Perhaps California's season will end up following a classical dialectic path.
Cal is good -- see a 3-0 start and No. 6 ranking (Thesis).
The Bears whipped Maryland and Eastern Washington and then proved they can win on the road with a victory at Minnesota.
Cal is terrible -- see consecutive losses by a 72-6 count (Antithesis).
Oregon and USC dominated the sloppy, predictable Bears.
Cal is pretty good but not great (Synthesis).
That final qualitative transformation was hinted at by the Bears' fairly impressive 45-26 win at UCLA.
Offensive MVP: Running back Jahvid Best is no longer a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, but he still ranks 20th in the nation with 103 yards rushing per game, and his nine rushing TDs rank third in the conference. He's averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
Defensive MVP: Defensive end Tyson Alualu ranks sixth in the conference with 4.5 sacks. His 27 total tackles ranks first among Pac-10 defensive linemen.
Ted Miller | email
College Football- ESPN.com Pac-12 blogger
- Covered college football since 1997
- Wrote for Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Ted Miller
Miller has been covering college football since 1997, starting with Auburn and then heading West to Washington and the Pac-12. His columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won first place in the 2007 APSE Best Writing contest. The Atlanta native and University of Richmond graduate presently lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Kevin Gemmell
Gemmell covered San Diego State and the Mountain West Conference for three years before joining ESPN.com. As a Santa Clara graduate, his hope is that the Broncos will one day re-institute football. Until then, he lives vicariously through his readers. Gemmell lives in California with his wife and son.
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