Bears Sleepwalk Their Way to Disappointing 33-25 Loss to Syracuse

BERKELEY - It was a game they had to have to salvage a decent season but one of the worst first halves in recent memory doomed the Bears to a not as close as it sounds 33-25 loss to Syracuse Saturday afternoon in Memorial.

“Defensively (in the first half), we couldn't get off the field,” Wilcox said after the loss. “They had I believe four fourth down first downs in just the first half. Every fourth down they went for they converted so we weren’t able to get off the field. We held them to a couple field goal tries.

“We weren’t tackling well. They ran the ball on us. They threw it and whether we were in zone or man or 4-man rush, 5-man rush, 6-man rush or 3-man rush, they were real efficient and we had problems stopping them in the pass game and did not affect the quarterback. And offensively, we turned the ball over two times in the first quarter so there’s two extra possessions (for Syracuse).

“There was a big run by Jaivian but other than that, we didn’t do too much.

“They were really tough for us to stop today, certainly, and it wasn’t our best football, which is disappointing...We were certainly outplayed today. There’s no doubt about that. Outcoached, outplayed, out-rushed, out-caught, out-covered, out-sacked - out-everything.”

The game got off to a poor start for the Bears and never got better from there, with Syracuse marching 69 yards in 13 plays before settling for a field goal to get on the board first.

The Bears’ first possession ended in a Fernando Mendoza interception on a poorly-thrown pass intercepted by Syracuse linebacker Marlowe Wax and returned 21 yards to the Cal 40. The Orangemen again setted for a Jack Stonehouse 42-yard field goal on the drive to go up 6-0 with 4:19 left in the quarter.

After a Jaydn Ott run for 10-yards started off the Bears’ next possession, Mendoza was again intercepted, this time at the Syracuse 31. Just a week after winning ACC QB of the Week, Mendoza went 22-for-34 for 225 yards and 2 TDs. Ott had his best game since his early season injury, adding 78 yards in 11 carries and a TD along with 3 catches for 26 yards in the loss.

Syracuse took advantage of the INT, hitting paydirt this time with a 12-play, 69-yard drive, with running back Laquint Allen taking the run off tackle, finding nothing but green grass for a 30-yard TD, putting Syracuse up 13-0 after the PAT.

The Bears finally got on the board their next possession as running back Jaivian Thomas took a run from the second play from scrimmage untouched to the house for a 75-yard TD to narrow the deficit to 13-7. The TD run was one of only 14 runs by Cal running backs on the day as the Bears were unable to sustain drives throughout most of the game and were forced to pass for much of the game.

Syracuse tacked on two more touchdown drives on their next two possessions, scoring TDs on three straight possessions overall to build a commanding 27-7 lead at halftime. The half ended miserably, with kicker Derek Morris’s 48-yard field goal attempt falling at least 5 yards short to end the half.

A 15-yard Ott TD burst up the middle narrowed the deficit to 27-14 with 8:54 left in the quarter to start off the second half scoring.

A 43-yard Jackson Kennedy field goal rounded out the third quarter scoring, giving Syracuse a 30-14 lead.

A 44-yard Ryan Coe field goal early in the fourth quarter again narrowed the deficit to 13 at 30-17 but another Kennedy field goal padded the lead to 17 with under 4 minutes remaining. 

The Bears tried to make a game of it, driving for a 75-yard, 8-play TD on a 5-yard Mendoza TD pass to receiver Jonathan Brady and a 2-point conversion on a Mendoza pass to tight end Jack Endries narrowed the lead to 33-25 but a failed onside kick recovered by the Orange allowed them to milk the remainder of the clock and push the Bears to 5-5 (1-5) on the season. Syracuse goes to 7-3 (4-2) on the season.

Syracuse came into the game 16^th in rushing with just 30 yards per game and 2.9 ypc but racked up 149 yards today, with accounting for 109 of those yards with 2 TDs. QB Kyle McCord went 29-for-46 for 323 yards and 1 TD in their win. MLB Teddye Buchan led the Cal defense with 14 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a QB hurry. The sack was the only one managed by the Bears in the loss.

The Bears will next face off with Stanford next weekend at 12:30 in Memorial Stadium in a battle for 16^th place in the ACC - a sad development in the duo’s inaugural ACC season.