Feb. 4, 2006

RENO - A determined Wolf Pack team from University of Nevada did its best to catch Cal off-guard on a windy day in Reno, but the Bears persevered through sometimes sloppy play to move to 8-0 on the season with a 46-14 victory.

Both teams often opted to kick into space rather than attack the teeth of the defense, attempting to use the crosswinds to their advantage with varying degrees of success. While both squads did well to win possession on most of their set pieces, the Bears benefited from more multi-phase fluidity that led to points on the board.

Cal's forwards did damage with several driving mauls, two of which produced tries, while the Bear backs played as adventurously as conditions would allow. Hooker Chris Biller stood out in the scoring column for Cal, taking it into the try zone three times on the day.

Biller's first score came in the fourth minute, when he picked up the ball and dove over the line from the blind side of a ruck. His second, in the 60th minute, touched down in the left corner after Biller's determined set of spin moves followed an attack by freshman lock Julian Snellgrove.

In the second half, inside center Ryan Donnelly was given a 10-minute binning for an infringement at the ruck as the Wolf Pack drove inside the Cal 22. Nevada capitalized with two tries in quick succession to excite the crowd and shrink the lead to 27-14.

But Cal responded with one of its try-producing driving mauls, leading to Biller's third score in the right corner in the 75th minute, which brought the Bears' lead back to 20. Scrumhalf Zak Triplett and fullback Connor O'Brien added late tries to seal the Bears' 32-point win.

Assistant coach Tom Billups said, "Although at times conditions were challenging, on balance we were happy with our overall performance."

While both Cal fullbacks, O'Brien and freshman Ryan Taylor, ended their days with strained hamstrings, All-American lock Jake Stanfill returned to competition in a 12-minute stint as a reserve in the second half, almost a year to the day after tearing his ACL.

Head coach Jack Clark served his one-game suspension for a red card he received at the UCLA Tournament final on Jan. 22.

The reserve-grade match that was scheduled to follow the first XV was cancelled after Nevada could not pass the referee's eligibility check.

Cal travels to San Diego next weekend to play San Diego State, then returns home for a Wednesday, Feb. 15, kickoff to begin the annual World Cup series against University of British Columbia.

The Scoring Timeline vs. Nevada:

04:00 Chris Biller 5

25:00 Connor O'Brien 5

Half Time: California 10, Nevada 0

42:00 Andrew Johnson 5, Rob Weedon 2

47:00 Ryan Donnelly 5

60:00 Chris Biller 5

62:00 Nevada 5, 2

69:00 Nevada 5, 2

75:00 Chris Biller 5, Rob Weedon 2

79:00 Zak Triplett 5, Rob Weedon 2

83:00 Connor O'Brien 5

Final Score: California 46, Nevada 14

The Team vs. Nevada

15. Taylor (O'Brien @ 16:00), 14. Miller, 13. Brogan, 12. Donnelly, 11. Kidd, 10.Weedon ©, 9. Johnson (Triplett @ 66:00), 1. Barrett, 2. Biller (Kuhns @ 76:00), 3. Kroll, 4. Snellgrove (J. Stanfill @ 68:00), 5. Stanfill L. (Jesseman @ 15:00, L. Stanfill @ 23:00, Jesseman @ 65:00), 6. Keady, 7. Welch (Sehr @ 65:00) 8. Lindsey (Fry @ 65:00)