Pass-happy Bears win on defense
Cal possessed the ball for fewer than 18 minutes.
Turns out, the Bears really needed it for only about seven.
Cal’s high-powered, quickstrike offense was on full display in a 28-23 victory over grind-it-out, clock-churning Utah in a homecoming game in front of 46,618 fans on a flawless Saturday afternoon in Strawberry Canyon.
No. 18 Utah (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) represented the fifth straight undefeated team to face Cal (3-2, 1-1) this season, and the Bears’ victory gave them wins against two ranked teams in the same season for the first time since 2009.
Cal has won seven of its past eight games at home, sticking to its pass-happy ways even as the offense was turned into spectators for much of the game, including watching the Bears defense make a remarkable goal-line stand to clinch the victory.
Utah possessed the ball for 42:01, and Cal had it for 17:59. But the Utes managed only 4.6 yards per play on their long, drawn-out possessions, while the Bears racked up 7.4 yards per play and produced four touchdown drives, each in less than 2 minutes, 35 seconds.
“We didn’t get the ball a lot, and you’ve got to give Utah credit for that,” Cal head coach Sonny Dykes said. “But we made some explosive plays.”
Cal quarterback Davis Webb completed 22 of 35 passes for 306 yards and four touchdowns, receiver Chad Hansen had five catches for 98 yards and two scores, and receiver Demetris Robertson caught four passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns to get a little payback for last season’s dramatic loss in Utah.
The Bears wanted to take some pressure off of Webb, trying to get a running game going against Utah’s stout defensive front. But there wasn’t much there, especially without Khalfani Muhammad, who missed the game with a quadriceps injury.
So the Bears went back to the air and appeared unstoppable, save for one interception on a third-and-long, punt-like pass by Webb. Utah did its thing, too. The Utes ran a trio of backs for 181 yards and three scores.
Webb gave Cal a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, connecting on touchdown strikes to Hansen (40 yards) and Robertson (39 yards). The Bears then
went 32 minutes, 44 seconds during a stretch that spanned the second and third quarters without scoring.
Utah used that time to take a 17-14 lead, including a nineminute march of 95 yards — a drive that was aided by an overturned fumble, two fourth-down conversions and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following an incomplete pass on third down.
After the half-hour waiting game, the Bears got back on the board in a flash. Webb completed 4 of 6 passes for 47 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown pass to Hansen for a 21-17 lead in the third quarter’s final two minutes.
The Bears took their second two-score lead of the game, when Webb found Robertson for a 56-yard touchdown that made it 28-17 with nine minutes remaining in the game. Zack Moss got Utah right back into it with a 1-yard plunge that made it 28-23 with 6:41 remaining.
After a quick three-and-out by Cal, Utah used another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to start a drive a yard into the Bears’ territory. The Utes ran six plays from inside the Bears’ 11-yard line, but failed to score the game-winning touchdown as time expired.
“Those guys just kept hanging in there, and those players just kept saying, ‘Coach, we got this,’ ” Dykes said. “They just kept telling me that over and over and over again. You’ve got to give them credit for believing in themselves.”
On the last play of the game, a third-and-goal from the 3-yard line with three seconds on the clock, defensive tackle James Looney chased down Moss to end the threat and initiate an impromptu blue and gold party near the Cal logo at midfield.
“We believed. We had faith,” Looney said. “I had a chance to make a play, it was my play to make, and it was about time I made one of those. I’m one of the leaders of this defense, and I need to make those plays.”