Rosen passes UCLA by Cal
Freshman QB gets school-record 34 completions in win.
California arrived at the Rose Bowl with a 5-1 record, just as it had at the halfway point last season. The 20th-ranked Golden Bears were determined not to repeat the collapse that saw 2014 end with a losing record.
Instead, they were left with another round of questions about their mental and physical toughness.
With UCLA’s season seemingly teetering on the brink of collapse, Josh Rosen completed a school-record 34 passes and threw two of his three touchdown passes to Devin Fuller, and the Bruins got back on track with a 40-24 victory over Cal late Thursday night.
Cal quarterback Jared Goff passed for 295 yards in a second straight disappointing game, leav- ing the Bears two games behind rival Stanford in the Pac-12 North at 2-2. But the bigger concern is the lack of physicality displayed on both sides of the ball.
Goff was sacked five times, Cal struggled to run the ball, and a boom-or-bust defense that had lived off sacks and takeaways didn’t produce either in the first half, ultimately allowing 573 yards of total offense.
“Things that we haven’t done all year, we did tonight,” Cal coach Sonny Dykes said. “That’s not indicative of this football team, and we didn’t play well tonight.”
Despite having many of the same issues as last season, Dykes was confident Cal would not repeat the second-half slide this time.
“This is a different team,” he said. “Every year is different. Heck, every week is different, so we just got to pick up the pieces, learn from the mistakes we made and improve.”
Kenny Lawler, Darius Powe and Khalfani Muhammad caught TD passes for Cal, which arrived with its highest ranking in six years and a chance to clinch to clinch bowl eligibility for the first time since 2011. Instead, the Bears still have just one win in Pasadena since 1999.
Rosen passed for 399 yards in another splendid game for the standout rookie, and Thomas Duarte had career highs of 10 catches for 141 yards for the Bruins (5-2, 2-2). UCLA rebounded from consecutive losses to Arizona State and Stanford, along with a drop from the national rankings.
Rosen was smooth and confident in another big Pac-12 game, going 34 for 47 without a turnover. He got plenty of help, too: Soso Jamabo rushed for a score after star UCLA tailback Paul Perkins left with an injury, and the Bruins’ injury-plagued defense limited Goff and Cal’s potent offense to 170 yards in the first half.
UCLA’s Ka’imi Fairbairn made four field goals, including a school-record 60-yarder at the halftime gun.
No. 22 Temple 24, East Carolina 14: The Owls finally cracked the Top 25 because of their defense and ground game. Some timely passing will help them stay there. P.J. Walker threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Robby Anderson, and Temple scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to rally past the Pirates late Thursday night.
Walker finished 19-of-35 for 250 yards for the Owls (7-0, 4-0 American Athletic Conference). Anderson caught eight passes for 126 yards, with five of those grabs coming in the fourth quarter.
East Carolina’s Blake Kemp was 31-of-48 for 272 yards with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Quay Johnson. Chris Hairston added a 1-yard scoring run for the Pirates (4-4, 2-2).