Cal spoils Stanford’s Rose Bowl hopes
November 22, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. (AP)—Shane Vereen ran for a career-high 193 yards and threetouchdowns on 42 carries and Mike Mohamed intercepted a pass from Andrew Luck atthe 3 with less than 2 minutes left as California spoiled No. 14 Stanford’s RoseBowl hopes with a 34-28 victory in the Big Game on Saturday.
What was billed as the biggest Big Game in years lived up to the pregamehype, with Stanford’s Heisman Trophy contender Toby Gerhart rushing for 136yards, four touchdowns and carrying defenders on a 29-yard reception that set upStanford (7-4, 6-3) at the Cal 13 with less than 2 minutes left.
Luck then threw an incompletion on first down and was intercepted by Mohamedon second with 1:36 to go, setting off a wild celebration on the Cal sideline.After Kevin Riley took three knees, the Cal students rushed the field andStanford Stadium as the Golden Bears (8-3, 5-3 Pac-10) won the coveted Axe forthe seventh time in eight years.
Stanford came into the game off two of its biggest wins in recent memory,scoring 106 points in the back-to-back victories over nationally ranked Oregonand Southern California that put the Cardinal in position to win the conferencetitle.
Stanford looked poised for another big win after jumping out to a 14-0 leadin the first quarter. But the Golden Bears responded behind Vereen and a defensethat flummoxed Luck.
The victory puts a bright spot on a mostly disappointing season for theBears, who entered the season with hopes of a Rose Bowl bid or possible nationaltitle. That was dashed with blowout losses to Oregon and USC and the seasonlooked lost when star tailback Jahvid Best was sidelined by a scary concussionin a loss two weeks ago against Oregon State.
Vereen has responded with the two best games of his career the past twoweeks in wins over Arizona and Stanford. Running effectively off direct snaps inCal’s form of the wildcat, Vereen overpowered the Cardinal. The Bears drove morethan 70 yards on three consecutive drives starting late in the second quarter,all ending with short runs by Vereen.
Riley added a 12-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Jones early in the fourthquarter to give the Bears a 31-21 lead, silencing Tiger Woods and the rest ofthe red-clad portion in the largest crowd in the fourth year at the remodeledStanford Stadium. Riley went 17 for 31 for 235 yards.
After Gerhart cut Cal’s lead to 31-28 on his fourth TD, Stanford got theball back at its 21 with under 5 minutes to go. After two incompletions and ashort run by Gerhart, coach Jim Harbaugh decided to go for it on fourth-and-8despite having all three timeouts remaining. Luck badly missed his receiver onthe fourth-down throw, giving Cal the ball back with 3:28 to go.
The Bears settled for a field goal to go up 34-28 with 2:42 to go, withcoach Jeff Tedford calling for Riley to take a knee to center the ball on thirddown. Stanford drove down the field and was in position to win until Luck’sinterception. Harbaugh put his arm around his quarterback as they walked off thefield following the key turnover.
Luck entered the game as the top-rated passer in the Pac-10 but finallylooked like the redshirt freshman he is against a Cal defense that has playedits best two games the past two weeks. Luck finished 10 for 30 for 157 yards,rarely finding open receivers and missing a few of them when he did have thechance to make a play.
Gerhart, who moved into the Heisman Trophy race with 401 yards rushing andsix touchdowns the past two weeks, scored on a 61-yard run on the third playfrom scrimmage. Gerhart added three more short TD runs on the day, giving him aschool-record 23 for the season and school-record 39 in his career. Gerhartscored again in the first quarter on a 2-yard run following a blocked punt.
This marked the third time this season that the Cardinal lost a game inwhich they led by at least 14 points. This one was especially painful because itcame against Cal and ended the team’s Rose Bowl hopes. Now Stanford could belooking at a possible bid to Sun Bowl or Emerald Bowl instead of the Rose.