Oregonian: Cal players see big 2006 after bowl win

Pac-10 notebook

KEN GOE

It might be a reach to call a seven-point victory over a .500 Mountain West Conference team in a bottom-tier bowl game a springboard to a national championship, but that didn't stop the optimism from bubbling out of the California locker room.

The Golden Bears held off Brigham Young 35-28 Thursday in the Las Vegas Bowl, then pronounced themselves one of the teams to beat in 2006.  "Next year, I think we will be competing for a national championship," quarterback Steve Levy told the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times.  Levy, a fullback last season, has had exactly two starts.  But he did throw for three touchdowns against BYU. And, if he hangs onto the job in the face of competition from the likes of nine-game starter Joe Ayoob, Nate Longshore, who won the job in September before a season-ending injury, and incoming Beaverton High School freshman Kevin Riley, he will have weapons to work with.  For instance, tailback Marshawn Lynch ran for 194 yards en route to the Las Vegas Bowl's most valuable player award. And there is change-of-pace running back Justin Forsett, who carried for 999 yards this season.  Don't forget wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who capped his freshman season by catching six passes for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns against BYU.  "We have a lot of ability," Jackson told the Contra Costa Times. "And we want to get back into the national rankings."  Coach Jeff Tedford does have holes to fill on the offensive line. Senior starters Ryan O'Callaghan, Marvin Philip and Aaron Merz are through. But Philip expects the Bears to pick up where they left off.  "This team is coming together," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. "This team is going to compete for the national championship next year."  Even the usually low-key Tedford was swept up in the moment. "There is a lot of potential here," he told reporters.  Coaching merry-go-round: Before Tedford gets too wrapped up in the national title talk, he might have to plug a significant hole on his coaching staff.  Defensive coordinator Bob Gregory, who had previous coaching stops at Willamette and Oregon, keeps turning up in speculation about the defensive coordinator position on the staff Dan Hawkins is putting together at Colorado.  Gregory refused to discuss his candidacy during the Bears' bowl preparation, although he did acknowledge that since he coached under Hawkins at Willamette and Boise State, it is only natural for him to be considered at Colorado.