Sunday, October 23, 2005

San Francisco Chronicle: Cal rallies, trips WSU

Bears score 2 TDs in 4th quarter

Bruce Adams, Chronicle Staff Writer

The Golden Bears might be gimpy, but they still have some game left.  A battered and bruised Cal team, which squandered an 18-point halftime lead and had to stage a fourth-quarter comeback, beat Washington State 42-38 Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.  Cal scored the winning touchdown on a 9-yard pass from quarterback Joe Ayoob to his old City College of San Francisco teammate, Lavelle Hawkins, with 1:50 remaining.  The Bears were up by 18 when the Cougars came out strong in the second half -- appearing to put away the game on a 16-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Alex Brink to Chris Jordan -- giving WSU a 10-point lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the game. Brink threw five TD passes.

Ayoob then threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to rarely used wide receiver LaReylle Cunningham with some five minutes remaining in the game, to cut the Bears' deficit to 38-35. Ayoob was 19-for-35 for 274 yards and four touchdowns.  The Bears' defense held, forcing Washington State to punt on the next possession -- with Ayoob and Hawkins doing the rest.  Washington State's final possession ended when on a 4th-and-11, Phillip Mbakogu pressured Brink into lobbing a desperation pass that Brandon Gibson caught for a mere yard.  The Bears, playing without four key starters -- the latest in a season-long string of injuries -- head into a much-needed bye week.  Washington State went ahead 32-28 late in the third quarter, Brink connecting with his favorite target, Jason Hill, on a 38-yard scoring pass. The ball was tipped by cornerback Tim Mixon, but Hill still managed to make the catch.  The Cougars began closing in on a Cal lead early in the second half. They scored on a 38-yard pass from Brink to Hill, pulling to within 11 points of the Bears. Then, not quite two minutes later, they scored on a 63-yard pass from Brink to Hill, pulling to within three points on a two-point conversion. The Bears missed their best chance in the third quarter when they were driving and fullback Chris Manderino had the ball stripped and fumbled at the Cougars' 11.  Cal led 28-10 at the half, showing strong signs that the offense was back on track.

Marshawn Lynch had run for 97 yards. In the previous week's loss to Oregon State, the Bears ran for just 75 yards -- the first time in 19 games the team hadn't had a 100-yard rusher. For the game, the Bears had two 100-yard rushers, Lynch and Justin Forsett.  And Ayoob was 13-for-19 at the break, throwing for 167 yards and two touchdowns. His performance was a marked improvement over his last game when he was 13-for-39, going 2-for-11 and 15 yards in the Bears' final three possessions.  The Cougars took an early 7-0 lead, Brink connecting with Gibson on a 66-yard touchdown pass.  Cal answered with a 39-yard touchdown run by Lynch, on a drive kept alive when Ayoob got on a first down on a 2-yard keeper on fourth and inches.  Washington State then went up 10-7 on a 22-yard field goal by Loren Langley -- a score set up when Ayoob had a tipped pass intercepted by Husain Abdullah.  The Bears then took the lead, 14-10, on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Ayoob to tight end David Gray.  Cal's defense gave the offense a big boost late in the first half.  Linebacker Greg Van Hoesen intercepted Brink, returning the ball 16 yards for a touchdown, giving the Bears an 11-point lead with about 21/2 minutes remaining.  Then, Mixon intercepted Brink on the Cougars' next possession, returning the ball 38 yards, inside the 5.  Ayoob connected with Manderino on a 4-yard scoring pass -- stretching the lead to 18.  The late-night affair -- the last game in the country with kickoff after 7:20 p.m. -- drew less than a full-house, with attendance announced at 52,569.  After the bye week, the Bears play at Oregon, then host No. 1 USC the next week.  The Bears were without their best offensive lineman, Ryan O'Callaghan, who is recovering from a concussion. Their best defensive lineman, Brandon Mebane, did not start because of an ankle injury.  Plus, the team's two top wide receivers were out: DeSean Jackson with a shoulder injury and Robert Jordan with a collarbone.  They are among the 15 regulars who have missed time this year because of injury.  Cal lost to Oregon State 23-20 and to UCLA 47-40 the week before -- squandering fourth-quarter leads in both games. Washington State had lost its three previous -- also losing leads late in the games.

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