Offense, defense share blame for bowl loss

SAN DIEGO - Well, turns out Cal didn't deserve to go to the Holiday Bowl, after all.

The Houston Bowl, perhaps?

For four fruitless hours Thursday, the Bears (choose one) wallowed in Bowl Championship Series self-pity, proved they were too wounded to give a credible effort, or picked the worst time to play their very worst game.

Maybe: All of the above, with prejudice. Whatever the precise reasons, it was a showing worthy of some middling WAC team, not one that deserves national respect.

The result was a resounding 45-31 loss to Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl, a thud that will live in infamy or at least until next fall when helmets clash again.

These were, after all, the same Red Raiders who lost 51-21 at home to Texas. You remember, Texas, don't you?

``What do you want me to say?'' Cal Coach Jeff Tedford hissed after he was asked if the loss might have proved the BCS right. ``They were right. Yeah, they must be right. There. Happy?''

Touchy, touchy.

Tedford does have a lot of explaining to do, perhaps best addressed when he feels less flinty and is able to speak about a Cal program that accomplished so much in 2004 but fell so flat at the end.

This was the last college game of J.J. Arrington's career, and he made the most of it with 173 yards. This was also probably the last Cal game for junior quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who had a flat ``no comment'' for NFL draft queries late Thursday and who looked frustrated enough during the fourth quarter to declare for the draft then and there.

This was also the first game of Tedford's new five-year deal, which started with perhaps the worst team-wide performance of his Cal tenure.

Was it all the protesting about Texas' BCS leapfrog over Cal into the Rose Bowl? Did that produce an unfocused Cal team, ready to get ripped apart for 520 Texas Tech passing yards?

``We didn't lose the game tonight because we didn't go to the Rose Bowl,'' Tedford said. ``I want to make that clear, once and for all.

``It has nothing to do with that. No, this game will not set our program back. If anything, it will fuel the fire for our young guys.''

So here's your 2004 Cal wrap-up: 10-2 record, but no Rose Bowl, no New Year's Day bowl, no bowl victory, no justice, no peace.

With several weeks to prepare for the Red Raiders' throwing game, Cal had every chance to make a statement about the BCS shenanigans. Even with receivers Geoff McArthur and Chase Lyman out, Cal had the offensive firepower and defensive skill to blast Texas Tech.

Instead, it was a horror show.

Sonny Cumbie threw 60 times, for three touchdowns and gains of 39, 48 and 60. There were zero Cal interceptions, only one sack.

Rodgers, the potential No. 1 NFL pick, threw 42 times, completing 24, with a single TD. His long pass went for 30 yards.

``I wasn't `on' today,'' Rodgers said. ``I wasn't as accurate as I think I should be. But we didn't have a lot of guys open, either, I think.''

The Bears' receivers didn't catch passes. They didn't get open for passes. Robert Jordan not only dropped several balls, he also let one perfect Rodgers pass tip off his hands directly into the arms of a safety.

That happened in the second quarter when Cal had a 14-7 lead, and the Bears -- and Rodgers -- never seemed to fully recover from it.

From there, the defenders collapsed, too. They grabbed face masks. They let Red Raiders receivers fly by. They did stupid things at incredibly stupid moments.

They did every unwise thing they hadn't done this season, and they did it with spectacularly horrid flair.

By the time receiver Joel Filani finished off his 60-yard TD reception to open the third quarter, Cumbie had almost 400 yards passing and Cal was down 31-14.

``They came at us with exactly what we thought they were going to come at us with,'' Cal safety Ryan Gutierrez said.

Texas Tech didn't have to run out the clock in the fourth quarter and didn't even bother. It threw out the clock.

The fact is: Cal was a BCS team when it had Lyman and McArthur healthy at wide receiver, when its defense could rush the passer and defend the deep ball, and when Rodgers was lethally accurate.

None of those things was true in the Holiday Bowl, and none of them has been true for weeks now.

In 2005, the Bears will be without Arrington, McArthur and probably Rodgers. They will still be very good and they will have the memories of this 10-2 season to sustain them.

But they will have the 2004 Holiday Bowl to live down, and that's one you can't blame away on the BCS.