Cal proves the doubters right

After bitching and moaning about their lack of a BCS invite, the Cal Golden Bears did everything they could to prove the naysayers who ranked Texas ahead of them right on Thursday night, getting routed by the No. 18-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders by the score of 45 to 31 at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

So after listening to a month of bellyaching about Cal's omission from the Rose Bowl, in favor of Texas, the argument has been settled by the Bears' utterly lackluster performance in San Diego....as ESPN's Wayne Drehs so aptly put it:

....consider this -- Tech beat Cal by two touchdowns and led by 21 with less than a minute to play. Back in October, Texas beat Texas Tech 51-21. So that Cal is better than Texas argument? Flush it. At least on this night.

Lesson to Cal, and one they should have learned by watching their Pac-10 nemesis USC--when the BCS doesn't go your way, you do the only thing that will make a lick of difference--you go out and win your Bowl game, and prove everyone wrong on the field.

In the meantime....thanks to Cal for embarrassing everyone in the Pac-10. We're sure that was a great first step towards getting that Rose Bowl next season.

Self defense [ESPN]