TEMPE, Ariz. — Going into Saturday night’s Pac-12 football opener, maybe the biggest question for Cal was if the Golden Bears would suffer a letdown of sorts after last week’s upset of then-No. 11 Texas.
They did, losing a pair of 14-point leads with quarterback Davis Webb throwing two costly interceptions in the fourth quarter in Arizona State’s 51-41 win.
Webb’s first interception, with 6:12 to play, set up the go-ahead field goal for ASU. Zane Gonzalez knocked a 22-yard field goal off an upright and through after Salamo Fiso’s interception.
Cal got the ball back, and Webb was picked off by Laiu Moeakiola. The defensive back ran 28 yards for the touchdown that sealed the Bears’ fate.
“We left too many opportunities out there,” Webb said. “You can’t throw two picks in the fourth quarter and expect to win. That’s on me. If you turn over the ball, you’re probably going to lose.”
Webb led the Bears on a touchdown drive, throwing 26 yards to Demetris Robertson for a score with 54 seconds to play. But Cal’s onside kick try was returned for a touchdown.
Webb added to his season touchdown pass total with five as part of his 32-of-56, 478-yard performance. He has 18 TD passes.
A third-and-9 screen pass to Tre Watson that went for 74 yards gave Cal a 34-27 lead with 9:06 left.
Wide receiver Chad Hansen, fresh off being named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for his 196 receiving yards against Texas, turned in another noteworthy performance Saturday. He had 10 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown and has four consecutive 100-yard games.
Cal (2-2, 0-1 Pac-12) put up 637 yards of offense in its third close game of four this season.
“Turnovers were the big thing, and we didn’t make any breaks for ourselves down the stretch,” coach Sonny Dykes said.
The Bears went ahead 24-10 with 18 seconds left in the first half right after Arizona State cut their lead to seven. Cal drove 82 yards in six plays, Webb hitting Brandon Singleton for a 23-yard touchdown pass.
Cal’s second possession of the game started on its own 2-yard line, but two big plays sustained what turned out to be a 98-yard touchdown drive, the team’s longest for distance this season. Hansen got a foot inbounds on a third-and-9 catch for a 23-yard gain, and Webb hit Melquise Stovall over the middle for 40 yards.
Those plays set up Webb’s 19-yard strike to Robertson for Cal’s first touchdown with 10 minutes left in the first quarter. Robertson had 103 receiving yards and two scores.
“I felt like we were in control,” Robertson said. “We just had some miscues, but we’ll bounce back for Utah.”
The Bears got the ball back on Darius Allensworth’s interception, but only managed a field goal try that Matt Anderson missed wide right from 42 yards. It was Anderson’s first miss after making 17 in a row dating to last season.
Anderson made his other two field-goal tries, one from 47 yards that was his longest of the season.
Cal led only 7-3 at the start of the second quarter in what was expected to be a shootout between two top-10 scoring offenses in the nation. But the Bears were on the move to open the second, and Webb floated a 20-yard pass to Hansen for a touchdown and a 14-3 Bears lead at the 11:34 mark.
The Bears held the Sun Devils (4-0) to 10 at halftime and only one long drive. That ASU possession was helped by a roughing-the-passer penalty and ended with quarterback Manny Wilkins’ 8-yard touchdown run with 1:24 left in the second quarter.
“As a defense we played a really solid first half,” Cal safety Luke Rubenzer, from nearby Scottsdale, said. Rubenzer made his first start of the season.
“I can’t tell you what happened in the second half. Didn’t come out ready, I guess.”
Wilkins, of Novato, accounted for 362 yards of offense and four ASU touchdowns, three rushing and one passing. He threw 30 yards to Jay Jay Wilson to tie it at 34.
“They got us on a couple of big plays. That hurt us,” Dykes said.
