CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In a game that went down to the final minutes, No. 19 hung on for a 17-15 victory over California Saturday afternoon.

The Bears trailed for most of the contest and were down 17-9 with just under three minutes left. However, quarterback Kyle Boller engineered a drive that culminated with a 32 TD pass to Charon Arnold to bring Cal within two points with 1:26 on the clock.

After a timeout, Boller dropped back to pass, but Fred Wakefield batted down his attempt. The Bears then tried an onside kick. However, the Illini recovered and ran out the clock to improve their record to 3-0. Cal, 1-1, remains on the road with a game at Fresno State next Saturday.

"We had a couple of options," Cal head coach Tom Holmoe said of the two-point attempt. "They came on a blitz, and one of their linebackers got his hands up."

After shutting down Cal's opening offensive drive in three plays, Illinois showed its offensive prowess early as the Illini marched 60 yards in just six plays to take a quick 7-0 lead when Kurt Kittner hit tight end Josh Whitman on a 5-yard touchdown play.

California got a big break midway through the first period when an interception by safety Bobby Jackson on an errant Boller pass was negated by an Illinois offsides penalty. While the Bears dodged a bullet, the drive stalled, and Nick Harris came on to nail his second straight punt downed inside the Illini 5-yard-line.

This time Cal took advantage of the good field possession as an ensuing Illinois punt gave the Bears the ball near midfield. The Bears drove all the way to the Illinois 10-yard-line, but couldn't push it in. A Boller pass on a slant pattern went off the fingertips of James Smith at the goal line. However, a bad snap on the field goal attempt threw off the timing of Mark Jensen, and he missed a 27-yard field goal wide left.

A third straight Nick Harris punt downed inside the 5 paid off two plays later when Shaun Paga broke through and sacked Kittner in the end zone for a safety with 12:54 left in the first half to cut the deficit to 7-2.

Cal continued to enjoy a major field position advantage through the first half, but five Cal offensive possessions starting at the Cal 42, the Cal 47, the Cal 43, the Illinois 46 and the Illinois 43 netted zero points.

The Illini finally turned the tide when they took the ball inside their own 1-yard-line (thanks to another brilliant Harris punt) and marched all the way. The key plays were a pair of third down conversions, the first being a 42-yard pass to Aaron Moorehead, which converted a 3rd-and-19 situation at the Illini own 9-yard line. The second was a 9-yard scramble by Kittner to convert a 3rd-and-9 situation to the Cal 39-yard-line.

Six plays later, Cal got a turnover when Antoineo Harris fumbled the ball after a collision with Andre Carter near the Cal goal line, but Nnamdi Asomugha took the ball on a bounce and attempted to return the ball. He then fumbled the ball back and offensive tackle Marques Sullivan dove on the football at the Cal 2-yard-line. The change of possession gave Illinois a first down as well as the ball. On the next play, Kittner went in on a naked bootleg for a TD and a 14-2 lead with 2:52 left in the half.

A short kickoff by Illinois took a strange backward bounce at the Cal 15-yard-line and Illinois fell on the ball at the Cal 19-yard-line. The Cal defense stiffened and Steve Fitts came on to try a 34-yard field goal. However, the ball sailed wide right with 1:42 left in the half.

Cal responded by driving the ball to the Illinois 2-yard-line when Cal called its final timeout with 0:06 on the clock. The Bears got in the end zone when a sideline pass by Boller was batted at the line of scrimmage. An alert Arnold grabbed the ball out of the air in the end zone for the TD. The PAT made it 14-9 with only three seconds on the clock. A 21-yard pass to Chase Lyman and a career-long 24-yard scramble by Boller were the key plays in the long drive.

Illinois quarterback Kurt Kittner went down with a knee injury on the first possession of the second half and was replaced by redshirt-freshman Dustin Ward. Kittner was only 4-of-16 in the air before the injury.

The third quarter was a defensive struggle as the teams combined to punt the ball eight times and neither team could score. However, the Illini finally managed to patch together a drive in the final minutes of the quarter. A 27-yard pass from Ward to Aaron Moorehead and a 25-yard run by Rocky Harvey put the ball at the Cal 20-yard-line as the third quarter ended.

When Cal's defense held, Fitts nailed a 33-yard field goal with 13:39 left in the game to make the score 17-9.

The Illini went to the running game on their next drive to get the ball to the Cal 16. Fitts came on again to attempt a 33-yard field goal, but missed it slightly right, keeping the Bears within striking distance with just under eight minutes left in the game.

Cal made its touchdown drive on its final possession. Taking over on their own 41-yard-line, the Bears marched 59 yards in five plays. Boller hit a key third-down pass to Phillip Pipersburg to get the ball to the Illinois 38. Two plays later, he connected with Arnold up the left side to make it 17-15.

Harris had a sensational game punting as nine of his 12 punts were downed inside the Illinois 15, including five inside the 10.

Boller completed 15-of-32 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns. Joe Igber was the Bears leading rusher with 40 yards on 11 carries.

"Offensively, we didn't make enough plays," Holmoe said. "They did a great jop not letting our backs get out of the gate. For our offense to be effective, we have to pop some runs."

Defensively, Nnamdi Asomugha had 15 tackles plus a fumble recover and two passes defensed. Bert Watts and Jason Smith added 11 tackles each. Andre Carter was credited for nine tackles, including two for loss.

As a group, Cal held Illinois to 334 yards of total offense, just 112 coming through the air.