Cal facing long odds in its quest to beat USC in L.A.

Here's a football fact that can't have Cal fans feeling too good approaching Saturday's showdown against USC in Los Angeles: The Bears under coach Jeff Tedford are oh-for-L.A. Since coming to Berkeley in 2002, Tedford has turned Cal into a football powerhouse. The Bears are 56-28 and have been to five straight bowl games under Tedford. But they've lost three straight games to UCLA at the Rose Bowl and three straight games to USC at the Memorial Coliseum. Cal's teams are always packed with players who grew up in Southern California. So-called homecoming games are filled with potential problems. Players can get too hyped up or too tight, overwhelmed with emotion. During his weekly news conference Monday, Tedford was asked if those problems had anything to do with the Bears' lack of success in L.A. "No," Tedford said. "We've played well down there. We've had close games. ? I don't know that our players have played tight. I don...