The 4-4, 1-4 California Golden Bears can still become bowl eligible, but they're going to have to avoid three more meltdowns in their final four games. California's next test is a home game of sorts in San Francisco against the beat-up 3-5, 1-4 Washington State Cougars.

The Golden Bears lost the bear fight with 4-4, 3-2 UCLA at the Rose Bowl as the Bruins flexed their muscle during the second and fourth quarter to outscore Cal 31-0. The Bears only could score on junior running backs Isi Sofele's first-quarter touchdown along with C.J. Anderson's third-quarter TD. Once again junior quarterback Zach Maynard had a miserable performance of 14/for/30 completions for 199 yards, zero TDs and four interceptions.

If Maynard's as incompetent in San Francisco this week against Washington State, the Cougars could pencil in their second away win of the year. WSU inched past 1-8, 0-6 Colorado earlier this year 31-27. Last Saturday the Cougs weren't as fortunate falling 43-28 to No. 8 in the BCS 7-1, 5-0 Oregon. Considering they only lost by two scores Washington State shouldn't be entirely disappointed, but nevertheless a loss is a loss.

The Cougars scored on sophomore placekicker Andrew Furney's 40-yard field goal to begin the second quarter before sophomore cornerback Damante Horton's 76-yard pick six crept WSU within 15-10 at halftime. Furney sank a shorter FG at the start of the third to bring the Cougs within nine as seniors QB Marshall Lobbestael's 24-yard pass play to wide receiver Jared Karstetter snuck Washington State within nine again. However 13 seconds later the Ducks ran back the ensuing kickoff to increase their lead to 16. With 1:50 remaining during the fourth period freshman RB Rickey Galvin ran one in seconds before Karstetter caught the two-point conversion from Lobbestael for the final eight points of the game.

Three of Cal's four home wins happened in blowout fashion as 6-2, 3-2 Southern California blew the Bears out 30-9 in their lone loss. Just like against UCLA Cal coughed the ball up five times against the Trojans. With two of their three home wins happening against 3-5, 2-1 Fresno State and 4-4, 1-4 Utah by 15 and 24 points I think the Bears get the win against the Cougars. However whether it's by more than nine could be tricky if they treat Washington State with a handful of turnovers. The Cougs lost 42-24 at 4-3, 1-2 San Diego State and 28-25 at the Bruins during their first and third road games of the season. The win over the Buffaloes came in between. Definitely not my favorite play of Saturday, but I like Cal here to cover against WSU.