Cal Fans, What's Your Golden Performance of the Decade?

- final stats: 30 carries, 151 yds, 1 TD (61 yds)

- stepped up for his injured best friend Jahvid

- dimmed Arizona’s Rose Bowl hopes

- merely an inspirational preview to his 2009 Big Game Hard Hat performance

Riley came into the game in second quarter, with Cal already down 0 – 21.
Then Riley completed 16 of 19 passes for 269 yards, 3 TD. He led the team to 42 – 36 victory.

This was a great way to end the miserable 2007 campaign, and made us Cal fans hopeful for the next few years of another great QB…. or at least we thought so, at that time.

Well, Kevin, you still got a chance. It will be your last chance though. We don’t have the TRIO of receivers, but you got Jones, Ross, Loggy, Miller, and Allen to work with. Take us to the Rose Bowl please!

I don’t necessarily consider this the best performance of the decade, but it’s definitely among the most memorable.

After Stanford whipped Oregon and USC in consecutive weeks, all the media could talk about was big, bad Jim Harbaugh and his unstoppable team. Writers praised Stanford’s tough, physical play, led most clearly by Toby Gerhart. Apparently Tedford had heard enough of this. During the week Tedford said that on that Saturday “we’re going to find out who’s physical.”

Led by Vereen’s incredible 42 carries, Cal dominated the time of possession and manhandled Harbaugh’s team. Run after run, touchdown after touchdown, Vereen was unstoppable. Vereen stole the spotlight from Stanford’s Heisman candidate and will no doubt be forever remembered by Cal fans for this legendary performance. If there was ever a performance that best exemplified Joe Kapp’s slogan “The Bear will not quit, the Bear will not die,” it was this one.

Rodgers vs. ‘sc, 2004. 23 straight completions with his top 3 WR’s either banged up(McArthur/Makonnen) or unable to play(Lyman).

Rodgers was 27 of 35 for 394 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT. He also rushed for 30 yards and 2 TD.

As if there were any doubt by that point, Rodgers proved to us and to a national TV audience that he was legit. His performance was simply amazing, and made the NFL-seasoned broadcast crew (Mark Malone and Mike Golic) gush with praise about Rodgers’ skills. Rodgers’ performance led us to victory and gave us a ton of optimism heading to the 2004 season, which ended up being a truly epic season.

From Wikipedia

In Coughlin’s second Olympics appearance, at Beijing in 2008, she became the first American female athlete4 to win six medals in one Olympics. She was elected joint captain of the US women’s swimming team together with five-time Olympian Dara Torres and four-time Olympian Amanda Beard.12 Coughlin won the gold medal in the 100 m backstroke at those Games, becoming the first woman to retain the gold medal position in that event. She had lost her world record to Kirsty Coventry, the eventual winner of the silver medal, in the semi-final. When receiving her medal, her lip was still bleeding where she had bitten it during the race to distract her from the pain in her legs.13 She won a silver medal in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, swimming with Lacey Nymeyer, Kara Lynn Joyce and Dara Torres, and also won bronze medals in the 200 m individual medley, 4×200 m freestyle relay, and the 100 m freestyle. She won a silver medal in her final race in the 4×100 medley relay swimming with Rebecca Soni, Christine Magnuson, and Dara Torres.

Now that’s one hell of a swim meet!

311 yards, 4 TDs. ’Nuff said.

29-34-0, 267 yards, 1 TD

It may not seem like much of a line when you look at the yards and the 1 TD. But Rodgers’ execution was the difference between Cal having a clear shot at winning at the end of the game and simply not having nearly enough time to make a run at beating U$C.

Rodgers’ performance was nearly enough to overcome horrendous punt coverage that allowed a U$C TD and the loss of Chase Lyman to a broken leg in the first half.

A gutty performance on a big stage that nearly knocked the eventual national champion from its perch. Had Cal won, Cal would have had a clear path to a berth in the BCS National Championship game.

Fredrickson, 28, etched his name into Cal-USC lore after having two field goal attempts blocked. On his final try, the holder set up a half-yard deeper to give Fredrickson a window that was a split-second longer.

"I swung a little more confidently, thinking ‘this is an extra shot,’ " Fredrickson said of the 38-yard game-winner. "Fortunately, it flew true."

10/18 for 125 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

If there was any game that showed what intangible leadership benefits a quarterback can have for a team, this would be it. Levy held what hopes remained unshattered from the Booya era and carried them through to a clutch Big Game victory.

Sep 29, 2007

11 catches, 161 yards, 2 touchdowns

Cal 31, Oregon 24

vs. Oregon

41 points (double OT)

Helped Cal notch its first win over Stanford at home since 1993. Definitely one of the best performances of the decade.

Jahvid: 20 Carries for 186 yards, two touchdowns. Carries the offensively load by himself.
Vereen: 8 carries, 36 yards
Longshore: 10/21 for 121 yards, of which 74 came on one play early in the first quarter, otherwise 9/20 for 47 yards.

5 catches, 176 yards, 3 touchdowns

Cal 49 Oregon State 7

9 catches, 192 yards, but some of the most breath-taking clutch catches I’ve ever seen by a Golden Bear…yes, the game was a near miss, but it was a classic example of gallantry to try to rescue a lost cause.

20 of 24, 266yds, 3TDs and no interceptions. He even rushed for 17yds! He absolutely lit up UCLA like a pinball machine

The best rushing performance ever against the Furd, and it brought home the Axe after a seven game losing streak.

McArthur had five 150+ yard games during the season, and this performance to secure a victory on the Farm was the capper.

No Marshawn performances yet? Man.

Probably the seminal Lynch performance (other than 2006 Washington). This one was pure dominance from start to finish though, as he still managed to rock it with an average Cal passing game barely lighting it up.

One of the most clutch performances on this list. The two touchdowns put the Bears ahead in the final two minutes and in overtime.

USC was a top 5 rushing defense in 2007, and Forsett carved them apart for the majority of the game, nearly leading us down the field twice to game-tying scores late. It was after this game that I thought the Force had a good chance to be a pro.

Six in the second half, FIVE of them in a four minute span. All on the night Lute Olson was getting honored. Snapped a losing streak in Tucson dating back to 1996.

16 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, and the clinching interception. One of the greatest defensive performances of the decade.

9 tackles, 4 of them for a loss, 2 sacks, 1 pass broken up, 1 quarterback hurry, and the forced fumble which set up the game winning touchdown. A fitting send-off for a fierce competitor.

11 tackles, 2 INTs, one of which was a pick-six.

27 points, 11 rebounds, dominated the final OT to beat the Huskies.

29 points, 5 three pointers, 9-12 from the field, 6-8 from the line to shock #4 UCLA in the quarterfinals.

39 points in double overtime, 14-19 from the field, 6-8 from downtown.

September 2, 2007

“You’ll never see a Colquitt back away . . .”

1 77 yard touchdown