Boller Having Bear of a Time

Oh, how the Bruin alumni muttered last season when Cory Paus got hurt. Where was Kyle Boller when the Bruins needed him?

Boller was the quarterback recruit that got away, the one that committed to California after J.P. Losman signed with UCLA. Losman quit last season, during fall camp of his freshman year. Boller, who passed for 4,841 yards and 59 touchdowns as a senior at Newhall Hart High, quickly won the starting job at Cal.

The Golden Bears went 4-7, and Boller completed 39% of his passes, with little support from his running backs and virtually no support from his receivers. The Bears are 1-4 this season, and in the last three weeks Boller has thrown one touchdown, three interceptions and completed 41% of his passes.

So no one is asking Cal Coach Tom Holmoe when Boller might leave school for the NFL. For the last couple of weeks, in fact, Holmoe has been asked whether he would replace Boller as the starting quarterback. Holmoe said he has considered a change but will stick with Boller for now.

“Good things happen and bad things happen; all of that cannot be attributed to him,” Holmoe said. “He’s got an unbelievable amount of talent, and we’re still trying to bring the full potential out. He does not now have the ability as a quarterback to carry our team by himself.”

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The Bears are pulling out all the motivational stops for today’s game. It’s homecoming, for starters, and the Bears are reviving the tradition of the Joe Roth Memorial Game. Roth, the Cal quarterback in 1975-76, died of cancer in 1977, and his No. 12 is the Bears’ only retired number.

Cal also is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Roth’s 1975 team, which led the nation in total offense. The coach was future Raider coach Mike White, and the star running back was Chuck Muncie, who played eight seasons in the NFL.

The motivation there? Cal and UCLA both finished 8-3 that season, but UCLA won the Pacific 8 Conference tiebreaker and advanced to the Rose Bowl.

Cal stayed home. The Bears have not played in the Rose Bowl since 1959.

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* Time: 12:30 p.m.

* Site: Memorial Stadium, Berkeley.

* TV: None live; delayed broadcast Sunday at 5 p.m. on Fox Sports Net 2.

* Radio: KXTA (1150).

* When UCLA has the ball: California is extremely vulnerable to the deep pass--Arizona State completed eight passes over 30 yards against the Bears last week--but the Bruins might be hesitant to exploit that weakness for fear of injury to quarterback Cory Paus. With backup quarterback Ryan McCann unlikely to play because of a torn labrum in his shoulder, and with starting tailback DeShaun Foster out because of a broken hand, the Bruins plan to emphasize short, quick passes that keep Paus out of harm’s way. Jermaine Lewis and Akil Harris will split the carries at tailback. Fullback Matt Stanley returns after sitting out two games because of a separated shoulder. The undisputed star of the Cal defense--and the biggest concern for UCLA’s coaches and offensive linemen--is defensive end Andre Carter, who had three sacks last week.

* When Cal has the ball: Tailback Joe Igber ran for 181 yards last week and 113 in Cal’s 17-0 victory over UCLA last year. If the Bruins can stop him, it’s up to quarterback Kyle Boller, who has thrown one touchdown in the last three weeks and has not completed more than 50% of his passes in any game since the season opener. While UCLA has started the same group of offensive linemen each week, Cal will be starting its sixth group in six games. Marques Anderson returns at safety for UCLA, but backup safety Jason Stephens and backup linebacker Dennis Link are not expected to play because of pulled hamstrings.

* Key to the game: Lewis and Harris each ran for 100 yards in Foster’s absence. If they can come close to a repeat performance, the Cal defense should be loosened enough for Paus to orchestrate the long drives that will surely come courtesy of Cal’s terrific punter, Nick Harris. The Bruins would be well advised to score first--they haven’t done so all season--to silence the Cal crowd and their anxieties about not winning a road game in two years.

* Fast fact: Cal’s offensive futility has kept Harris, a senior, on pace to break NCAA records for punts and punt yardage. Harris has 285 punts for 12,407 yards; Texas Christian’s Cameron Young set NCAA standards with 320 punts for 12,947 yards.

* Line: UCLA by 11.

HOW THEY COMPARE

UCLA and California

26.0 Scoring 13.8

25.0 Points allowed 21.2

220.2 Passing 158.4

131.2 Rushing 149.2

351.4 Total offense 307.6

199.4 Passing defense 250.6

148.2 Rushing defense 122.4

347.6 Total defense 373.0