Will California Golden Bears Underachieve in 2010?

Jeff Tedford begins his ninth season at the helm of the Cal Bears, and worked hard to bring in an 11th ranked recruiting class, according to Rivals.com, headlined by safety Keenan Allen.

The coach brought a conference title to Berkeley in 2006, finishing the year with a 10-3 record. However, Cal hasn't finished better than 9-4 over the past three seasons, including a 7-6 finish in 2007, one year removed from their conference championship.

While Tedford's 2010 recruiting class was among the top-15 in the country, the Bears still may struggle in a Pac-10 conference that continues to get better every year.

With USC and UCLA both landing top-10 recruiting classes, and Washington and Oregon not far behind, the conference competitiveness could be more than Cal can handle.

The only notable wins in 2009 for the Cal Bears were a 24-16 win over then No. 18 Arizona, and (maybe their most impressive) a 34-28 hard-fought win over Stanford on the road.

Unfortunately for the Bears, they followed that up with a lopsided 42-10 loss to Washington in the regular season's final week and a 37-27 loss to Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Running back Jahvid Best and cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson will not be returning to the team in 2010 as both have declared for the NFL draft.

Cal will have no problem replacing Best with Shane Vereen, who took over for Best after he suffered a sickening neck injury against Oregon State.

Vereen finished the 2009 season with 952 yards rushing and the same number of rushing touchdowns (12) as Best. He should be the team's starter when spring practice opens in just a few short days and could prove more productive than Best.

Another roster decision that must be made is who the starting quarterback should be in 2010. Kevin Riley won the job out of spring last season, but don't expect him to be the favorite to do so again this season. The guy to watch is incoming sophomore Beau Sweeney, who was the backup to Riley last season.

As for the good news, that's really where it ends for Cal. They will open the 2010 season at home against UC Davis on Sept. 4 and Colorado on Sept. 11 before heading out on the road to face a very good Nevada team—the Wolfpack led the nation in rushing—on Sept. 18.

Three of their first five conference games will be on the road against Arizona, USC, and Oregon State. The Bears lost two of those three matchups last season; even worse, they lost at home to USC and Oregon State in 2009. Needless to say, playing both of those teams on the road this season is going to be a tough task.

Fortunately for Cal, they will close the season with three of their final four conference games at home, hosting Oregon, Washington, and Stanford.

With USC, Oregon, Stanford, and Washington all getting stronger and Oregon State also becoming a conference strength, Cal will have a tough time staying anywhere near the top of the conference.

The Cal Bears finished the 2009 season with an 8-5 record, but with a tougher non-conference schedule and a conference that continues to get better, the Bears may not do better than 7-5 or even 6-6 next season.