By NORM MAVES JR.
BERKELEY -- Very few people in college football will be the least big surprised at the score Cal ran up in handling Portland State 42-16 at Memorial Stadium Saturday afternoon, but to a man the Vikings want something understood: We're better than that. "No. 1, they're good," PSU coach Tim Walsh said after the nation's 21st-ranked Division I-A team scored 42 first-half points then coasted home. "(Running back) Marshawn Lynch is amazing. Their quarterback (Nate Longshore) played well and their offensive line is really good. "So I'm not saying anything about the outcome. I was just hoping we would play better football today." It's a hard case to make. The Bears allowed Portland State a fantasy with a first-strike field goal, then ripped off five straight touchdowns over the next 16 minutes and 23 seconds.
The Vikings struck back twice late in the first half - yes, Brendan Ferrigno got his touchdown reception in front of his dad, Bears' assistant Dan Ferrigno - then Cal closed out the scoring with a four-play, 72-yard drive that took all of 55 seconds. Along the way the Bears put PSU's first two quarterbacks out of the game in a seven-minute stretch in the first quarter. Sawyer Smith landed awkwardly after throwing a pass away to avoid a sack and suffered an undetermined sprain in his hip area; backup Tygue Howland went down two series later with a left knee injury. He will have an MRI on Monday to determine the extent. By the half, the Bears had 375 yards and 17 first downs to Portland State's 164 and 5. Cal coach Jeff Tedford ran his second and third string in and got a scoreless second half out of it, and still finished with 502 yards of total offense.
There was a big hero for Portland State Saturday. Rob Freeman, a junior quarterback whose entire career has been to hold for extra points and take a couple of swings with the mop in garbage time, was pressed into service and impressed the entire Viking team. "He was absolutely awesome," Walsh said of the Westview High School product. "I mean, the guy's in there crying his eyes out and I tell him he played great, and he says he just doesn't like losing. "He's taken what, 12 live snaps in his life and he came out against these guys, in these conditions, and played great." Truth is, the game was already well on its way to being out of control by the time Freeman got the keys to the car. Wide receiver Tremayne Kirkland, a high school option quarterback, took a few snaps, but the last three quarters largely belonged to Freeman. He hit 12 of 17 passes for 119 and his first varsity touchdown, a perfectly timed loop pass to Kirkland that cut the Cal lead down to 35-16.
"The experience was awesome," he said through red eyes in the locker. "I just wish I could have done more to help the team win." PSU's defenders didn't even mention him. They were too busy kicking their own tails. "We made them look a lot better than they are," defensive tackle Matthis Gehring said. "I mean, we stopped them at the line, then we'd miss tackles and give them a 15-yard play." Or more. PSU will see Lynch's 71-yard touchdown run at the top of the second quarter in their nightmares. The Cal star took a routine handoff into the center of the line, wiggled around while Vikings grasped at him, then popped outside and escaped down the left sideline - with three blockers behind him. "Coach Walsh hit it on the head at halftime," Gehring continued. "We just weren't fundamentally sound. And it's hard to get your hopes up to come in and play a good team like this and then just give it away."
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