California Golden Bears

The 111th Big Game ESSENTIALS: Stanford at Cal, Memorial Stadium KICKOFF: 12:30 p.m. TV/RADIO: Chs. 7, 10; 810-AM, 860-AM RECORDS: Stanford 5-6, 4-4 Pac-10 after a 45-23 loss to USC; Cal 6-4, 4-3 after a 34-21 loss at Oregon State.

Q and Axe: This sharp-edged interviewee the big prize today

McNally calls Cardinal's finale a 'defining moment' for program

The No. 7-ranked California volleyball team (21-5, 11-4 Pac-10) defeated No. 9 UCLA (18-9, 8-8 Pac-10) in a five-set thriller (17-25, 26-24, 27-25, 26-28, 15-13) today at Haas Pavilion. With the victory, the Golden Bears swept the season series with the Bruins for the first time in school history and now own a three-match winning streak against UCLA. Cal was led by junior outside hitter Hana Cutura's season-high 26 kills and career-high 68 attacks (10e, .235) as she notched her ninth double-double of the year by adding 13 digs. Cutura also led the Bears in blocks with four (two solo).

The sixth-ranked California Golden Bear women's swimming team had a strong showing in the first day of the Art Adamson Invitational hosted by Texas A&M at the Texas A&M Natatorium Friday, site of the 2009 NCAA Championships. Cal's team score of 308 leads the competition.

Cal women's soccer sophomore forward Alex Morgan scored the game-winning goal in the U.S. Under-20 National Team's 3-0 victory over France on Thursday morning at Estadio Nelson Oryuzan in Chillan, Chile.

The Big Game is not the biggest game of the week in the Pac-10. For the first time in a long time, USC is not the talk of the conference. Oregon State has the opportunity to be the first team in the Pac-10 other than the Trojans to earn a Rose Bowl berth since Washington State in 2003. Cal must bounce back from their only back-to-back losses of the season this week in the Big Game…

The Cardinals have the opportunity to celebrate a division title in front of a home crowd on Sunday. First, they must take on a team that keeps opponent's offense sidelined. The Giants arrive in the desert with an impressive resume, but the “work in progress” Cardinals plan to send them home defeated. Here is what Ken Whisenhunt had to say about NY's secondary, run game, control style play, etc.

A number of factors are causing Vikings coach Brad Childress to limit his players’ physical exertion at this time of year. Childress and his players talked about the reasons for downsizing practices in November and December.