Column by Dave Newhouse
IT'S HARD to find fault with Jeff Tedford, the savior of Cal football, but if he has one flaw, it's his stubbornness at quarterback. Tedford will change every other position if the mood strikes him. He has replaced several senior starters without hesitation. But it's not only seniors who'll get Tedford's quick hook if there's somebody behind them who's better. Tedford has even changed his kickoff man. But quarterback? He'll wait and wait and wait. Aaron Rodgers is in the NFL, but he didn't start until the fifth game in 2003. Joe Ayoob struggled with a 5-4 record last year until he was pulled finally for Steve Levy. Levy then saved the season with wins over Stanford and BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. His reward? Third string this fall, behind Ayoob of all people. Which brings us to Thursday's Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Texas A&M's defense flies to the football with the kind of quick athletes who could make life miserable for immobile Cal quarterback Nate Longshore.
If Cal can't protect Longshore, it'll be like pigeons landing on a statue all night long. And if that's the case, how long will Tedford stay with Longshore? The Bears have one win in their last three games, over hapless Stanford. Longshore struggled in those losses, but Tedford refused to call on Ayoob or Levy in relief. These two seniors are better athletes, and more mobile, than Longshore. Levy clearly is the best leader of the three, with natural charisma in the huddle. But he has been banished because he is 6-feet tall, and not as a result of that offseason bar skirmish. If you watch Cal practice, Levy throws as well as the 6-5 sophomore Longshore. Tedford loves Levy but not enough to play him. Some gratitude for Levy's rescue job last year. Meanwhile, three 6-foot quarterbacks — Drew Brees, Rex Grossman and Michael Vick — are tall enough to start in the NFL.
Maybe it's because Tedford is perceived as a "quarterback guru" that he is so stubborn about the position. But his reluctance could be a pivotal factor Thursday evening. If Cal fails again in the Holiday Bowl, San Jose State will be smiling, because the Bears and Spartans will have identical nine-win seasons. Now who would have predicted that in August? Nobody, not even Spartans coach Dick Tomey, the king of turnaround coaches. Hawaii, Arizona and now San Jose State have been graced by Tomey's rebuilding touch. Tomey has proven, at 68, that the best coaches can coach at any age. Spartans football teetered on the cusp of extinction two years ago. And now with a bowl victory, there's an even brighter future ahead. It just goes to show that there are no absolutes in sports. Anything is possible, even the near-impossible. The end result: San Jose State alumni, including the grizzled face above, are humming the school's fight song this week, even if, ahem, for the first time. Some momentous changes occurred late this year in the Bay Area, from the Oakland A's and San Francisco 49ers announcing that they'll be playing in Fremont and Santa Clara, respectively, in the future. That's weird enough, but the A's signing Erubial Durazo to a minor league contract might be even stranger. Billy Beane doesn't make roster mistakes as a rule, but bringing back this deadbeat might be his worst. Durazo, like Ben Grieve, proved to be a defensive liability in Oakland. But Grieve, unlike Durazo, never said he wouldn't play in the field. Grieve tried his best in the outfield, although a butcher is a butcher. Durazo is the A's worst example of a player since Herb Washington, the designated runner. Who needs this kind of presence in the dugout? What's next, Beane's bringing back Octavio Dotel as a closer?
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