DATELINE: In a fog. Raise your hand if, down 12 points with 9:00 to go, you expected UCLA to punt on fourth-and-2 at its 42 Saturday night. Mike Nolan, please put your arm down. For crying out loud, why didn't Jeff Tedford keep his 11 front-line defenders on the field when a Bruins punt in essence would have killed any hopes they had of upsetting the Bears? It's official: Cal's not going to the Rose Bowl again this year. The most predictable fake punt in the history of college football assured that. I love Tedford, but did he fall asleep around 8 o'clock Saturday night? Later, down one with 55 seconds left, it's a no-brainer: You let UCLA score, kick the PAT and go up eight, then you have about 50 seconds (with two timeouts) to drive for a potential game-tying score. Instead, Tedford opted to have his guys attempt to strip the ball away from the UCLA ball carriers, which is going to occur about one time in 100. The chances of driving 80 yards in 50 seconds with two timeouts have to be 10 times better. Not to understand that is simply inexcusable.
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