Following last Saturday's loss to USC at the L.A. Coliseum, the Cal football team has seen its 2008 road record drop to 1-3, with the one victory coming against hapless Washington State.

Asked on Tuesday about his team's apparent road woes, Bears coach Jeff Tedford dismissed it as "probably just circumstance," citing the fact that Maryland, Arizona and the Trojans-who have dealt Cal its three road losses-are "all pretty good teams."

"I don't think it's the way we travel," he said. "I don't think it's the way we prepare. I think the kids do a good job of staying focused, so my initial reaction would be no, there's not anything we need to change."

The Bears visit yet another hostile environment on Saturday in Oregon State's Reser Stadium, site of the Beavers' shocking upset of USC earlier this season. With Oregon State leading the conference and owning an inside track to the Rose Bowl, Tedford said that he is expecting a record crowd in a venue that already ranks alongside the Coliseum and Oregon's Autzen Stadium as one of the rowdier stadiums of the Pac-10.

According to safety Brett Johnson, merely keeping composure in that kind of environment is the first step toward success away from home.

"Everybody goes in with the same game plan, whether it's home or away," Johnson said. "It's a matter of not having the crowd rattle your nerves, not paying attention to the outside influences and just focusing on what you came to do.

"For the most part we haven't done very well ... It's something that we have to work on, something we have to get over if we want to be the type of caliber team that we're capable of being."

• Noise Factor

After dealing with the surround sound from 90,000 fans at the Coliseum, Tedford said that his team shouldn't be surprised by the noise that it will face at Reser Stadium, which holds 45,674 people at capacity.

Still, the Bears were flagged for multiple false starts last Saturday, and the touchdown pass to Shane Vereen that was called back on account of an ineligible receiver downfield stemmed from the inability of wideouts Jeremy Ross and Nyan Boateng to communicate about who should be on the line of scrimmage.

Offensive guard Mark Boskovich also said that the noise often compromised Cal's use of a cadence at the line, causing the Bears to work off of the quarterback on second-and-long and third-and-long situations.

"It's tough when you have pick packages and you have the play called at the line and you're trying to hear something," Boskovich said. "That makes it really difficult. And sometimes playing off the ball's a little hard because you're looking at the ball one second and next you have a defensive lineman right on you."

• Wideouts Emerging

Although the Cal offense didn't have many highlights against the Trojans, wideout Verran Tucker made arguably the play of the season with his jaw-dropping one-handed catch in the third quarter.

Fellow wideout Nyan Boateng was lucky enough to have a front-row view.

"It was sick, man," Boateng said. "I didn't even think he was going to be able to make it, but (quarterback Kevin Riley) put the ball anywhere in his vicinity and he was able to grab it. It was one of the best catches I've seen in my life."

After beginning this season as one of the biggest question marks for the Bears, the receiving corps has come on as of late with Boateng, Tucker and Jeremy Ross establishing themselves as go-to players.

Still, the ever-candid Boateng admitted on Tuesday that the wideouts' progression has taken longer than he originally anticipated.

"It's been real frustrating, but that's what happened when we have new starters," he said. "You graduate all your receivers, it takes a little bit of time.

"I didn't think it was going to go this far into the season, but I think we learned a lot from this season."

Tags: BRETT JOHNSON, VERRAN TUCKER, WILL TA'UFO'OU, JEFF TEDFORD, CAL FOOTBALL, NYAN BOATENG