By Dave Newhouse, STAFF WRITER
BERKELEY — After securing their third straight bowl invitation for the first time since Pappy's Boys 55 years ago, the Cal Golden Bears finally opened up about the bowl distractions that affected them last year. Cal (7-4, 4-4 Pac-10) learned Sunday that it will be playing BYU (6-5, 5-3 Mountain West) in the Las Vegas Bowl on Thursday, Dec.22. But even seeing Tom Holmoe, the former Cal football coach who is BYU's athletics director, won't impact the Bears' pregame concentration anything close to what occurred before the 2004 Holiday Bowl. "There was a lot of media negativity," coach Jeff Tedford recalled. "We were asked every day, 'Are you over the BCS thing?' Our players won't have the same distractions this year." Cal felt it was Rose Bowl-bound a year ago. But some politicking by Mack Brown moved his Texas team into fourth place in the final BCS standings — switching spots with Cal — and sent the Longhorns to Pasadena. Cal then was ambushed by Texas Tech 35-21 in San Diego to finish the season at 10-2. "We don't want to have a letdown like last year," senior linebacker Ryan Foltz said. "Everyone was disappointed. We expected to go to a BCS bowl. That doesn't explain why we didn't play well." Texas Tech's spread offense did in the Bears with 597 yards of offense, 520 through the air. Well, not only does BYU run the same offense, but its offensive coordinator, Robert Anae, also was Texas Tech's offensive line coach at the Holiday Bowl. Thus becoming reacquainted with Holmoe, who had a 12-43 coaching record at Cal in the five years before Tedford's arrival in 2002, will hardly be a distraction for the Bears. Or for Holmoe, who became BYU's athletics director in March after serving as his alma mater's director of athletic development. "Some people will try to make it revenge, but it's nothing of the sort," he said Sunday night from Provo, Utah. "Those were hard times, but I left on good terms with the people there. There's only a dozen players left that I coached. I look at it more like a reunion. "But it's a challenging game." Tedford said he spoke once with Holmoe during the Cal coaching transition, but before that had met Holmoe on the recruiting trail. "He's a quality person," Tedford said. "I'm happy for him with the job he has done at BYU. I'm sure he's proud of his program."
Holmoe's also proud of new BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who was elevated from a Cougars assistant coachbefore Holmoe became athletics director. "They're way more resilient," Holmoe said of the Cougars. "Coach Mendenhall brought in a rallying effort, where they don't have a problem bouncing back. They were all over the place last year." Cal hasn't played in three consecutive bowls since Pappy Waldorf's teams played in 1949, 1950 and 1951 Rose bowls. "We're on the right track," Tedford said. "We had the youngest team in the conference this year. I feel we're on our way ... in consistency. It's important for us to finish strong." Unlike a year ago. "It's a great bowl, a great destination, and a great opponent," Cal athletics director Sandy Barbour said of Las Vegas. "BYU has won a national championship (1984). BYU has sold a ton of tickets. Cal fans don't want to be outdone." Cal fans can buy Las Vegas Bowl tickets on CalBears.com.
BEAR TRACKS: Cal has revised its 2006 schedule. A home game with Louisiana Tech on Oct. 28 has been rescheduled for 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina-related circumstances. A game with visiting Minnesota has been moved up a week to Sept. 9, 2006, one week after the opener at Tennessee. Cal is searching for a Division I-A or I-AA opponent to fill the Sept.16 opening, and expects to make an announcement by mid-January. ... Cal senior Marvin Philip has been named one of six finalists for the Rimington Trophy, awarded the nation's best center. ... Bears linebackers Anthony Felder and Zack Follett were selected on Rivals.com's Freshman All-America team. ... Junior offensive tackle Scott Smith is among 10 finalists for the inaugural ARA Sportsmanship Award.
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