Nate Longshore and California have their passing game down pat. The running game? It's pretty good, too. And Longshore predicts the best is yet to come from that part of the Bears' offense. Longshore threw for 341 yards and four touchdowns, including two to Marshawn Lynch, and No. 20 California defeated Oregon State 41-13 on Saturday. Lynch finished with three touchdowns for the Bears (4-1, 2-0 Pac-10), running 15 yards for another score. "Offensively we did what we wanted to do in the passing game. I think as the season goes the run will open up a little more," he said.
Not that the Bears did all that bad. Cal rushed for 142 yards compared to Oregon State's 56. Lynch had 106 yards rushing. For Oregon State (2-2, 0-1), Alexis Serna hit field goals of 58 and 40 yards, and a turnover led to the team's lone touchdown. "It was actually really, really strange. We moved the ball in the heart of the field fine," Beavers tight end Joe Newton said. "Then we got down in the red zone and we couldn't finish the drive. If you can't finish, you can't win." Longshore's 39-yard TD pass to Lavelle Hawkins gave Cal the early lead. Before the first quarter was over, Longshore found DeSean Jackson with a 27-yard scoring pass and Lynch's TD run made it 21-0. Lynch had his second touchdown reception of the season, a 27-yard pass from Longshore, midway through the second quarter. Tom Schneider kicked a 37-yard field goal to make it 31-0, before Serna, last season's Lou Groza award winner for the nation's top kicker, hit a 58-yarder to make it 31-3 at the half.
The kick matched the school record set by Chris Mangold against San Jose State in 1982. After Serna added a 40-yard field goal, Lynch caught a 28-yard scoring pass from Longshore. The Beavers capitalized on Sabby Piscitelli's interception in the fourth quarter that set up Yvenson Bernard's 5-yard scoring run. The series was marked by the replacement of starter Matt Moore with backup Sean Canfield. Moore completed 18 of 27 passes for 187 yards, while Canfield was 5-of-7 for 57 yards. "We never did get our feet under us on defense," Oregon State coach Mike Riley said. "From our vantage point, we just couldn't get them off the field." Lynch added 59 yards receiving. It was his fourth straight game, and 13th in his career, with at least 100 yards on the ground. He has seven touchdowns. Hawkins had 128 yards receiving for the Bears. Longshore completed 22 of 31 passes with one interception in his third game this season with at least four touchdowns. "That's the best quarterback I've ever played with in my left," Hawkins said. "Nate is the guy. Nate is the man."
California has won four straight after a season-opening loss at Tennessee, when the Bears were ranked No. 9. Last season, the Beavers visited Strawberry Canyon and surprised the Bears 23-20, dropping them in the rankings and ending a 10-game winning streak at Memorial Stadium. "Last year they beat us at our place but they played what we thought was more physical than we did. It was our goal this week to make sure that didn't happen again," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. The Bears next week host No. 14 Oregon, which beat Arizona State 48-13 on Saturday. Bernard, who had a career-high 194 yards rushing against Cal last year, had just 74 against them this time around.
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