Senior’s day: Kicker sets Cal alltime scoring record.
The Cal seniors talked beforehand about leaving it all on the field in the final home game of their careers.
Matt Anderson took it a step further Saturday afternoon, leaving it all in the record books.
The senior placekicker scored 13 points to move atop the school’s all-time-scoring list and lead the Bears to a 37-23 victory over Oregon State in front of 35,440 fans at Memorial Stadium.
“He had a huge day. I’m really proud of him,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said. “… The company he keeps, in terms of the scoring here, is pretty impressive. He was a big part of this.”
Anderson made all four of his extra-point attempts and connected on field-goal tries of 31, 45 and 49 yards in pushing his career total to 297 and passing Doug Brien, who had 288 points from 1991-93.
Cal (5-5, 2-6 Pac-12) led for the game’s final 46:12 and moved a win away from bowl eligibility. Because of their Academic Progress Rate, the Bears could get a bowl invite, even if they don’t win a road game against Stanford (Nov. 18) or UCLA (Nov. 24) to close the regular season.
But Saturday, Cal didn’t look like a team planning on settling for a backdoor entry to the bowl season. The Bears weren’t forced into a single punt for just the sixth time in school history and for the first time since a game against USC in 2004, showcasing a well-balanced offense.
Running back Patrick Laird had six catches and also ran 33 times for 214 yards and a touchdown, Cal’s first 200yard rushing game since Jahvid Best had 311 against Washington in 2008. Quarterback Ross Bowers threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns, spreading the ball between his receivers (Vic Wharton III had eight catches for 121 yards, Kanawai Noa had four catches and Jordan Veasy had three).
“The O-line made it easy on us, and Pat (Laird) and Vic (Enwere) were doing great, great things,” Bowers said. “I thought our O-line was giving us the freedom to do whatever we wanted to do. They were working today, and I had the best seat in the house. It was fun to watch.”
The Bears’ defense, which allowed Oregon State’s Ryan Nall to churn out 221 yards on 14 carries last season, limited the bruising running back to 35 rushing yards as the Beavers (1-8, 0-6) had just 299 yards of total offense.
Bowers’ 14-yard strike to Wharton put Cal on top 14-7 with 1:12 remaining in the first quarter, a lead it never relinquished. Oregon State trimmed its deficit to 17-13 in the final minute of the second quarter, but Anderson made a 49-yarder to end the first half and give the Bears a little breathing room.
The kicker also made a 31-yarder to open the secondhalf scoring, but the Beavers cut Cal’s lead to 23-20 with just more than two minutes
left in the third quarter. Cal then scored 14 consecutive points, including two extra points by Anderson.
But his most significant kick of the day was a 45yarder at the 11:47 mark of the second quarter. It gave him 289 points, one more than Brien, who played 12 NFL seasons and has gone on to become a successful entrepreneur.
“Congrats on breaking the record. You finally beat it. Now, work on getting a Super Bowl ring and becoming a CEO of a public company,” said Anderson, holding the record-setting ball and trying to summarize a text he got from Brien. “… He definitely has a few more milestones up there that I need to go pursue.”