KICKED OUT OF BOWL
Cal battles back to tie UCLA, then sees season come to bitter end on field goal in final seconds
PASADENA >> Cal’s hopes to qualify automatically for a bowl game dissipated Friday night.
J.J. Molson kicked a 37-yard field goal with four seconds to play to give UCLA a 30-27 victory as both teams finished Pac12 play in front of 50,287 at the Rose Bowl.
As a result, the Bruins (6-6, 4-5) reached the six-win threshold for bowl consideration.
Cal (5-7, 2-7) rallied from a 2717 deficit to forge a 27-27 tie. Matt Anderson kicked his fourth field goal of the game, a 20-yard effort, with 8:35 left. Anderson set the school record with career field goals, 60. Then with 2:22 remaining, Ross Bowers threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Veasy.
But the Bruins drove from their 25-yard line to Cal’s 20 before Molson kicked the winning field goal.
UCLA won despite the fact that quarterback Josh Rosen did not play in the second half. Rosen suffered an undisclosed injury when the Golden Bears’ Alex Funches sacked him late in the second quarter.
Taking over for Rosen was Devon Modster, a redshirt freshman who played just three games this season.
Untimely mistakes and squandered opportunities defined Cal’s
first half, as UCLA built a 17-6 lead with 5:10 left before halftime.
On the game’s first series, the Bears drove from their 29 to UCLA’s 29, where they had a first down. But a holding penalty forced Cal back to the Bruins’ 39.
The Bears then gained just one total yard on their next three plays, and ended the series when Anderson missed a field-goal attempt from 40 yards with 4:09 gone in the game.
Cal forced a turnover to begin its third series. Elijah Hicks forced UCLA’s Bolu Olorunfummi to fumble, and Jordan Kunaszyk recovered the ball at the hosts’ 17.
But the Bears lost five yards on their next play to a false-start penalty, and had to settle for Anderson’s 32-yard field goal
with 2:55 left in the first quarter.
The Golden Bears held UCLA to minus-9 yards in the Bruins’ first seven plays.
But the hosts responded to Anderson’s field goal by consuming 75 yards in just seven plays and in only 2:16.
Rosen ended the drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Theo Howard with 39 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Anderson’s 34-yard field goal narrowed the deficit to 7-6 but another critical error allowed UCLA to extend the lead.
The Bruins’ Stefan Flintoft was punting from his team’s 28 when safety Ashtyn Davis bumped into him.
The resulting penalty for roughing the kicker moved the ball five yards and gave UCLA a fourthand 1 at its 33.
Giovanni Gentosi continued the drive with a 2-yard gain, and Molson ended it with a 27-yard
field goal with 7:45 left in the half.
Rosen increased the Bruins’ advantage to 17-6 with a 17-yard scoring pass to Jordan Lasley. Cal retaliated by driving to UCLA’s 15, where they had second-and-5.
But another penalty for a false start forced second-and-10. Two incomplete passes later, Anderson kicked a 37-yard field goal 1:20 before halftime.
However, the Bears forced a 17-17 tie by consuming 58 yards in six plays and 1:39.
Laird’s 19-yard run gave Cal first-and-goal at the Bruins’ 2. Bowers then scored on a 2-yard run and threw a 2-point conversion pass to Laird with 6:35 left in the third quarter.
But Modster engineered a 75-yard scoring drive on the ensuing series.
Modster completed four of five passes for 66 yards, with Brandon Stephens’ 1-yard run giving UCLA a 27-17 lead.