Little time to relish 2-OT triumph
Shortly after the calendar flipped from Friday night to Saturday morning, an exhausted Sonny Dykes walked into a postgame news conference.
He was physically tired from Cal’s thrilling 52-49, double-overtime victory against Oregon and emotionally drained by the knowledge that he has to have his players ready for an even tougher test Thursday at USC.
“I think everybody in the locker room was tired emotionally. I know I certainly am,” Dykes said early Saturday. “We have a game in six days, which is crazy. It’s absolutely nuts that we have to turn around and go to USC in six days to play a team that’s had 13 days off to prepare for us.
“It absolutely makes no sense.”
In fact, by the time his four-plus-hour game with Oregon was over, and by the time the teams had broken all kinds of records for snaps within a game, Cal had less than six days to prepare for USC.
It’s been a bit of a trend for Cal this season. Utah and Arizona State each had an extra day to prepare for the Bears, and Oregon had an open week to focus on Cal’s vaunted offense.
USC will have nearly two weeks of planning before Thursday night’s game in Los Angeles.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of equity in scheduling,” Dykes said. “I clearly didn’t make the schedule. I’m not happy about it. I don’t think it’s right for these players. We’re going to miss school. We’re going to ask our players to do things we don’t believe in.
“But we’re going to go rebound, play USC and get ready in a short week.”
If nothing else, the Bears will have some momentum to counteract the fatigue. They outlasted the Ducks in a classic that set the FBS record for most plays by a single team in a game, with 118, and an FBS record for total plays between both teams, at 203.
Cal set a single-game school record with 40 first downs, and the 67 first downs combined also marked a record.
Cal quarterback Davis Webb completed 42 of 61 passes for 325 yards, six touchdowns (one rushing) and zero interceptions. Running backs Tre Watson and Khalfani Muhammad ran for 154 and 148 yards respectively.
After blowing a 20-point lead in a 7½-minute span in the third and fourth quarters, the Bears matched the Ducks’ touchdown in the first overtime. Cal then took a lead with a field goal in the second overtime, and Jordan Kunaszyk clinched the victory with an interception — the game’s first turnover.
“Just another boring Cal football game,” Dykes joked. “What can you say after that? I’m proud of our guys.
“They just kept playing, believing and fighting.”
They’ll be asked to do it again in five days.