College Football: California Preview

As part of this becoming the all-sports blog for are three San Gabriel Valley Newspapers, and part of our college football overage, I will post a capsule of all Pac-12 teams for the upcoming season. We'll begin with the North Division, and today we take a brief look at California

CALIFORNIA BEARS
Coach: Jeff Tedford
Years at school: 10
Record: 72-42
2010 Record: 5-7 overall, 3-6 in conference
Division: North
2011 prediction: Fifth
Outlook: The Bears have been one of the conference's most consistent programs, playing in a bowl during Tedford's first nine seasons. All that changed last year, and the outlook doesn't look good for Cal in 2011. The Bears are inexperienced in the backfield, where Buffalo transfer Zach Maynard steps in at quarterback and junior Ise Sofele is the starter at tallback. Marvin Jones is one of the better returning receivers in the conference. But Cal, which will play all home games at AT&T Park while Memorial Stadium is refurbished, will be hard pressed to get back to a bowl game.
Quotable: "We have created a standard and expectation at Cal over the last nine years," Cal coach Jeff Tedord said. "Last season we fell short of that, and we're not hiding from that. We understand that there is a very fine line between winning and losing. We need to improve and get back to the standard and fulfilling the expectation that our fans and alumni have for our football program."