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As always, Tedford spoke to the media following the game. With the Bears now bowl ineligible, Tedford was forced to address issues regarding the program's long-term health.
On Cal's red-zone inefficiency:
"The fumbles obviously hurt us. We were moving the ball well, but put the ball on the ground. We had a couple of open receivers that we were a little high with the ball."On touchdown pass to Washington TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins:
"From my angle, Steve (Williams) went up with him, but it was a jump ball and the guy made a great catch. He is one of the best tight ends in the country. It is unfortunate that we let (QB Keith) Price out of the pocket because that is where he hurts you the most. He did that again tonight. When we kept him in the pocket we did a pretty good job, but when he got out of the pocket he hit the tight end. It wasn't a busted coverage, it was just a mismatch in personnel."
...On WR Chris Harper:
"Harper wants to step up every week. He is a very talented guy who is learning each and every week on things like timing and ball security. Unfortunately he put one on the ground last week, but he cares a lot as does Darius Powe. Those are great young guys with great attitudes. They are very strong competitors, they are good students of the game. You wonder going into a game like this if there are going to be blown assignments, but they did a good job. Harper had to step up and punt return, and he did a nice job of that."On not being able to go to a bowl this year:
"The bowl game situation is obviously disappointing. It is not something we are used to. You work very hard - the players and staff invest a lot of time and energy - so it is always disappointing to not be able to play in the postseason. It does not happen to us often, and it is not a good feeling. With all the effort they put in you want to see them rewarded with a bowl game. The program is fine; we had a down year. Two years ago we didn't go to a bowl game, but we lost our starting quarterback (Kevin Riley) that year and lost close games. We need to continue to recruit. We have a good group of young guys, from the offensive line to the skill players you saw today. I am very committed to getting the program back to where it needs to be."
We also have video of Tedford's press conference, for the illiterate among us (i.e. the Oregon fans looking ahead to next week's matchup).
Fortunately, it was a pretty good weekend in Cal sports if you look past that awful football game.
Football
- Kevin Gemmell recaps the Cal-UW game for ESPN. It includes video highlights in case you want to relive the magic.
- Faraudo's game thread traces the sloppy, strange affair.
- Faraudo recaps the game and includes a photo gallery. Unfun fact: the game's attendance was a meager 42,226. That's a hefty sum of cash in unsold tickets. Another unfun fact: Friday was Tedford's birthday.
- Crumpacker recaps the game.
- The extent of Maynard's knee injury remains unknown.
Basketball
Swimming and Diving
- The men's team defeated Wisconsin 158-125.
- The no. 3 women's team swept no. 23 Wisconsin 170-110. They also defeated no. 7 Texas in a 172-128 final.
Cross Country
- The men's team finished third at the Doc Adams Invitational. While the women's team did not compete as a team, several members posted impressive finishes.
Tennis
- Several members of the men's team had strong showings at the first day of the Pacific Tigers Invite.
- Christopher Koenigsfeldt advanced to the quarterfinals on the first day of the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational. To make things better, he's playing at Disney World.
Volleyball
Water Polo
Field Hockey
- Cal defeated Longwood 5-1 in the opening round of the NorPac tournament.
- The Bears' season came to an end with a 6-2 loss ot Stanford. Cal finished the year with a 7-12 regular record, with 9 of those losses decided by a single point.
Soccer
- The men's team lost 2-1 at San Diego State. I had no idea SDSU was part of the Pac-12 conference in soccer.