BearTalk

The blocked punt by Stanford’s Chase Thomas was the first time Cal had a punt blocked since last year against UCLA.

Stanford won the coin toss and elected to receive. Enjoy the game.

Cal’s captains today are left tackle Mike Tepper, fullback Brian Holley, defensive end Tyson Alualu and cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson.

Nose tackle Derrick Hill appears to be moving fine during warm-ups. Of course, he is coming off a stinger so there’s nothing wrong with his lower body, but he just looks healthy. Jeff Tedford said Hill, who has missed the past three games, will play in a limited capacity.

Cal is wearing white on white today.

–Cal goes into the Big Game in possession of The Axe, and it was one of the sweeter ways to get it back.

–Columnist Cam Inman’s annual interview with The Axe.

–Stanford has Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck, but don’t forget about the receiving corps.

–The Big Game at a glance.

–Columnist Tim Kawakami says Jeff Tedford’s assembly line at quarterback is drying up.

–Sorting out Cal and Stanford’s bowl possibilities.

–Columnist Cam Inman is also doing an in-game blog tonight.

Hello, everyone. Greetings from the Stanford Stadium press box. Great atmosphere as always around the stadium as tailgating is in full effect. I’ll be back with some gameday links in a few.

 Catching up on a Friday night . . .

AROUND THE PAC-10

– Arizona State (4-0) made a school-record 18 3-pointers and routed USF 104-65. Junior wing Rihards Kuksiks shot 7-for-13 from beyond the arc, scored a career-high 27 points, had eight assists and five rebounds, and freshman Trent Lockett shot 8-for-9 from the floor and scored 19 points, also a career-high.

– San Jose’s Drew Gordon scored 19 points and UCLA (1-1) rallied from an 11-point first-half hole to beat Cal State Bakersfield 75-64. Meanwhile, senior Nikola Dragovic of Belgrade, Serbia, was suspended from the team after being arrested for felony assault, stemming from an incident in Hollywood last month.

– Washington (4-0) got 30 points and 15 rebounds — both career highs — from senior Quincy Pondexter in  an 80-70 win over San Jose State. Ex-Husky Adrian Oliver scored 32 for the Spartans.

THE NATIONAL SCENE

 Seems like Syracuse is pretty good. On the heels of its 22-point win over Cal, the Orange handled defending national champion 87-71 in the championship game of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament at Madison Square Garden. Wesley Johnson scored 25 for the ‘Cuse . . . Tennessee squeezed 34 turnovers out of  East Carolina in a 105-66 victory . . . E”Twaun Moore scored 22 points and Purdue beat South Dakota State 74-63  . . . No. 2 Michigan State won its 42nd straight home game against a non-conference opponent, dispatching Toledo 75-62.

LOCAL HEROES

Oakland product Kwame Vaughn scored 17 points, but USF was routed at Arizona State . . . Mario Flaherty, a senior center from Mills HS in Millbrae, had 17 points and 13 rebounds for Houston Baptist in a 77-55 loss at Michigan . . . Richmond HS product Eli Holman had 14 points and eight rebounds as Detroit beat Robert Morris 71-59.

FINAL SCORE: Ohio State 76, Cal 70. Will be interesting to get the Bears’ take on this one. They can’t be too happy — it’s a loss and they go home 0-2 at the Garden. But . . . they were down 52-28 with 15 1/2 minutes left and made this a game. They showed the fight and toughness that was missing against Syracuse. Turner was a monster for the Buckeyes, with 26 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. He’s the only Ohio State player who made a field goal in the final 15 minutes. Randle had 26 points for Cal — that’s 51 in two games. Amoke earned himself strong consideration for more playing time — perhaps a starting job — by totaling 11 points and 15 rebounds, much of it in the final 10 minutes. That’s all for now.

1:10 2nd H: Too much Evan Turner, who has 22 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, and has scored 14 points in the past 10 minutes. Cal trails 71-63 after two free throws by Amoke, who has played his best game with nine points and 13 rebounds.

3:51 2nd H: It’s not over yet. Cal got within 63-57 after a 3-pointer by Gutierrez, then a layup by Sanders-Frison off a Gutierrez feed with 5:07 left. But Jorge picked up his fifth foul on the next possession and Diebler made two FTs for OSU. It’s 65-57 after Christopher was whistled for a charge.

6:21 2nd H: The Bears are running out of time. It’s 63-52 after a putback by Turner. Cal has outscored the Buckeyes 18-9 since Diebler’s technical FTs, but it’s going to take something out of the ordinary to reverse this score.

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While Cal was watching videotape of Ohio State . . .

AROUND THE PAC-10

Nic Wise had 15 points, seven assists, five steals and five turnovers and Arizona (2-0) beat Ben Braun’s Rice squad, 66-49 in Tucson . . . Sophomore Klay Thompson had a career-high 37 points (15-for-20 FGs) and Washington State (3-0) beat IPFW 89-71, despite the fact that no one else scored more than seven points.

THE NATIONAL SCENE

No. 1 Kansas will win most of the time when it outscores the opposition 33-3 from the 3-point line. That’s what happened in the Jayhawks’ 94-44 win over Central Arkansas . . . Kentucky’s starters scored all the club’s points in a 102-92 defeat of Sam Houston State. Freshman guard John Wall had 21 points, six assists and six turnovers.

LOCAL HERO

Former St. Mary’s HS-Berkeley star Larry Gurganious, a tranfer from Gonzaga, had 21 points and nine rebounds as UC Riverside scored an 87-71 win over La Verne, playing without Shirley.