On a rainy Friday evening, Cal went back to practice, getting outside after a long week of studying. One thing did change for the guys. The offensive line, aside from a few, smarter players, had dyed their hair blonde.

"There really isn't one (reason)" offensive lineman Valentino Daltoso said, "Will (Craig) and a couple of guys were pushing for it for the bowl game, some guys followed through."

This is an offensive line group that has worn Hawaiian shirts for one full fall camp, then overalls and crocs during this year's fall camp, and this is another opportunity to bond. They did not lose a bet to do this.

"You'd think (they lost a bet)," Justin Wilcox said, "if that was voluntary, we need to reevaluate some things."

That might have been the most notable thing about Friday's practice, as it was a time to knock some of the rust off after two weeks of not playing football. The Bears had a couple workouts between the UCLA game and Friday, but hadn't gotten back to football activities as finals have approached.

"I will definitely take this over studying for finals," inside linebacker Kuony Deng said, "getting back on the field, playing football. It's cool to get to recharge the batteries for sure. That first week, your body is banged up from the long season, it's a good thing to be able to get away for a little bit, but this is what we love to be doing, we're getting ready to play the last game, end the season the right way, with a win."

Offensive Coordinator

Wilcox reiterated what he said about Beau Baldwin yesterday, as the former Cal coordinator is getting settled in San Luis Obispo at the head of Cal Poly. Wilcox noted that there's been an innumerable amount of interest in the job.

"There's a lot of interest in the job," Wilcox said, "that's how it goes. I've probably got to change my phone number, but that's a good thing, because people are interested. There will be certain criteria that we're looking for, and we're going to find somebody that fits our program, coach our players well, and fits in with our staff."

Injuries

Cal will have a few guys back for the bowl, namely Kekoa Crawford, Jeremiah Hawkins, and Branden Smith among others. They won't have safety Ashtyn Davis, who Wilcox announced as out for the contest.

"We would anticipate we will have all those guys available," Wilcox said, "but I will say there's one name we won't, and that's Ashtyn Davis. Ashtyn had to have a procedure done, it's a minor procedure, but it's something he needed to have done. A guy like that, who's such a competitor and loves his team, it's really difficult. He won't be playing. I'm not sure it was avoidable, and we're all behind Ashtyn. He'll be there with us, just won't be able to play in the game."

Davis originally got hurt in the USC game, missed the Stanford game, and played through injury in the UCLA game, picking up an interception and the final tackle of the game to keep UCLA out of the end zone. Davis has accepted an invitation to the Senior Bowl in January and has been projected as a potential first round draft pick for the NFL. Trey Turner and Daniel Scott will fill in for him in the Bowl