by By Jonathan Okanes Staff writer , Contra Costa Times

During winter break last year, Riley returned to his hometown of Portland, Ore., only to run into Oregon State linebacker Joey LaRocque, who just happens to be the player who tackled Riley on that fateful play. Then, just this past Wednesday, Riley walked into Jeff Tedford's office only to find his coach watching film of you guessed it that very same play.

"It's just something that happened. You have to live with it," said Riley, who will lead the Bears into today's game at No. 23 Oregon State. "You always wish it didn't happen. I learned a lot in that game. I have more experience now. I hope to come in ready to play. I know what to do now in that situation."

Making his first career start as a redshirt freshman because of an ankle injury to Nate Longshore, Riley started off slowly last year against the Beavers but then led Cal on a furious fourth-quarter comeback. He connected with wide receiver Lavelle Hawkins on a 64-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 31-28 with 2:31 remaining. The Bears got the ball back at their own 5 with 1:27 left and Riley led the Bears to the OSU 12 with 14 seconds left.

On the next play, Riley couldn't find a receiver open so he decided to run for the end zone. He was tackled by LaRocque at the 10-yard line. Cal was out of timeouts and the clock ran out before it could attempt a tying field goal.

"I think it was very disappointing when it happened, obviously," Tedford said. "I think he shook that off very well. As a quarterback, you're going to run into those things. There's going to be times when you wish you had a play back here or there. It's not the first and it won't be the last that he's going to encounter as a quarterback. I think he did a nice job of putting that behind him. I think that's pretty much in his past."

Riley said about "40 percent of his high school goes to Oregon State," so he's had to hear about that play from friends. He's close friends with Beavers starting safety Greg Laybourn, who was with LaRocque last winter when he and Riley crossed paths.

"I was like, 'Oh, this guy,'" Riley said. "He goes, 'Sorry about that.' I said, 'Don't worry about it. You did your job.'"

LaRocque, who now plays for the Chicago Bears , said he didn't really have time to be surprised that Riley decided to take off running.

"He tried to make a play on his own. More power to him," LaRocque said by telephone earlier this week. "It worked out for us. I was just trying to stop him. He was just trying to make a big play for his team. I probably would have tried to do the same thing. Luckily for us, we stopped him."

Riley has had more than his share of ups and downs since then. After putting on a terrific performance in the Armed Forces Bowl last December, he wrestled the starting job away from Longshore to begin this season. But he was benched after four games and has been in and out of the lineup since.

Today, about 90 miles away from where he grew up, Riley will try to ruin the Beavers' aspirations for their first Rose Bowl bid since 1964 and put the Bears in position to finish the season with a high national ranking and a berth in a respected bowl game.

"You just go out every game and try to do your thing," Riley said. "Sometimes good things happen, sometimes things don't go your way. You try to overcome the bad things and try to create more positive plays for your team. There's just times where I've felt in sync in the offense and there have been times where I've felt like, 'What the hell am I doing?' You just try to get back into that rhythm again."

Contact Jonathan Okanes at jokanes@bayareanewsgroup.com.Cal reportESSENTIALS: Cal at No. 23 Oregon State, Reser Stadium, Corvallis, Ore. KICKOFF: 12:30 p.m. TV/RADIO: Chs. 7, 10; 810-AM RECORDS: Cal 6-3, 4-2 Pac-10 after a 17-3 loss at USC. Oregon St. 6-3, 5-1 following a 34-6 victory at UCLA. INJURY REPORT: Cal -- WR Michael Calvin (knee), LT Mike Tepper (pectoral muscle), LG Chris Guarnero (toe), RT Chet Teofilo (ankle), RT Matt Laird (shoulder), NT Kendrick Payne (knee) are out. DE Cody Jones (knee) is questionable. S Bernard Hicks (thigh) is probable. OSU -- QB Lyle Moevao (shoulder), WR Shane Morales (hip), CB Tim Clark (toe) and DT Stephen Paea (calf) are probable.

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