The 2008 California Golden Bears football team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the college football 2008–2009 season. They played their home games at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California and are coached by Jeff Tedford. California hosted Michigan State to begin the season on August 30, 2008 and closed the season at home against the University of Washington on December 6, 2008. In addition to the slate of nine conference games, five at home and four on the road, the Golden Bears traveled to College Park, Maryland to play the Maryland Terrapins, while having hosted Michigan State and Colorado State.
The Bears finished the regular season in fourth place in the Pac-10 and accepted a bid to the 2008 Emerald Bowl on December 27, where they defeated the Miami Hurricanes. The team improved on its 2007 season record of 7–6 to 9–4 and spent most of the season unranked, breaking into the AP Top 25 three times only to get knocked out each time following a loss. The Bears were finally ranked #25 in the Coaches' Poll and just missed getting into the AP Top 25 in January 2009.
Read more about 2008 California Golden Bears Football Team: Preseason, Schedule, Aftermath
Famous quotes containing the words football team, california, golden, bears, football and/or team:
“You can’t be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)
“It shone on everyone, whether they had a contract or not. The most democratic thing I’d ever seen, that California sunshine.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“Eyes that last I saw in tears
Through division
Here in death’s dream kingdom
The golden vision reappears
I see the eyes but not the tears
This is my affliction”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Where has it all gone? I remember that twenty years ago there were geese and cranes and ducks and grouse here, clouds of them!... And there are far fewer animals. Wolf and fox are rare, brother, not to mention bears or mink. There used even to be moose!”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“I doubt if men ever made a trade of heroism. In the days of Achilles, even, they delighted in big barns, and perchance in pressed hay, and he who possessed the most valuable team was the best fellow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)