By Morris Phillips

The Davis Webb era—brief and impactful—ended on Saturday night, and did so in a manner that was commensurate with the transfer quarterback’s contributions.

With a win.

Webb, referred to as a “pro” by Coach Sonny Dykes, threw a pair of touchdown passes, and the much-maligned Bears’ defense shut out UCLA for the first 34 minutes of the game in Cal’s 36-10 win on the heels of four-straight losses.

The Bears finished their season 5-7 and maintain slim hopes that they could be chosen for a bowl game in the absence of enough six-win teams to fill all the post-season slots.  Ironically, Cal’s improved academic standing (APR of 960) would be the reason the Bears would get the nod over similarly-situated, five win teams.

Webb, who put himself in the school record book by throwing 4,295 yards—second only to Jared Goff’s 4,719-yard season a year ago—was more than stopgap for a rebuilding program.  According to Dykes, Webb was a leader by example, and therefore critical to Cal’s younger players navigating the landscape of bigtime, college football for the first time.

“He is one of those guys that gets it,” Dykes said.  “I can’t say enough good things about him. His impact will be felt in our program for a long time just because of his work ethic and dedication and I think he is a great example for the rest of our players, especially for our quarterbacks, especially the time it takes to be a great quarterback at this level.”

Webb was Cal’s best player in a down year, a lead-by-example guy who took a bunch of hits and made very few excuses.  But Webb’s impact was diluted in the losing streak, the last three of which came to ranked Pac-12 foes.  But Webb and the Bears found a way to turn it around on Saturday against the Bruins, that rare opponent facing even greater adversity than the Bears.

Early on the Bears had to navigate the wet conditions as much as the Bruins, who were once again without standout quarterback Josh Rosen.  The first quarter downpour—for Cal, a reminder of the miserable conditions they experienced the previous week against Stanford—kept both offenses on skates.  Webb and the Bears avoided a pair of damaging interceptions when UCLA safeties Randall Goforth and Adarius Pickett couldn’t hold on to the ball.  Both interception drops could have gone for Bruins’ scores, instead the missed opportunities were the precursors to UCLA’s defensive fatigue that developed when they couldn’t successfully cover for their depleted offense.

Having avoided critical, early turnovers, Webb found a way to move the ball, but couldn’t translate the offense into touchdowns.  Instead, the Bears settled for four Matt Anderson field goals in the first half when their drives stalled.

The Bears led 12-0 at the half, the first time they shut out a Pac-12 foe in an opening half since 2011.  And while the defense was better than it’s been, the Cal offense had a lot to do with that.

Cal would run 102 offensive plays on the afternoon, totaling 496 yards in offense.  Khalfani Muhammad led the rushing attack with 116 yards, and Chad Hansen, Webb’s most frequent passing target once again, contributed 10 catches for 156 yards.  The 100-play barrier, an important barometer for Dykes’ Bear Raid offense, signaled UCLA’s demise, as well as highlighting their season-long issues with a lack of physicality on defense, issues they’ll need to address in the off-season.

With Cal pushing on offense, the Bruins’ defense got pushed.  But you couldn’t fault defensive lineman Takkarist McKinley and linebacker Jayon Brown, who combined for 25 tackles, capping exemplary seasons for both.  The last time the Bruins were in the Bay Area—in December for the Foster Farms Bowl at Levi’s Stadium—they experienced the same issues with physicality on defense in an embarrassing loss to Nebraska.  Off-season recruiting didn’t address those issues as the Bruins failed to add heft along their defensive front.  Now, with their off-season upon them, they’ll have another opportunity to regroup.

“We need to get our attitude right, and our focus right,” Brown said.  “We were a better team than our record shows.”

“We’ll rise again, we will,” said Coach Jim Mora, who is expected to return, but likely with significant changes among his assistant coaches.  “We have the right type of young men in the locker room.  We just have to make some adjustments and we’ll get better.”

The Bruins got within 12-7 on their first drive of the third quarter, capped by Mike Fafaul’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Kenneth Walker III.  But the Bears answered with a pair of touchdowns back-to-back, the first courtesy of 300-pound lineman turned fullback, Malik McMorris, who scored from a yard out.

The Bears capped their scoring with 9:41 remaining on Webb’s touchdown pass to Bug Rivera, the last of his 37 touchdown passes at Cal.

“I could tell everyone was playing for the seniors,” said Hansen, who faces his a decision whether to return, or test the NFL waters.  “That was the motto Coach Dykes was giving the whole week.  The seniors have put in so much time and effort, so much blood, sweat and tears for this program.  We needed to pay them back and I think we did that tonight.”

The Bears slim post-season hopes depend on two or three schools with 5-7 records and better APR numbers rejecting bowl invitations.  Of that group, Texas, who fired coach Charlie Strong on Saturday, is expected to pass on any bowl invites.  But North Texas, Mississippi State and Northern Illinois—all with better APR numbers—might be as thirsty for the post-season as Cal is.