By Morris Phillips

At some point on Saturday night in Corvallis, unheralded running back Ryan Nall transformed into a state-of-the-art, runaway freight train.

Then, 221 yards and three touchdowns later, Nall’s metamorphosis reached a conclusion as the Oregon State sophomore suffered a leg injury and was carted off with 11 minutes remaining to play, and OSU leading Cal, 34-24.

While what transpired following Nall’s departure may have been dramatic, it didn’t affect the game’s outcome, a 47-44 overtime loss for the Bears, all of it placed at the feet of Cal’s porous run defense which made Nall a temporary superstar, and was so poor that a 17-point Bears’ rally to force overtime went for naught.

Coach Sonny Dykes wasn’t fooled by the final score, acknowledging his team’s defensive effort—especially before halftime and the first play after halftime—put the team in an impossible hole, even as Davis Webb and the offense rallied to force overtime.

“I told them guys, I didn’t think we deserved to win,” Dykes said.  “We sleepwalked through the first half, for sure.”

While OSU came in as decided underdogs, losers of 12 straight Pac-12 conference games, dating back to November 2014, and looking for their first FBS win under second-year coach Gary Andersen, the Bears came with a leaky run defense that more than leveled the playing field between the two teams, and belied the encouraging outing Cal enjoyed in beating ranked Utah last week.

Against Oregon State, the Bears allowed 474 yards rushing (almost half of that to Nall) and allowed OSU to convert 8 of their 12 third-down opportunities.  The 474 yards ranks at the biggest rushing total in Oregon State school history against a conference opponent, and goes a long way to explaining how Cal trailed 10-0 after a quarter, 17-10 at the half, and 34-17 after three quarters.

On the first play of the second half, Nall enjoyed his tour de force, an 80-yard run that increased OSU’s lead to 24-10.

“You can’t come out that flat versus any team.  Any given day, anybody can be beaten,” Cal linebacker Ray Davison said.

Offensively, the Bears were out of sorts as well with OSU having success disguising their defensive looks and forcing Cal stars, Webb and Chad Hansen to play tentatively.  Both Webb and Hansen had their least productive games of the season to date with Webb needing 44 pass attempts (completing 23) to reach 118 yards passing, and Hansen catching four of those for just 16 yards.

“We were just trying to find ways to mix up our looks a little bit and make it a little tough for them to figure it out,” OSU assistant Derrick Odum said.

Starting outside linebacker Titus Failauga missed the game for Oregon State, as did safety Jay Irvine.  Nickelback Dwayne Williams was lost to injury during the game, leaving OSU with backups at two spots in their secondary.  But Treston Decoud, nephew of former Cal standout Thomas Decoud, drew the tough assignment of slowing Hansen, and the Beavers somehow held up defensively.

With both stars held in check, Cal’s running game picked up the slack with Tre Watson and Khalfani Muhammad combing for 299 yards rushing and three touchdowns.  Both backs scored in Cal’s late rally to tie, with Muhammad scoring on a 50-yards run with 2:39 remaining to bring the Bears within, 41-38.

After being held in check for three quarters, Hansen also suffered an injury, leaving the field with eight minutes remaining in regulation, walking gingerly on his left leg.

After Nall departed for OSU, Darrell Garretson and Artavis Pierce picked up the slack running the ball.  Cal had to settle for a field goal on their only possession in overtime.  Following that, Garretson scored the game winner for Oregon State, racing into the end zone nearly untouched from 16 yards out.

The loss—on the heels of two Cal wins over Top 25 opponents—dropped the Bears into the middle of the pack in the Pac-12 North.  At 3-3 instead of 4-2, the Bears have a lot of work to do in order to become bowl eligible and/or be a factor in the conference race.  What’s certain is the Bears will have to display more energy against better opponents with Oregon and USC next up on their schedule after they take next weekend off.