(Written by kencraw)

Some random thoughts I had late this week and this morning:

• This is the first game the Bears will be playing on artificial turf. Candlestick was grass. Colorado was grass (ruining the perfect north-south split of who has turf/grass in the conference). AT&T is grass (and dirt). So despite the fact that we practice on turf, even on our home away from home practice facility, the Bears get their first chance to show off their speed today. Not sure if this matters much, but worth mentioning.
• One thing that has been clear watching the matchups of the last few years is how much the story was the UW defense. Sark/Holt has had the Bears number and has shut down the Cal offense. Once that resulted in a defensive struggle (last year) and once it resulted in a tuckered out defense that couldn’t keep up with an on-fire Locker. This is probably the key to the game. If the Cal offense is able to score points, expect the Bears to win.
• The other big question is how good is the Cal defense. Against our weaker opponents, it looked like last year’s defense. At altitude against a Pac-12 foe, it looked pretty exposed in the passing game. Was that just the lack of speed while gasping for air? How much did that have to do with the lack of pressure the D-Line was able to get on the QB? Was it just a bad game? I think it’s hard to tell. It’s possible this game is a shootout. It’s possible this game is a defensive struggle.
• The more I think about it, the more I like that this is an early season, early afternoon game in Husky stadium. We’ve gotten the shaft the last few years, playing UW after the Big Game and late in the season. It was our own doing, wanting that bye mid-season, but it still was bad news. The reports are that Husky stadium will not be full, that’ll help as well. The Bears will do well to score early and keep the crowd out of it.

So where does that leave us? The more I think about it, the more I think the Bears are in position to really stick it to UW. They’re hungry for a big win. All the intangibles are on the Cal side. In fact, I’ve got to temper my optimism when predicting a final score, because I don’t want to look foolish.

Final score: Bears 31 – UW 24