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Golden Nuggets: "[A sense of urgency] was spotty all season long"

Dan Greenspan writes about Tepper's post-game comments.

"We’re not going to accept anything but victory," Tepper said.

"(Athletic director) Sandy (Barbour), Coach (Jeff Tedford), all the coaches and players, we all believe we can win a national championship. We just got to do it. As much as they hold us to that, why doesn’t our fan base as well? I like our fans. I think they’re great. They traveled pretty well, but people who don’t buy this as a bad season are incorrect."

The Bears have the talent to win. The players are there. Running back Jahvid Best was healthy when Oregon and USC pushed around Cal. Defensive lineman Tyson Alualu is a beast. Up and down the roster are the necessary athletes.

Many will put the blame on Tedford for a passive offensive game plan or defensive coordinator Bob Gregory for a secondary that missed tackles and assignments all night long or special teams coach Pete Alamar for a 61-yard kick return that put the Utes right back in the game after falling behind 14-0.

Wrong again, according to Tepper.

"If you’re getting paid as much as our coaches are, you’re going to have a good game plan. If you don’t, they are going to make adjustments on the sidelines and make it a good game plan," he said. "I think it is player execution.

"Once again, it was everyone taking turns. We missed protections. Kevin didn’t throw the ball fast enough on a protection. He overthrew a fullback. I missed a block on a run play. I know Mark Boskovich missed a block on a run play that if he would have hit, he would have separated and it would have been six points. We took turns making mistakes.

"This team has enough talent to beat Florida or Alabama or anything, I think it’s a sense of urgency on the players. It was spotty (all season long)."

...

Tedford is one of the highest paid employees in the state of California. The university is spending millions to upgrade Memorial Stadium.

If you don’t want to win it all, drop the program.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

That is Tepper’s point.

After the jump we look back at last night's loss to Utah as well as some of the questions Cal will face in the offseason.  GN will take tomorrow off and return Sunday. Happy holidays!

Cal Football