Shaking off the almost inexplicable offensive woes of the last two weeks, where they scored a meager total of just two field goals, the Bears broke out their potent offense and put an emphatic win on the board with a 45-26 victory over UCLA.
In what many expected to be a defensive battle between two offensively challenged teams, there was a surprising amount of scoring activity out of the gate, and the action never let up throughout the first half, as the Bears jumped out to a surprising 35-20 lead.
The action got rolling quickly with the Bruins deferring the opening kick and the Bears taking advantage of that with an efficient, seven play, 80 yard drive that featured a pair of Shane Vereen runs for 55 yards, one of them a 40-yard touchdown burst that put the Bears up quickly, 7-0.
"I was just happy to be able to score one for the team," said Vereen. "That was a big sigh of relief for us. To get on the board and to get things rolling after how we'd been playing in the last four weeks, it was a great feeling."
"Shane was big for us today," said Cal Head Coach Jeff Tedford. "Shane made play after play. He left it all on the field today."
The action then settled down with both squads trading a pair of short possessions and punts, until the Bears broke through once again.
As UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince dropped back to pass in Cal territory, soph defensive end Trevor Guyton swooped in and stripped the ball - whereupon linebacker D.J. Holt scooped it up and ambled 16 yards to the UCLA 43.
The Bears didn't take long to convert as junior quarterback Kevin Riley fired first down strike to a streaking Marvin Jones in the end zone for a 14-0 Cal lead.
"It felt good, said Riley, who got back on track, going 14 for 23, with 205 yards and three touchdowns on the day. "After that second touchdown, you could see our offense just going back to how we were playing the first three games."
But then UCLA answered quickly with a 50-yard Terrance Austin return to the Cal 39. They wasted no time capitalizing on the favorable field position, needing only five plays to score, capped by a Johnathan Franklin seven yard touchdown run to bring the Bruins back within seven at 14-7.
Not to be outdone, Cal marched right back down the field in a seven play, 93 yard drive, capped by a 53 yard touchdown pass down the left sideline to a streaking Best to extend their lead to 21-7.
Best came out soon after, feeling the effects of an unseasonably warm October afternoon.
"I got dehyrdated," said Best. "I got dizzy and I wasn't feeling right so it took a while to get back on the field but I was eventually able to work through it. Also, I have asthma so I don't know if it was that or the heat, but it was hot."
Again, UCLA answered right back, tailback Johnathan Franklin bursting upfield for a 74 yard touchdown as the Bruins pulled back to within seven. Franklin would finish with 101 yards and two touchdowns on the day.
After being forced to punt on the ensuing possession, punter Bryan Anger reversed both his recent punting struggles and the Bears field position woes, unleashing a 72 yard punt, returned by Austin to the Bruin 22.
After the Bears held, they got back on the board in a hurry, with a beautiful 93-yard Best touchdown scamper, where the Heisman hopeful broke no less than five tackles before heading downfield for the touchdown and a 28-14 Cal lead.
"It was a toss and they overpursued on the left side," said Best. "My read tells me to break back on the right side and from then on, it's just find your way to the end zone."
Was it the best of Best's many impressive touchdown runs in his career?
"I don't know," said Best. "I'll have to look at the film. I know I've never broken so many tackles on one play, unless I go back to high school."
After the Bruins came back with a quick drive and a Kai Forbath 34-yard field goal, the Bears closed out their first half scoring with a seven-play, 80 yard drive, culminating by another beautiful Riley to Jones connection for 24 yards and a 35-17 lead. Jones would end up as the Bears' leading receiver on the day, with four grabs for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
Still showing plenty of fight, UCLA rallied for a seven play, 60 yard drive in just 46 seconds get a field goal that closed out the first half scoring with the Bears leading 35-20.
The battle tightened up in the second half, with just a trio of field goals between the two teams in the first 25 minutes. The game was still on the line until Cal linebacker Mychal Kendricks came up big for the Bears with five minutes left when he intercepted a Kevin Prince pass and returned it 68 yards for a touchdown. With that score, the Bears forged ahead to their final margin of victory at 45-26 and put the game out of reach.
There was a lot of apprehension among Cal fans coming into the game about how the team had been affected by the two consecutive decisive losses; this victory did a lot to answer those doubts.
"We're a lot tighter as a family now after what we went through," said Best. We're doing a lot of team bonding and doing everything together and that's been elevated a lot the next couple weeks.
"Coach Tedford pushed for us, when the defense was on the field for the offense to be engaged, rooting them on and not just sitting on the bench," said Best. "It definitely felt like the whole team was behind us this game."
And after eight consecutive years of losing in their trips to LA, the game surely did much to exorcise frustrations of seasons past.
"That's huge," said Best, with a smile. "There's music going in the locker room and all that now so people are just having a good time with this.
"It's very special," said Vereen, who starred at nearby Valencia High and went for a career-best 154 yards and two touchdowns on the day. "I look forward to playing in LA every season. I circle that game on my calendar. So to do it in front of my family and friends -just to come down here and play and do well is great."
"It was a team effort," said Tedford. "We made a lot of plays on both sides of the ball and played really well together. That was the main focus coming into this game for the last two weeks -that we need to stick together.
"As naysayers and critics step up, the players in the locker room believe in each other. They're playing hard for each other and hung in there and kept battling. When they came back we answered and never panicked."
"The past two games, there was a lot of frustration," said Vereen. "To be able to get that bad taste out of our mouth after this one really helps a lot."
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Additional Notes:
-Starting kicker Vince D'Amato injured his shoulder attempting a tackle on a kick return. There's no word on the seriousness of the injury. In D'Amato's place, sophomore kicker Giorgio Tavecchio took over placekicking and kickoff duties, converting his only field goal opportunity for a 24-yard kick in the 3rd quarter.
"He did really well," said Tedford. "I thought he kicked the ball off nicely along with his extra points and field goals. He did a good job."
-Cornerback Syd-Quan Thompson went down with what Tedford called a hip pointer early in the first quarter. He went back in and played much of the first half before the injury stiffened up on him, necessitating backup cornerbacks Chris Conte and Bryant Nnabuife, who defensive coordinator Bob Gregory singled out as having a great game, to take Thompson's place.
-After the game, Thompson seemed to be walking without a limp so the injury doesn't look to be serious.
