CAL BREATHES EASIER AT SJS'S EXPENSE

PRESSURE OFF GILBERTSON FOR NOW

BERKELEY
IT'S A RARE honor for San Jose State -- that one of its growing collection of
ugly losses can assure an opposing coach job security.

But that was the situation Saturday at Memorial Stadium, where the most
attractive thing on the field was the new grass. If you want a comment on the
sad state of local college football, this was it: that Cal's annual
vanquishing of the Spartans -- a 40-7 thrashing and as unappetizing a
football game as one could hope to avoid -- was viewed as not only a real
victory, but also a moral victory for embattled Cal Coach Keith Gilbertson.
''I shudder to think -- if we lost this game -- what could've happened,''
said Denny Schuler, Cal's offensive coordinator. ''Obviously, this takes some
of the pressure off.''

The relief is temporary. The pressure probably will be right back on
Gilbertson in a few weeks. A team that had every expectation of being
undefeated at this point opens Pac-10 play next week with a shaky 1-2 record.
And next up for the Bears, in rapid succession, are the best the Pac-10 can
offer: Arizona, Southern Cal and Oregon.

Gilbertson shrugged off talk of his situation.

''The pressure on me is to coach well and get my team playing good,'' he
said. ''That's all the pressure I'm concerned about.''

Cal stopped its downward spiral for the moment. But what Saturday's game
offered was a morale tuneup and not much in the way of preparation.

''Not to knock them, but this ain't the Pac-10,'' defensive end Andy Jacobs
said. ''Not even close.''
He's right. That is why, all protestations by Cal officials notwithstanding,
the Bears absolutely couldn't afford to lose Saturday. Gilbertson might have
ultimately survived, but a loss to the Spartans and an 0-3 start would've
have sent the Old Blues into spasms and forced Cal Athletic Director John
Kasser to think long and hard about whether it was worth swallowing the more
than three years remaining on Gilbertson's contract.

Such deliberations must have entered the minds of some Bear Backers in the
first quarter, when Cal's offense self-destructed on every possession and
failed to reach the end zone.

But the Bears pulled themselves together, remembered who they were playing
and by the end of the second quarter had a 19-0 lead and their self-esteem
intact.

''We had to come out of this game feeling good about ourselves,'' Schuler
said. ''The score didn't matter as much as that. And I think we did that on
both sides of the ball.''

It was the Bears' eighth consecutive victory over San Jose State. And
Saturday's final score made the tally over the past five meetings Cal 228,
San Jose State 56. 

''Needless to say, Berkeley has not been very good to us over the years,''
SJS Coach John Ralston said.

Not much of anyone has been very good to Ralston's teams. He is 5-21 in his
current head coaching incarnation, yet has managed to escape the heat that
singed Gilbertson for the past two weeks.

Why? Because expectations aren't exactly towering around Ralston's program.
The view is that this carnage is all building toward something. There is a
goal behind these autumn days when the Spartans travel north to Cal for a
good old-fashioned beating and a check for, hopefully, $200,000 or days like
the one planned for next year, when SJS will pay Cal $300,000 for the
probable honor of losing to the Bears at Spartan Stadium.

Cal keeps SJS on its schedule for relief. The Spartans work hard to keep Cal
on their schedule as a tether to past glory days and the promise that more
will come.

SJS Athletic Director Tom Brennan hopes the matchup one day will become a
regional classic with television potential.

And he diplomatically says Ralston's performance will be evaluated at the end
of this season -- the last on Ralston's contract.

''We anticipated a dip in the program,'' Brennan said. ''But we'd like to get
out of it as quickly as possible.''

That's quite different from Cal, where a dip in the program wasn't
anticipated. Where two years ago -- after an Alamo Bowl victory -- it looked
like the Bears might be building a consistent winner. Where quarterback Pat
Barnes was viewed as the jewel who would lead Cal to glory in the mid-'90s.

Now, Barnes is a beleaguered player whose best game came against the
Spartans' woeful defense. Cal's is a struggling program, and the current
debate isn't whether the Bears will reach a bowl game but whether they can
eke out three more victories, which might be enough to save Gilbertson's job
for another year.

This is an era of lowered expectations at Cal. That is why Saturday's victory
seems significant.

UWAEZUOKE MAKES GOOD ON PROMISE
By CANDACE PUTNAM and RON BERGMAN
Mercury News Staff Writers

BERKELEY -- Iheanyi Uwaezuoke's first play of 1995 for Cal should have been a
17-yard touchdown pass Saturday in the first quarter of the team's 40-7
victory over San Jose State at Memorial Stadium.

But Uwaezuoke, playing for the first time since ripping ligaments in left
thumb during preseason practice exactly one month earlier, dropped the ball.

''I won't drop the next one,'' he promised quarterback Pat Barnes.

And he didn't, snagging a 19-yard TD toss over his head in the second
quarter. He then dropped the two-point conversion pass.

Uwaezuoke held up his left hand to show a genuine excuse -- he's wearing a
hard plastic cast over his thumb. Prehensile ability is real important to
wide receivers.

''That was just one of those passes I'm going to have trouble with,''
Uwaezuoke said.
Uwaezuoke will find it difficult to catch passes until the cast comes off in
a week or two.

''Deciding to play was one of the hardest things I've had to do in my
career,'' said Uwaezuoke, a senior. ''Great players have to to overcome great
odds at some times in their careers. That's what I've always heard.''


 LILLY OF THE FIELD: A critical blocked punt at the end of the first half
wasn't in the program. That's because the man who blocked it, Steve Lilly,
doesn't have his name or number (53) on the Cal roster or in the media guide.

A walk-on, Lilly had the pleasure of being a hero before his parents in his
hometown.

A graduate of De La Salle High in Concord, but a resident of Berkeley, Lilly
initially decided to attend St. Mary's ''because I wasn't highly recruited.
I'm a 200-pound linebacker with average speed.''

But Lilly wanted to play Division I-A football and transferred to Cal with
''my No. 1 goal to make the kickoff team.'' At fall camp in Turlock, he
pulled his right hamstring, delaying his college debut.

Perhaps figuring if his name and number weren't on the roster Lilly didn't
exist, the Spartans ignored him on the block to double-team Sean Bullard.
Lilly got a hand on Jason Chapple's punt, Bullard recovered on the 2 and the
Bears scored just before half for a 19-0 lead.

This was the third time this season the Spartans have had a punt blocked. The
Bears have had one punt, two field goals and a point-after blocked this
season.

 NUMBER GAME: The bionic tight end Tony Gonzalez, wearing his new No. 44,
caught five passes for 72 yards and a TD, the most receptions by a Cal tight
end since Brent Woodall caught five against Arizona State five years ago.

''That number (44) made me feel bigger because it was my number in high
school,'' Gonzalez said. ''I felt like RoboCop out there.''

Gonzalez appropriated the number when starting fullback Johnny Tavake briefly
quit the team.


NO CONTROVERSY: When San Jose State third-string quarterback Dan O'Dell
replaced Carl Dean at the end of the third quarter instead of backup Alli
Abrew, it was the furthest thing from a continuation of any quarterback
controversy.

Abrew is tentatively scheduled to have surgery on his right hand during the
bye week after SJS plays Utah State.

''Abrew has had trouble and may require surgery for an old injury,'' said SJS
Coach John Ralston. ''It hasn't been our intent to use him (in a game).''

Abrew sprained his wrist as a junior in high school and reinjured it this
summer lifting weights.


HARPER'S DEBUT: SJS senior fullback Willie Harper, a standout from Fremont
High who is just starting to regain his form after his career was derailed
nearly five years ago when he was shot during an altercation, saw his first
playing time Saturday.

Harper played only minimally at DeAnza College before transferring to SJS
this year.
''We finally got Willie Harper in one play,'' Ralston said. ''Hopefully,
we'll be able to use him some more in the future.''

 FISHING FOR WINS: Cal defensive end Andy Jacobs was relieved to get the
first victory.

''It's like catching your first bass,'' he said. ''You've just got to get in
a pattern and keep on doing it.''

In the Cal media guide, Jacobs lists bass fishing as his off-season passion.


 COACHING EMPATHY: Keith Gilbertson was happy to get his first win of the
season. But that didn't prevent him from feeling bad for his coaching
counterpart.

''I've had a couple of tough Saturdays myself,'' he said. ''I know how it
feels.''


ETC.: A Carl Dean to Brian Roche 54-yard-pass reception was the Spartans'
longest pass play of the season and the longest of Roche's career. . . . Cal
had eight plays that gained 25 yards or more following only three plays of
that length or longer, combined, in the losses to San Diego State and Fresno
State that opened the season.


Mercury News Staff Writer Ann Killion contributed to this report.