl invites. A bounce back win over USC would solve a lot of Cal's problems. Cal keeps control of the Pac 10 with their 38-24 win over UCLA The Bears showed that they mean business with their workman like victory over UCLA. The Bruins came into the game with one of the conference's best defense's, but the Bears had no problem moving up and down the field against UCLA. Photo by Ken Grimes
The Jr. tailback from nearby Oakland Tech rushed 20-times for 81-yards and he caught 4 passes good for 45-yards and a 24-yard TD pass in which he juked and ran by at least five UCLA defenders. He might be the hardest player to tackle one on one in college today. Second year player DeSean Jackson ended any UCLA hope with 2:36 left in the 3rd when he took advantage of a great block by Thomas DeCloud to bust loose for a 72-yard punt return for a TD making it 28-10 Cal. Jackson and Longshore earned Pac 10 co-players of the week for their efforts against UCLA. The game was over and the over 72,000 fans that packed Memorial Stadium in Berkeley had already started the party. Next up for Cal is a Arizona team that better not get overlooked before the Bears head down to LA for their Nov. 18th date with USC. Barring a loss by either team, that one will be for all the marbles in the Pac 10. If Cal runs the table it will be interesting how high the Bears climb in the BCS standings. Will a Rose Bowl berth be enough for the Bears, If they do not get picked for the national title game then what?. Two years ago they got dissed in favor of Texas for a Rose Bowl berth. A lot of Cal fans would love to have the Bears play the Michigan v. Ohio St. loser in the Rose Bowl. With the polling system and the BCS rankings, who knows what will happen. If Cal can score some points against USC and win the game, it should give the Bears a boost. The Trojans have had a few close calls this year, but they have only given up 123 points in 2006. USC hosts the PAC 10's best two offense's the next two weeks with Oregon and Cal coming through LA. Photo by Eric Taylor
Oregon features a very athletic David Dixon at the quarterback position. He is becoming a better passer with each game and he manages the game very well. USC will also have to contend with sophomore running back Jonathan Stewart who busted loose for 159-yards and two touchdowns in the Duck's 34-14 win over Washington last week. A lot will be decided in the PAc 10 the next two weeks. USC's to Oregon St. loss put them out of first place in the Pac 10 in years for the first time in years. A loss to Oregon and USC can all but forget about a record fifth straight Pac 10 title. That would leave the Trojans with two Pac 10 losses, Cal is still perfect in league play. If Cal beats Arizona Saturday, a Ducks victory over USC would leave the Bears in first place no matter if they beat SC or not. With one loss, Cal would have the tie breaker over the Duck since the Bears beat Oregon this year. Only the Big Game against a sorry Stanford squad would be in the way of Cal's first outright Pac 10 title in over fifty years. The beat goes on for the Stanford Cardinal Is Stanford going to win a game this season. Only Stanford fans seem to care anymore. The rest of the college football world has moved on, leaving the Cardinal for dead. The Huskies have had an up and down season. Mostly down.The Cardinal might be 0-7, but if you are a player, you better be at practice early this week because you have a chance to win a game. In a season like this you can't be choosey.It has been 11-games since the Cardinal tasted victory. T.C. Ostrander got the start under center for the Cardinal against USC. In the face the the 42-0 loss. T.C. had a decent day by Stanford standards.His 16 of 30, 178-yard day was the most yards Stanford has had passing since they played Navy in the third week of the season. USC put Stanford away with 21pts in the second quarter. Stanford did have one good scoring chance, bit a 33-yard field goal was blocked and returned 71-yards by the Trojans Terrell Thomas and it was 35-0 USC.USC was only up 7-0 after one quarter. The game turned when USC went for it on 4th and four from the Cardinal 31, making it. One play later Booty hit Steve Smith for another TD and it was 14-0 just like that. USC marched 98-yards just before the half, scoring another TD to make it 28-0 at the break. Stanford's best chance to win this year was against San Jose St. Their 35-34 loss was the only time Stanford has scored more then 10pts all season. That was in week 2. San Jose St. looking to reap the benefits of a fruitful young crop of young recruits The change is evident every where you look at the San Jose St. Spartan football team. They have long been the little sister of both Cal and Stanford in the bay area college football pecking order. Especially in recruiting high school seniors. The best in the bay have not had San Jose St. at the top of their list's when the time comes to decide where they will continue their careers. This past off-season might have put an end to that when
San Jose St. snapped up three blue chippers, two in their own back yard.
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Inside Sports 1st String Magazine All Rights Reserved 2000-08 |
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St. Mary's handled a team that it beat 79-74 just two ago, Patty Mills led the way with 18pts as St. Mary's stayed in a first place tie with Gonzaga. 
Things heat up quickly for Stanford in 2007. UCLA comes calling Sept. 1st. and four of Stanford first five games are against the Pac 10.
They lost 69-63 at USC, 93-82 overtime loss at Seton Hall.
The Ducks (7-2, 4-2 PAc 10) have put up a league high 427-points while Cal has scored 289-points this season.
To a man, nobody that plays or roots for them want to remain winless any longer. Last Saturday's 42-0 drubbing at the hands of a pissed off USC could be the lowest point of the season.Sure, losing to San Jose ST. will not be any kind of a highlight, but getting shut out, front of their biggest crowd of the season no doubt, has to suck big time. Stanford has a chance to win this week when they head up to play Washington Saturday. 
