Cal Football Dominates Colorado 26-3, Snaps Losing Streak
Golden Bears defense limits Buffaloes to 104 total yards
The California Golden Bears (2-5, 1-3 Pac-12) dominated the Colorado Buffaloes (2-5, 1-3 Pac-12) Saturday, winning 26-3 behind some solid defensive play and a school record-setting performance from its quarterback.
Quarterback Chase Garbers gained 96 yards on the ground in 10 rush attempts, bringing his career rushing-yards total to 1,025. The result is the most rushing yards by a California quarterback.
Garbers also contributed 225 passing yards and two touchdown passes to his tight ends: one apiece for first-year Keleki Latu and fifth-year Gavin Reinwald.
“Other than the quarterback scrambles that hurt us a couple of times, I thought the defense overall played really well,” California head coach Justin Wilcox said in the post-game press conference.
The Golden Bears defense limited Colorado to 104 yards of total offense and prevented the visiting team from scoring a single touchdown.
Colorado’s only score was a 33-yard field goal halfway through the second quarter.
Before the Buffaloes’ successful kick, the Golden Bears had scored 13 points unanswered, including a 49-yard Dario Longhetto field goal, the game’s first points. Longhetto would go on to complete four field goals, a career-high for the fourth-year kicker.
Colorado quarterback Brendon Lewis put up only 69 passing yards. He was sacked six times, hurried four times, and threw one interception.
California safety Elijah Hicks helped punish Lewis. He intercepted the Buffalo quarterback on the first play of the fourth quarter and contributed one of the sacks. The Long Beach, Calif., native also led the Golden Bears with six tackles, including two and one-half tackles for a loss.
“Elijah has played good football for us for a long time and that might be the best game that he’s played since he's been here...” Coach Wilcox told reporters after the game.
In its win against Colorado, California extended its perfect record against the Buffaloes at home in Memorial Stadium to 5-0.
The Golden Bears also earned their first wins of the 2021 season in the Pac-12 Conference and against a top-tier Football Bowl Subdivision team.
Dominate....almost. Clearly on defense Cal was dominate and had contribution from players that have been quite this year: Hicks & Goode. Also, Cal had younger players playing well: Paster & Patu among others. Offense, on the other hand, wasn't all that great in the second half and that lack of consistency continues to be an issue. For the remaining games, Cal has to create a consistent offense for any hope of additional wins.
Cal fans were, "well it's just Buffalo". But Cal for the most part did what it's suppose to do against teams like the Buffs. That's encouraging and something to build on.
Go Bears. Next Saturday's task will be a more difficult as OSU continues to win and put up a lot of points, gashing Utah's defense for 42 in a 42-34 win.