BERKELEY — There's your answer: USC. Next question.
This wasn't a game, it was a reminder. When the Trojans put their minds to it, they also put an end to it. They certainly put an end to any thought Cal is in their league, figuratively that is.
Even if the Golden Bears are in the Pac-10. they no longer are in the Pac-10 race, not after the way USC crushed them 30-3.
Not the way USC crushed any hopes that the Trojans would be less than expected this season, even with the annual upset to a lesser light, this one to Washington.
That was an aberration. That was tradition. That was not an indication.
But this romp over Cal on a cool windy Saturday evening in front of a sellout crowd of 71,799 at Memorial Stadium was more than an indication. Whatever was wrong with Trojans at Seattle has been corrected, in a very big way.
"The way we moved the ball around was great," said USC coach Pete Carroll after his sixth straight win over Cal. "(Freshman quarterback Matt Barkley) played football like a real football player. Matt is our guy. We' re growing game by game."
Cal, which was supposed to challenge USC for the conference title, which two weekends ago was ranked No. 6 in The Associated Press poll, is getting worse game by game.
A week ago it took a 3-0 lead in the opening minute and then was whipped 42-3 by Oregon.
Against USC, the Bears threw an interception in the end zone with a minute gone and then were shut out for the next 49 minutes, or a total of 108 minutes going back the first 60 seconds at Eugene. Cal hasn't scored a touchdown in two games.
"Our defense," Carroll said to nobody's surprise, "was tremendous."
The opening three games, Cal's Jahvid Best had rushed for 412 yards and scored eight touchdowns. He was being promoted as a genuine Heisman Trophy candidate. But he gained only 55 in 16 carries at Oregon and less than that, 49 yards in 14 attempts, against a USC defense which some thought questionable.
"We attacked the running game," Carroll said, "and when they tried to pass we had pressure from the front."
So, for the first time in his eight seasons as Cal coach, Jeff Tedford has gone winless in his first two conference games.
The Bears appeared to play scared, or at least trying to keep the score close. Trailing 20-0 with some two and a half minutes left in the half and the ball on its own 38, fourth and one, Cal punted.
The boos were comparable to those USC fans offered at the Coliseum against Washington State.
Then, when Cal attempted, and missed, a field goal from USC's 21-yard line, with seven seconds left in the half, the boos were even louder.
Expectations had become disgust.
"Give USC credit," Tedford said. "They are a great football team. Their defense is one of the best in the country. We didn't execute very well in the passing game. But we can't be one-dimensional. We have to throw the football in order to be successful.
"We were zero-dimensional today, because we couldn't run it and we couldn't throw it."
The Bears were virtually zero on the scoreboard too, with only a 29-yard field goal with 4 minutes 15 seconds remaining preventing the shutout.
Barkley, who was at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana a year ago, was efficient, completing 20 of 35 for 283 yards, one of those passes for 56 yards to fullback Stanley Havili on the first play of USC's second possession.
The Trojans had been knocked because they had the worst third-down percentage in the Pac-10, 11 of 44, but they were 6 of 15 against Cal, and started on the first series.
"Third down is a big down," agreed Barkley. "We stretched (Cal's defense), and our guys did a great job of getting open. I think the coaches have had faith in me the whole time, but they've decided to open the playbook now.
"We think we're the best team in the Pac-10. We don't worry about anybody else."
Now everybody else has to worry about USC.
As everybody has forever.
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