USC football: Film school student Tyler Fredrickson was Cal hero

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In 2003, Tyler Fredrickson kicked the game-winning field goal that gave California a 34-31, triple-overtime victory over USC at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.

Fredrickson is now a postgraduate cinema student in USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program.

“I hear it from the Cal fans, I hear from my close friends and from time to time I hear it from my classmates,” Fredrickson said, chuckling. “But it’s the best film school in the country.

“You’ve got to weigh the pros and cons, and at the end of the day it’s worth it.”

Fredrickson, 28, etched his name into Cal-USC lore after having two field goal attempts blocked. On his final try, the holder set up a half-yard deeper to give Fredrickson a window that was a split-second longer.

“I swung a little more confidently, thinking ‘this is an extra shot,’ ” Fredrickson said of the 38-yard game-winner. “Fortunately, it flew true.”

For his master’s degree thesis, Fredrickson made a film about the Golden Bears’ 2003 season. Now the Cal hero is at USC, trying to make filmmaking his career.

So, for whom will Fredrickson be cheering Saturday when the Trojans once again visit Memorial Stadium?

“I still know a lot of the coaches and that’s kind of where my heart is; I’ll be rooting for the Bears,” he said.

-- Gary Klein