BERKELEY – With 10:57 remaining in the third quarter, Cal held a 20-point lead over Oregon. Cal managed to blow that lead by the time the 13-minute mark of the fourth quarter arrived. At that point, the game was only just beginning.
Once again, the Bears demonstrated their remarkable ability to turn a blowout into a nailbiter. Unlike two weeks ago, when the Bears forced overtime despite trailing Oregon State by 17 points in the fourth quarter, they were the ones who let what appeared to be an insurmountable lead evaporate in a matter of minutes.
Unlike two weeks ago, the Bears won.
At Memorial Stadium on Friday night, the Bears beat Oregon, 52-49, in double overtime. With the win, the Bears improved to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Pac-12, while the Ducks fell to 2-5 and 0-4 in conference play.
Cal quarterback Davis Webb threw for five touchdowns without injured star receiver Chad Hansen and added another on the ground, while running backs Tre Watson and Khalfani Muhammad combined for 302 rushing yards.
“What can you say?” Cal coach Sonny Dykes said. “It was a crazy ballgame. It’s hard to put it into perspective when you think about all of the crazy things that happened.”
The Bears won the game despite squandering that 20-point lead. They won despite missing what should’ve been a game-winning field goal at the end of regulation. They won despite racking up three straight penalties on what ended up being the game-winning drive.
They won.
After both teams exchanged touchdowns in the first period of overtime, Cal journeyed down to the 2-yard line to begin the second period. That’s when the penalties began popping up.
Second-and-goal at the 2-yard line turned into second-and-goal at the 7-yard line after an illegal formation. Second-and-goal at the 7-yard line turned into second-and-goal at the 12-yard line after a false start. Second-and-goal at the 12-yard line turned into second-and-goal at the 20-yard line after a holding penalty. The Bears eventually settled for a field goal.
It was enough. On Oregon’s second play, Cal linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk plucked Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert’s pass out of the air with one hand to end the game. The Bears prevailed by generating the lone turnover of a game that featured 203 combined plays from scrimmage.
Thanks to a dominant ground game and Webb’s red zone efficiency, Cal jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead, which stretched to 20 points early in the third quarter.
That’s when Cal cracked. The Ducks scored touchdowns on three consecutive drives to wipe away Cal’s lead with 13:23 remaining in the game.
The Bears finally woke up, retaking the lead when Webb and Watson combined for a highlight-reel 14-yard touchdown. A successful two-point conversion granted Cal a 42-35 lead with 9:50 remaining.
But Oregon tied the game when Herbert hooked up with Charles Nelson for a 42-yard touchdown with 3:15 showing on the game clock. That was Herbert’s fifth touchdown of the game. He wound up throwing six in all.
With a chance to end the game before overtime, the Bears made their way to the 50-yard line, where they faced a third-and-9 with just over a minute remaining. They converted with a pass to Raymond Hudson. The clocked ticked away.
Two short completions later, the Bears found themselves at the 30-yard line with 24 seconds left. A handoff to Watson put the Bears in field goal range at the 24-yard line and Dykes stopped the clock with four seconds remaining.
The result rested on Matt Anderson’s leg. First, Oregon coach Mark Helfrich iced Anderson with both of his final two timeouts. It worked. Anderson pushed the 41-yard attempt wide. Knotted up at 42-42, the game headed to overtime.
Herbert opened up overtime with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Brown. Cal kept the game alive when Webb waltzed into the end zone from the 1-yard line, giving Anderson a chance to redeem himself by drilling the tying extra-point and the game-winning, 28-yard field goal on the next series.
“Our confidence in him didn’t flinch,” Dykes said. “He didn’t flinch at all.”
Four minutes before midnight, Kunaszyk sent Cal’s sideline into a frenzy when he fell to the ground after his interception, ending the marathon.
“It’s crazy,” Kunaszyk said. “I just remember going into OT, ‘Man, another one of these games.’ Everyone of our games is close. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
