Oregon State 38 California 32
Memorial Stadium (36,000)
November 4, 2000

Cal punter Nick Harris became the NCAA all-time leader in punting yards and defensive end Andre Carter tied Regan Upshaw as the Bears all-time leader in sacks, but Cal couldn't overcome 31 first-half points by Oregon State as the Beavers defeated the Bears 38-32 at Memorial Stadium.

The Bears feel behind by 19 points in the first half, but came storming back late in the game and crawled within two points in the fourth quarter, before eventually succumbing to the 14th ranked Beavers, who ran up 524 yards of total offense on the day.

The Bears (3-6, 2-4 Pac-10) were stopped on three straight plays on the opening drive of the game and played catch-up the rest of the afternoon. After a 57-yard Harris punt, OSU (8-1, 5-1) took over at its own 28-yard-line. On Pac-10 rushing leader Ken Simonton's first carry of the game, he ran a season-long 64-yards down the sideline to the Bears 2-yard-line before being tackled by Cal's Chidi Iwuoma. On the next play, Simonton ran it up the middle to give the Beavers a 7-0 lead with 11:46 left in the first quarter.

Cal again was held to three plays on its next series and the Beavers took over at its own 38-yard-line. This time, OSU traveled 62 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead. Cal held OSU on three plays inside the 10-yard-line, but a pass interference penalty on 3rd-and-Goal gave the Beavers another chance at the end zone. Simonton ran it in from 4 yards out. OSU's Ryan Cesca connected on the extra point after to give the Beavers a 14-0 lead with 8:08 left in the first period.

The Bears didn't fold and came back to make a game of it. On Cal's next series, quarterback Kyle Boller hit wide receiver Chase Lyman down the field for a 47-yard gain that put the Bears in OSU territory for the first time in the game. On 3rd-and-4 from the Beavers 10, Boller scrambled before finding Chad Heydorff in the back of the end zone to give Cal its first points of the game. After Mark Jensen's kick, the Bears cut OSU's lead in half, 14-7 with 5:40 left in the first quarter.

Cal's defense held the Beavers to three plays on its next series and Jemeel Powell continued his special teams brilliance by returning Mike Fessler's punt 38 yards. But the Bears couldn't capitalize on the excellent field position and Harris was forced to punt again.

As it's done so many times this year, the Bears defense helped the team put points on the board. Cal's defense stifled the Beavers and forced Fessler to punt from his own end zone. With 45 seconds left in the opening period, OSU snapped the ball high over the punter's head and out of the end zone. The Bears picked up 2 points on the safety. At the end of the quarter, Cal trailed OSU 14-9.

On a drive bridging the end of the first period and start of the second, Boller hit wide receiver Shawn Currin on a 35-yard strike. Currin rambled to OSU's 20-yard-line and on 3rd-and-10, Bears tailback Joe Igber found a hole and ran 11 yards to the Beavers 9. Marvin Philip recovered a Boller fumble on third down to maintain possession. Cal settled for a 23-yard Jensen field goal to bring Cal to within 2 points of OSU.

The Beavers drove 79 yards on its next possession, including passes of 33 and 25 yards to Chad Johnson before Simonton scored his third touchdown of the game on a 6-yard sweep. Cesca's point after was good and OSU increased its lead to 21-12.

With 8:52 left in the half, OSU's Keith Heyward-Johnson intercepted Boller's pass intended for Lyman at the Bears 45-yard-line. On the next play, the Beavers quarterback Jonathan Smith hit Robert Prescott along the far side for a 39-yard gain. Following a Cal facemask penalty, OSU's Patrick McCall ran 1 yard for a touchdown. Cesca's kick gave the Beavers a 28-12 lead with 7:19 left in the half.

A 59-yard pass play from Smith to T.J. Houshmandzadeh with 3:40 left in the second quarter gave OSU a 1st-and-Goal at the Cal 8, but the Bears defense held strong and the Beavers settled for a 32-yard field goal by Cesca.

The Bears took over on its own 26-yard-line with 2:24 left in the half. Following completions to Currin and Swafford, Boller hit Lyman for a 30-yard touchdown strike with 10 seconds remaining. Jensen's kick pulled Cal to within 31-19 heading into the locker room.

Neither team got past midfield on the first two possessions of the second half. The Bears special teams came up big when OSU's Houshmandzadeh fumbled Harris' punt on the Beavers 17-yard line. Cal's Matt Nixon jumped on the ball and gave the Bears a 1st-and-10 deep inside OSU territory. However, the Bears couldn't punch it in. On fourth down Jensen split the uprights on a career-long 39-yard field goal with 6:21 left in the third quarter.

On the Beavers next drive, Smith found Prescott near midfield. The receiver broke a pair of tacklers and ran to the Cal 15-yard line. The Bears defense held OSU and a sack by linebacker Scott Fujita forced Cesca to try a 45-yard field goal. The kick was short and Cal took over on its own 27-yard line, but the Bears couldn't string together a drive and Harris was forced to punt. Powell broke up a couple of key passes on OSU's next series and the third quarter ended with Cal trailing the Beavers 31-22.

After two big plays by OSU, Cal linebacker Chris Ball stepped in the Beavers passing lane and intercepted a Smith pass at the Bears 18-yard line. On second down, Boller hit Derek Swafford across the middle of the field. Swafford followed a key block by Roy Jackson and streaked 81 yards down the near side for Cal's longest touchdown run of the season at the 9:43 mark of the fourth quarter. Jensen's kick again brought Cal to within 2 points of OSU, 31-29.

The momentum had clearly changed, but a couple of uncommon plays on Oregon State's ensuing drive proved to be the difference. The first came at the OSU 19-yard-line when a pass slipped out of Smith's hands and the ball floated aimlessly at the line of scrimmage. It hit a Cal defensive player's shoulder pads and then fell into the hands of tight end Chad Johnson who rambled nine yards for a first down.With 6:42 left in the game, Cal apparently had Smith sacked on a 3rd-and-9 situation, but he somehow slipped out of the grasp of Cal safety Nnamdi Asomugha found himself in the free for a 21-yard sramble for the first down. On the next play, McCall rolled left and ran 27 yards for his second touchdown of the game and the Beavers only score of the second half. Cesca added the point, giving OSU a 38-29 edge.

Cal threatened late with a 36-yard pass to Heydorff and a 21-yard strike to Lyman, but Boller was sacked twice and the Bears stalled at the Beavers 13. Jensen connected on a 40-yard field goal--his career long--with 1:44 to go to bring Cal to within six, 38-32. OSU recovered Cal's onside kick to seal the Beavers victory.

For the Bears, Boller completed 17 of 44 passes for a career best 349 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Joe Igber led Cal on the ground with 82 rushing yards on 17 carries. Swafford, Lyman, Currin and Igber had 3 catches each. OSU's Simonton finished with 125 yards on 17 carries, before leaving the game in the third quarter. Smith passed for 317 yards on 11 of 28 passes.

Post-game Quotes:

California Head Coach Tom Holmoe

General Comments:

"We put a lot of pressure on this team (Oregon State) and scored some points on them, but they came back strong. Their offense was very good and they had a lot of big plays. There were too many big plays for us to overcome. It's not really our trademark to give up so much against offenses."

"Our offense played well at times and looked good. We got some good passing yardage and scored some touchdowns on passes. But when we needed it in the end, we just couldn't come through."

"We felt strong and confident on the sideline when we came within 3 (points). But then to have the ball bounce in funny ways... We had him (Jonathan Smith) sacked and had our arms around him. But then he squirted out for a long first down. It's hard to believe that could happen."

"It's hard that this (loss) knocks us out of the bowl (picture). I think we had a legitimate chance. People might not agree, but our boys did. They really believed we could win the last three. Our intention now is to win the last two. There's nothing better we can do now than to be a spoiler and to build for our future."

"We need (the Oregon game) in a big way for the Stanford game. This is the time where we have to focus in on two games, one at a time. But they kind of run together. We need to keep playing hard and well and carry some of the momentum that we gained today for Oregon and for Stanford."

California WR Derek Swafford

General Comments:

"I have to hand it to Oregon State, they were a pretty good team. They came out to play. We were really close. We just had a couple of bad mistakes, a couple of bad errors that cost us the game."

California CB Chidi Iwuoma

General Comments:

"The motivation is to win games. We're not really worried about spoiling anyone's chances, we just want to go out there and win games and play like we're supposed to. We knew what they were going to do. We had the game plan. We knew what we were supposed to do, we just couldn't converge on them."

California Punter Nick Harris

On the punt record/special teams:

"I didn't really think about the record a whole lot. After the third punt, the ball took a right turn and I guess it broke the record. But after that I was focused on pinning the other team deep and trying to help our defense out. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out."

Oregon State Head Coach Dennis Erickson

General comments:

"I don't think we played well. We played well in the first half. Then we let them score at the end of the first half. That gave them momentum. I'm happy with getting the eighth win, but we played pretty dumb out there and let them stay in it. Some day we're gonna learn, but I hope it doesn't cost us a game. To win eight games, to go 8-1 for the first time in school history, is really something special. We stepped up on defense. We've had to all year. Cal was very smart kicking that field goal on fourth and 15. Fortunately for us, we got the onsides kick."

On the OSU running backs:

"Ken's got some pulled muscles. He's been tight for a while now. He pulled himself out of the game. I didn't take him out. He felt like Patrick (McCall) could run better. We're really blessed that we've got two, really three, guys who can come in and make plays. Patrick is a talent that nobody knows about. We're fortunate to have both (Simonton and McCall) with us."

On Cal's defense:

"You know they're gonna come after you. That's Lyle's (Setencich) deal. You know what to do, but it's tough when (Andre) Carter and (Jacob) Waasdorf are coming at you with all that pressure."

On Cal DE Andre Carter:

"Andre Carter is the best player in the country - that's just my opinion. I'm surprised he's not in the Lombardi Award race (for defensive linemen). When you play Cal, you've got to get ready for Carter. Carter and Waasdorf are both great players."

On not having radio communication in the first half, but leading 31-19 at halftime:

"The phones didn't work in the first half. We had everybody down on the field. If it stays like that, we're gonna throw the headsets away on offense. It was kind of like high school again."

Oregon State Quarterback Jonathan Smith

General comments:

"We came in expecting a really rough game. They were a team that battled. It seemed like we helped them out a little bit with the penalties in the second half. We were felling really good in the first half. We avoided the turnovers pretty well."

On TB Patrick McCall:

"We have all the confidence in the world with Patrick. Our offensive line played very well for us against one of the best defensive lines out there."

On Cal's defensive line:

"I don't know if we played a better one. I say they're the tops, besides playing our own defense every week. They've got two great players in (Andre) Cater and (Jacob) Waasdorp. They cause a lot of havoc out there. I thought our offensive line played really well for us and gave time for our wide receivers to do some good things for us."

On Oregon State's victory:

"We're still in the race for something special and we know that. Every Saturday is another opportunity for us to do something great."