What a way to start the Sonny Dykes era.
On the opening drive of the 2013 campaign, the Bears found themselves in a 4th-and-4 in the red zone, lining up for a 34-yard field goal after stretching No. 22 Northwestern’s defense on a lengthy drive down the field. After the snap, kicker Vince D’Amato took two small steps forward and mimicked a kicking motion. Holder Jackson Bouza flipped the ball over his shoulder into D’Amato’s hands and ran toward the end zone.
D’Amato tossed the ball to a wide-open Bouza, who raced towards the end zone untouched.
“Jeez, what a great play,” said Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald. “I’m stealing that thing.”
Despite Goff’s 445 passing yards — the second-most in Cal history — the Bear Raid couldn’t recover from two momentum-killing interceptions by Northwestern linebacker Collin Ellis. The Bears fell, 44-30, to Northwestern on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.
“It was a tough, physical, evenly matched football game,” Dykes said. “We made more mistakes than these guys down the stretch, and that was the difference.”
Immediately after Cal’s dynamic drive, the Wildcats took over at their own 25-yard line. Senior quarterback Kain Colter took his only two snaps of the half because of an unspecified injury, completing a 23-yard pass to Dan Vitale and rushing for six yards on the next play. Northwestern proceeded to drive 75 yards in just 122 seconds, tying the score at 7 on a 33-yard romp by backup running back Treyvon Green.
Both defenses fell into a lull after an explosive start. The Wildcats appeared to be threatening with four minutes remaining in the first quarter, starting their drive near midfield. But backup quarterback Trevor Siemian made a rare bad decision, attempting to force a pass into heavy traffic. Safety Avery Sebastian snagged the errant pass, quashing Northwestern’s scoring hopes.
The Wildcats broke the brief scoring drought early in the second quarter with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Siemian to Tony Jones to put Northwestern up 14-7. Siemian shredded the Cal secondary throughout the half, allowing the Wildcats’ receivers to operate within vast swaths of open space. The Northwestern passing attack averaged 11.3 yards per completion in the first half, a number that would have ranked first in all of Division I in 2012.
The two teams traded field goals before halftime, making the score 17-10.
In the third quarter, it was Jared Goff time.
After a Wildcats field goal, the Bears methodically drove down to their own 48-yard line. Goff found Chris Harper streaking down the field for a 52-yard touchdown to draw within three points. On the ensuing kickoff, Hardy Nickerson fell on Northwestern kick returner Stephen Buckley’s fumble, and Cal threatened to score once more. Goff once again demonstrated impeccable touch and accuracy on a 36-yard pass to Bryce Treggs and a seven-yard touchdown throw to Harper. Up 24-20, the Bears defense forced its first three-and-out of the game, and Cal had its first definitive edge.
“I’m really excited for our offense,” Goff said. “It’s a very fast tempo. We really showed how much of a rhythm we can get in once we start rolling.”
Fortunes turned when a Goff pass was batted at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Ellis, who ran untouched all the way to the end zone for a pick-six. Goff bounced back, leading the Bears down the field for a field goal to tie up the game at 27 as the fourth quarter began.
The Bears caught a bad break when Chris McCain was ejected for targeting the quarterback. On the next play, Siemian hit Vitale for a 53-yard gain, bringing Northwestern into field-goal range. Jeff Budzien nailed his third field goal of the day, putting the Wildcats up 30-27 with 8:49 remaining.
On the third play of Cal’s responsive drive, a ball caromed off of Darius Powe’s hands and again landed in the hands of Ellis, who ran into the end zone for his second pick-six of the night.
The Bears bounced back with a field goal to make the score 37-30. After an Alex Logan pick at midfield, the offense stood in prime position to tie up the game with under four minutes to play. But on the first play, Ibraheim Campbell intercepted a deep throw from Goff, effectively sealing Cal’s fate.
Michael Rosen covers football. Contact him at [email protected]