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California Golden Bears @ Nevada Wolf Pack Football Recap

Nevada 52, California 31

The more things change, the more they stay the same for Jeff Tedford, Kevin Riley, and the rest of the California Golden Bears.

Every year, Cal brings a considerable amount of talent to the field. Every year, Cal implodes on the road and loses a game that - based on pure ability - it shouldn't ever drop.

In 2008, Cal made a cross-country trek to play an inferior Maryland squad, but the Golden Bears couldn't handle the cross-country travel and were listless. The Terps rolled over, around, under and through them, leading Riley - the quarterback - to say after the game that "we weren't prepared to play." Last year, Cal played poorly at Minnesota but somehow found a way to win. Yet, the very next week, the Bears were humiliated at Oregon and never really recovered.

This year, it's clear that Cal has had no intention of shaking its bad habits or shrugging off its penchant for underachieving. The Bad News Bears faced a tricky opponent in the form of the Nevada Wolf Pack, but if Cal has aspirations of making a BCS bowl and justifying the considerable renovations that are being made to the program's football facilities and other athletics venues, it should definitely be able to march into Reno and lay the wood to coach Chris Ault's well-schooled but undersized team.

That didn't happen.

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What has to really sting Cal in the wake of this 21-point loss is that Riley, now a senior quarterback, made the game's most crucial mistake. Three years ago, Riley was involved in a late-game clock-management debacle against Oregon State, a disaster that wound up hijacking the Bears' 2007 campaign. However, because Riley was a freshman who was just getting started in his collegiate career, the fault for that incident rested with Tedford. Now, Riley is the man who is expected to be a leader and a sound decision maker for the Bears. Yet, when this game's outcome hung in the balance in the third quarter, Riley failed.

Cal - once down 21-7 - had rallied and pulled within three points of the Pack at 24-21. The Bears were steamrolling down the field behind their big offensive line and running back Shane Vereen, who busted off two touchdown runs of over 50 yards and finished with 198 yards on just 19 carries (good for an average - yes, an average - of just over 10 yards per carry). It seemed that Cal was about to take over the game, but just then, Riley threw an interception to Nevada cornerback Marlon Johnson, who took the ball into the end zone for a 65-yard pick-six. The play broke Cal's back with 8:41 left in the third quarter. Nevada snatched a 31-21 lead and led by at least seven points the rest of the way.  The Bears' defense was eviscerated by Ault's pistol offense, expertly conducted by quarterback Colin Kaepernick (329 all-purpose yards, five touchdowns) and helped along by running back Vai Taua (151 rushing yards and one touchdown).

Nevada just gave ballast to the WAC's profile and - by extension - the reputation of Boise State.

Speaking of reputations, Cal's standing in the college football world hasn't changed. The Bad News Bears are still puzzling their bewildered fans.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer