The No. 12 California Golden Bears face the No. 15 Tennessee Volunteers Saturday in a rematch of last year’s season opener for both teams. The Volunteers dominated the nationally-televised contest last year in Knoxville, scoring the game’s first 35 points and coasting to a 35-18 victory.
The loss crippled the Bears’ BCS hopes last season, and damaged the national credibility of Pacific-10 Conference football as well. And though Cal went on to a 10-3 record, a Pac-10 Co-Championship and a 45-10 victory over Texas A&M in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl the loss continues to sting, sixth-year coach Jeff Tedford said.
“We had a rough time at Tennessee last year, and we need redemption,” he said.
The level of success that Cal achieves this season will ride, as always, on the shoulders of a dynamic offense. They led the Pac-10 in scoring last season with 32.8 points per-game and despite losing the conference’s leading rusher, Marshawn Lynch, to the NFL draft, they return a potent combination in juniors Nate Longshore at quarterback and wide receiver and kick returner DeSean Jackson.
The pair connected for more than 20 yards in a play 19 times last year and both grace the watch list for the Walter Camp Award, which honors the nation’s best player.
Jackson is a also a threat as a punt returner. His four returns for touchdowns last season set new school and Pac-10 records, and his 18.2 yard punt return average led the Pac-10 last year while setting a new single-season school record. The ESPN Preseason All-American enters the 2007 season as the active national leader in career punt return touchdowns (5) and average per return (19.38 yards).
The Bears will look to reload at running back with senior Justin Forsett, a three-year backup who has tallied more than 1600 yards in the role. Forsett has six 100-yard games to his credit, most notably a 163-yard performance at Oregon last season, and a 235-yard effort against New Mexico State in 2005.
The Tennessee attack is quarterbacked by senior Erik Ainge. The Hillsboro, Ore. native is coming off of a junior season in which he completed 67 percent of his passes, surpassing the previous school record of 64.2 percent set by Peyton Manning in 1995. His receiving corps is somewhat depleted with last year’s top three receivers no longer on the roster, but the Volunteers possess one of the nation’s most talented tight end duos in seniors Chris Brown and Brad Cottam, who both had career seasons in 2006.
“We like to call ourselves playmakers,” said Brown in a Tennessee release. “When we get the ball we don’t just want to catch it and go down… We’re trying to make big plays and score touchdowns.”
Tennessee leads the all-time series 2-1 with all three games played in Knoxville. California’s only victory over Tennessee came almost 30 years ago, Sept. 10, 1977. The Volunteers have won the last two meetings by a combined total of 73-30.
This season’s game, at California, will be the first time a South Eastern Conference team has played in Memorial Stadium since 1960, when Tulane (SEC member until 1966) fell to the Bears 7-3.
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