December 31, 2004:<\/p>\n
The legend of Jeff Tedford is dead. \u00a0It perished in flames over San\u00a0Diego, punctured by a one-dimensional passing attack from a fourth-place\u00a0team, and fell in the former Jack Murphy Stadium as flat as the listless\u00a0Golden Bear team he led into the Holiday Bowl this Thursday past.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At the risk of invoking Godwin’s Law, Jeff Tedford couldn’t motivate a synagogue to fight Nazis. \u00a0If there were any doubt about that, last night’s Holiday Bowl loss to the Texas Longhorns – featuring four turnovers and offensive line pass blocking that suggests the guards and tackles were replaced with Girl Scouts – should settle the argument once and for all.<\/p>\n Next year: eight wins, victory over at least one of the LA schools, and the Axe. Otherwise, he goes. \u00a0Jeff Tedford has already demonstrated he is no longer fit for purpose as head coach of the Golden Bears, and is only spared this year on account of the bizarre circumstances of the season. \u00a0But next year’s order is simple: win or you’re gone. Cal can flop without paying two million dollars a year for the privilege.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" December 31, 2004: The legend of Jeff Tedford is dead. \u00a0It perished in flames over San\u00a0Diego, punctured by a one-dimensional passing attack from a fourth-place\u00a0team, and fell in the former Jack Murphy Stadium as flat as the listless\u00a0Golden Bear team he led into the Holiday Bowl this Thursday past. With a Cal receiving corps in … <\/p>\n
With a Cal receiving corps in shambles, Tedford attempted to go to the\u00a0air as he had in September and October, where the Bears featured\u00a0America’s finest receivers on Saturdays. \u00a0But Chase Lyman has a shredded\u00a0ACL, Geoff McArthur has a broken leg, and Burl Toler can barely walk, and\u00a0while Jonathan Makkonen made yeoman’s work of his last outing, he cannot\u00a0disguise the steps he has lost since the season began. \u00a0Nevertheless,\u00a0despite the presence of J.J. Arrington in his backfield, Tedford insisted\u00a0on trying to throw the ball to a patchwork of unsteady receivers. \u00a0Aaron\u00a0Rodgers, shaky since November, was ill served by this decision. \u00a0While\u00a0NFL glory may yet await him, he can no longer be considered the nation’s\u00a0premier quarterback. \u00a0Against Texas Tech, he was not even the best\u00a0quarterback in the stadium.<\/em><\/p>\n
The only choice should have been to pound the ball up the middle,\u00a0establish control of the line of scrimmage, and try to dictate the pace\u00a0of the game. \u00a0Instead, Cal handed the ball time and again to the Red\u00a0Raiders, whose offense features at best four plays: a slant inside, a ten\u00a0yard out pattern, and a deep ball to the post, punctuated by a weak\u00a0little fullback dive that fools no one. \u00a0Yet they executed those plays\u00a0over and over and over, leaving Cal to wonder what might have\u00a0been.<\/em><\/p>\n
Nothing that happened here reduced the fact that Cal has a strong season,\u00a0or that they were wrongly snubbed by the BCS. \u00a0But with a complete absence\u00a0of fire, and with no apparent motivation of any kind, they fell on their\u00a0face tonight, leaving the Cal faithful with nine months worth of\u00a0embarassment and disappointment. \u00a0It is a sickening end to what should\u00a0have been a triumphant season, and it is now up to Jeff Tedford to give an\u00a0accounting of why he picked tonight to deposit a one-point-five million\u00a0dollar flop on the grass of San Diego…<\/em><\/p>\n