Ranking Is Bears’ No. 2 Priority

For the first time in more than half a century, the Cal football team is ranked so high that it only has one team looking down on it.

Somehow, someway, Cal is ranked No. 2 in the country.

And in a season that has been as topsy-turvy, as upside-down and backwards as the greatest of the late Kurt Vonnegut’s novels, it’s sort of boring to see that the Bears aren’t overlooking their next opponent, struggling Oregon State.

So it goes.

But while it may be boring to hear Cal coach Jeff Tedford repeatedly say that he has no idea—and no care for—what ranking his football team has attained, it’s also rather refreshing.

In Berkeley, the Bears do things right. Maybe they’ve learned from what happened in Arizona last year. Maybe they don’t want to be the next Michigan.

But whatever Tedford has done, the Cal players know that the light at the end of the tunnel is too far away to even start thinking about it.

Like having a bowl of the breakfast of champions in the morning, the Bears know the first thing to success is to think about the next game and not be keened in on what happens in January.

“It’s great to see us up that high and it’s great publicity for the university,” senior Greg Van Hoesen said. “As far as football is concerned, we have tough games from here on out. We have to be focused on week-to-week just because we can’t be looking ahead like that.”

Looking ahead is what probably got the Bears in trouble last year against the Wildcats.

It was looking ahead to playing USC for the outright Pac-10 title and Cal’s first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1959 that may have led to the lackadaisical play in the desert heat last November.

But with all the upsets that have happened this season—Appalachian State over Michigan, Oregon over Michigan, Colorado over Oklahoma, Kentucky over Louisville, Auburn over Florida and of course Stanford over the Trojans—the Bears have become weary of not becoming too complacent and not finishing the job.

They know not to get caught up in the cat’s cradle.

“This whole season has been nothing but people getting knocked off, over and over, week after week,” linebacker Worrell Williams said. “It’s a little easier for us to stay focus. It makes it that much easier when you see teams getting knocked off. Maybe we should just stay focused on what lies ahead of us.”

And what lies ahead for Cal is Oregon State.

A team that has the best run defense in the Pac-10. A team has taken the last three meetings at Memorial Stadium.

That’s what the Bears have been focused on the last two weeks.

“I think about Oregon State and how we can be successful this week against Oregon State,” Tedford said. “All the other things outside are external. It’s not something to get caught up on or think about or anything. It’s about our day-to-day preparation and what we can do to hopefully be successful against Oregon State.”

But one would think that a team that hasn’t been ranked this high in over a half century would be resting on its laurels.

Then again, Tedford reminds us that Cal has been here before.

“There’s enough leadership on this team to know what it’s all about,” Tedford said. “Guys have been here long enough and have been in the top 10 or whatever and know how to handle how we’re supposed to take care of our business.”

So it goes for the No. 2 team in the country.

It’s cliche, but it’s right—the Bears have gone through this season one day at a time, one week at a time. That’s why Cal is one of the 11 teams left undefeated.

It’s been eyes on the prize. But before they can get to the prize, the Bears have to be focused on the Beavers.

In a season that has seen too many teams overlook inferior opponents, it seems that Cal’s got that down pat.

So it goes.

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