Thud
That was the sound of LaVelle Hawkins hitting the turf, unable to come up with another of Longshore’s desperate heaves into the end zone. Or, perhaps it was the sound of me banging my head against the seat in front of me after yet another 3 and out. More likely, however, it was the sound of Cal finally bottoming out into the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth, Texas. Was a team ever less deserving of a bowl invitation?
Indeed, an outcome that I considered, less than a month ago, as having only a 4% likelihood has actually come to pass. What happened? Well, besides the Bears losing out, which seemed terribly unlikely, even after the Washington State game, the Pac-10 failed to get a second BCS bid. While Arizona State was certainly deserving, the Fiesta Bowl never got a chance to pick them. Indeed, it was the Rose Bowl’s loyalty to the Pac-10/Big 10 tradition that did them in. Having lost Ohio State to the National Championship Game, the Rose selected Illinois to replace them instead of a much better Georgia team. When the Orange Bowl then took Kansas, no more at-large bids were available, and the Fiesta could only choose between West Virginia and Hawai’i, both of whom earned automatic bids. Arizona State then fell to the Holiday Bowl, where they’ll face Texas in a surprisingly good matchup for a game played on December 27th.
Anyway, the upshot of all this is that an incredibly disappointing season will end in a bowl game that absolutely defines ‘mediocrity’. And our opponent in the Armed Forces Bowl? Air Force. Sounds like we’re at a competitive disadvantage already.
