Posted on 12/05/2004 7:59:17 PM PST by pete anderson
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -- California refused to run up the score or beg for poll votes.
Maybe the Bears should have.
Cal (10-1) was left out of the Bowl Championship Series, denied one of the eight spots in college football's big-money games despite a season of statistical superlatives and dominating victories.
The fourth-ranked Golden Bears will be stuck at the Holiday Bowl while Texas plays in the Rose Bowl.
Cal's Rose Bowl drought reached 46 years despite one of the best regular seasons in school history.
The Bears felt beaten as they left their team meeting. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers saw confusion and disappointment in his teammates when they found out their Rose Bowl dreams were replaced with a trip to San Diego to face Texas Tech.
``It just shows it's a faulty system, and we've got to do something to change it up,'' Rodgers said. ``I bet Auburn is pretty ticked, too. ... Nobody cares about West Coast football, I don't think. I just hope Southern Cal represents us well.''
Texas (10-1) surged past the Bears in the final BCS standings despite Cal's 26-16 road victory over Southern Mississippi on Saturday night. The Longhorns gained points in both polls, and the computer rankings kept Texas well in front of Cal. The Longhorns will face Michigan (9-2) on Jan. 1.
There were dozens of factors in the decision, but the Bears felt they were superior in almost every venue -- except the political arena. Rodgers figured Texas coach Mack Brown's pleading for poll support made a difference, and he was glad Cal coach Jeff Tedford never did likewise.
``I thought it was a little classless how Coach Brown was begging for votes after the (Texas A&M) game,'' Rodgers said. ``I think a team's record and the way you play should speak for itself, and you shouldn't have to complain about the BCS system. Coach Tedford isn't going to, although he's frustrated just like we are. I think we're a bigger team, classier than that.''
Tedford was less emotional than Rodgers, but no less disappointed as he evaluated the Bears' long list of accomplishments.
The only blemish on their record was a six-point loss at top-ranked USC. They beat 10 teams by an average of 23.9 points per game. They were the only school in the nation's top six both in scoring offense and scoring defense.
The Rose Bowl has matched a Big 10 team against a Pac-10 school for decades, and with the Pac-10 champion Trojans headed to the Orange Bowl, Cal hoped to end the conference's longest Rose Bowl drought. Instead, there will be burnt orange in the Pasadena stands.
``I just feel terrible for the alumni and the fans who have waited so long for this,'' Tedford said. ``As a program, we were set on the Rose Bowl. I felt like we did enough to earn that.''
Most of the Bears still were jet-lagged and exhausted after grinding out a victory in Hattiesburg just 18 hours earlier in a game postponed from Sept. 16 by Hurricane Ivan. The late-season road trip provided a national television audience -- but when the Golden Eagles were difficult to put away, it might have swayed some voters away.
And that was baffling to Tedford, who refused to try to score one last touchdown in the waning seconds to pad the score. The Bears also were hurt by a questionable clipping call in the closing minutes, which negated a touchdown run by J.J. Arrington.
Normally, Tedford wouldn't spare a second's thought on such issues -- but in the BCS world, it might have made a difference.
``If yesterday's game was the game that turned anybody's head, then that's sad, because it's about a season,'' Tedford said. ``We're going to keep our same philosophy. It's hard enough just to win games.''
Where is the press outrage over the higher rated Cal team being omitted from a BCS game? This is the same circumstance as last season, only it involves a game other than the so-called national championship game. Both the AP and Coaches voters considered Cal better than Texas why aren't they as upset as last year when they cried about USC being excluded from the Sugar Bowl? Just because the stakes are slightly less it doesn't change the principle issue.
Oh, I forgot. The press doesn't care about principles. They just care about what is "newsworthy", i.e. sells.
They should have. The officials gave Kansas a bogus offensive pass interference penalty that destroyed their last drive and forced them to punt. On the other hand, the Kansas defence seemed overmatched. They were unable to stop t.u.'s last drive. They coundn't prevent any t.u. receiver from going out of bounds even if they hit them five yards away from the sideline.
California whine?? It was Texas that whined their way into the Rose Bowl. I'll be at the Rose Bowl game, and would much prefer to see a PAC10 team instead of Texas. The damned BCS has drained much of the aura of the Rose Bowl, playing there has been the dream of midwestern kids for generations. But, the Rose Parade & Michigan still will make for an enjoyable trip from FL.
It's a whole new year, and through the front door this time. Stand by to be ran over.
Good year to be a Texan .... then again aren't they all!
You have a point, Mack usually gags on the big ones. I think if it were a regular season game w/o bowl implications the whorns would be a 3 point favorite over USC. IMHO.
There are four or five schools in the Big Ten and SEC alone that probably beat all three of those teams - (Mich, OSU, Wis, Iowa and MSU....FLA, Auburn, TN, Ark and LSU) -
But SMU has to be the All Time SWC Champion. The Governor of the State of Texas was paying off the players.
Classic!
Cal should stop whining about UT. They real farce is Pittsburgh and to a lesser extent Michigan. The BCS should take the top 8 teams and pair them off. The conference ties should be severed. It would gurantee 4 great games.
I think it's a shame Utah is playing worthless Pitt. We will never know how good the Utes are. It would have been great if they played Cal or UT.
2003 was a Vintage Year.
"Same thing happened to Texas last year."
Yeah, same thing. And Texas, in usual overrated Big 12 fashion, came out to play an underrated Washington State team and got your ass handed to you out here. Texas acted like they had never seen a legitimate blitz, and your quarterback spent the whole game running around and getting buried. Texas was completely overmatched by Washington State. It doesn't add up that you guys were screwed last year. You were overrated, just like Oklahoma was, as was the rest of your conference that went, what, 2-5 in the bowls?
If only the Astros had won game six or seven, it would have been perfect.
I have always thought that the Astros were the burden the Lord puts upon us for allowing us to live in His state.
>>And AM was ranked in the top 20 at the start of the season<<
A&M received 5 votes in the coaches poll at the start of the season, ranking them somewhere around 56. They received 3 votes in the writers poll, ranking them somewhere around 49. You can go to this link to verify my info: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankings?poll=1&week=1.
>>Oklahoma State was in the top 25 as well<<
OkSU was also in the "receiving votes" category of both polls, but was ahead of A&M
Please don't get on here and make things up.
>>But the fact remains that Tech Tex, OK State and Texas AM are all over ranked now<<
Actually, they probably aren't overranked.
None of the rest of your arguments are supportable in the least.
YEAH!! Hook 'em Horns! And I detest Michigan, so this one will be fun.
And I'll be home to watch it!
we'll just take our stinking money and keep the Rose Bowl for ourselves....
I think Utah got the shaft, too....
Let's shorten the regular season and expand the post-season.
Ain't nobody gonna beat USC!
Too much talent,way too much talent!
Can't wait to see the games!
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