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BERKELEY, Calif. — The Utah football team will look to find continued success after a road win at Pittsburgh last weekend. This time, the Utes will be on the road again to face The University of California in a Pac-12 tilt. Both teams will be looking for their first conference wins this season.
Due to renovations at Memorial Stadium, the Golden Bears will be facing the Utes at AT&T Park, which is normally home to baseball’s San Francisco Giants. Cal leads the all-time series with four wins and three losses, but the most recent meeting between the two schools was the 2009 Poinsettia Bowl, which Utah won 37-27. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. Mountain Time and will be broadcast live on CSN Bay Area in California and KJZZ in Utah.
Head Coach Jeff Tedford, in his 10th year in charge of the program in Berkeley, met with the media earlier this week to discuss last week's loss to USC as well as this week's game against Utah. Here's a brief summary of his comments:
On mistakes against USC:
"Mistakes, turnovers, you can't beat a good football team like USC when you turn the ball over five times. There is no question that there were some good things, but some things need to be improved. I don't doubt their focus whatsoever. Maybe sometimes with little things like ball handling, we are focusing too much. We run the fly sweep all the time in practice and the ball is never on the ground. We just need to trust our fundamentals and get back to work. We just need to find a way to put it all together. There were flashes of good things, but we need to put that together."
On quarterback Zach Maynard:
"The speed of the game inside is fast. That is as fast as it is going to happen. In my eyes, Zach was feeling better with the speed of the game. We just need to get him to eat the ball some of the time. He can't do much about his fumble, and (wide receiver) Keenan Allen was fighting for extra yards. The interceptions down deep really hurt. They gave them a short field when I thought our defense was playing really well. Any young quarterback — which I would put Zach in that category — with the speed of the game we play in, is going to need to adjust. With a guy like him, as competitive as he is, with the composure he has, he will get it. He will get used to the speed of the game. He made a lot of plays in the second half. We are going to improve on this; that is the key. You need to learn when to eat it and when to throw it away; not every play is going to be perfect."
On the emotional status of his team:
“They understand that there are a lot of good things happening. We got to put it together in all three phases. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody learns. Trust one another and play hard. I feel like the team understands that and is eager to get back out and play another game. I think they’re eager to bounce back. It’s been a challenging few weeks here. I thought the other night, everyone was really good on the sideline. Even though adversity hit, the guys stayed together and competed hard in the second half.”
On Cal’s schedule so far:
"We have had a tough three weeks; our schedule has been tough. The guys competed very well in Washington. There are some good things coming. The morale of the team is that they care about each other and believe in one another. They are going to continue to play and compete. Of course they are disappointed, but it is important to be disappointed and not discouraged. I have all the confidence in the world that they will come back with the energy and the work ethic they need. We are 3-3, and have a lot of football in front of us."
On freshman cornerback Stefan McClure:
"He played really well. He showed he can play. He'll be in the rotation. He played his role in the coverages well. He's a very strong competitor and gifted."
On running back Isi Sofele:
"He's played very solid, done a good job in all three phases (running, receiving and blocking) of the game. Being from Utah (Cottonwood High), of course he knows quite a few of those guys. He can't get over-emotional. He has to play within himself."
On Utah’s run game:
“Utah is a formidable opponent running the ball. We're going to have to have all our guys ready to play."
Landon Walters is a history and political science major currently studying at Salt Lake Community College and is an avid sports fan. He can be reached at mavericksoccer_22@hotmail.com
