No story of last year's California Golden Bears is complete without a discussion of the prolifically bad defense that yielded buckets of points and yards on a weekly basis. On Saturday at Kabam Field at California Memorial Stadium, the Colorado Buffaloes brought back unwanted memories of Cal's defensive struggles of a year ago. Colorado's offensive production was downright disturbing, a continuation of sorts of the previous week's fourth-quarter onslaught by Arizona. For the second straight week, Cal's opponent ran more than 100 offensive plays (CU ran 110 to Cal's 71), racked up more than 600 yards of total offense (CU gained 629 yards), and had a quarterback throw for a career high in yards (CU's Sefo Liufau threw for 449). Moreover, Cal could not contain the nuisance that was Colorado wide receiver Nelson Spruce, who needled the Bears for 19 catches (a Pac-12 record), 176 yards, and three touchdowns.
Colorado's gaudy offensive numbers notwithstanding, it was the Cal defense that came up big when it counted most and opened the door for the Bears to finally put the game in the win column in the second overtime. With the game tied at 56 after the teams exchanged touchdowns in the first overtime, Colorado was poised to take the lead in the second overtime when the Buffs secured a first and goal at the Cal 2. It was at that point that the Bears defense said enough was enough.
C 1-G H02 Jones, Tony rush for no gain to the CAL2 (Clark, Austin;Barton, Michael).C 2-G H02 Liufau, Sefo rush for 1 yard to the CAL1 (Barton, Michael).C 3-G H01 Frazier, George rush for no gain to the CAL1 (Nickerson, Hard).C 4-G H01 Liufau, Sefo rush for loss of 3 yards to the CAL4 (Jefferson, Jale;Lowe,Michael).
The fourth down play was a thing of beauty. Cal linebacker Jalen Jefferson stayed home, essentially dooming Liufau's bootleg from the start. Lowe finished him off and the Bears had their biggest goal line stand in recent memory.
After the goal line stand, all Cal needed to to was score and the game would belong to the Bears. The Bears could not get into the end zone, so were forced to place their conference-losing-streak-busting fate on the foot of senior kicker James Langford. The Cal Poly transfer, who missed a 42-yard attempt in the fourth quarter, would not be denied on this 34-yard attempt with the game on the line.
Langford's kick was true and his Bears teammates poured onto the field to celebrate the end of Cal's 15-game conference losing streak. Also of historical significance, the game-winning FG came exactly 11 years to the day after Cal's last walk-off game-winning field goal: Tyler Frederickson's kick in the third overtime to defeat USC on September 27, 2003. And it touched off a juxtaposition of emotions.
Cal kicker James Langford on his game-winning field goal. #GoBears! pic.twitter.com/VORk7ezZyd
— Cal Bears (@CalAthletics) September 28, 2014
I feel your pain Coach McIntyre. But better you than us. #GoBears #PalmsOfVictory pic.twitter.com/OCqqNamaHr
— Vlad Belo (@GoldenBearVlad) September 28, 2014
"I definitely wasn't thinking about my miss earlier because you can't dwell on the past, especially as a kicker," Langford said. "It's kick-by-kick and you just have to have a short-term memory whether you make it or miss it. The next kick is the most important one that matters."
"Wow, I think I have aged 100 years in the last two weeks," said Cal head coach Sonny Dykes. "After last week's loss it's nice to be on the other side this week and win a hard-fought, tough football game. You have got to give our players a lot of credit for bouncing back. When things went south in this ballgame they never panicked, they just kept hanging in there. Defense gave up a lot of plays, but they made a play at the end of the game when we needed one. That fourth down stop was huge."
Also huge were the offensive numbers both teams put up on Saturday afternoon. Cal quarterback Jared Goff threw for 449 yards (matching Liufau's total) on 23 of 41 passing and seven touchdown passes, one short of Pat Barnes' record set in a 1996 four-overtime epic against Arizona. In what can only be characterized as an absurd coincidence, Liufau not only threw for the same number of yards as Goff, but threw seven touchdown passes himself. The teams' combined 14 touchdown passes are an FBS record.
Reports trickling in that Cal Band is stationed at Goff's house. When you throw 7 TDs, the party comes to you.
— Nam Le (@AGuyNamedNam) September 28, 2014
Early on, a wild and crazy finish did not look like it would be in the cards for the Bears. Cal came out flat, quickly falling behind 21-7 in the first quarter, and thoughts of a hangover from last week's heartbreaking loss at Arizona danced in many an observer's head. Cal got back in the game with the longest pass play in school history -- a 92-yard touchdown pass from Goff to running back Daniel Lasco (18 rush, 108 yards; 1 rec, 92 yards, 1 TD), who took a short pass, bounced off a tackle, and scampered down the sideline to bring the Bears to within 7 points.
Lasco's long touchdown could not wrest the momentum from Colorado, however. The Buffs went to halftime leading 28-14 and the Bears were fortunate the lead was not more. Colorado kicker Will Oliver, who made four of four field goal attempts as a freshman against Cal in 2011, missed two field goal attempts in the first half (and one more in the second half), leaving points on the field that the Buffs ended up needing later.
To their credit, the Bears came to life in the second half. Cal scored touchdowns on three consecutive drives in the third quarter, two of the scores coming on Goff touchdown passes to Kenny Lawler (3 rec, 59 yards, 2 TD), to take a 35-28 lead. But just when it seemed that Cal had finally seized control of the game, Colorado lifted its game once again. Two touchdown passes to the omnipresent Spruce, the second one coming with 3:23 left in the game, gave the Buffs a 42-35 lead. The Bears were staring another bitter defeat in the face.
But just when it looked bleak, Cal incredibly made a series of plays to take an improbable lead late in regulation. Goff hit Stephen Anderson for a 75-yard touchdown on a 2nd-and-10 play after Spruce's go-ahead score. With the score tied at 42, the Cal defense then came up with the turnover the Bears had been waiting the whole game for. Jake Kearney intercepted a Liufau pass at the CU 37-yard line, setting Cal up for a potential go-ahead score. And go ahead the Bears did: on third down after a false start penalty, Goff found Chris Harper open down the left side for a 40-yard touchdown to give the Bears a 49-42 lead with 2:29 left in regulation.
Colorado would tie the game, however, after nearly mismanaging the clock. On 3rd-and-4 from the Cal 36 with 1:12 left and no timeouts remaining, the Buffs gave the ball to Tony Jones (13 rush, 69 yards), whom Cameron Walker stopped inbounds for no gain. With the clock running under 40 seconds and Colorado in a sense of urgency, Liufau found Spruce (who else?) for a first down at the Cal 31. One play later, Bryce Bobo beat Cedric Dozier to the left corner of the end zone and hauled in a perfectly thrown pass from Liufau with 21 seconds left for the game-tying touchdown.
For all the heroics by Liufau, Spruce, and Bobo at the end of regulation however, all it did was prolong Colorado's (2-3, 0-2 Pac-12) ultimate defeat.
Cal will take this win happily -- you do that when you haven't won a conference game in almost two years -- but film study this week will certainly have its moments of uneasiness, as there is plenty to criticize about Cal's performance. Besides the defense giving up a ton of yards with receivers running open all day, the Bears also committed an ungodly 12 penalties for 113 yards. Cal's defense tallied no sacks against Liufau and was unable to get consistent pressure even when it started to blitz more as the game wore on. On the offensive side, Goff was not sharp for much of the afternoon, missing numerous throws we had grown accustomed to seeing him make and throwing the first interception of the season that was his fault. But at the end of the day, a win is a win. And this one is sweet relief. And for all the negatives we might point to about this one, an undeniable positive is that the Bears showed grit and mental toughness to dig deep and find a way to win.
With the win, the Bears are 3-1, 1-1 in the Pac-12. Those are nice numbers to have with a trip to Washington State coming up next Saturday night.
Palms of Victory.