Dykes doesn’t think Lasco’s injury is ‘anything major’
By Connor Letourneau
With less than 10 minutes left in Saturday’s game, Daniel Lasco appeared to injure his hip when he collided with a San Diego State defender on a 9-yard run.
Cal’s leading rusher lay on the Memorial Stadium field for a few moments before team staff helped him to the sideline. It was an unsettling moment for Bears fans who stayed to watch their team polish off its 35-7 win over the Aztecs.
In his postgame news conference, head coach Sonny Dykes said he didn’t think Lasco’s injury was “anything major.” More details should be available by his Sunday night teleconference with reporters.
Lasco rushed for a gamehigh 123 yards Saturday on 19 carries. The Doak Walker Award candidate helped kickstart the Bears’ offense, totaling 21 yards on back-to-back plays that helped set up Cal’s tying touchdown in the first quarter. Late in the third quarter, Lasco put the Bears up 28-7 on a 3-yard touchdown run. Near miss: With the win secured, backup quarterback Chase Forrest replaced Jared Goff midway through the fourth quarter. It meant the third-year starter’s next feat would have to wait until the Texas game next week. Goff ’s 321 passing yards Saturday gave him 8,111 for his career, 15 short of Troy Taylor’s program record.
“Hopefully, I get it next game pretty early,” Goff said. “It’s not something I’m thinking about. I’m going to prepare and try to beat Texas, and let all that stuff happen like it does.”
Penalties: Perhaps an overlooked part of Saturday’s game was the penalty differential. The Aztecs piled up 12 penalties for 136 yards, while the Bears had just five penalties for 50 yards.
“I was proud of our players for just playing between the whistles,” Dykes said. “I thought some of those personal fouls early in the ballgame really kept us in the ballgame.”