The success of the PAC-12 this year didn’t extend to everyone and resulted in teams like Cal and Colorado having to face five or six Top-25 teams. Cal’s gauntlet started against then No. 8 Washington, right after their pre-season games. After squeaking out a win against Arizona State the next week they had No. 15 Oregon State, then No. 16 Utah, No. 24 USC, and No. 6 Oregon—all in a row. They did get by Stanford in this one, 27-to-15, but have to hit the road to take on a UCLA team in the Rose Bowl that would still be ranked if not for losing their starting QB for two games to injury. The Cardinals will get a chance to avenge this loss next year as both teams are headed to the ACC which has released the 2024 scheduled, but it may be the last time they ever face the Bruins even though they have played against each other every year since 1933, and it will be the last regular season game for both teams as members of what was known as the Conference of Champions—the PAC-12.
Points in this one were hard to come by with neither team scoring during the first four possessions of the game. Finally Cal, half-way through the first quarter, went on a quick 88 yard, 7 play drive that ended with a Fernando Mendoza 9 yard TD pass to Trond Grizzell to go up 7-0 with five minutes left in the quarter. Stanford got the ball and closed within four points on a Joshua Karty 44 yard field goal but the Golden Bears would come right back with another Mendoza to Grizzell TD pass—this one for 44 yards to go up 14-3 just two minutes into the 2nd Qtr. After that the scoring bogged down again for another four possessions punctuated by three three-and-outs and an interception. But just like the start of the game, only this time with with under a minute left in the half and sitting at 4th and 6 on the Cal 35 yard line, Joshua Karty came in and hit another field goal–this one from 53 yards out to make it 14-6 at the break.
Scoring in the second half starting out slowly as well with Stanford having to punt after four plays of their first possession followed by three-and-outs by both teams. On Cal’s 2nd possession of the 3rd Qtr they went on a 5:30 minute, 12 play, 77 yard drive that ended with RB Jaydn Ott in the end zone to go up 21-6. Stanford would answer back this time on their very next possession with a 15 yard run by QB Ashton Daniels followed by back-to-back passes of 19 and 41 yards with the later going to Tiger Bachmeier who took it all the way to the house. A two-point conversion failed which made it 21-12 with less than five minutes left in the 3rd Qtr. After holding Cal to a three-and-out on their next possession Stanford would narrow the score a bit more on a third Joshua Karty field goal, this one from 50 yards out, to make it 21-15 with less than a minute left in the 3rd Qtr. Cal would come right back to create a two possession difference at the end of a 13 play, 75 yard drive ending in a Mendoza 8 yard TD pass to Jeremiah Hunter making it 27-15. After a failed two-point conversion Stanford would take over but after nine plays and failing at 4th and 10 on the Cal 35 yard line had to hand the ball back to the Golden Bears who were able to run out the clock even though their were well over six minutes left in the game.
For Cal, Freshman QB Fernando Mendoza connected on 24-of-36 for 294 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 interception with Sophomore WR Trond Grizzell accounting for 7 of those receptions, 136 yards, and two of the TD’s. On the ground Sophomore RB Jaydn Ott, who has had a great year with over 1,100 yards rushing, picked up 166 yards in this one and 1 TD on 36 attempts, an average of 4.6 yards per carry. For Stanford, Sophomore QB Ashton Daniels was 18-of-35 for 188 yards and 1 TD as well as rushing 12 times for another 67 yards of the team’s 101 yard total on the ground. Three Cardinal receivers combined for 15 receptions and 126 of the team’s 188 yard total in the air with Freshman WR Tiger Bachmeier the recipient of the TD on his only catch of the day. Cal out-paced Stanford in 1st downs, 29-to-12; passing yards, 294-to-188; rushing yards, 161-to-101, and by eleven minutes in time-of-possession. The only stat line that Stanford exceeded at was penalties where they accumulated 9 for 100 yards. As I mentioned at the top, Cal will end their PAC-12 career in the Rose Bowl against UCLA this next Saturday while Stanford plays host to Notre Dame.