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--> --> No. 5 Oregon plays winless California BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - California is used to being the underdog. All of the Golden Bears' opponents this season have been ranked or undefeated: Illinois, Brigham Young, Washington State and Washington. And Oregon, which Cal hosts Saturday, is no different. The No. 5-ranked Ducks (5-0, 2-0 Pacific-10 Conference) are off to their best start in 37 years. They are enjoying their highest national ranking since last season, when they reached No. 5 for the first time in school history before falling to Oregon State. Cal (0-4, 0-2) is well aware of all of this. "It's time to knock off one of these teams that's expected to beat us," Bears coach Tom Holmoe said. They came close last year in Eugene. Cal had a 17-12 lead in the fourth quarter, but the Ducks came back to win 25-17. Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said Cal is a much better team than they were a year ago. "We can't wait for Cal to make mistakes," he said. "I think we have to play inspired football." The Ducks were certainly inspired last weekend when they beat up on Arizona 63-28. Joey Harrington, who was named the conference's offensive player of the week, passed for three touchdowns and ran for three more, going 15-of-24 for 279 yards. Harrington, who has thrown for 1,226 yards and 11 touchdowns overall, said it was a breakout performance for Oregon's offense. "We've been expecting to do that for a long time now," he said. "In no way was it a perfect ballgame, but we did a lot of things very well." Bellotti agreed the victory was a boost confidence-wise. However, he remained concerned about shortcomings on defense - the Ducks rank second-to-last in overall defense in the Pac-10, better only than Cal. "I don't think there's a lot of carryover between what happened in that game and what might happen at Cal," he said. Harrington's counterpart at Cal, Kyle Boller, also had a breakout performance in the Bears' last game. He threw for a career-best four touchdowns but the Bears still lost 31-28 to then-No. 13 Washington. Tight end Tom Swoboda said the Cal offense - and Boller - have steadily improved and the Washington game two weeks ago was the latest step forward. "I think every player on the offense across the board that I've talked to, believes in the offense that we're running," he said. Cal's offense also will also see the return of wide receiver Derek Swafford as they try to stop a seven-game losing streak. Defensively, the Bears seem to be adjusting to the loss of lineman Andre Carter, a first-round draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers earlier this year. The line had no sacks in the first two games, but rebounded with three in each of the last two. And there's one more thing in Cal's favor: The Bears are also coming off a bye week, allowing them to be well-rested for the game. Coach Holmoe believes the extra week of preparation will help. "I think their attitudes are good," he said. "They're ready to win. They're ready to play hard." Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing