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FACTS & STATS: Site: Folsom Field (53,613) -- Boulder, Colorado. Television: CSN-California. Home Record: Cal 0-0, Colorado 0-0. Away Record: Cal 0-0, Colorado 0-1. Neutral Record: Cal 1-0, Colorado 0-0. Conference Record: Cal 0-0, Colorado 0-0. Series Record: California leads, 3-2.

GAME NOTES: Although this matchup will not count towards either team's league record, Colorado will take on a conference foe this weekend, as the Buffaloes play host to the California Golden Bears.

The reason the matchup will not effect league results is because this is the second meeting of a home-and-home that began in 2010.

The Golden Bears were impressive in their season debut, as they soundly defeated Fresno State, 36-21. It was the 73rd win for Jeff Tedford as the coach of Cal and with one more victory he will be tied for the most wins by a head coach in the school's history. Currently Andy Smith (1916-25) leads the way with 74 wins. Tedford has enjoyed success since taking over at Cal back in 2002. Since then the Golden Bears have averaged eight wins per year and the 73-42 mark is tied for third best in the conference during that span.

The debut of John Embree at Colorado did not unfold as the coach might have planned, as the Buffaloes were out-played by Hawaii, 34-17, in Honolulu. Embree is trying to bring back a winning attitude to Boulder, something that has been missing since Gary Burnett's last season in 2005. After Burnett, Dan Hawkins took over for Colorado, but during his five years as head coach the Buffaloes did not post more than six wins in a season, and finished 2-6 in league action in four of the five campaigns.

Cal and Colorado clashed almost exactly one year ago on September 11th, and in that matchup the Golden Bears gave the Buffs a taste of life in the Pac-12, defeating them by a margin of 52-7. It was the second straight win in the series for California, which now owns a slim 3-2 edge over Colorado.

The Bulldogs scored less than two minutes into the season-opener against Cal, but the Golden Bears responded with 19 straight points and never looked back, en route to a 15-point win to start the year.

Zach Maynard took over as the new quarterback for coach Tedford and although the Golden Bears were victorious the new signal caller had a mediocre debut. The quarterback did throw for 266 yards and two touchdowns, but only completed 16-of-35 passes and was intercepted once.

One thing Maynard did do well was connect with his big time receivers in Keenan Allen and Marvin Jones. Allen led the Golden Bears with eight receptions and that went for 112 yards, while Jones hauled in both touchdown passes and finished with 118 yards on five catches.

The ground game as a whole found success against Fresno State, as the team finished with 151 yards. However, Isi Sofele, the starting tailback struggled to find much room, averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. Sofele did find the end zone twice. Helping out the cause on the ground, was Maynard, who added 52 yards.

Clearly Maynard has to work on his accuracy for this Saturday, but his ability to run should cause problems for Colorado's defense.

Usually in a season-opening matchup there are some kinks that need to be ironed out. That was the case for Maynard and the offense, but for the defense, the unit played like it was in mid-season form and that has to make coach Tedford happy.

California made life miserable for FSU's quarterback Derek Carr, as the Golden Bears collected six sacks and grabbed one interception. One of those sacks came from Cecil Whiteside, and while it was his only tackle of the day, it was a big one. Whiteside's hit caused a fumble, which was picked up by Trevor Guyton, who returned it 19 yards for a score.

Defending the pass was just part of this unit's success on Saturday, as the Golden Bears were also swarming Fresno State's ground attack. Cal held the Bulldogs to just 68 yards on 25 carries. Because of Cal's ability to stop both the run and the pass, Fresno State finished with just 11 first downs and a 2- of-14 showing on third down.

The offense for Colorado did not get going until the second half against Hawaii and by then it was too late. After being held scoreless through the first two quarters, the Buffs posted two touchdowns in the third frame and added a field goal in the fourth, but despite the team's second half surge the offense seemed out of sync.

Tyler Hansen looked unsettled under center, but that could be because he was sacked seven times in the loss. Even though Hansen had a lack of protection he was still able to connect on 16-of-30 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns. However, he was intercepted once and fumbled twice, but both times he put the ball on the carpet Colorado was able to keep possession.

Another indication that the offensive line was not giving Hansen time was the fact that running back Rodney Stewart led the team in receiving. Sure, Paul Richardson caught both touchdown passes, but Stewart finished with 98 yards on four receptions.

Stewart was far more productive catching the ball, because out of the backfield he rushed for a meager 52 yards on a mere 18 carries.

This unit will have trouble not just this Saturday, but throughout the season if the offensive line cannot put forth a better effort.

It was clear from the start of the game that Colorado was going to have trouble stopping Hawaii's quarterback Bryant Moniz. The signal caller for the Warriors ran all over Colorado's defense, and by the final whistle he had 121 of Hawaii's 165 rushing yards.

Last year Colorado had all sorts of trouble defensively, and the unit was unable to put forth a strong front against the run, or pass. Opponents clobbered the Buffs for 140.3 ypg, and abused the defense through the air for another 259.8 ypg.

Colorado did do well against Hawaii's passing attack though, surrendering just 178 yards.

There is one glaring issue for the Buffaloes and that is the play of the offensive line. Hansen was banged up in the opener and that does not bode well for Colorado this Saturday since California collected six sacks in its week one victory. Look for the Golden Bears to relentlessly pursue Hansen. If Cal dominates in the trenches, than coach Tedford will have that 74th win.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: California 41, Colorado 17