By Morris Phillips

Coach Justin Wilcox called Cal’s trip to Corvallis to meet Oregon State a pivotal moment. Apparently, Wilcox’s team adopted the same urgency laid out by their coach.

In their most impressive outing of the season to date, the Cal Bears wiped out the Beavers, 49-7, ending their 14-game conference road losing streak. The win also ended the three-game skid that prompted all the consternation after Cal opened 3-0.

“There was never a question of want-to or desire,” Wilcox explained. “What we ask them to do in practice, they try to do to the best of their ability. We just have to play more consistently, and we got some of that done today.”

The one thing Cal had to address was a rash of turnovers in the three, previous games that ultimately cost Brandon McIlwain his position as the starting quarterback. Wilcox went back to Chase Garbers as the starter against OSU, and the sophomore engineered a high octane attack that produced eight plays of 20-yards or more including a 55-yard pass play to Vic Wharton III that set up Cal’s first touchdown of the game.

The Bears also got a 53-yard run from Patrick Laird, who erased a surprisingly slow, first half to his season with a 193-yard rushing performance and three touchdowns. Laird scored on a 29-yard pass play and a 4-yard run in the second quarter as Cal sprinted to a 21-0 halftime lead.

After 15 turnovers in the three, previous games, the Bears only hiccup was a first quarter fumble by Garbers on the 14th play of a drive that brought them to Oregon State’s 2-yard line.

But the Bears defense forced a three-and-out and a short punt put them in prime position in the second quarter, a sequence that ended with Laird’s touchdown reception.

The Cal defense continued to make noise after halftime, finishing with 12 tackles for losses along with seven sacks of OSU quarterbacks Josh Drayden and Traveon Beck.

The Bears improved to 4-3 on the season with five games remaining, all against conference opponents with better records than Cal, starting with No. 15 Washington at Memorial Stadium next Saturday at 3:00 pm PT.