Cal breaks out in rout of UCLA

Week off does Golden Bears good as they hammer UCLA; Arizona holds off Stanford

Bee News Services

E-Mail

reprint or license

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

PASADENA — Jahvid Best's asthma was acting up, and he couldn't find space to move against a UCLA defense that had been nearly as stifling as the Rose Bowl's 100-degree heat.

Then the Cal tailback took a deep breath and took off on a 93-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. With a bunch of big plays just like that, the bus-riding Golden Bears got back on the road to success — and to Berkeley.

Best also caught a 51-yard scoring pass, and Kevin Riley threw two of his three touchdown passes to Marvin Jones during a dynamic first half in Cal's skid-stopping 45-26 victory over UCLA on Saturday.

Shane Vereen rushed for 154 yards and a score, and Riley passed for 205 yards without an interception for the Bears (4-2, 1-2 Pac-10), who had been embarrassed before last week's bye in back-to-back losses to Oregon (42-3) and Southern California (30-3), all but ending their Pac-10 title hopes.

"Thank God we had the bye week and got everything squared away," said Best, who managed just 102 yards rushing on 18 attempts. "We're a lot tighter as a team now. We're more of a family. In the locker room now, there's music going, and everybody is happy. It's great."

Long freeway trips sometimes have that effect on a family.

Instead of flying to Pasadena, the Bears took buses from Berkeley on Thursday to save an estimated $100,000 for the troubled UC school system, of which UCLA also is a member.

"We had some meeting time on the bus," said Cal coach Jeff Tedford, who also watched two movies with his players. "Everybody was loose and relaxed. ... The only way we could get away from the last two weeks was to get some space."

The extra travel time clearly didn't bother the Bears, who went up 35-20 by halftime with a dizzying series of scoring plays. Best was late coming out for the second half because of what he thinks was dehydration, but his two big plays were enough when both teams struggled after halftime.

Tedford, who grew up in nearby Downey, won in the Los Angeles area for the first time in his eight seasons in charge of the Bears. Cal had gone 0-7 during his tenure at the Rose Bowl and the Coliseum — a big deal for Vereen, Jones and the other Bears who grew up down here.

While Cal got back in form despite playing the second half without top defensive back Syd'Quan Thompson, who had an undisclosed injury, UCLA (3-3, 0-3) lost its third straight.

Johnathan Franklin had a 74-yard TD run among his 101 yards rushing and two scores for the Bruins. Kevin Prince passed for 311 yards but threw a terrible interception in the final minutes for UCLA, which has lost to Stanford, Oregon and Cal in the past three weeks, endangering coach Rick Neuheisel's hopes for a winning record in his second season.

"That was the first time that our defense looked like they were being exposed," Neuheisel said. "These are difficult times, and in difficult times, the key is for everybody to know that there is a plan. The plan will begin in earnest (Sunday)."

ARIZONA 43, STANFORD 38, at Tucson, Ariz. — Nic Grigsby raced 57 yards for a touchdown with 2:57 to go, and Arizona rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat Stanford. The Wildcats ended a wild night in the desert by repelling the Cardinal on fourth-and-10 at Arizona's 17, with cornerback Trevin Wade batting down a pass intended for Chris Owusu in the end zone.

Nick Foles threw for 415 yards and three touchdowns as the Wildcats (4-2, 2-1 Pac-10) overcame a big night by the Stanford offense. Cardinal tailback Toby Gerhart ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns, and Andrew Luck threw for 423 yards and three scores.

"It's heartbreaking," Luck said. "I've played sports for a long time and I've lost a lot of games in a lot of sports, and this one stinks the most."

After winning its first three Pac-10 games, Stanford (4-3, 3-2) controlled its own Rose Bowl destiny. Now the Cardinal are searching for answers after back-to-back conference losses.

"This is the toughest loss you could have been a part of," Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said. "I feel bad for our kids."