The top 10 reasons Saturday’s 5 p.m. game in Eugene between No. 4 Oregon and No. 9 Stanford is so appealing.   Counting backward (as David Letterman does): 10. The facial contortions and sideline histrionics of Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh are priceless.  He’s been known to jump on players in fits of excitement and run onto ...

Jim Harbaugh and Ralph Waldo Emerson — collaborators in the game plan for No. 9 Stanford. Chip Kelly and Winston Churchill — co-offensive coordinators for No. 4 Oregon. The Oct. 2 game between these top-10 teams is drawing wisdom from philosophers of various eras and perspectives. The thought of the words of Emerson and Harbaugh ...

Baseball will be one of four sports that will be eliminated by Cal in the restructuring of the Cal athletic department announced by Cal Chancellor Robert Birgineau on Tuesday. At the end of this academic year, baseball, men’s and women’s gymnastics, and women’s lacrosse will no longer represent Cal in intercollegiate competition. In addition, men’s ...

Zero is a powerful number in college football, and it has particular relevance to some West Coast teams after the games of Sept. 25: 0 – Number of games Stanford has played since the 1951 season in which both teams were ranked among the top nine.   (No. 9 Stanford plays at No. 4 Oregon on ...

Stanford’s first 4-0 start since 1986 and its highest ranking in 18 years are nice little notes, but the Jim Harbaugh Show co-starring Andrew Luck moves to a new high-profile time slot this Saturday with a completely different set of standards awaiting. Not only is No. 9 Stanford playing an Oregon team that is ranked ...

It’s all about marketing.   We can spin results to make ourselves look like football geniuses — which we are, of course. Granted, we came back down to Earth on our Pac-10 picks  against the spread last week.   We were just 5-5 picking againt the points.    That still leaves with a 12-6 record against the spread for ...

Third-grade students doing their arithmetic homework as well as mathematicians, accountants, statisticians and numerologists across the country are rejoicing because only two of the three major football conferences with a number attached to their name will be misnomers.  That’s right, the Pac-10 is going to be the Pac-12 next season, and it will actually have 12 schools, ...

Ranking teams and rating them are two different categories in our book, which requires that we have two listings in this week’s Pac-10 rankings/ratings: A ranking considers only objective criteria and is based entirely on the results so far this season. A rating is a subjective gauge of the quality of the Pac-10 teams. The ...

Nobody — not even the brightest 6-year-old — can play follow-the-leader as well as a college football coach.   If somebody does something that hints at providing an advantage, others are sure to follow along.   Which brings us to Cal coach Jeff Tedford. Perhaps taking a cue from Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh,  Tedford said on Monday he is ...

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