It wasn’t the rejuvenated Cal offense that made the difference when it mattered most Saturday night.
In the final regular-season game in the 108-year history of the Pac-12, the Bears’ often-maligned defense came to life, forcing four UCLA turnovers to spark a stunning 33-7 victory that gives Cal a third straight victory and bowl eligibility for the first time in four years.
“They never stopped believing,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said in an on-field interview. “The defense really played great all day.”
There were heroes everywhere on defense for the Bears (6-6, 4-5).
Freshman inside linebacker Cade Uluave had 11 tackles, an interception, a sack and a fourth-down stop. Outside linebacker David Reese contributed three sacks and forced a fumble. And outside linebacker Xavier Carlton helped knock UCLA starting quarterback Ethan Garbers out of the game with an early-game sack and had two pass breakups.
The Bears, 3-6 and on the brink of elimination after a 63-19 loss at Oregon on the first weekend of November, beat Washington State, Stanford and UCLA to keep their season alive. UCLA (7-5 4-5) was a 9.5-point favorite to beat Cal.
“We hit a rough stretch in the middle of the season and then came off a really difficult loss at Oregon,” Wilcox said. “We talked about it with the team that we’re going to finish 3-0 and win a bowl game.”
Bowl bids will go out next Sunday.
Running back Jaydn Ott, who entered the game with 1,182 rushing yards, managed just 11 on nine carries in the first half against one of the nation’s top run defenses. But the sophomore helped swing the game in Cal’s favor with a 100-yard sprint to the end zone on his first-ever kickoff return as a college player.
That made it 13-7 with 5:27 left in the second quarter and the Bears never surrendered the lead.
The offense got going in the second half, as Ott wound up with 80 rushing yards on 21 tries and backup Justin Williams-Thomas added 47 on 10 attempts against a defense that was allowing just 66 rushing yards per game.
Freshman quarterback Fernando Mendoza overcame two first-half interceptions to pass for 178 yards with touchdown passes of 14 and 13 yards to wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter, who caught eight passes for 101 yards.
And freshman placekicker Mateen Bhagani was 4-for-4 on field goals, hitting from 43, 36, 32 and 20 yards.
Mendoza threw a pair of first-half interceptions but the Bears otherwise played a nearly flawless first half to lead 20-7 at the break.
Safety Craig Woodson’s interception in the end zone of a Dante Moore pass tipped by Patrick McMorris halted the Bruins’ promising drive on the game’s first series. Moore, a freshman, was picked off on his first play after Garbers left the game.
Cal responded with a 54-yard drive that included Mendoza’s 49-yard completion to Hunter, and was capped by a 43-yard field goal from Bhaghani for a 3-0 lead with 5:25 left in the opening quarter.
Bhaghani made it 6-0 when he converted a 36-yard try with 37 seconds left in the period.
The Bruins missed a 23-yard field goal midway through the second quarter before taking a 7-6 lead on Moore’s 5-yard strike to Logan Loya with 5:43 left in the half.
That lead lasted just 16 seconds before Ott sprinted into the end zone, untouched, on his 100-yard kick return.