Cal Sports Report

Cal Football Game Summary: Bears Beat Colorado

Big game for Chase Garbers as Cal gets its first win over a FBS team
Jake Curtis|
Cal Football Game Summary: Bears Beat Colorado
Cal Football Game Summary: Bears Beat Colorado

Cal defeated Colorado 26-3 before a sparse crowd Saturday afternoon in Berkeley.

Cal quarterback Chase Garbers was 22-for-29 for 225 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions and also rushed for 96 yards as Cal ended a three-game losing streak by beating an FBS opponent for the first time this season.

Cal led 23-3 at halftime and coasted home from there. 

Here are the facts:

CAL 26, COLORADO 3

RECORDS: CAL (2-5, 1-3 Pac-12), COLORADO (2-5, 1-3 Pac-12)

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Cal quarterback Chase Garbers. He threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, and he also ran for 96 yards.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Cal safety Elijah Hicks. Hicks had six tackles, one sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and an interception. He was a key tackler when Cal stopped Colorado on a fourth-and-1 play in the first quarter (Key Play 2).

TURNING POINT: Chase Garbers' 38-yard run on a third-down play during Cal's first possession put the Bears in position to score a touchdown and take a lead it never lost.

KEY PLAY 1: Cal quarterback Chase Garbers scrambled for 38 yards on a third-and-6 play from the Bears' 30-yard line. That put the ball at the Colorado 32-yard line and led to Dario Longhetto's 49-yard field goal, which gave Cal a 3-0 lead with 9:47 left in the first quarter. Garbers broke Joe Kapp's Cal record for career rushing by a quarterback with that run.

KEY PLAY 2: Colorado running back Jarek Broussard was stopped for a 1-yard loss on a fourth-and-1 play from the Cal 49-yard line with 7:26 left in the first quarter.. Elijah Hicks and Nate Rutchena combined on the stop.

KEY PLAY 3: Chase Garbers threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to freshman tight end Keleki Latu, who made his first career reception. The touchdown catch ended a 50-yard drive that began after the fourth-down stop of Colorado (Key Play 2) and gave Cal a 10-0 lead with 6:05 left in the first quarter.

KEY PLAY 4: On a fourth-and-4 play from the Colorado 32-yard line, Chase Garbers completed a 15-yard pass to Jeremiah Hunter. That led to a 30-yard field goal by Dario Longhetto that increased the the Cal lead to 13-0 with 9:23 left in the first half.

KEY PLAY 5: Colorado's Brenden Rice (Jerry's son) returned a kickoff 67 yards to the Cal 33-yard line. It led to Cole Becker's 33-yard field goal, which cut the Cal lead to 13-3 with 6:47 left in the first half.

KEY PLAY 6: Chase Garbers completed a 31-yard touchdown pass to tight end Gavin Reinwald, which gave Cal a 20-3 lead with 3:21 left in the second quarter.

KEY PLAY 7: Cal's Dario Longhetto kicked  51-yard field goal on the final play of the first half, which ended with Cal holding a 23-3 lead. (It was one yard short of Longhetto's career long, achieved last year).

KEY PLAY 8: Colorado blocked a Cal field goal attempt and ran it back for a would-be touchdown, but the Colorado player who blocked it was offsides on the play. Dario Longhetto kicked a 33-yard field goal on the replay.

STAT OF THE GAME: In the first half, Chase Garbers was 12-for-15 for 161 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, and he also rushed for 82 yards before halftime.

STAT OF THE GAME 2: Cal outgained Colorado 297-91 in the first half.

STAT OF THE GAME 3: Cal scored on every first-half possession. 

STAT OF THE GAME 4: Cal recorded six quarterback sacks, and the Bears allowed their quarterback to be sacked just once..

QUARTERBACK STATS: Cal's Chase Garbers was 22-for-29 for 225 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 96 yards. Colorado quarterback Brendon Lewis was 9-of-17 for 69 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. He had minus-9 yards rushing.

WHAT IT MEANS: It was Cal's first win over FBS team and first Pac-12 win, and it ended the Bears' three-game losing streak. 

PLAYER AVAILABILITY: Cal: Outside linebacker Kuony Deng (lower body) missed his fifth straight game Saturday, and he is likely to out a little longer. Cal running back DeCarlos Brooks missed his fourth straight game with an unspecified injury. Starting nose guard Stanley McKenzie is out for the season. 

CAL'S BOWL BAROMETER: Cal's bowl chances rose to about 20 percent. The Bears still need to win four of their five remaining games to become eligible for a bowl.

NEXT GAME: Cal plays Oregon State in Berkeley on Saturday, October 30. Kickoff: 4 p.m. TV: Pac-12 Network. The Beavers were 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-12 heading into Saturday's 4:30 p.m. game against Utah. Oregon State had a bye last week.

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Cover photo of Chase Garbers by Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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