Cal vs. Michigan State

LINKS

Sign up for the Cal Athletics Newsletters:
http://paciolan.myprefs.com/?@BearTerr&p2p=Signup

Jeff Tedford Names Riley as starting quarterback: (The word on the street is that Longstore will play a bunch as well)
http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082108aai.html

Cal vs. Michigan State Facts
http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082108aaf.html


Some of those facts:
Michigan State mascot: Sparty the Spartan. (How original!)

Openers:
In Cal's football history, the Golden Bears have posted a 69-39-4 record in season-openers. Jeff Tedford has recorded a 4-2 mark in lid-lifters. Leonard "Stub" Allison, who was far-and-away the most successful Cal coach in season-opening contests. During his 10-year tenure in Berkeley, Allison posted a 9-1 mark in contests that christened the season. Currently Cal is on a stretch of winning nine of its last 12 opening games.

Cal-Michigan State Series
Michigan State holds a 2-1 season series advantage over the Golden Bears:
9/14/02 - Cal 46, at Michigan State 22
9/27/58 - at Michigan State 32, Cal 12
10/5/57 - Michigan State 19, at Cal 0

Talent Is Never Enough
Despite having six players selected in the 2008 NFL Draft, the Golden Bears slipped to 7-6 during the 2007 campaign. In the midst of a thorough review of the program, Jeff Tedford picked up a book that Athletic Director Sandy Barbour had distributed to all of Cal's head coaches and senior staff members - "Talent Is Never Enough" by John C. Maxwell.
"I started reading it and I found myself highlighting half of pages, or full pages. It was so relevant to what our situation was," Tedford told the Contra Costa Times. "I felt like we needed to spend time on a lot of the things in the book and go back and redefine who we are."

The book focuses on 13 things which affect talent and allow a team to go beyond its talent: Belief, Passion, Initiative, Focus, Preparation, Practice, Perseverance, Courage, Teachability, Character, Relationships, Responsibility and Teamwork.

We're Men, We Won 40
The Bears have won 43 games over the past five seasons. It is the most victories by California over a five-year period since the 1948-1949-1950-1951-1952 teams combined to win 44 games.
Uniform Changes
The California football team will have a new look for the 2008 season. Head coach Jeff Tedford, the players and the staff worked with Nike to develop an overall new look, which incorporates aspects of the previous uniforms with new stream-lined patterns.