Cal Finds No Rival in Stanford

Outside Memorial Stadium before the game, someone was selling T-shirts with a message on the front that said “Tedford is God.”

After California routed Stanford, 41-6, on Saturday afternoon, Jeff Tedford seemed satisfied with his current position as head coach of the Golden Bears, who are on a path to their first Rose Bowl in 45 years.

Cal did nothing that would seem to diminish its fourth-place spot in the BCS standings when it overran an error-prone and fumbling Cardinal team with 31 points in the second half, leading to a third consecutive victory over Stanford in the annual matchup of Bay Area rivals.

Tedford, who inherited a 1-10 team in 2001, can complete the turnaround and finish 10-1 if Cal beats Southern Mississippi in its last regular-season game in two weeks. Then he would get the Bears ready for their first Rose Bowl appearance since Joe Kapp was quarterback in 1959, assuming USC goes to the BCS championship game.

“It would mean so much for the program,” Tedford said of the Rose Bowl. “Through the last three years, I have seen how hungry our alumni and fans are for something like that.

“It’s the apex of where we’ve been the last three years.”

On the other side of the field, Stanford Coach Buddy Teevens is not enjoying the same feeling. In his three seasons, Teevens is 10-23; he is 0-3 against Tedford and his Cardinal team lost its last five games to finish 4-7.

Stanford still leads the Big Game series with Cal, 54-42-11, but if next year’s 108th edition is going to be any different than this one, they’re going to have to do some work to make this a real rivalry again.

Behind tailbacks J.J. Arrington and Marshawn Lynch and quarterback Aaron Rodgers, plus a stout defense, the Bears allowed Stanford only two field goals and 180 yards of total offense. Stanford received 14 penalties that cost 126 yards; the Cardinal also fumbled four times.

Arrington ran 27 times for 169 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown run that put Cal comfortably ahead, 27-6, early in the fourth quarter.

Lynch, Arrington’s backup, gained 122 yards in nine carries, scored on a whiplash-inducing 55-yard run in the third quarter and even threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Burl Toler for another.

With all that firepower, Rodgers didn’t need to be much of a factor, although he did complete 11 of 14 passes for 120 yards and threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Robert Jordan that opened the scoring. Cal’s offense accumulated 474 yards.

“They couldn’t stop us in the box. J.J. and Marshawn are too good for that,” Rodgers said.

Arrington broke Chuck Muncie’s school record of 1,460 yards rushing, the record-setter coming on a 37-yard run just before the half.

But the real showstopper was Lynch’s change-of-direction, 55-yard scoring run that broke open the game, 20-3, with 3:22 left in the third quarter.

Lynch, a 5-11 200-pound freshman from Oakland, took the handoff from Rodgers and started up the middle, then bounced outside, avoided a tackler near the sidelines, slanted back across the field and sped into the corner of the end zone.

“He’s worth the price of admission,” Tedford said. “It’s great to have a one-two punch like J.J. Arrington and Marshawn Lynch.”

Arrington’s nine-yard scoring run that opened the fourth quarter preceded Lynch’s option pass Toler caught as he backed across the goal line into the end zone and made the score 34-6.

Cal ended the season 6-0 at home -- its first undefeated and untied season at Memorial Stadium since 1949. Also, the Bears have set a school record with 287 points against Pacific 10 opponents this season.

All signs for the resurgence point to Tedford, who is 24-12 in his three years at Cal, including seasons of 7-5, 8-6 and 9-1. Defensive tackle Lorenzo Alexander said he’s a “Ted Head,” which is the message on some of the other T-shirts that were on sale outside the stadium.

“Once Ted came here, we knew we were going to be good,” Alexander said. “He came in here with the attitude of winning and we took it and ran with it. From 1-10 to a possible 10-1, that’s all you need to know.”