Eyes were locked within a 10-yard frame.

The only averting of the laser-sharp focus of players, coaches and fans alike were quick glimpses at the clock.

Could the California defense hold off a then-18th-ranked Utah for 20 seconds? Could the Golden Bears' defense seal the win and deliver the Utes their first loss of the season?

Split-second questions culminated in one hard-hitting answer. Yes.

Everyone roared cacophonously, perhaps some in disbelief. Head coach Sonny Dykes found his inner Michael Jordan jumping into the arms of senior quarterback Davis Webb. A magical moment for the 3-2 Bears. A 28-23 victory when they were one yard away from their second conference loss.

As the Cal homecoming crowd erupted and the well-deserving Bears forged two wins against top-25 teams into the books, the tension of the last 20 seconds dissipated.

Almost as if it never was.

But oh, it was.

And during what would be a short amount of time in any other situation, slugged along for what seemed eternal to the 11 players who executed what is now known as "The Stand."

"I think I probably lost a couple of years off my life just from how stressed I was," said sophomore defensive end Cameron Saffle, who along with Devante Downs sacked Utes' quarterback Troy Williams two plays before the final set of downs, which forced what the Bears thought would be the final play with 20 seconds to go. "The amount of stress that happened in those 20 seconds felt like a whole other game in itself. It was definitely the most exciting game I've ever been a part of."

Shakespeare could not have written a better drama. Just when an exhausted, but determined Cal defense thought they had sealed the win after an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal, a yellow-clothed horror squelched any premature merriment.

"My heart kind of dropped when we got the pass interference call, so I was a little bit nervous after that," said Khari Vanderbilt, a redshirt senior safety. Vanderbilt's assisted tackle on first and goal staunched Utah's run at the one-yard line.

Golden Bear fans were riled, but not the 11 between the hash marks. No, it was time to show all the naysayers what they already knew.

"The big thing is the guys were locked in and tuned in," defensive coordinator Art Kaufman said. "They were invested after they put in so much time in practice to put themselves in the situation. The one thing they were going to do, is do what they were supposed to do."

From Cal's two-yard line. First down: a one-yard gain for the Utes, but one yard left to go.

"[Zack Moss] tried to beat us outside and that was my contain. I was kind of nervous, but we just had to hawk him down," Vanderbilt said.

A Utah timeout with seven seconds remaining.

"I was looking at the clock and it seemed like the clock was going slower and slower and slower. The last few seconds seemed like minutes," Vanderbilt recalled.

Second down: an incomplete pass.

"One thing Coach Kaufman does is he thinks ahead to the next play and of what they've [Utah] done in the past," said defensive line coach Fred Tate. "We gave our guys a different alignment and (James) Looney was not in the alignment he'd been in the majority of the night.

"When we were talking to the players, we told them 'we got this, we're going to win the game.' The guys were thinking that we've never won here on defense. We're going to win this game."

What does the clock say? Three seconds. No way to get off two more plays. This was it. The final song.

"Adrenaline was for sure pumping," said junior defensive tackle Looney. "After we got the first couple stops, I feel like the pressure went down a little bit. After the penalty, I kind of felt a little worried. But I always have faith, and I was looking around at the guys in their eyes and they had faith, too.

"On the last play, I did look at the clock and realized there were three seconds left and knew this was it," he continued. "I was like 'this is my play to make and I have to make it.'"

And Mr. Looney sang his tune.

"A bunch of thoughts run back through your mind when you think about all of the hard work that you put in," the man of the hour said. "Right after I made the play, I looked down at the ball and it wasn't across the goal line, and I just got up and ran."

A moment that he and most onlookers will be hard-pressed to forget.

The team continues ahead in the days to come heading north to visit conference foe Oregon State on Saturday. However, the success and incredulity of the previous Saturday finish keeps the team ignited.

"It was crazy," said junior Tony Mekari, another defensive tackle who still replays those last moments in his head. "We have these small things that we have to correct and work on so we can have another successful game this week. There's always things we have to correct, but now we're doing more good things than we are bad."

As another day closes and gets further from what was and closer to what will be, the defensive squad, the rest of the players and coaches attempt to move forward.

Maybe tomorrow will be the day that the confidence-boosting, crowd-pleasing and game-changing moment is forgotten.

But for now, and probably for always, what will stand, is the last one.