Tedford Press Conference

In Coach Tedford's press conference today the focus alternated between last year's game against Tennessee and the one coming up this Saturday at 5 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. A sellout crowd is expected, up to 50,000 spectators will be armed with megaphones, and Panoramic Hills residents may be called upon to put up with unusual noise levels.

Tedford was asked the by now-standard question about this being a revenge game, but he shifted the focus immediately to the realities of the team's preparation for the game. "The game is not about revenge - maybe redemption - but it's really more about us. We need to keep the focus on ourselves."

"I don't really have any concerns going into this game except that we stay healthy." He explained that with full speed drills there's an increased risk of injury. He said that it's hard to adequately simulate game speed in practice in spite of running full-speed drills yesterday and more today ... "with the first unit offense against the first unit defense."

Even while saying he had no "concerns", he readily acknowledged that this is an important game with two ranked teams playing each other. He added that he has never had a loss come under so much scrutiny as the opening game loss did last year. "Even after the season was over," he said, "it was like, 'How about that loss to Tennessee? And, oh, by the way, nice bowl game.' "

"I think that was the worst game we've ever played, I don't remember ever being down 35-0." It wasn't a happy loss either, if there ever is one. Tedford said that the loss last year wasn't so much about the loss, it was the way Cal lost.

"Playing a top twenty team in the first game is very high risk - high reward situation, especially against a team like Tennessee - they are very physical and come at you at high speed. They are about as good as it gets."

Playing last year in a stadium with 110,000 fans and a wall of sound was an eye opener for many on the team. Tedford took the positives from it, now saying that "It was a great learning experience for us. We went in feeling pretty good but ran into a hostile environment and a good team. We took a lot of lessons away from it - I took a lot of lessons from it. I learned that maybe we went in to it a bit too wound up - I learned that we need to keep the focus on ourselves."

"I wouldn't say that Tennessee is more physical than some teams in the Pac-10 - some of the teams in the Pac-10 are just as physical. But that first kickoff at the Tennessee game was like a train wreck. Big fast people were colliding with each other all over the field. I don't think it was our preparation that was the problem going into that game, it was more our execution."

He was asked if it was hard for him the night before the game - and whether it would be a rough night before this upcoming game. With a bit of wry humor Tedford responded that isn't any different before any game, saying, "I'm a wreck the night before them all. It doesn't matter who the opponent is, it doesn't matter if it's on national TV - we just always want to do our best."

He addressed the issue of crowd noise, and made it a point of emphasis to say he wanted to "challenge Cal fans right now to bring a huge effort to the game."

Tedford was asked about the current mood of the team, and whether he has been able to learn to "read" his team before a game to see whether they are ready to play. He said that it's been hard for him to do that. "Sometimes I have thought they were on fire, but then they came out flat. Then other times I was worried that the team was flat and they came out on fire. The team has been practicing well this fall, they understand what has to be done, and I have a lot of confidence in the team leadership.'

Commenting on the wide receivers, Tedford first singled out DeSean Jackson; "He has matured, he's handling all the media attention very well - maybe all the attention has forced him to do that. He knows the offense better, he understands now that the ball is going to go different places on the field, but that's also true of all our wide receivers.' In response to a follow-up question, he acknowledged that his starting corps of wide receivers "has to be one of the best in the country."

"Yes, it helps that everyone in the defensive backfield has game experience."

Tedford used that subject to once again comment on Syd'Quan Thompson's experience last year playing as a true freshman, again pointing out that Thompson missed two big plays against Tennessee because he was being aggressive, going for the ball - and that he didn't fault Thompson for that. As Thompson proved through the remainder of the season, eventually being named a Pac-10 freshman of the year, it's game experience that is the best cure for those lapses.

Continuing the theme of comparing last year's game to this, Tedford was asked about Nate Longshore's improvement. "He's as different as night and day," said Tedford. "He's seen it all, he knows the offense, and it's not even close comparing him then to now. He had a very solid year and now he's very comfortable out there."

Coach Tedford talked about kicking off from the 30 instead of the 35 - saying that it would certainly result in more and deeper runbacks. He said he would be interested to see whether the new rule resulted in real changes in field position - and whether more total points would be scored during the season. "It will be even more important to avoid penalties on kickoff coverage and returns - you wouldn't want to see a touchdown called back because of a penalty, and you don't want to start out from your own 5-yard line - that would be a lot of field in front of you."

Several questions were asked about scheduling strong opponents, particularly for the first game.

"We would like to play a top-20 out-of-conference team every year because doing that helps us understand where we are as a team - but maybe not in the opener."

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