SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- The Cal football team was still in the hunt for a victory in the Poinsettia Bowl on Wednesday night, even after giving up 27 straight points to Utah.

In fact, the Bears trailed by only six points with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter despite being thoroughly dominated on both sides of the ball in the second.

But things really seemed to slip away from Cal in the last 15 minutes, when the Utes put the finishing touches on a 37-27 victory at Qualcomm Stadium.

Now, after a season of ups and downs, the Bears (8-5) have many months to dwell on the multitude of late mistakes that prevented them from winning their fifth consecutive bowl game.

That's where fullback Brian Holley's mind was when he left the field after the game.

"(I was) thinking about what went wrong during the game," Holley said. "Replaying everything in my head, seeing if there was anything I could've done better to get a victory."

In the fourth quarter, Utah (10-3) outscored Cal by four points but had an even bigger impact on the defensive end.

The Bears, who trailed 30-21 with 6:42 left in the game, began a drive just outside their own goal line after the Utes pinned Sean Sellwood's 44-yard punt.

Less than two minutes later, Utah defensive lineman Stevenson Sylvester picked off Cal quarterback Kevin Riley's pass and zipped 27 yards into the end zone.

His interception gave the Utes a comfortable 37-21 lead and put an end to a possession that included a false-start penalty on Cal and one of the night's four sacks on Riley.

"Stevenson seems to play best when the lights are the brightest," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

Improbable became nearly impossible for the Bears when Riley threw another interception on the first play of the ensuing possession.

"They did a good job with close coverage," said Riley, who went 20-of-36 for 214 yards. "They just took us out of our game."

Even with the score close after three quarters of play, it looked as if the Utes had Cal figured out. They kept tailback Shane Vereen out of the end zone in the final quarter, and they prevented the Bears from making it a one-possession game when they stopped a two-point conversion attempt with less than two minutes remaining.

Senior offensive lineman Mike Tepper, for one, closed his collegiate career knowing that he made several miscues that contributed to his team's downfall. And although he won't be on the roster next season, he feels responsible for what the defeat will mean for the returning players.

"Those guys are going to get heckled for the next eight months about losing this game, and we should have won," Tepper said. "It's sad."

Tags: KEVIN RILEY, CAL, CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS, POINSETTIA BOWL, CAL FOOTBALL