Lynch, Levy share the wealth in victory
Bruce Adams, Chronicle Staff Writer
Las Vegas -- Cal leaves the nation's gambling capitol big winners, surviving a tense showdown with a BYU team that wouldn't fold. Cal beat BYU 35-28 Thursday night in the Las Vegas Bowl, ending a season of mostly ups balanced against some downs on a winning note that should carry over to next year -- a season already brimming with promise. The Bears did it with balance on offense -- finally, after a season of frustrations in the passing game. Quarterback Steve Levy made big plays through the air -- including several show-stoppers with DeSean Jackson. And tailback Marshawn Lynch had the best game of his two-year career, finishing with a career-high 194 yards while growing stronger as the game wore on. It was his seventh 100-yard game of the year and his first collegiate three-touchdown game. Lynch finished with 194 yards rushing, Jackson had six catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns, and Levy was 16-for-23 for 228 yards. Throughout most of the first three quarters, Cal's defense slowed an explosive BYU offense that came into the game with a 1,000-yard rusher in running back Curtis Brown and a 3,000-yard passer in quarterback John Beck. And, when it counted most, Cal defenders kept the Cougars out of the end zone. Many of the key players for Cal in the win are underclassmen, boding well for 2006. The Bears finish the year 8-4 -- reversing a late-season lull when they lost four of their last six. They began to get back on the winning track with a 27-3 win over Stanford in the Big Game to finish the regular season -- Levy's first collegiate start. The Cougars stayed close the first half, fell behind by 21 points in the second half and came on strong at the end. The game was played before the largest crowd in Las Vegas Bowl history. Attendance was announced at 40,053. While BYU easily had more fans at the game, most of the noise was coming from the Cal side. The Bears began to pull away in the second half.
Leading by seven early in the third quarter, Lynch ran 35 yards for a touchdown, stepping over one tackler and running through two more near the goal line. His score put the Bears up 28-14. Cal's lead went to 35-14 when Jackson caught a 22-yard Levy pass in the corner of the end zone. The Cougars scored early in the fourth quarter with Jonny Harline catching a 7-yard pass from Beck. They pulled to within seven when Beck connected with Todd Watkins on a 9-yard scoring play.
The Bears iced the win when cornerback Daymeion Hughes intercepted a Beck pass with 1:28 to go in the game. Beck's arm was hit on the play by defensive end Phillip Mbakogu. Cal led 21-14 at the half. The Bears scored first, with Lynch capping a 65-yard drive with a 3-yard run. BYU tied the game at 7-7 in the second quarter when Beck connected with Brown on a 19-yard touchdown. Cal went up 14-7 when Lynch scored from the 23, bouncing off a pile of players to the right, reversing field to the left and running the rest of the way to the end zone untouched. The Bears wasted another opportunity after Harrison Smith intercepted a Beck pass when the offense went no where in three plays and the Bears punted.
The Cougars scored next, to tie the game again at 14-14. Fahu Tahi ran in from the 3-yard line, capping a 91-yard drive. On the second play of the drive, Beck appeared to intentionally ground the ball in the end zone, throwing a pass just before he hit the ground, but no safety was called. Then, just before the end of the half, the Bears scored when Levy connected with Jackson on a 42-yard touchdown pass. Jackson caught the ball at the 25, shook a defender and outran two other defensive backs into the end zone. The drive was set up when Marcus O'Keith returned the BYU kickoff 39 yards. At the beak, Lynch had already run for 74 yards. Levy was 9-for-16 for 111 yards. For the Cougars, Beck was 12-for-18 with one interception at the half, throwing for 169 yards. The win, over a team that runs a spread offense similar to Texas Tech, helped erase the memory of Cal's 45-31 loss to the Red Raiders in last year's Holiday Bowl.
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