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He’s a fan: Cal head coach Jeff Tedford will spend his Saturday just like millions of others across the country: watching college football on television. 

Tedford will be paying special attention to the Arizona State-Washington State game on Saturday, as the Sun Devils are slated as the Golden Bears’ next opponent. With the luxury of a bye week, Tedford will watch his first football game of the season that isn’t on tape. 

“I’m really going to enjoy sitting back and watching someone else sweat it out for once,” Tedford said Tuesday. “I’ll be scouting, but I’ll be a fan too.” 

Injury report: Tedford’s team’s health should benefit from the weekend off. All three starting wide receivers are nursing injuries, as well as three offensive line starters, three defensive line starters and tight end Tom Swoboda. The injury report Tedford received on Monday was two pages long for the first time this season. Tedford said his backups will see extensive practice time this week, and the team will be in full pads only one day. Here’s a list of injuries to Cal starters: WR Jonathon Makonnen (shoulder), WR LaShaun Ward (shoulder, thumb), WR Geoff McArthur (hamstring), OT Chris Murphy (ankle), C Ryan Jones (wrist), G Jon Geisel (knee), FB Pana Faumuina (shoulder), TE Tom Swoboda (shoulder, ankle), DT Josh Beckham (ankle), DE Jamaal Cherry (foot), DE Tom Canada (thigh). 

Running woes: Tedford said the next two weeks will be largely dedicated to the running game, which is averaging just 94 yards per game, including games of 40 and 16 yards against UCLA and Oregon State, respectively. Tedford emphasizes balance on offense, and he hasn’t been getting enough production from the run game, which ranks eighth in the Pac-10. 

“Our running game has been non-existent lately,” Tedford said. “It’s something we’re going to have to address right now.” 

Tedford pointed to several factors that may have contributed to the weak efforts lately, including injuries on the offensive line, tough opponents and poor communication. 

“It might be my fault by having too many plays to remember,” he said. “The players might not be comfortable with having so many plays to remember. We have to get back to basics and be able to play at full speed.” 

Echemaandu update: Junior tailback Adimchinobe Echemaandu is likely to play at some point this season, perhaps as soon as the Bears’ penultimate game against Arizona. Echemaandu (formerly Joe Echema) tore the ACL and lateral miniscus in his right knee during spring drills. He started running a few weeks ago and has been practicing lightly for two weeks, running without a brace on the injured knee during sprints on Monday. 

“[Echemaandu] will get quite a bit of action this week,” Tedford said. “We’ll have him hitting a little bit and see how he responds.” 

Echemaandu came out of spring drills as the Bears’ top tailback but hurt his knee on April 24. He set a goal to play in the UCLA game but didn’t make it back in time. Tedford said he wants Echemaandu to play this season as the player used his redshirt a year ago due to academic issues.