By Morris Phillips

photo credit: Bing images Jared Goff QB Cal Bears

Six weeks after their last and newly impressive win over Washington State, the Cal Bears are winners again.  Beating Oregon State, 54-24, on Saturday night not only allows 125 players and coaches to sleep comfortably again, it marks a milestone in the Cal program under Sonny Dykes as the Bears are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2011.

“It was really satisfying to go out there and really perform well tonight and get that next step in our program which is going to a bowl game,” Dykes said.  “We talked about how important that was over and over again.  I’m just happy for these guys.”

In the absence of a win over the last month-and-a-half, Dykes constantly reiterated that his was a team, a group of guys that were cohesive even in a difficult stretch that took the Bears from Pac-12 North contenders to revisiting their frustrations from 2014 when they finished the season by dropping six of their final seven games.  Dykes’ positive reinforcement can’t be minimized, and that belief showed on the field against OSU as Jared Goff threw for 453 yards and six touchdowns in the rout of the Beavers.

“This has been the culmination of three years of hard work since Coach Dykes got here and since a lot of guys got here, just putting in that work every day,” Goff said.  “I’ve said it a million times when we were 1-11, and last year when we lost to BYU, that all the work we put in will pay off eventually and by no means are we done.”

“We challenged them after four tough weeks to come out and just play relaxed and have fun playing football,” Dykes said.  “They did a great job of doing that tonight.”

Beginning with Kenny Lawler’s circus catch, a 4-yard touchdown in the first quarter, the Bears regained that pace Dykes’ Bear Raid offense was supposed to represent.  The Bears scored on their next six possessions to bury OSU and lead 44-18 in the third quarter.  Goff started slowly, completing just one of his first five with a pair of drops, but was virtually unstoppable after that.

Goff completed six touchdowns passes in regulation for the second time in his Cal career, the only two times that’s been accomplished by a Cal quarterback.  The junior completed passes to 12 different receivers and five of those caught touchdowns, including freshman big boy Malik McMorris, the 300-pound fullback who was left alone on Cal’s final score of the evening.

Oregon State, losers of seven straight, struggled to keep Cal from making big plays running or passing, and couldn’t buy time for their quarterback, freshman Nick Mitchell.  Mitchell threw for two scores and ran for another, but was under heavy pressure throughout, and was knocked out of the game in the third quarter and replaced by Marcus McMaryion.  The Beavers and Coach Gary Andersen had to be questioned regarding Storm Barr-Woods, OSU’s leading rusher, who inexplicably carried the ball just six times and caught one pass.

That the milestone victory came against Oregon State was noteworthy in that the Beavers had dominated the series between the schools in recent years.  OSU lost for the first time at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley since 1997.

The Bears now enter next week’s Big Game against Stanford with a surprising set of parameters after their victory and the Cardinal’s gut-wrenching loss to Oregon.  Stanford can clinch the Pac-12 North with a win, but if Cal pulls the upset, Oregon could sneak in as North champs, extinguishing Stanford’s aspirations.  The Bears have lost five straight to Stanford, more than enough motivation for the resurgent Bears.