BearTalk

Hard to believe, but tonight was the last practice of the regular season. It went off with little fanfare as the Bears finished putting in the game plan on yet another frigid night at Memorial Stadium.

There was little reaction from today’s news that an agreement had been reached that will send Cal to the Emerald Bowl, providing USC beats UCLA on Saturday. The Las Vegas Bowl has agreed to take the winner of the Arizona-Arizona State game and allow the Emerald Bowl to scoop up the Bears.

The only scenario now in which Cal doesn’t stay home to play at AT&T Park is if the Bruins somehow upset the Trojans. If that were to happen, the Bears likely would go to the Sun Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Oregon State would go to the Rose Bowl and USC would visit the Holiday Bowl. Oregon would be in line for the Sun Bowl but the committee likely would invoke its no-repeat clause and take the Bears instead.

But that scenario obviously seems highly unlikely at this point. Cal coach Jeff Tedford didn’t want to talk about the agreement after practice tonight. He wasn’t happy with the comments by some of his players that implied the team would rather go somewhere else than the Emerald Bowl, so he didn’t want to address the topic at all. He said he simply wanted to focus on Washington and then talk about the bowl game after that.

Players are off-limits to the media on Thursdays so there was no reaction there at all.

It looks as though Cal will play either Miami or Wake Forest, with Florida State being a more remote possibility. Some of it is going to depend on what happens in the ACC championship game on Saturday between Boston College and Virginia Tech. There will be a domino effect depending on who wins. But Emerald Bowl executive director Gary Cavalli said they are leaning toward Miami at this point.

A couple of notes:

–Safety Brett Johnson practiced in full capacity and defensive coordinator Bob Gregory said he will start against the Huskies. Johnson missed the Big Game with a shoulder injury.

–Senior defensive end Rulon Davis will make his first start since breaking his foot on Sept. 27. Tedford said there are no seniors who will start just because it is Senior Day.