By John Sleeper
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – It’s never a good thing, except to opponents, to hear a coach say the following:
It might sound like the worst whining out of a 5-year-old, but it comes from the lips of Tom Holmoe, whose California Golden Bears are 0-3 and have allowed 46 points and nearly 500 yards a game. Cal also has committed 12 turnovers going into today’s contest against No. 13 Washington.
Not only that, but Cal is going into the toughest stretch of the season, facing four straight foes ranked in the top 20, including No. 6 Oregon a week from today.
Not only that, but Cal hasn’t beaten the Huskies since 1976, a span of 18 games.
Not only that, but Kyle Boller, voted the California State Player of the Year has hardly lived up to his hype in two-plus seasons at Cal. Hee’s completed just 44 percent of his career passes and was even benched against Washington State last week in a 51-20 paddling.
You get the idea.
It’s just bad.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Holmoe said.
Not the least of which is erasing the horror of the last two games against the Huskies, games in which Cal outplayed Washington, but let victory slip away.
In 1999, Mo Shaw bulled over for a touchdown with 50 seconds left to give Washington a 31-27 win. In 2000, the Bears had a 24-13 advantage going into the fourth quarter, but a series of mistakes gave the Huskies 23 points in a six-minute stretch and led to a 36-24 UW win.
So absurdly otherworldly have been some of the Washington wins in the series that the Cal coaching staff doesn’t even mention the streak anymore.
“I did in the past, but I don’t believe it has much to do with today,” Holmoe said. “We have enough problems and issues of our own that we’re trying to work out. The important thing for us is if we take care of our business, it really doesn’t matter who were playing. For us to try to put a big streak on top of the issues we’re dealing with would be fruitless.”
Yes, but on top of that, Cal has the toughest part of its schedule coming up. After Washington, it’s Oregon, UCLA and Oregon State, all of which are ranked in the top 20.
“I’m not going to lie to you. It’s tough,” Holmoe said. “We don’t have breathers. But we’re not going to cry in our soup. We’re just trying to get untracked. We’ve played the Pac-10’s tough teams very well in the past couple of years. We’ve played Washington well, but they’ve won.
“This year, our focus and attention will be on winning the game. We’re not going to go in there to keep it close.”
Washington has issues of its own.
The Huskies are missing tight end Jerramy Stevens, who suffered a broken foot against Idaho and will be out most of the rest of the season. Stevens is the one supremely talented offensive player with experience, a player the Huskies’ young offense could count on.
In addition, tailback Willie Hurst will miss the game with a pulled hamstring. His replacement, Rich Alexis, is solid, but backup Chris Singleton is a true freshman whose first college game came Saturday against Idaho. In a patchwork move, coach Rick Neuheisel has brought back Paul Arnold from wideout to tailback, at least temporarily.
“It is not a perfect world, but sometimes you have to make do, given the circumstances you face,” Neuheisel said.
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