It was a disappointing finish to an otherwise spectacular season which saw the California Golden Bears lose to the Texas Tech Red Raiders 45-31 in the Holiday Bowl.

Ever since I attended Cal, its football teams have always had one weakness: the secondary. Teams could pass at will against the Golden Bears. The problems were somewhat masked this year when Cal would outscore everybody, so it really didn't matter about the other team. Against Texas Tech tonite, two things were exposed which combined to make a perfect storm. The Red Raiders are pass-happy, first of all. They rarely run and when they pass, it's usually 15-20 yards with a lot of YAC. Then without Geoff MacArthur, the Bears' most prolific receiver, QB Aaron Rodgers had few people to throw to and RB J.J. Arrington can't do everything.

So, the secondary was exposed and all Texas Tech QB Sonny Cumbie had to do was throw it in the air and one of his teammates would probably catch it. It hurt a little more when TT chose to keep passing the ball with the game in hand.

What does it all mean for the Golden Bears? 29 seniors plus probably Rodgers are leaving. Only 2 of tonite's 11 defensive starters will return. The team, still ably led by Coach Jeff Tedford, will find it tough to match this year's 10-2 record. The Rose Bowl will become even harder to attain next year with it designated as the national championship game, meaning Cal would have to finish in the top 2 in the yet-to-be-designed BCS rankings. The main reason will be the schedule. This year, Auburn was hurt with a weak schedule despite going undefeated. California has on the 2005 schedule Sacramento State, New Mexico State, and Illinois, all weak teams this year, along with the other Pac-10 teams. Leading the team will be JC transfer Joe Ayoob from the City College of San Francisco. Hopefully the Tedford magic will continue and we can all be yelling Booya (that's Ayoob backwards).