Cal Bears Football

The thought of Cal winning the Pac-12 is not far from being a reality. They have benefited the most from USC's scholarship cuts, and are not far from reeling in a huge fish. 

By huge fish, I am referring to the 6'8", 290 defensive end Arik Armstead, who Joe Davidson of the Sacramento Bee is reporting will wait until National Signing Day (Feb. 1) to commit to a school. Now, as Davidson reports, Norte Dame, Auburn and Oregon are all on the list of possible destinations. 

But take a look at some of the standout recruits that Cal has already landed this year. 

Star ratings according to Rivals.

That is a loaded group of talent for a school that's, at best, the No. 2 football school in the state of California. Armstead would be another 4-star recruit, and the perfect kind of defender for the Pac-12. 

In the Pac-12, offenses are a big part of the game. Some teams run the pro-style offense, while others spread it out, but quarterbacks throw the ball a lot in the Pac-12. It's hard to throw the ball over a man who stands 6'8". Armstead's size will create a few big plays per game. With all of the offensive talent coming in, that's all Cal is going to need. 

Look at Cal's rivals in the Pac-12 North: Stanford is losing Andrew Luck, a year after losing head coach Jim Harbaugh; Oregon is losing quarterback Darron Thomas and running back LaMichael James, so there is a nice window for success. 

This recruiting class will put the Golden Bears in Pac-12 Championship games. They will win at least one of those games and become a BCS factor for the next four seasons.

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The California Golden Bears have one of the most impressive recruiting classes this season, with tons of top players at each position committed to their university. That class just lost one of their main recruits and may end up losing more than that.

We all know how recruiting works. A top player gives his verbal commitment, but that doesn't really mean anything as he can still explore other programs and possibly switch that commitment. So when a top player gives his verbal commitment, don't get too excited until he actually makes it official.

California learned that when they recently lost one of the top defensive tackles in Ellis McCarthy. He gave his verbal commitment to Cal during the U.S. Army All-American Game, but did say that we would still like to give an official visit to UCLA. Turns out that he enjoyed the trip so much that he is now a UCLA Bruin.

This is a huge pickup for new UCLA head coach Jim Mora Jr. but is a big loss for the Golden Bears, that could end up getting worse. Cal may end up losing their top safety prospect in Shaq Thompson as well with the loss of assistant coach Tosh Lupoi.

Lupoi was a defensive line coach for the Golden Bears and was a top notch recruiter for this program, largely responsible for much of this years recruiting success. He has now left to coach the same position but it will be for the Washington Huskies.

This does not make Thompson happy to say the least.

“I was relieved to have my decision made, but now I will spend the next two weeks until Signing Day weighing my options,” said Thompson. “I committed to Cal because it was close to home and because of my relationship with Coach Lupoi. He has been recruiting me since my sophomore year.”

Thompson is considered the top safety in this years class and would make an immediate impact in the secondary with his athleticism and versatility. But he has shown interest in schools like Arizona State, Notre Dame, Oregon and Lupoi's new school, Washington.

Coach Lupoi came by my house last night before he had decided whether or not he would go to UW. He said he didn’t really know what he was going to do, but I could tell he was stressing, explained Thompson. We spoke again today around 11 am and he said he had decided to take the position at Washington. I didn’t really know what to say.

A couple of days ago, California had one of the most impressive recruiting classes in the country. Things could drastically change in the next couple of weeks for this program that appeared to be on the rise.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or Randy.Chambers7@yahoo.com

Jeff Tedford's job should not be safe. 

I could end it right there, and I'm sure that this article would get at least 40,000 people (around two-thirds of the capacity of Memorial Stadium) who agree with me. But let's explore that further. 

Jeff Tedford came in and rebuilt Cal football into a program that continually ranks among the top schools in attracting recruits and also producing NFL players. They went from 1-10 in 2001 to 7-5 in 2002, Tedford's first year.

His first play from scrimmage as the Cal head coach was a WR double pass that went 70 yards for the touchdown. His first game was a 70-22 blowout of the Baylor Bears. They won the Big Game for the first time in eight years.

Frankly, he impressed.

That continued throughout his tenure, as the Golden Bears pulled off some stunning victories and continued to produce high-quality players. Kyle Boller was drafted and played in the NFL.

Of course, everyone remembers that Aaron Rodgers led the Bears to a triple-overtime victory over USC in 2004—but nobody remembers that he didn't even start that game. (Reggie Robertson did, and left at halftime.)

That year also brought about the BCS controversy that led Texas to the Rose Bowl. Everyone also remembers the heartache of watching Aaron Rodgers leave and the misery of watching good receivers like Lavelle Hawkins and DeSean Jackson be overthrown, underthrown and generally just missed by quarterbacks like Joe Ayoob, Steve Levy and Nate Longshore.

Memorial Stadium also saw a veritable stable of running backs who went on to achieve at least moderate success in the NFL. Adimchinobi Echemandu (2003), JJ Arrington (2004), Marshawn Lynch (2005-06), Justin Forsett (2007), Jahvid Best (2008-09) and Shane Vereen (2009-10) all got drafted. And Isi Sofele is no slouch at tailback this year.

Unfortunately, that's not Tedford. That's RB coach Ron Gould.

Then there's Kevin Riley and the more recent source of our frustration for Bears' fans, Zach Maynard.

But again, I digress. I'm talking about Tedford. And why he should (but won't) be fired. 

Tedford, who is supposed to be a quarterback guru, has seen a bevy of blue chip recruits fall to the wayside after their enrollment at Cal. Riley was supposed to be good. So were his backups, Brock Mansion and Beau Sweeney, who rarely saw the field.

In fact, the only great quarterback that Tedford had was Rodgers, and he already had two years of experience at Butte Community College before transferring to Cal.

Tedford, who signed an extension after the 2008 season that put him under contract until 2015, is being heralded as an example of the excess spending in college athletics—he is the highest-paid state employee in California ($1.5million/yr).

And even though he has won a lot, becoming the winningest coach in Cal history, for some Cal fans (like me!) the Emerald Bowl/Holiday Bowl/Insight Bowl/NON-ROSE BOWL victories...

Just. Don't. Matter. 

And that is one of the big reasons that the Cal Athletic Department's hands are tied. Although his salary is not nearly as much as some college coaches, California is in a budget crisis. And when people look at the list of state employees and see a college football coach at the top, it's not great for business.

Nonetheless, the cost of firing Tedford (probably at least $2M throughout the remainder of the deal) and hiring another high-profile coach for the school, which is a top-half program in one of the best conferences in the country, would be substantial.

And it cannot happen with all the cuts around campus. It's just not justifiable.

You might look at that and say, well, the Bruins down at UCLA fired Rick Neuheisel. But that's different. Partly because Neuheisel is a terrible person. Mostly because his deal was $1.25M per year, and he had a $250,000 buyout for only one year left on his contract.

And he was terrible.

Another reason is that the Golden Bears will finally be returning to Memorial Stadium—they have been working out in the new High Performance Center since fall.

That was all Tedford. Seriously.

They may have thrown away the 2011 season at AT&T, and there was that whole tree-sitters episode (that was NOT Berkeley students, just to remind you) that delayed everything. So there's no way that they're not going to let Tedford have at least ONE year in his crown jewel.

Tedford revitalized this football program and pretty much single-handedly brought in all the big money for the High Performance Center, which, from what I can see by cupping my hands around my face and fogging up the glass doors, is AMAZING. Memorial Stadium was falling apart, and has historically been known to have some of the worst locker rooms—home AND away—in college sports.

So that's great. Fantastic. 

Tedford has one more chance, I think. He's got Keenan Allen. He's got Zach Maynard (whatever that means). He's got Zach Kline waiting in the wings. And he's got a new stadium.

If the Bears don't crack the Top 25 in 2012...I'd say check back in, but if you're asking for Tedford's head now, you'll be left waiting for a while.

In all, the Holiday Bowl 2011 was not a terrible game to watch.

Unless you were a Cal fan and had to sit through nerve-racking fumble after nerve-racking fumble. Each time the defense managed to patch things up against Texas you breathed a sigh of relief.

But one of those fumbles was the killer. It broke the Bears' already wobbly offense and they managed nothing for the rest of the game.

If you watched, and are a Cal fan, then you know which fumble I'm talking about—the one in the third quarter.

Cal's defense (which had an incredible night, by the way, considering all of the offensive mishaps they had to cover for) pushed the Texas offense right to the back of its end zone.

Kicker Justin Tucker was forced to punt right on the edge of the end zone, leaving the Cal offense on the Texas 27-yard line.

Cal was down by four at this point (10-14), with 1:13 left in the third. They could have kicked a field goal, easy, and been down by only one with an entire quarter to go.

After all, Giorgio Tavecchio already made two field goals of 40+ yards (one discounted because of a penalty), so another at the 27 would have been a cake walk.

Of course, Cal did not want to waste such a golden opportunity.

They were at the Texas 27 with a first down, their chance to get ahead right at the end of the quarter. It would have been huge, saving their spirits and taking some of the pressure off of the defense.

So Zach Maynard tried to go for it.

Pass incomplete to running back Isi Sofele. Then C.J. Anderson rushed for a loss of two yards. And then Cal got penalized for 15 yards. Suddenly, the golden opportunity turned into a necessary field-goal attempt.

But the Bears were now far out of position and their easy assault now treacherous.

Trying to gain some yardage for a slightly less crazy FG attempt, Maynard was then sacked from behind by Texas linebacker Adrian Phillips for a loss of 12 yards. Then Phillips forced the fumble, with Texas recovering the ball at the Cal 44.

And the Bears' offensive spirit broke completely.

They would gain merely 18 yards for the rest of the game and suffer through one more fumble.

The Holiday Bowl was decided on the third-quarter fumble, but the Cal's offense in general looked disconnected. Maynard struggled greatly with tempo, and several times Coach Tedford had to call time out for stalled plays. The offensive line was crushed and confused by the Texas defense.

What silver lining is there to this?

Well, at least Cal's senior defensive linebackers like Mychal Kendricks can walk away from their college careers with pride in their efforts. And maybe it will make the Cal upperclassmen (Maynard, Sofele and Keenan Allen) hungrier for next year.

And then, Cal has an ESPN 150 quarterback in Zach Kline committed for next year.

I'm not sure if I've given up completely on Maynard, but that kind of review will have to wait until the 2012 preseason.

Provided he can avoid further catastrophic fumbles, I'm sure we'll be seeing him again. 

Cal was a team on the rise.

They had won three of their last four regular-season games, with the only loss being a three-point defeat to rival Stanford. They were running the ball better, protecting the ball and had an opportunity to win a major bowl against a major opponent.

While they came ready to play Texas in the Holiday Bowl and looked very strong at times, they turned the ball over five times. Combine that with the fact that they forced zero turnovers, and it's surprising they lost by only 11 points.

"They got their hands on the ball and stripped us and we had some miscues as well," said coach Jeff Tedford. "There's really no explanation for something that we worked on."

Cal lost only eight fumbles all season coming into tonight's game. Against Texas they lost four.

There's never really a good time to turn the ball over, but Cal's turnovers came at some of the most inopportune times.

Their first fumble (second turnover overall) came at their own 22-yard line in the first quarter. They put together a great drive to open the second half, and their second drive looked promising as well until a fumbled exchange gave the ball to the Horns on their own 47.

A third fumble gave the Horns the ball at midfield as the third quarter ended. Three plays later, Texas scored to increase its lead to 11, a deficit Cal could not rally back from.

Even with the turnovers, Cal had a chance.

The Bears took over at the Texas 27-yard line down 14-10 in the third quarter. They promptly committed a personal foul and then were sacked and fumbled. In a matter of seconds the Bears went from being down one at the worst to down 11.

"We had a penalty that set us back," said Tedford. While Tedford acknowledged that penalties were the key, he also stated that they were unable to "establish any running game."

The Bears had averaged 220 yards per game on the ground in their last four. Tonight they rushed for only seven yards on 36 carries. Isi Sofele rushed for 52 yards on 20 carries.

"Texas is one of the top defenses against the run, and they showed that today," said Tedford. "They beat us up front."

Cal's defense was able to hold Texas to 21 points on 255 yards. They stopped Texas on 11 out of 14 third-down conversions. Usually that is good enough to win.

While Cal didn't get the ideal finish to what was a good November, they should not feel too despondent. Many had left the team for dead following a 4-4 start, including a loss to UCLA. They have had enough strong points to build on for 2012.

"You take experiences and you learn from them," said Tedford. "It didn't go our way tonight but it just re-emphasizes the things you need to do to win. So we'll be very motivated to come back."

If the Bears can continue to improve their rushing attack like they did throughout the month of November, the Bears can enjoy a full season of success next year.

Ryne Hodkowski is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.

After a disastrous 2010 campaign that culminated with an end to the University of Texas' 12-year bowl appearance streak, the Longhorns are back in a bowl.  However, the team is still searching for its identity, as most of the Longhorns' troubles have been caused by their inability to settle on a quarterback.

The incumbent starter, Garret Gilbert, decided to transfer after two brutal games.  Their defense is the main reason they were able to finish 7-5.  This year could have been much worse.

California, on the other hand, has settled on a quarterback who is coming into his own: Zach Maynard.  After starting off 4-4, the Golden Bears won three of their last four, with the only loss being a close contest against their bitter rivals, the Stanford Cardinal.  

Another reason for the Golden Bears' success is the new-found running game, led by Isi Sofele.  Sofele has run for 1,266 yards and nine TDs this season and averaged over 141 yards in the last four games.

The Longhorns are stumbling into the Holiday Bowl after losing three of their last four, including a defeat at the hands of Baylor and Heisman winner Robert Griffin III.  The only Texas victory of note came against Texas A&M.  

As bad as the season started off for California, their players are probably pretty excited to have drawn the most profitable football program in the nation in a game played in San Diego.

Mack Brown's control of this talent and his team, who have been anything but consistent, will set the stage for 2012.  This is one of the better bowls and could lead to an increase in exposure for the team next fall.

Cal has never beaten Texas in their four previous meetings, but don't be surprised if their first victory comes this evening in the Holiday Bowl.

It's obvious that both the California Golden Bears and the Texas Longhorns have dealt with inconsistencies all year. That's why they're playing in the 2011 Holiday Bowl, and not a BCS game. While the two teams have similar records, California is better and will defeat Texas in San Diego on Wednesday. 

The strength of Texas is its defense, but the team will not be able to stop Isi Sofele and Keenan Allen. Not for four quarters. 

More importantly, the Longhorns offense will not have the punch to score consistent points against the Cal defense. This is a unit that's faced significant struggles since suffering its first loss of the season to Oklahoma on Oct. 8. 

Cal on the other hand, has finished the season on a nice hot streak. They were ultimately unsuccessful against Stanford, but won the two games before that and the game after that. And judging by similar opponents, this isn't close. 

Texas was dismantled by Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor, while losing to Kansas State. Cal had a tough loss to Oregon, but played Stanford very close all game. We can debate who the better teams are, but Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor aren't all better than Stanford—they certainly are not that much better. 

Ultimately, Texas will be done in by its lack of offense. Malcolm Brown is not consistent enough to handle Cal's defense, and the Longhorns passing game will certainly not get the job done against the Golden Bears.

This will not be revenge for the end of the 2004 season when Texas was chosen over California for a Rose Bowl berth. That was suggested by the Associated Press, but the two teams are completely different. More importantly, the Rose Bowl made the right decision there. 

That was proven when Cal lost to Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl—and Texas beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl. 

That was 2004, this is 2011. Cal is the better team here, and it will show on Wednesday night. 

Prediction: Cal 24, Texas 14

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California and Texas are going to excite fans with a thrilling Holiday Bowl at 8:00 pm EST on December 28. This game is going to be back and forth and close to the end.

Both teams bring 7-5 records into the game and 4-5 records in their conference—Cal in the Pac-12 and Texas in the Big 12.

Here is some of the excitement we can expect.

Texas Will Be Held Under 150 Rushing Yards

Texas moves the sticks by running the football. They rank 19th in the nation in rushing yards at 210.4 yards per game. They will not hit that mark in this game.

California fielded a solid rushing defense all year, and their defense improved as the season progressed. They finished the season allowing just 3.84 yards per carry.

In their second-to-last game of the season, California faced a Stanford rushing attack that put up extremely similar numbers to Texas. The Cardinal had averaged 207.9 yards per game.

California held Stanford to 149 yards at 4.3 yards per carry. These are certainly not dominant numbers, but they are good enough to indicate that the Bears will be able to slow Texas enough to keep them well below their average.

There Will Be Three INTs

Both of these defenses do a good job of picking off opposing QBs. California has 12 interceptions and Texas 11.

The QBs will help the defenses haul in picks. Bears' QB Zach Maynard chucked 11 picks. Meanwhile, Texas' two QBs Case McCoy and David Ash combined to throw 12 picks.

In the big stakes and bright lights of the bowl game, both QBs will become anxious to push the action and force the ball into places they should not think of throwing. This will lead to the plethora of picks.  

Overtime Thriller

These two teams are evenly matched. California's solid rush defense will limit the amount of damage Texas can do on offense, and Texas' well-rounded defense will slow down the balanced Bears' offensive attack.

Texas allows just 3.34 yard per carry and an opponent passer rating of 111.88.

This solid defense will keep the score low and close. The two will end regulation knotted at 17.

In overtime, Cal's experience under center will pay off. Junior QB Maynard will make the plays where sophomore QB Case McCoy cannot, and the Bears will pull off the upset.

Cal wins, 27-23.