By Morris Phillips

If you’re a Cal Bears fan, get ready for a season where your team gets ran over, can’t hold on to the ball, gives up points in chunks, yet in the end still has a chance to win.

Call it a televised novella in three acts, or in this case, just call it Saturday night’s rematch between the Bears and Aztecs that wasn’t anything like the meeting in Berkeley a year ago, won by Cal in a cakewalk, 35-7.

This time record-setting tailback Donnel Pumphrey ran for 281 yards and three touchdowns to lead San Diego State to a ragged, but compelling, 45-40 win that saw Cal knocked around early, but still lurking late.  Pumphrey’s big night allowed him to surpass Marshall Faulk as the school’s all-time rushing leader, improving his total to 4, 659 yards.  For that matter, Pumphrey passed Eric Dickerson and Earl Campbell on the same play—a 33-yard touchdown run in the second quarter—to move into the No. 44 spot on the NCAA’s all-time rushing list.   If passing Faulk–the original, video game running back—wasn’t enough, Pumphrey passed three NFL Hall of Famers in the same game.

Concurrently, Pumphrey’s 281 yards carried a lot more weight than Cal’s 604 yards in total offense, a number that lost all its luster behind the Bears’ four turnovers—including three interceptions off quarterback Davis Webb.

So ridiculous was Pumphrey that on his first touchdown—the previously mentioned 33-yarder that put SDSU up 21-14 in the second quarter—Cal’s leading returning tackler, Darius Allensworth was in position to take down the shifty back, but left flailing as Pumphrey raced past.  Allensworth and the rest of the Bears’ defense had a rough night combating the Aztecs’ running attack, which rolled up 334 yards behind a big, experienced offensive line that was the talk of the lead-up to the game along with Pumphrey.

That outfit took SDSU to a 31-21 halftime lead that grew to 38-21 early in the second half.  Two Cal turnovers contributed to the halftime score, most damaging Webb’s pass that was intercepted by Ronley Lakalaka, a linebacker hiding out behind SDSU’s blitzing front that picked off an inside screen and ran it just nine yards for a touchdown.

The Bears appeared to have the Aztecs on their heels on their initial drive of the second half, only to see Webb’s pass into the end zone, deflected and picked off by in-the-right-place safety Kameron Kelly.

Three plays later—runs by Pumphrey of 15, 8 and 57 yards—San Diego St. had its biggest lead (17 points) of the night.

Suddenly, a game that began with both teams defenseless—six consecutive drives in the first and second quarters produced six touchdowns and a 21-21 tie—was becoming a rout.  It was at this point, the Bears made their stand.

The Aztecs failed to score on their three ensuing possessions—a fumble, a punt, and an interception—and the Bears rallied behind Webb to get within 38-34.  Throughout the chess match between the unpredictable SDSU blitzing defense, and the unflappable Webb raged back and forth, play to play.  But ultimately the pressure won out: Cal failed to convert their benchmark 40 percent of their third down conversions (7 of 19), ran 92 plays while seeking 100, and saw Webb misfire on 31 of his 72 pass attempts while throwing three picks.

Right after Cal closed to within four points, the Aztecs answered with the clinching score.  This time Pumphrey carried the ball on seven of eight plays, culminating with his third TD from four yards out.  That put the Aztecs up, 45-34 with 2:47 remaining.

Cal would add a quick score with less than a minute remaining, but failed to convert the two-point conversion.  In the final seconds, after Cal recovered an onside kick and reached the Aztecs’ 22-yard line, SDSU’s Damontae Kazee came up with the game-clinching interception.  In an amazing feat of clock management, the Bears would run eight plays in 35 seconds, but see it all go for naught.

Chad Hansen was again Webb’s favorite target, catching 14 balls for 190 yards.  Demetris Robertson, the Bears’ highest-rated recruit who switched from Georgia to Cal, caught his first touchdown pass, a 59-yarder that got Cal within 38-28 in the third.  Robertson finished with four catches for 81 yards.

Vic Enwere had 10 carries for 72 yards, but the Cal running game wasn’t the difference maker it needed to be with Khalfani Muhammad held to five yards on three carries, and Webb sacked three times.

The Bears return to Berkeley for the home opener on September 17 against No. 11 Texas, who walloped UTEP, 41-7 on Saturday.