Cal Football: Ten Years Later, Mike Mohamed Says It's Time To Win Again

Bears have not prevailed in the Big Game since his 2009 interception stopped Stanford

Mike Mohamed pondered the play that will forever make him a Cal hero in Big Game lore.

“I can’t believe it’s been almost 10 years,” he said.

In fact, today is the 10-year anniversary of the 2009 Big Game, where Mohamed, then a junior linebacker, stepped in front of Andrew Luck’s pass for an interception at the 3-yard line with less than 2 minutes left, preserving a 34-28 victory over Stanford.

Cal has not won the Big Game since, losers of nine in a row going into Saturday's 122nd meeting at Stanford Stadium.

But if Mohamed is frozen in time with some Cal fans as the 21-year-old who saved the Big Game, it wasn’t just yesterday. Just look at how much life he has packed into the past 10 years:

— Returned for his senior season in 2010, earning first-team All-Pac-10 honors

— Was chosen by the Denver Broncos in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL draft

— Played portions of five NFL seasons, collecting 67 tackles in 14 games for the Houston Texans in 2014 before exiting the league a year later

— Married a fellow Cal alum, and together Mike and Clare have four children, including twin 2-year-olds

— Returned to school at Indiana University to study finance

— Currently works as an investment banker in New York City and lives with his family in Manhattan

“Time just really does fly by,” said Mohamed, now 31.

But Mohamed still remembers the most famous play he’d ever make on a football field.

He anticipated a “smash-mouth” game, featuring running backs Toby Gerhart of Stanford and Shane Vereen of Cal. Gerhart would become the Heisman Trophy runner-up who rushed for 1,871 yards and scored 28 touchdowns. He scored four of those touchdowns against the Bears.

But it was Vereen who had the bigger game in the Big Game, rushing for 193 yards and three touchdowns.

A victory would propel Stanford into the Rose Bowl, a topic Cal’s players heard about all week. “We were underdogs," Mohamed said, “but we just had this belief all week we were going to find a way to win the game.”

Luck’s 29-yard completion to Gerhart gave Stanford a first down at the Cal 13. Luck threw incomplete on the next play, then had his second down pass intercepted by Mohamed with 1:36 left.

“We never broke,” Mohamed said. “We knew we had to get a stop somehow. Luckily they ended up calling a pass. My guy stayed in to block. I slipped underneath and I don't think Luck saw me. If he did, he tried to squeeze it in there.

“I just did my job and picked it.”

Ten years later, Mohamed was as surprised as everyone else when his Luck, his old rival, opted to retire from the NFL before this season.

“I think that just goes to show really how physical the game is, how it can take its toll on your body and your mind,” said Mohamed, who added that he feels good these days. “For him, thinking about the rest of his life, it got to be too much.”

Mohamed plans to watch the Big Game in a Manhattan bar frequented by Cal fans. He looks forward to getting another chance to check out linebacker Evan Weaver, the nation’s leading tackler.

“I think he's an absolute stud,” Mohamed said. “The guy’s all over the field doing things I didn't do. He’s averaging 15 tackles. I only had 15 tackles in a game two or three times. He's doing a phenomenal job.”

Mohamed wants what every Cal fan wants: A victory on Saturday.

“It's been too long,” he said. “It’d be nice to bring The Axe back to Cal, where I think it belongs.”