BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -After all that went wrong for California in 2007, coach Jeff Tedford did take one valuable lesson from a season that started with so much promise only to end in bitter disappointment.

The best way to make sure one bad loss doesn't send a season spiraling out of control is to work on the players' psyche instead of devising better schemes.

Tedford will carry that lesson into Saturday's game against No. 7 Southern California (3-1, 1-1 Pac-10), when the 24th-ranked Golden Bears (3-1, 0-1) will try to bounce back from a 42-3 loss at Oregon.

The Bears were poised to move into the top five in the AP poll with a win last week, but instead plummeted 18 spots following the most lopsided loss in Tedford's eight years in Berkeley.