Oregon State football

He was cheerful throughout most of the interview, a big brilliant smile showing itself more than it hid. But when he brought up his surgeries, or the goals he has set for his football career, he would suddenly become more somber.

Fans can draw their own conclusions about what all of this means. But it would be completely unfair to blame Cal’s failures on the players themselves.

The game came to a harrowing close as Garbers threw a touchdown pass to Brooks –– the blue and gold lead against OSU was solidified.

The Beavers came within six at the start of the fourth quarter before the Bears responded with a touchdown that put the game out of reach.

Every football team has heart, but there’s more fuel to the fire with this year’s Oregon State squad because it’s vying for first in the Pac-12. The Beavers have something to prove to the conference and to the rest of the nation.

In the nature of this program, Cal games the rest of this year project to be eerily similar to what’s already been played out — not a lot of points, on either side of the ball.

Minus two penalty-aided drives, a slow first quarter turned into a game-long drought, with the Beavers (3-4, 2-2) consistently staying a step ahead of the Bears (4-3, 1-3) just when things seemed to tip in Cal’s favor.

After missing several key playmakers in its recent two losses to the Sun Devils and Ducks, the Bears are hopeful that receiver Kekoa Crawford, tailback Marcel Dancy, left tackle Valentino Daltoso, among others will be back in action this week.

Let’s not kid ourselves — the Pac-12 wet the bed in 2017. For those who remember vividly, the “conference of champions” was the runt of the litter for three straight months last season, failing to produce a top-10 team by year’s end, let alone a legitimate contender for the annual College Football Playoff.

It’d take a fool to be particularly confident in football projections for any one year: “I know it’s been a rough few years for me, but this is the time I go six-for-six.” But there’s still something peculiar about the Pac-12 North this year.