San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Bears return to field at expense of Cardinal
Cal victorious: Offense rolls up 636 total yards
Many Big Games are tight, taut affairs. The two before Saturday’s matchup at Stanford Stadium fit that bill.
The 124th edition was something else altogether. Cal put together a dominating performance. The Bears racked up a Big Game-record 636 yards and overwhelmed the Cardinal 41-11.
Cal (4-6, 3-4 Pac-12) thus kept its bowl hopes alive. The Bears must win at UCLA next Saturday night and then at home against USC on Dec. 4 to become bowl-eligible.
Meanwhile, Stanford’s losing streak reached six games. The past three losses have come by a combined score of 128-32.
Coronavirus issues forced Cal to play with a limited roster in a 10-3 loss at Arizona on Nov. 6 and caused a postponement of the USC game scheduled for Nov. 13.
The virus hiatus didn’t appear to adversely affect the Bears on Saturday.
Cal opened the scoring with a four-play, 95-yard drive early in the second quarter. Three Christopher Brooks carries gained 11 yards before Chase Garbers connected with Trevon Clark on a slant pass, and Clark bolted untouched to the end zone, an 84-yard TD connection.
That was the longest pass play in Big Game history, surpassing the 82-yarder from Stanford’s Brian Johnson (who became a major-league catcher who played for the Giants) to Walter Batson in 1987. Cal’s previous long pass play in the Big Game was an 80-yarder from Jackie Jensen (who became a major-league outfielder who won the 1958 AL MVP award with the Red Sox) to Paul Keckley in 1947.
On their next possession, the Bears put together an 11-play, 80-yard drive. Garbers connected on third-down passes to Clark (for 17 yards) and to Monroe Young (30 yards).
Garbers finished the drive by rolling right and connecting with Brooks in the end zone. The Bears were up 14-0 with 5:38 left in the half.
Garbers finished the game 17-for-26 for 246 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried seven times for 59 yards. In Cal’s 24-20 victory at Stanford two years ago, Garbers passed for 285 yards and ran for 72, including a 16-yard TD run with just more than a minute to go that was the game-winner.
With 34 seconds left in the quarter, Stanford (3-8, 2-7) began a drive from its 45. The Cardinal got to the Cal 14 before it had to settle for a 32-yard Joshua Karty field goal on the final play of the half. It cut the Bears’ lead to 14-3.
Cal got two Dario Longhetto field goals in the third quarter, the second set up by a 75-yard run by Brooks to go up 20-3.
Then came the play that just about sealed Cal’s win. The Bears were on their 24 when Marcel Dancy took off around left end and just kept going. Dancy motored along the Cal sideline and
turned it into a 76-yard TD.
Make it 27-3, Cal, with 1:26 left in the period.
Stanford scored its lone touchdown on a 1-yard run by Austin Jones early in the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion trimmed the Bears’ lead to 27-11.
Cal responded with two more TD drives, the first capped by a 2-yard Dancy run, the second by a 5-yard Chris Street run. And the Axe was on its way back to Berkeley.
The Bears gained 352 yards on the ground and held Stanford to 43. Brooks ran for 131 on 13 carries.
On the second play from
scrimmage, Stanford’s Tanner McKee threw long for Bryce Farrell. The pass was a bit underthrown and freshman LuMagia Hearns III cut in front of Farrell and made the interception at the Bears’ 27.
Briefly: Cal had lost its previous six road games, and had not won a road game since beating UCLA 28-18 on Nov. 30, 2019. The Bears did beat Illinois 35-20 in the Redbox Bowl at Levi’s Stadium on Dec. 30, 2019. … Stanford head coach David Shaw remained at 64 career conference wins, one shy of USC’s Howard Jones, who ranks fifth all-time with 65.
UCLA’s Terry Donahue owns the record with 98.