By Morris Phillips

California football was almost too exciting for its own good on Saturday night.

After scoring 31 consecutive points and building a three-touchdown, fourth quarter lead, the Cal Bears survived a furious Texas rally that ended when Longhorns’ kicker Nick Rose missed a PAT that would have sent the game into overtime. Rose’s missed kick surprised nearly everyone in Austin; neither coach saw it, and the game statisticians failed to credit Cal’s Darius White with the block for tipping the ball in-flight.

“At first I thought it was like the Arizona game,” quarterback Jared Goff said of Texas’ rally that fell short in the Bears’ 45-44 victory.  “And then they were saying they missed it.  I still didn’t believe it.”

“We just assumed after they scored we were going to overtime,” Coach Sonny Dykes admitted.

As Goff referenced, Cal’s been here before–almost exactly one year ago.  Looking to go 3-0, the Bears wilted in the heat in Arizona, as the Wildcats came up with 36 points in the fourth quarter to overcome a Cal lead that was once 22 points with a hail-mary caught by Arizona’s Austin Hill on the game’s final play.

With the win, Cal’s trip to Texas was worth its price in gold.  The Bears capitalized on their opportunity to beat a national powerhouse on the road in front of a Saturday-night primetime national television audience, and did so with their Bear Raid offense in full bloom.  The Bears improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2011, and after another wild, wacky day in college football, could be on the cusp of a Top 25 appearance after a couple of years as an afterthought in the landscape of big-time college football.

Along with all the adulation, the Bears must address their defensive shortcomings that allowed the big Texas comeback, engineered by freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard in only his second collegiate start.  Ward and the Longhorns amassed 650 yards in offense, an effort that fell short only due to Rose’s missed kick and a critical interception of Heard right before halftime.

Goff broke Troy Taylor’s school record for career passing yardage set at 8,126 yards with a completion to tight end Stephen Anderson in the first quarter.  Goff also set school records for career completions and total offense with his 27 of 37 passing for 268 yards.  But when the Bears couldn’t increase their lead in the fourth quarter, the Longhorns nearly stepped through the door left open by Goff and the Cal offense.

“We needed to make some first downs is what we needed,” Dykes said.  “We needed one first down to seal the ball game, and we couldn’t get it.  We dropped a pass, which we talked about leading up to the game.  If we wanted to run the clock out on the game, we were going to stay aggressive.”

The Bears trailed 24-14 late in the second quarter as the Longhorns speed and athleticism were starting to take hold.  But Cal countered with Goff and their experienced, quick-strike offense to get things even at the half.  First Cal got Vic Enwere’s one-yard touchdown run to cap a four play drive that took just 40 seconds.  Then after Heard was picked near midfield by linebacker Jalen Jefferson, the Bears got a 34-yard Matt Anderson field goal to tie the game at 24 just four seconds before halftime.

Cal’s late rush before the half deflated the Texas crowd and the Longhorns.  That momentum extended into the third quarter as the Bears, largely behind the running of Khalfani Muhammad, scored three unanswered touchdowns.  Muhammad capped the third quarter scoring with a scintillating 74-yard run that put Cal up 45-24.

In the absence of starting running back Daniel Lasco, Muhammad rushed for a career-best 164 yards and Enwere added 74 yards and a pair of touchdowns, illustrating Cal’s increased depth on both sides of the ball.  Enwere, as well as Lasco, are Texas natives, and might not have been affected by the 90-degree heat at kickoff as their Cal teammates.

One guy that wasn’t adversely affected by the heat was Heard who didn’t let inexperience derail him from a monster performance in only his third collegiate game.  The Longhorns quarterback passed for 364 yards and rushed for 163 yards on 24 carries.  Heard’s 527 yards in total offense stand as the best total in Texas history surpassing all of the running and passing exploits of Heisman trophy winner Vince Young, who was on hand and settled a bet with the Cal coaching staff by donning a Bears’ t-shirt after the game.

“Just watching him, he’s exciting, and he has brought the excitement into the team,” Strong said of Heard.  “You watch our whole sideline now when our offense takes the field, our guys are all just locked in.  When we went back out there to go and tie the game, they just knew we were going to go out and go tie that game.”

The Bears were adversely affected by Muhammad’s fumble and a missed Anderson field goal in the first half that contributed to their brief, 10-point deficit.  But the Bears ability to run explosively and pass effectively put constant pressure on the Longhorns and their defense.  Cal’s third quarter surge—and their effective halftime adjustments—weren’t anything new.  The Bears have outscored their three opponents, 49-0, in the third quarter.

Next Saturday, the Bears travel to Seattle to face Washington, who got past Utah State 31-17 on Saturday.  This will be Cal’s first Pac-12 conference game, and they remain the only undefeated team in the Pac-12 North.