Illinois and California enter Saturday's game at Memorial Stadium in similar places — both thinking they're much better than their losing records show.

"We're a fine line between 3-1 and 1-3, just a couple of last minute scores," Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said.

Tedford's squad lost to Kansas State in its opener. It held second-half leads against Colorado State and Utah before allowing comebacks for two more losses, and will look to regroup this weekend in Champaign.

Here's a look at the Golden Bears:

The Cal controversy ...

It sits at quarterback, where junior college transfer Aaron Rodgers will get his first start of the year against Illinois.

Rodgers took over for this year's four-game starter Reggie Robertson in the second quarter in last week's game against Utah and completed 15 of 25 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns.

"He's got mobility. He's got great arm strength," Tedford said of Rodgers. "There's no question he can put the ball in places a lot quicker than Reggie because of his arm strength.

"I think he is exceptional as far as the mental part of the game is concerned. I've been very impressed with his ability to comprehend what we're asking him to do offensively. It's not every day a guy is able to do that in a short period of time."

A long non-conference road

When the Bears take the field against Illinois Saturday, they will have played five games to fellow Pac-10 competitor Stanford's one. (Stanford will play its second game at BYU later in the day.)

California started off its season on Aug. 23 against Kansas State and proceeded to play four games in 19 days, two of which were on the road.

Tedford said the compacted early schedule was good for his fairly young team.

"With our young team, the whole goal was to get some time for these guys to play," Tedford said. "We have suffered a few injuries, which you never like to do. But I think as far as getting the experience of playing with a young team, that's exactly what we needed."

Illinois head coach Ron Turner said making it through a tough early-season schedule is more of a mental challenge than anything else.

"It's all a mindset. If you make it a big deal, it's a big deal. If you don't, it's not," Turner said. "I remember with the (Chicago) Bears one year, we played — and it still has never been done — three road games in 10 or 11 days.

"We played at San Diego, at Kansas City and at Detroit — Sunday, Sunday, Thursday. Three games in 11 days and won all three of them. So it's a mindset."

Early wake-up call

Saturday's 11:10 a.m. kickoff means the Bears will be suiting up at 9 a.m. California time, and the early rising has gotten Tedford a little worried.

"This is the first time we're going to do that. This game causes a little concern because it's so early on our body clock," Tedford said. "It kind of throws your body off a little bit. But it is what it is, I'm sure our guys will be fine with it."

Turner doesn't buy into any internal clock theories.

"Last year, they went in and beat the crap out of Michigan State (46-22) at 9:30. I like to play at 11:10, so it doesn't matter," Turner said. "The bottom line is when the ball is teed up, you're either ready to play or not. And they'll be ready to play. One thing I can guarantee you is they'll play fast and they'll play hard."

Player to watch — Geoff McArthur

The junior receiver leads the nation in total receiving yards with 470 on 25 catches and five touchdowns.

McArthur averages 18.8 yards a catch and is sixth in the nation with 117.5 yards a game.

Also look out for...

Sophomore defensive back Donnie McCleskey ranks in the top 15 in the country in both tackles for loss and sacks. The 5-foot-10, 280-pound rover was named to The Sporting News' Pac-10 All-Freshman Team last year and has emerged to lead the team in tackles with 42 this year.

Series standings

Illinois leads the all-time series 7-1. Cal's only win, a 31-14 victory in Champaign, came in 1974.

Illinois won the teams' last meeting 44-17 in Berkeley, but Turner said Cal's program under second-year head coach Tedford is much more developed now.

"It's a definite program right now. I liked Tom Holmoe, but when I watched that team before, there were three different philosophies," Turner said. "It was almost like you were watching three different teams. I thought it was a lot of different segments instead of watching a team."

Turner's take

"I see a team that's much better than a 1-3 record. I think they're very athletic and will continue to get better.... Defensively, a lot of speed. They've got a lot of new players in the lineup, so it's taken a little while to get used to playing with each other."