USC’s nemesis is back in town

‘Sorry about that” is what California Coach Jeff Tedford said to Athletic Director Sandy Barbour seconds before Tedford ducked into the stadium catacombs after Saturday’s stunning and strange loss to Arizona.

On a weekend when Louisville, Auburn and Texas lost, Cal blew a chance to join the national championship race in advance of Saturday’s game at USC.

The Coliseum scene could have nearly equaled the unfolding drama in Columbus, Ohio.

As it stands, the Cal-USC winner only goes to the Rose Bowl -- at worst for the Trojans, at best for the Bears.

If USC fans think Cal is ready to spit the bit, though, and settle for another trip to the Holiday Bowl, well, think again.

Cal will be the toughest opponent USC faces this season, meaner than Arkansas, Nebraska, Oregon State, Notre Dame and UCLA.

Cal, remember, did just as big a number on Oregon as USC did.

What happened to Cal at Arizona was freakish. The Bears fell into a lazy-day trap and couldn’t wiggle their paws free. They jumped to a 17-3 lead in an atmosphere of library quiet, only to fall flat on their Dewey Decimals.

Cal failed to land the one punch that would have put Arizona away, and then became bit actors in the soap opera “As the Day Turned.”

Cal lost by four points, but:

* Had a 79-yard Marshawn Lynch touchdown run called back by a penalty that had nothing to do with the play.

* Thought it had stopped Arizona from tying the score at 17-17 when cornerback Daymeion Hughes was called for pass interference as he intercepted a pass inside the five -- a ridiculous ruling in a year of ridiculousness for Pac-10 officials.

* Thought it had tied the score at 24-24 only to watch receiver Lavelle Hawkins tackle himself on a sure touchdown, stumbling short of the goal line.

* Thought it had won the game when receiver DeSean Jackson raced 63 yards for a touchdown, only to have replay officials rule (correctly) that Jackson’s foot had smudged the sideline chalk at the 41.

“I can’t recall when we played a game when we had so many opportunities taken away from us,” Hughes said. “When you have plays going that way, I was like ‘Man, this can’t be real.’ ”

Cal was the last Pac-10 team to beat USC before Oregon State did last month and Cal could be the team that ends USC’s 31-game home winning streak.

Why should the Trojans be worried?

Tedford, more than any USC opponent coach in the Pete Carroll era, seems to know how to muck up the Trojan machinery. Only one game in the four-game series -- last year’s 35-10 USC win in Berkeley -- was not a rapids ride.

In 2002, the year Tedford took over a 1-10 team, Cal lost to USC by two in the Coliseum. The next year Cal beat USC in triple overtime and, in 2004, Cal had four shots at the Trojans end zone before losing by six.

Why should USC be worried?

Cal’s three best players, all difference makers, are better than USC’s three best players.

* Lynch is an unrelenting tailback who requires gang tackling to be brought down. USC has more quality tailbacks, but not one better.

* Jackson, Cal’s receiver and punt-return man, is the breakaway threat USC lacks. Jackson is the new Reggie Bush.

Jackson has 21 touchdowns in 21 games played. Against Arizona, he scored his fifth touchdown on a punt return in only his 22nd career attempt.

Jackson, a local from Long Beach Poly, said he is returning to Los Angeles to “put on a show for my hometown.”

* Hughes is the best cornerback in the country. The senior from Crenshaw High is tied for the national lead in interceptions with eight.

The matchup of the day will be Hughes covering Dwayne Jarrett or Steve Smith.

The Bowden Adventure

Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden, who have combined for 157 years and 725 wins, are both on the mend after complicated procedures.

Paterno is recovering from surgery to his left leg while, earlier this week, Bowden had his offensive coordinator extracted.

You wonder why these guys put up with this.

Paterno turns 80 next month but, after missing his first Penn State home game since 1949, is expected to be back, at least in the coaching booth, for Saturday’s game against Michigan State.

Florida State’s Bowden is 77 and in the throes of one of his most painful seasons, a 5-5 toothache that got worse Tuesday when son Jeff, the Seminoles’ beleaguered offensive coordinator, resigned in the wake of last week’s shutout loss at home to Wake Forest.

Is it ego that keeps Paterno and Bowden going? Fear of retirement? Love of sport?

Is it a game of chicken, both icons refusing to quit because it would allow the other to close the books as major college’s all-time winning coach?

The answer is probably all of the above.

Bowden, with only five wins this season, has seen his victories lead over Paterno trimmed to three, 364 to 361.

Even though he missed last Saturday’s win over Temple, Paterno got credit for the victory.

Bowden’s voice sounded tired on Wednesday’s Atlantic Coast Conference football coaches’ conference call. The ACC asked that there be no questions regarding Jeff’s resignation, but there were questions and Bowden, as is his accommodating custom, answered them.

He insisted the school did not put any pressure on him to let Jeff go.

“It was strictly him,” Bowden said of Jeff. “I didn’t know about it until [Tuesday].

“I had talked to him Saturday night after that game. I told him I did not want him to leave. It was strictly his move. He kind of did it behind my back. Which I guess is the best way to do it.”

Bobby Bowden, like Paterno, does not want his career to end like this -- and it shouldn’t.

Bowden has the advantage of having watched Paterno endure worse misery after Penn State went 3-9 in 2003 and 4-7 in 2004.

Paterno threw it back in everyone’s face last year with an 11-1 season that ended with an Orange Bowl win over Bowden’s team.

How far has Florida State fallen?

Well, the Seminoles haven’t won the ACC title since ... last year.

Bowden’s team is young, not old, so he has a chance next year to make a Paterno-like comeback.

“Coaches, we always think we can bring it back,” Bowden said. “My mind hasn’t changed on that.”

Bowden vs. Paterno is going to end some day.

Not as soon, though, as some may want.

Blitz Package

Here’s a replacement coordinator Florida State might want to consider: Rick Neuheisel. The Baltimore Ravens assistant is reportedly itching to get back in the college game after an exile forced by his firing at Washington. Neuheisel wanted the San Diego State job last year but the school wasn’t ready to take a chance. With one move, Florida State might be able rescue two slumping careers: Neuheisel’s and Bobby Bowden’s.

* Florida State will be bowl eligible at 6-6 if it splits its last two games against Western Michigan and Florida, teams that are a combined 16-4.

Bowden said there is no doubt his team, even at 6-6, would accept a bowl bid. Florida State has qualified for 24 bowl games in a row under Bowden.

Bowden: “It would be awful if we don’t. We need to get it.”

* Last week marked the first time Paterno had not been on the sidelines for a Penn State home game since Oct. 29, 1949. “It wasn’t right, him not being here,” longtime assistant Tom Bradley said.

* The best senior quarterback in college football is probably a toss-up between Ohio State’s Troy Smith and Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn.

But Jim Harbaugh, football coach at Division I-AA San Diego, says the best junior quarterback is Toreros star Josh Johnson.

“How many times do you see a guy account for seven touchdowns in a game?” Harbaugh asked. “I’ve seen it twice.”

In a 56-14 win over Dayton last week, Johnson passed for four touchdowns, rushed for two and had a scoring reception.

He leads all I-AA quarterbacks with a 179.3 efficiency rating and has thrown for 32 touchdowns with only four interceptions.

Harbaugh, the former Michigan standout and longtime NFL veteran, says Johnson is a first-day pick in next year’s NFL draft and was overlooked by major schools only because, at one point in high school, he was 5 feet 10 and 145 pounds. Johnson, from Oakland, is now listed at 6-3 and 195. San Diego, at 10-0, is vying for one of eight at-large spots in this year’s I-AA playoffs. It would be the first non-scholarship program to qualify.

“This is a modern-day ‘Hoosiers’ ” Harbaugh said of his team’s quest. “This is Hickory, California, and playing quarterback is Jimmy Chitwood.”

* Booster alert in Tuscaloosa: Mike Shula has lost three games in a row against Auburn.

No coach at Alabama has ever lost four in a row.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com