Friday, December 23, 2005

Contra Costa Times: Bears win with style

By Jay Heater

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

LAS VEGAS - As the 2005 season slipped into history here in Sin City, Cal's football team sent its seniors away in style and also served notice that 2006 could be something special. The Bears' 35-28 win over a gritty BYU team at Sam Boyd Stadium was accomplished with a flair that should help springboard Jeff Tedford's young team into bigger and better things. Heading the highlight reel was Bears sophomore tailback Marshawn Lynch, who turned the heads of the 40,053 fans in attendance with a 194-yard rushing day that included a career-high three touchdowns. It was the first time in Cal history that a player rushed for three touchdowns in a bowl game. Lynch received the Most Valuable Player award for his effort.

"I didn't know I was going to have to lift weights today," said Lynch, as he carried the hefty MVP trophy out of the interview room. "I am going to give this to my mother (Delisa Lynch). These trophies always have meant more to her than they do to me." Led by an offensive line that constantly knocked the Cougars off the line of scrimmage, Lynch moved the pile in battering-ram style. Several times during the game, it appeared the two teams were involved in a slow-moving rugby scrum, a huddled mass that always moved in a positive direction for Cal. "It was just our offensive line," Lynch said of his huge day. "They just put it out there and I ran with it." Cal's coming-of-age party had other featured performers as well. Cal freshman wide receiver DeSean Jackson (6 catches, 130 yards) scored a pair of lightning-bolt type touchdowns that sucked the life out of a BYU defense that simply couldn't match Cal's athleticism.

Jackson's 42-yard touchdown catch with just three seconds remaining in the first half was a crushing blow to a Cougars' squad that had worked hard to knot the score at 14-14 just before intermission. BYU's momentum fizzled when Jackson split a pair of defenders and sprinted clean to the end zone for a 21-14 Cal halftime lead. "That was a big lift for us," Jackson said. "I came into this game wanting to turn it up a notch. I considered this game to be the start of my sophomore year. I was going to dedicate whatever I could do to this victory." In the third quarter, Jackson stuck a dagger into BYU with a tremendous diving catch in the back corner of the end zone. Jackson's 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Steve Levy gave the Bears a 35-14 lead and came a play after he turned a near-disastrous interception along the left sideline into a 24-yard gain that included a tour of the entire width of the field. BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall didn't like what he was seeing. "We did everything we could do to contain them," Mendenhall said of his efforts to stop Lynch and Jackson. "We did everything we could do to tackle them, to pursue them all over the field. In the end, it resulted in a seven-point loss." Of course, Jackson couldn't have had a big day without the help of junior quarterback Steve Levy, who moved his record to 2-0 as a starter with a 16-of-23 for 228 yards outing that was efficient, and even more important, didn't produce a turnover. "I had a couple of balls that I underthrew early," Levy said. "But I settled in. All I did was lead the team and take care of the football." Defensively, Cal had many solid performers, including junior defensive end Nu'u Tafisi, who picked up a sack and also had two huge hits on BYU quarterback John Beck, one that produced an interception by Harrison Smith in the second quarter. Tafisi had plenty of help as Cal handed out an enormous amount of punishment. It was clear Cal was the more physical team. "We came into the game with the mentality that we just wanted to hit somebody," Tafisi said. "I think we had a different attitude because it was a bowl game." Despite some fine play by the Bears, BYU's spread offense pecked away, keeping the game interesting into the final minutes. With his team trailing 35-21, Mendenhall went for a fourth-and-10 play from Cal's 49-yard line with just under eight minutes remaining. Beck (35-of-53 for 352 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions) completed an 18-yard pass to wide receiver Matt Allen to keep the drive alive. That became critical when Beck found wide receiver Todd Watkins with a 6-yard touchdown pass with 5:35 remaining to close the Bears' lead to 35-28. Cal took the ball back at its 20-yard line with 5:35 in the game and set out to eat up the clock. After eight plays accounted for three plays and ran the clock down to the 3:10 mark, Cal had third-and-eight at the Cougars' 35. The Cougars stopped the clock at that point with their final time out.

Bears tailback Justin Forsett managed just two yards on the next play, setting up a fourth-and-6 from BYU's 33. Tedford called time out to consider his options, then sent out place-kicker Tom Schneider to attempt a 50-yard field goal. Schneider didn't kick the ball cleanly and it landed well short, giving the Cougars another opportunity with a first down at the 33 with 2:20 left. But that chance was wiped out when Cal sophomore defensive end Phillip Mbakogu hit Beck just as he was releasing his pass, the ball floating to Cal cornerback Daymeion Hughes, who made the interception with 1:28 remaining. The Bears then ran out the clock.

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