Denver Post: Bears' 1-6 slide erases BCS hopes

By Irv Moss

The Denver Post

FORT WORTH, Texas — California football coach Jeff Tedford couldn't deny his team's appearance in the Armed Forces Bowl is several levels below the Bears' postseason expectations when they were 5-0, ranked second in the country and looking like a strong contender for the national championship.   Reality came with a chilly wind Thursday as California (6-6) went through its first bowl-site practice after arriving in Fort Worth. A chance for the Bears to play in a Bowl Championship Series game disappeared when they went 1-6 down the stretch. Now they are preparing for a Monday game against Air Force (9-3) on the Texas Christian campus.  "I think we feel fortunate to be in a bowl game," Tedford said. "We didn't finish as strong as we could. I think our players feel fortunate that they have one more opportunity to play.  "There's no question there's disappointment about the season. The expectations were high when we were 5-0 and things were going good and we were healthy.

"We ran into a stage where we had quite a few injuries and we lost some close games in the conference. But our preparation has been good."  Tedford said some of the Bears' bumps and bruises have healed since they lost 20-13 at Stanford on Dec. 1, but he did not say quarterback Nate Longshore was fully recovered from an ankle injury that slowed him late in the season.  "He's probably in the 90 percent range, but he's able to play and function," Tedford said of Longshore, who passed for 2,544 yards and 16 touchdowns in 11 games. "We still have players who are a little dinged up, but they're as good as they have been for a long time. They've practiced well over the last couple of weeks."

Familiar with the Falcons.

Tedford isn't a stranger to playing Air Force. He has faced the Falcons seven times, five from 1993-97 as an assistant coach at Fresno State and twice as the head coach at Cal. Air Force has a 4-3 edge in those games, 3-2 from the Fresno State.  But all of the seven games were played during the triple-option era of former AFA coach Fisher DeBerry. With their new coaching staff led by Troy Calhoun, the Falcons are playing a different style. Tedford, though, isn't discarding all of what he remembers about the previous meetings with the Falcons.

"The consistent thing is how hard they play, how disciplined they are and how well-coached they are," Tedford said. "You know you'll get a great effort from them. You have to stay on top of everything. They know what they're doing and they do it with precision."

Cal's Colorado connections.

Chris Guarnero, who played on Mullen's 2004 state championship team, is the backup center for the Bears as a redshirt freshman.  "I committed to Colorado my junior year, but later changed my mind after I visited Cal," said Guarnero, who won the state title his junior season at Mullen.  Cal freshman defensive back Darian Hagan, from Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, is the son of former CU quarterback Darian Hagan. The elder Hagan is a member of CU's coaching staff.