By Dave Newhouse, STAFF WRITER
LAS VEGAS — One more yard. That's all Justin Forsett needed to join Cal teammate Marshawn Lynch as a 1,000-yard rusher this season. But Forsett rushed for 37 yards in Thursday's Las Vegas Bowl to finish the season with 999 yards. "It's a little disappointing," he said, "but my team goals are more important than my individual goals. If it's 1,000 yards or winning a bowl game, I'll take a bowl win any time." Forsett had only eight carries for a 4.6 per-carry average. Coach Jeff Tedford said he expected a physical battle with BYU's defense and felt the more powerful Lynch would be better-suited for that kind of competition. Tedford said that with the clock winding down on Cal's 35-28 victory, Lynch approached him about giving Forsett another carry to reach 1,000. Tedford replied that he couldn't take that chance, and so quarterback Steve Levy kneeled to run out the clock. "But that's the kind of guy Marshawn is," Tedford said of Lynch, who finished the year with 1,246 rushing yards.
BYU'S PERSPECTIVE: Cougars coach Bronco Mendenhall spoke with admiration about Lynch and DeSean Jackson, the two Cal players who hurt his team the most. "They're fast, they're athletic, they're talented, and they're confident," he said. "It was everything we could do to try to contain them." But Mendenhall felt the difference in the desert was Cal's special teams. "What changed the game was special teams," he said. "Cal's special teams out-executed ours ... and that's on me. I didn't emphasize special teams enough." Tedford offered special praise for punter-kickoff man David Lonie, who averaged 41.3 yards a punt, including three inside the 10. And Lonie's kickoffs were so deep, only one was returned.
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