FACTS & STATS: Site: Stanford Stadium (85,500) -- Stanford, California. Television: Versus. Home Record: California 4-2, Stanford 1-6. Away Record: California 2-3, Stanford 2-2. Neutral Record: California 0-0, Stanford 0-0. Conference Record: California 3-5, Stanford 2-6. Series Record: Stanford leads, 54-44-11.

GAME NOTES: The Stanford Cardinal and the California Golden Bears face off in one of the oldest college football rivalries, as the teams take the field at Stanford Stadium on Saturday. Heading into the 110th meeting between the programs, Stanford holds a 54-44-11 advantage, although California has won five in a row over the Cardinal, including a 26-17 verdict last season at home. As far as the 2007 campaign is concerned, Cal raced out to a 5-0 start before the wheels began to fall off. The Bears first lost to Oregon State by a score of 31-28 when they were ranked second in the nation, back on October 13th and the hits just kept on coming. Since then, Cal has lost five of the last six, including two in a row, with the most recent setback coming in a 37-23 contest against Washington back on November 17th. Meanwhile, Stanford wasn't supposed to be that great this year and the team has certainly lived up to those expectations. Although, the team did upset USC on the road the first week of October to give itself some relief, but with only one win since then there's been little to cheer about. Last weekend, the Cardinal dropped its fourth in a row in a 21-14 outing versus lowly Notre Dame.

A quick-starting unit, the Golden Bears have scored a combined 198 points in the first half this season, but that really hasn't done much for the bottom line. Quarterback Nate Longshore has completed 61.7 percent of his pass attempts for 229.2 ypg and 15 touchdowns, but mistakes in the pocket have resulted ion 11 interceptions as well. In an attempt to fortify the offense, Justin Forsett has been a horse for the Bears coming out of the backfield with his 263 carries, leading to 1,310 yards and 13 touchdowns, but even with Forsett leading the Pac-10 with his 118.8 ypg, the team as a whole is just fourth in the conference and 43rd in the nation with 167.4 ypg. Although it may not show in the team's record at the moment, the offensive line has proven to be one of the best in the nation at protecting their quarterback, allowing just 0.8 sacks per game to rank not only first in the league but also third in the country.

While the offensive line for California has been one of the best in the business, the defensive line and the rest of the players on that side of the ball have been anything but. Last in the Pac-10 in both sacks and tackles for loss per game, Cal is producing a mere 1.9 sacks per outing and 4.9 TFLs, ranking it 74th and 109th in the country, respectively. With as many as three players with at least 95 tackles this season, there are certainly enough tackles to go around for everyone on California, with Anthony Felder leading the charge with his 99 stops. Much further down the list is Zack Follett (52 tackles) who leads the group with 9.5 TFLs and 5.5 sacks, and he's done that in just nine of the team's 11 games. As far as turnovers are concerned, the team as a whole just breaks even and that has the Golden Bears rated sixth in the conference and 62nd in the nation heading into the final week of regular-season action.

Anthony Kimble posted a pair of touchdown runs in the first half for the Cardinal, but other than that the offense for the home team didn't make much noise against a woeful Notre Dame unit that struggled to three wins. Kimble finished with 80 yards on 20 carries, while the passing combination of Tavita Pritchard and T.C. Ostrander converted 15-of-33 for 152 yards and two interceptions, while surviving five sacks. Receiver Mark Bradford was the only player to catch more than a single pass, resulting in 111 yards in the setback as well. A starter in seven games, Kimble now leads the program with his 509 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground, while Pritchard and Ostrander go back and forth with a combined 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions as they try to make something happen through the air. As hard as they might try, the Cardinal are last in the Pac-10 and 107th in the nation in both total offense (323.1 ypg) and scoring (19.6 ppg). Giving up 4.3 sacks per game (116th nationally) is certainly no way to protect your signal-caller either.

Against one of the weakest offenses in all of college football, Stanford found a way to give up 117 yards on the ground and another 196 yards through the air. However, the defense didn't exactly lie down and roll over because the Cardinal came up with an interception and recovered three fumbles, which should have worked in the team's favor, but it didn't. Clinton Snyder came up with five tackles, of which three were behind the line, logged one sack and a forced fumble, while Pannel Egboh posted a pair of sacks and a forced fumble of his own. Snyder is second on the team with his 89 tackles and is first with seven sacks for Stanford, which is currently second in the Pac-10 and tied for ninth in the country with 3.3 sacks per outing. The team is also big on taking down ball carriers in the backfield, resulting in 8.4 TFLs per game to rank third in the conference and sixth in the nation entering this week. However, the pass defense tends to give a lot of that back with 267.5 ypg allowed.

With so many issues affecting the offense, the chances of Stanford putting together a tight game in this matchup doesn't seem likely.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: California 31, Stanford 17

Saturday, December 1st, 7:00 p.m. (et).