Cal defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast will have a handful of family and friends on hand Saturday when the Bears visit No. 14 Arizona. And Pendergast made it clear where his posse's rooting interest lies.

"They'll be cheering for the Cal Bears," he said.

No word on whether that was a tough sell or not. Pendergast is a Phoenix native who graduated from Arizona in 1990. He also has two sisters who went to Arizona.

But it's not like Pendergast has any roots in Arizona's football program. He didn't play high school or college football and wasn't involved with the Wildcats program while a student there.

Still, Pendergast got his coaching career started at Amphitheater High in Tucson and reflects about that time of his life positively.

"I enjoyed my time there," he said. "I have a lot of fond memories of the time I went to school there. I still have a lot of friends not only in the Phoenix area but in Tucson, as well."

Pendergast has been back to Arizona's campus a number of times. Before coming to Cal last winter, he had spent the previous 15 seasons as an NFL assistant coach and found himself at Arizona regularly to work out players for the draft. During the five seasons he spent as the Arizona Cardinals' defensive coordinator, he attended Arizona's pro day every year.

  • Arizona's Nick Foles was one of four Pac-10 quarterbacks who went on a media tour this summer to try to drum up exposure
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    for the conference. Cal's Kevin Riley, despite being the Pac-10's active leader in touchdown passes and wins, was left behind.

    Riley, though, says he doesn't necessarily measure himself against the other quarterbacks in the Pac-10.

    "I don't look at it like that," he said. "I've been here a long time, played a lot, done some good things, done some bad things, obviously. During the season, you don't look at that. You just look at who you're playing. I don't watch the offense during the week. I just get ready to learn how to beat their defense. That's more something in the offseason that people talk about."

    Yes, like Riley himself. In an interview with ESPN.com during training camp, he said: "I think I'm better than those guys," referring to the quartet who made the tour -- Foles, Washington's Jake Locker, Stanford's Andrew Luck and USC's Matt Barkley. "Yeah, they are great players, but I have more wins than all of them."

  • Wide receiver Marvin Jones will face one of the toughest matchups of the season when he goes head-to-head against Trevin Wade. Wade, who was on the preseason watch list for multiple awards, lines up at right cornerback, so the showdown will take place when Jones lines up on the left side. "He's a good player," Jones said. "He's very active." The other matchup Jones faces will be against left cornerback Robert Golden, who Jones says has been a good friend since the two took a recruiting trip to Oregon together a few years ago.

  • Cal coach Jeff Tedford is no longer talking to the media about injuries, but linebacker Mike Mohamed practiced Thursday for the first time in two weeks, although the team didn't go in pads. Mohamed missed last week's loss at Nevada with a sprained toe. His availability for the game won't determined until kickoff.

    Saturday's game
    Cal (2-1) at Arizona (3-0), 7 p.m., CSNBA+