SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — For just the second time this season, the Cal football team scored first. That 3-0 lead lasted 16 seconds.
Utah’s Reggie Dunn returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, the initial bullet in what is likely the death blow to the Bears’ 2012 season. The Utes entered Saturday night’s game winless in Pac-12 play, but at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the Bears looked like the team that did not belong in the league, losing 49-27 in brutal fashion.
Cal must now win its remaining three games to qualify for the postseason.
“It’s gonna take leadership from everyone,” said Cal head coach Jeff Tedford. “We have not lost this team … They were very passionate about going back to work next week and getting healthy and remembering this feeling and using it as motivation.”
Little went right for Cal (3-6, 2-4 in the Pac-12), especially in the first half. The Utes (3-4, 1-4) scored their second touchdown off a fumble recovery as cornerback Reggie Topps scooped up Chris Harper’s drop and ran 17 yards unscathed into the end zone.
On the next possession, quarterback Zach Maynard and the Cal offense charged downfield, all the way inside Utah’s 20-yard line. But, as with the entire season, the Bears’ offense stalled in the red zone, and kicker Vincenzo D’Amato was forced to kick a field goal, his second of the game.
Still, Cal was only down eight points, and going into the second quarter, all of Utah’s points had come from the defense and special teams. That’s when Utah’s offense woke up, and the Bears’ defense fell apart. Cal gained just four yards to the Utes’ 125 in the quarter, as running backs John White and Kelvin York slipped past defenders inside and out, and quarterback Travis Wilson ran straight up the middle for first downs.
At halftime, Utah led, 28-6. By the end of third quarter, the Utes had a blowout 42-13 advantage.
“Utah was scoring a lot of points,” Maynard said. “Every time they got the ball, they scored. It’s hard to come back from that.”
Cal’s standout wide receiver Keenan Allen did not log a single catch in the first half. The closest he came to a reception was a pass behind him that bounced off his hands into Utah cornerback Ryan Lacy’s.
In the fourth quarter, Allen caught his third pass of the night — No. 203 in his career — to break Cal’s all-time receptions record. The junior’s next reception was a 23-yard touchdown, which brought the scoreboard to 49-20.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Allen said. “But I’d rather have the win. It’s disappointing.”
The squad’s three second-half touchdowns were also garbage points, giving the Bears respectable offensive numbers in an otherwise dominating Utah win.
With touchdowns mostly on untouched runs, the Utes did not have spectacular offensive plays. They only had to be competent against a defense that wasn’t for most of the game.
“I think the main thing is just consistency, lack of attention to detail,” said senior safety Josh Hill. “Defensively, I think, sometimes there’s a lack of focus.”
Missing key injured players, like linebacker Chris McCain, was no excuse for the missed tackles that enabled Dunn to return another kick return for a touchdown to open the fourth quarter.
Utah controlled time of possession, holding the ball 15 minutes longer than Cal over the course of the game. Still, neither squad has time on its side, both needing a few more wins and a little bit of luck to make a bowl. What the Utes do have is momentum, something the Bears had before their second lopsided loss in as many weeks.
“I don’t think too much has changed as far as our willingness to win,” Hill said. “We just have to stay positive … We just have to find a way to win.”
Jonathan Kuperberg covers football. Contact him at [email protected]
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Not playing – if not starting – Bigelow is CRIMINAL. Tedford is done. I hope the stubborn a-hole is happy with his Maynard/Allen package that he has never been able to get out of. It looks like that is one of several factors that will cost him his job. This guy needs to GTFO of Berkeley.
Tedford a few weeks ago was guaranteeing a Bowl Game……… Maybe some back room politics cemented Cal in a Bowl game before the season started, the same kind of shady politics that cemented Zack Maynard a scholarship and guaranteed starting QB job . Give all the players on the Cal team a yellow ribbon that says ” Participant in something resembling a football program” Call it a season. Some people are comparing Tedfords money draining contract to Californias economy comparable to the days of Ken Lay and Enron.
Just look at this as one more nail in Tedford’s coffin and one less chance that we’ll have to go through this next year. It is a good thing, as will the (inevitable) losses to Washington, Oregon and Oregon State.
All of this will be worth it if we can find a new head coach who can win. We have the talent, we have the facilities, we even have the resources; all we need is someone to take advantage of them. Someone who is competent at what he does. That is not asking for too much. Furd did it, Oregon did it, *we* can do it.
yeah, win out and go the chick a flick bowl or one of the other dubious post season match ups that have eroded the system. otherwise, it feels like old times.
Having done undergraduate and graduate studies at UCB, I’ve been very
critical of the low graduation success rates (GSR) of not only the
football program but also many other athletic programs at Cal. However, with all due respect to all my fellow Cal alums who want to eliminate all athletic programs, I don’t believe that cutting athletic programs is the solution. I strongly believe that good, clean, and successful athletic programs function as glue that keeps the alums connected to the school. Alumni donation is a major source of revenue for the school and it far exceeds the budget that’s devoted to the athletic department. In the long run, University benefits from its investment in the athletic programs. As alums, we deserve a better athletic director, someone with the vision to recognize the importance of both academic and athletic success for the student/athletes at Cal and also better coaches who would be capable of delivering on that mission. As much as I hate to acknowledge Stanford, we need to emulate their model.
Pay off Tedford with millions of dollars of severance, hire a more expensive coach, and take the money from the academic departments. Cal fans deserve better!
Quote “But with this Cal team, anything can happen.”
Except that the pathetic Tedford Bears will LOSE. Guaranteed.
When you start off losing to the Running Dogs one Reno, you should have nowhere to go but up. Even a bloated drowning victim will float to the surface, but not the Expensive, subsidized Cal Bears with their million dollar Coach!
I agree with any and all cuts to the UC budget, until all intercollegiate sports are eliminated and stop parisitizing the educational and research institutions program.
You are an idiot. No, you are a fucking idiot. Remind yourself of that the next time you get the urge to display your ignorance.
Bench Maynard and fire Tedford and maybe the Bears can begin to turn it around. Losing to Utah, penalties galore all season, 2nd lowest GSR rate in the Pac-12, and watching last year a future pro-bowler do rugby punts are all signs that the leader…Tedford must GO. Tedford’s allegiance to Maynard is also in question. It seems like Tedford doesn’t watch game film and only looks at stats. If there were a stat for missed passes when the receiver is wide open, Cal would be number 1. When the QB overthrows wide open receivers consistently and is not a threat, this will allow teams to shut down the run like Stanford did. Maybe the offensive line with their inept pass protection is telling us that they don’t respect Maynard either. As QB and a team leader how does Maynard wear a dark red sweatshirt immediately following Big Game? These two just don’t have the leadership qualities we need. Tedford has lost his and Maynard never had them. Maybe we can vote on it in the upcoming election? The best thing about the new stadium? Give $100,000 for a seat and you get unlimited alcohol which is highly needed these days. Roll On You Bears!
2nd lowest GSR rate?!!!. Cal is dead last in the Pac-12 with less than 50% GSR.
They don’t finish their education because they can’t wait to get out of the ineptitude of Tedford. When Cal gets rid of Tedford they need to kick Sandy Barbour out the door also.