After four losses in a row, three by less than two points each, it must have felt great to completely dominate a team for a change. Holding Oregon State scoreless through the first three quarters with a 14-0 lead at the end of the 1st, a 31-0 lead at the break and up by 41-0 at the end of three, Cal scored on nine of their eleven possessions in the game. Oregon State’s first half consisted of four punts, all but one on three-and-outs, an interception and a missed field goal, down 31-0 at the end of two. Cal added thirteen more points to the scoreboard in the second half making it 44-0 with the Beavers not scoring a single point until there was just five minutes left in the game on a 2 yard TD pass from Junior QB Ben Gulbranson to WR Trent Walker to make it 44-7.
For Cal, Sophomore QB Fernando Mendoza connected on 27-of-36 for a career high 364 yards, no interceptions and 2 TD’s—one each to Freshman WR Nyziah Hunter and the second to himself by his receiver, Jaivian Thomas, who lateraled the ball back to him deep in the red zone. Mendoza also added 25 more yards on five rushing attempts. On the ground, in a committee like approach, eight players including Mendoza as well as Jaydn Ott—back from injury—combined for 118 yards on 32 rushing attempts with Jaivian Thomas and Freshman RB Jamaal Wiley picking up a TD each.
Oregon State’s backup QB Ben Gulbranson, in for McCoy after a rough start, was 11-of-20 for 131 yards, 1 TD to Junior WR Trent Walker, and no interceptions while Freshman backup QB Gabarri Johnson and Junior starter Gevani McCoy combined for just 3-of-7 for 9 yards and one pick by McCoy. On the ground the Beavers, who never made it into the end zone, rushed 27 times for just 60 yards with Junior RB Anthony Hankerson leading the way on 16 attempts for 49 yards.
Cal dominated the stats with 28 first downs compared to just 12 for Oregon State; 364 passing yards to 140; 482 total yards of offense compared to just 200; converted their third downs 50% of the time and converted the only 4th down attempt they tried against less than 10% for the Beavers on 3rd down.
Cal Coach Justin Wilcox had this to say after the game; “I’m proud of the way the guys responded. I think after four tough losses like that, there’s people out there that would crumble and wouldn’t be able to bounce back. So I’m really, really proud and pleased in the guys for battling back and believing in themselves and their teammates.” Sophomore QB Fernando Mendoza echoed his sentiments and said; ““It was just four close games, and we were playing so much good football. It was so frustrating. However, now that we’re able to finally, instead of just talk the talk, walk the walk, we’re going to have great momentum into the bye week and our last four games.”
Oregon State head coach Trent Bray said; “The team didn’t coach or play well, and called the loss unacceptable. We lost two close ones [to Nevada and UNLV] that we could have had, and then came out and didn’t play well tonight. So it’s frustrating because we’re better than our record, and we need to play to that standard.” With four wins and just four games left, one against No. 15 Boise State and one against No. 22 Washington State getting bowl eligible is going to be a real challenge for the Beavers.