FACTS & STATS: Site: California Memorial Stadium (71,799) -- Berkeley, California. Television: Comcast Sports Net West. Home Record: CSU 2-0, Cal 1-0. Away Record: CSU 0-0, Cal 1-1. Neutral Record: CSU 0-1, Cal 0-0. Conference Record: CSU 0-0, Cal 1-0. Series Record: Series is tied, 1-1.

GAME NOTES: Facing off against their final non-conference opponent of the regular season, the California Golden Bears return to the gridiron this weekend to battle the Colorado State Rams at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. Catching a bye last week, the Bears, who will be off yet again in just three weeks, are trying to bounce back from their first loss of the 2008 campaign, having bowed to Maryland on the road on September 13th by a final of 35-27. In its two previous games, Cal opened Pac-10 action with a commanding 66-3 win over Washington State and began the season with a 38-31 triumph versus Michigan State at home. As for the Rams, they've strung together two straight wins and have taken four of the last five dating back to the middle of last November. Since falling to Colorado in Denver in the opener, the Rams have turned the tables against Sacramento State (23-20) and, most recently, Houston (28-25). While this meeting is certainly going to be a tough battle for CSU, the squad is well aware that Mountain West Conference play is just around the corner with the opener against UNLV at Hughes Stadium looming on October 4th. Last season, Cal picked up a 34-28 decision against CSU to even the all-time series at one game apiece.

The offense for the Rams looked strong in the early going against Houston last Saturday, going up 21-0 late in the second period, but it almost fell apart down the stretch. Quarterback Billy Farris put together a strong effort with his 24-of-33 for 276 yards and two touchdowns to Dion Morton and Kory Sperry. Morton had a total of five grabs for a game-high 126 yards, while running backs Gartrell Johnson and Kyle Bell combined for 133 of the unit's 146 yards and each scored a TD as well. Despite the efforts of Johnson and Bell, a pairing which has generated all three of the team's rushing scores and 338 combined rushing yards, the Rams are still eighth in the Mountain West and 102 in the nation this week with a mere 104 ypg on the ground. With his completion rate just a shade under 70 percent, Farris has proven to be a nice surprise at the quarterback position, although he needs to boost the final outcome of some of those connections so that he has more than four TDs, against three picks. With an average of 7.33 receptions per game, Rashaun Greer has become a bona fide threat, even though he has yet to visit the end zone at the end of any of those catches.

Give the game ball from the Houston meeting to Klint Kubiak because it was his interception with just seconds remaining that closed out the Cougars in Fort Collins. Kubiak was one of two players on the team with nine tackles, the other being Mike Pagnotta who had two tackles for loss, one sack, one fumble recovery and one interception, yet still lost out on MWC Defensive Player of the Week honors somehow. Although the season is still just one-fourth completed, the Rams have to be happy about the fact that they've gone from being break-even in the turnover department a season ago (fifth in the MWC) to third in the conference and 12th in the nation with a plus-1.33 turnovers per game to this point. However, tackles for loss and sacks continue to be an issue because the team has just four quarterback takedowns, three of those by Tommie Hill, and an average of 3.33 TFLs per contest which is eighth in the league and 115th in the country.

Tops in the Pac-10 and ninth in the nation this week in scoring with 43.7 ppg, the Golden Bears have hung most of that success on their blowout win over Washington State in the conference opener a few weeks ago. The bloated numbers also have running back Jahvid Best ranked first in the league and 16th in the country with his 112 ypg on the ground. Just as importantly, Best has also provided quarterback Kevin Riley with a reliable safety release having reeled in a team-best 11 passes for 130 yards. Riley's 225.3 ypg through the air have been a major portion of the squad's 267 ypg passing, placing the Bears fourth in the conference. Put it all together and Cal has been posting some huge overall offensive numbers, checking in with 477.7 ypg to place not only second in the league but also 14th in the country this week.

Thanks to the effort against Washington State, the Golden Bears have kept their defensive numbers manageable. The Cougars simply rolled over versus California, posting a woeful 57 yards rushing and just 167 yards of total offense. Then again, Michigan State failed to do much damage on the ground versus the Bears either, coming up with a mere 81 yards, which is why the squad currently shows an average of 93 ypg being permitted on the ground. That number means Cal is second in the Pac-10 and 24th in the country. Helping matters greatly has been a third-down defense that has held opponents to just 32 percent success on such plays. Thanks to Syd'Quan Thompson being tied for the national lead in interceptions with three already, Cal is on the right track when it comes to turnover margin with a plus-1.0 to rate second in the league and 18th in the nation.

The Rams have certainly given their new head coach something to be pleased about in the early going this season, and yet the team's two wins have been far too close for comfort, which is enough of a reason to lean in favor of the Golden Bears this weekend.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: California 41, Colorado State 21

Saturday, September 27th, 6:00 p.m. (et).