BERKELEY — The Cal football team forged a lead even it couldn’t give away against Oregon State on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
After four consecutive losses by a combined nine points, including a couple of mind-blowing, fourth-quarter meltdowns, the Bears built a 31-0 halftime advantage over their former Pac-12 rivals on the way to a 44-7 victory in front of 33,09 fans.
California Golden Bears linebacker Serigne Tounkara (18) tackles Oregon State Beavers quarterback Gevani McCoy (4) during the first quarter of their game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The Bears led 44-0 before Oregon State scored with exactly 5 minutes left.
Cal (4-4) gets next week off before a return to Atlantic Coast Conference play a week from Friday at Wake Forest. The Bears are winless in four ACC games.
Cal was in charge from the start against OSU (4-4), which had won four of the past five meetings in the series, including the last two seasons.
The Bears’ 31-0 halftime lead was their biggest since a 52-0 margin at the half over Grambling State, an FCS opponent, in 2015.
The game featured the return of Cal star running back Jaydn Ott, who had missed the two previous games and three altogether this season with a nagging ankle injury. He rushed 10 times for just 11 yards behind a beat-up Cal offensive line, and added four receptions for 58 yards.
Fernando Mendoza was 27 for 36 passing for a career-high 364 yards in three quarters, including 299 yards in the first half. He completed a 40-yarder to Trond Grizzell to set the table for a bizarre early touchdown.
On third-and-8 from the OSU 9-yard line, Mendoza dumped the ball to running back Jaivian Thomas in the right flat. Thomas was in the process of going to the ground for a 6-yard loss when he lateraled the ball back to Mendoza, and the sophomore QB ran 15 yards into the end zone with 11:33 left in the opening quarter.
Mendoza was credited with a touchdown pass and a touchdown reception, and for 15 receiving yards but no actual catch.
The Bears’ momentum steamrolled from there. They went up 14-0 when Mendoza threw a touchdown to someone other than himself — a 20-yarder to Nyziah Hunter with 8:59 left in the first quarter.
Freshman kicker Derek Morris, whose late 28-yard missed field goal cost the Bears in their 24-23 loss to North Carolina State last week, tied the program record by making five in this one. He connected from 33, 46 and 19 yards in the first half, then 25 and 38 yards in the second half to become the third Cal kicker to make five field goals in a game.
Morris is 8 for 9 on field goals in two games since replacing senior transfer Ryan Coe.
California Golden Bears quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) scores a touchdown against the Oregon State Beavers during the first quarter of their game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Thomas added a 2-yard TD run in the second quarter and freshman Jamaal Wiley scored his first collegiate touchdown with a 1-yard plunge in the final minute of the third period.
Cal ran up 441 yards through three quarters, compared to just 135 for the Beavers, who lost their third straight game.
Ott, who rushed for 1,315 yards last season and was considered an All-America candidate this fall, got little traction in his return behind an O-line that was constantly shuffled.
Right guard Sioape Vatikani, who had missed the previous three games with an injury, returned to action, although he did not start. Right tackle T.J. Session missed the game with an injury he sustained last week, replaced by redshirt freshman Frederick Williams III in his first collegiate game.
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Starting guard Bastian Swinney was banged up in the final minute of the first quarter and helped off the field; he did not return.
Cal also played without sophomore linebacker Cade Uluave, their second-leading tackler, who was sidelined by a lower-body injury, according to a report by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.