Brian Holley News

He had just watched Cal absorb another unsettling pounding, this time against Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl.

The Cal football team was still in the hunt for a victory in the Poinsettia Bowl on Wednesday night, even after giving up 27 straight points to Utah.

This was not the vision Old Blues had mind when Cal kicked off one of the most highly anticipated seasons in years.

Brian Holley's final practice at Memorial Stadium ended on a note fit for Jahvid Best.

Cal left tackle Mike Tepper is one of 226 players on the rosters for the Poinsettia Bowl.

As the 2009 regular season wound down, it became clear that the bowl-game destinations for many Pac-10 teams would not be decided until the last games of the year.

SERIES HISTORY: Washington leads the all-time series 46-38-4, but the Bears have lost just once in the Jeff Tedford era THE STORY LINES: The Bears are trying to finish in a four-way tie for second place, which likely would land them in the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve.

SERIES HISTORY: Washington leads the all-time series 46-38-4, but the Bears have lost just once in the Jeff Tedford era THE STORY LINES: The Bears are trying to finish in a four-way tie for second place, which likely would land them in the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve.

This is the opposite of what No. 19 California did two years ago. Back in 2007, the Golden Bears were on the cusp of taking over the top spot in The Associated Press Top 25 when they suffered a 31-28 loss to Oregon State.

It was quite a way to end the season. An upset victory on the road in arguably the biggest game on the schedule.

Nothing has happened yet to let the Cal football team forget completely about its last visit to Husky Stadium in 2007-not winning the Armed Forces Bowl later that season, not beating Washington soundly last year, not even the two years and change that have passed since the game was played.

After losing their first two Pac-10 games of the season, Cal's players set a goal of going 7-0 the rest of the way.

Late at night this week, soft blue and gold light bathes the columns that front Wheeler Hall, giving it the look of a gala event that emptied out long ago.

Messages sent to the University of California athletic office over the past two weeks have not implored team doctors to put the Bears' star running back, Jahvid Best, back on the field to help Cal against archrival Stanford this Saturday.

The message was heard amid Saturday night's silence. The motto was put forward amid Saturday night's setback.

On Wednesday, tailback Jahvid Best visited with teammates in his first appearance at Memorial Stadium since he was carted off the field with a serious concussion last Saturday.

California star tailback Jahvid Best is resting at home following his frightening fall and concussion and the team has not talked about when he could possibly return to the football field.

BERKELEY, Calif. - Cal lost a football game Saturday that all but guaranteed it will have to settle once again for a midlevel bowl game this season.

While recovering from the injury he sustained during the Cal football team's last scrimmage of spring ball in 2008, Brian Holley described the excruciating agony that emanated from his right fibula by cracking a joke about prescription medication.

Even when he busts loose for the biggest day of his college career - 154 yards rushing in Cal's win over UCLA - the most popular TV highlight showed teammate Jahvid Best twisting away from tacklers on an electrifying 93-yard touchdown run.