Bears’ bowl picture is bleak following defeat
PASADENA >> Cal’s hopes for a bowl game are hanging by a thread, if that.
The Bears’ last-second 30-27 loss to UCLA late Friday night left the Bears (5-7) one victory short of the minimum for bowl eligibility.
Their chances hinge on there not being enough six-win teams to fill all the bowls. Even then, they are far down the list of fivewin teams that would be considered.
“It’s an awful feeling in there right now,” Bears coach Justin Wilcox said of the locker room. “It really hurts. There’s not a lot that you can say that makes (the players) feel a lot better.”
Cal rallied from a 27-17 deficit to force a 27-27 tie. Matt Anderson’s 60th career field goal — a school record — got the Bears to within a touchdown with 8:35 to play. Then with 2:22 remaining, Bowers threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Veasy.
“We thought we were going into overtime,” running back Patrick Laird. “I thought, ‘Hey, our defense is going to get a stop and we’re going to get the ball and score before overtime.’ We had drawn up some plays.”
Linebacker Alex Funches believed the same thing.
“I’m thinking, ‘We’re going to stop them in the first four plays and give the ball back to our offense,’ ” Funches said. “Every snap we were on that field, we were fighting as a team.”
But the Bruins drove from their 25-yard line to Cal’s 20. J.J. Molson’s 37yard field goal with four seconds left sealed the Bears’ 13th consecutive conference road loss and effectively ended their season.
• Laird, a walk-on running back who ranked third on the depth chart during spring practice, carried 32 times for 178 yards to finish the season with 1,127 yards.
“I may look back at it next spring and be happy about it,” Laird said of becoming the 19th 1,000yard rusher in school history.
“But right now, I’m bummed for our seniors.”
• Another member of the program might be leaving. Offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin, who joined the staff this year, could become the new head coach at Oregon State, various reports state. Baldwin served as Eastern Washington’s head coach for nine seasons before moving to Berkeley.
“Anything concerning Beau is speculation,” Wilcox said. “I talk to Beau multiple times a day.”
• UCLA won — and qualified for a bowl — despite the fact that quarterback Josh Rosen did not play in the second half. Funches sacked Rosen for a 12-yard loss late in the second quarter.
“He got hit pretty hard on that one sack,” UCLA interim coach Jedd Fisch said. “We pulled Josh at halftime for some precautionary reasons. We want to make sure he is healthy for the bowl game.”