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In his first career start, freshman quarterback Kevin Riley saw a shot at history and the end zone flash before his eyes with 14 seconds left and the No. 2 Cal football team trailing by a field goal.

With the Bears on the cusp of a potential No. 1 ranking for the first time since 1951, Riley thought he had enough room to run for a game-winning touchdown.

But the hole quickly slammed shut, along with Cal’s undefeated season and likely its national-title dreams.

Riley was stopped 10 yards short of the goal line and could not spike the ball in time for the Bears to have an opportunity to kick a game-tying field goal.

Cal suffered a crippling 31-28 loss to Oregon State in front of 63,995 on Saturday at Memorial Stadium as a result.

“I saw some green field at first and I thought I could get around that guy,” said Riley, who was named the starter only 10 minutes before game-time with Nate Longshore still hobbled by a sprained ankle. “I was just using playing-ball instincts.”

Riley’s instincts served him well down the stretch besides that final play.

With the Bears (5-1, 2-1 in the Pac-10) trailing by 10, Riley hit wideout Lavelle Hawkins—who caught nine balls for 192 yards on the day—over the middle for a 65-yard touchdown with 2:31 left in the fourth to narrow the gap to three.

And with no timeouts, Riley marched down the field starting at Cal’s 6-yard line. He hit Hawkins on 4th-and-17 for a first down and made a crisp throw down the sideline to a diving Robert Jordan to take the Bears to the Beavers’ 27-yard line.

A pass-interference call on Riley’s pass attempt to DeSean Jackson put Cal on the 12-yard line and in field goal range to tie the game.

Tedford said he has no regrets about taking one shot at the end zone before settling for a game-tying field goal attempt.

“A lot of times you second-guess yourself, but I don’t second-guess this one,” Tedford said. “We just didn’t make the play.”

The inexperienced Riley excelled throughout much of the game once he settled down, finishing with 294 yards and two touchdowns.

“For the first few series I was pretty nervous out there,” Riley said. “After that I was like, what am I doing, this is football, let’s just play the game.”

Throughout the week many expected Longshore to start, but Tedford made the call in pre-game warm-ups that Longshore was still favoring his ankle and would not have the mobility needed against the Beavers’ stout defensive front.

“I was like, Nate, what are you doing,” said Hawkins, about finding out Longshore would not play. “Nothing against Riley, it’s just that Nate has a little more maturity.”

Riley played valiantly, but turnovers and an inability to score at the goal line crippled Cal’s efforts to remain undefeated and perhaps take over the No. 1 spot in the AP rankings vacated by LSU after its overtime loss to No. 17 Kentucky.

The final turnover may have been the most costly.

After Beavers tailback Yvenson Bernard leapt for a touchdown on 4th-and-short at the goal line and OSU (4-3, 2-2) succeeded on a two-point conversion with 8:30 left in the game to take a 28-21 lead, Jahvid Best ran into teammate Shea McIntyre on the ensuing kickoff return and lost the ball.

Alexis Serna proceeded to kick a 33-yard field goal on the next possession to give the Beavers a 10-point lead, one that they never relinquished.

“We made some costly decisions out there with the ball,” said tailback Justin Forsett, who finished with 150 yards against the nation’s top run defense. “That can’t happen if you want to win games.”

The Bears had their chances early on.

Cal had first-and-goal at the OSU two-yard line midway through the third period, but Forsett was stuffed short on the goal line on four consecutive plays. The Beavers held onto their 20-14 lead.

“It’s disappointing when you’re on the 1-yard line, and you can’t punch it in,” Tedford said. “You have to give Oregon State credit, but you’ve got to be able to knock the ball in the end zone there.”

The Beavers took advantage of their opportunities.

They faced numerous third-and-long plays in the second half, but quarterback Sean Canfield found receivers open in the middle and Bernard found some holes to keep drives alive.

In the fourth quarter, OSU’s offense stayed on the field for over 11 minutes with two clock-eating drives.

And although Canfield came into the game having thrown 13 interceptions, he did not commit a turnover and was only sacked once.

“We let them off the hook too many times on third down situations,” said safety Thomas DeCoud, who had 12 tackles. “It was just some busted coverage on our part.”

The Bears will not be able to languish in defeat for long.

In a suddenly wide-open Pac-10 race, they now must travel on the road to face UCLA and undefeated Arizona State.

“If we start moping about this loss, it can start carrying over and then a good season goes down the drain,” Hawkins said. “We have to keep our eyes on the prize.”

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