AGOSTINI: UCLA coach is new No. 1

Reading time, two minutes:

• Remember "Who Shot J.R.?" and the late Larry Hagman? We have a new mystery: Who starts today, Colin Kaepernick (Turlock) or Alex Smith?

• No real 49er fans watched "Dallas," right?

• While Kaepernick is tested for the first time on the road: The finished product is the Saints' Drew Brees.

• Now that Jeff Tedford has been dismissed at Cal, the top-paid state employee is ... UCLA's Ben Howland.

• Tedford's greatest accomplishment: He proved that Cal can win in the modern era.

• About Tedford's exit on the same week Texas lost at home to TCU for the first time since 1967: Mack Brown, who leveraged Cal out of a Rose Bowl bid in 2004, received a visit from Mr. Karma.

• Isaiah Burse (Modesto Christian) caught his sixth touchdown pass of the season Saturday, and then it got better: Fresno State QB Derek Carr said he's coming back for his senior year.

• One smart hire changes everything: Tim DeRuyter and Fresno State, the Mountain West Conference co-champion (9-3, 7-1).

• Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour clicked with Mike Montgomery five years ago. Can she do it again in football?

• Tedford out, Missy Franklin in (four Olympic gold medals) at Cal.

• About Notre Dame never being No. 1 again: Wrong again.

• James Orth (Central Catholic), a three-year starter for SJS at safety, will go bowling. So will one of our all-time favorites: Graduate assistant Neil Parry (Sonora).

• Hot-to-the-touch commodities: DeRuyter and the Spartans' Mike McIntyre.

• More from the Modesto Junior College women's surprising 50-point win over Reedley: Lexy Posz set a school record with 13 assists.

• Jack Killian (Central Catholic) closed his Delta career by being named the Silicon Valley Bowl MVP (8 receptions, 174 yards, 2 TDs).

• UC Davis' Bob Biggs ended his coaching career with numbers a true Aggie will admire: 16-4 versus Sacramento State in the Causeway Classic.

• For the third straight year, and this time it's for the Sac-Joaquin Section D4 title: Escalon (11-2) versus Central Catholic (11-2).

• Oakdale prepares for Vista del Lago in D3 final. The Mustangs wouldn't mind a repeat of last year's second-round meeting: Oakdale 49, Vista del Lago 7.

• Bob Thomason's 25th and final season at Pacific has started well: 3-2 after upset wins over Xavier and St. Mary's at the DIRECTV Classic.

• Watching 49ers pass rusher Aldon Smith jogs the memory back to Charles Haley and, yes, even Fred Dean.

• A final thought about the MJC football season (4-6): The Pirates averaged 510 yards per game, tops in Northern California, and second in scoring (41.3). Offense wasn't their problem.

• Coaching changes over the years, no penalty flags after being hit late, and now Kaepernick: Alex Smith can't catch a break.

• The conventional wisdom strategy: Let Kaepernick play until his inexperience shows.

• Many teams would embrace the 49ers' quarterback "controversy." Put it another way: One of their former options was Cody Pickett.