By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, Calif. — By the numbers, Friday Night Lights in the Pac-12 conference has been pretty predictable.

Fifteen games, 13 wins for the home team.

But if you throw a veteran coach with the pedigree of Herm Edwards into the mix, the task of going on the road–against a good team–on a short week gains some clarity.

It did for Arizona State, and the task became even clearer when Cal quarterback Chase Garbers was felled with a shoulder injury.

“We forced them to throw the ball. We had to put our best guys on their guys and go cover them,” Edwards said.

“We’re playing the 15^th ranked team on the road. You can’t be afraid to win. We had nothing to lose. The pressure was on them.”

In a tight ballgame that was tied after each of the first three quarters, the Sun Devils didn’t flinch. With the exception of the opening drive of the second half, the Cal running game was shut down. Garbers kept the Bears churning, throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Treveon Clark, but he was finished before halftime after he was tripped up and fell hard on shoulder.

The wopening drive of the second half provided momentum for Cal. They ran the ball on all 12 plays, played at a faster pace, and took a 14-7 lead on Christopher Brown Jr.’s 1-yard run.

But Arizona State answered right back, first with a big kickoff return from Brandon Aiyuk that was aided by a 15-yard penalty on Jose Ogunbanjo for grabbing Aiyuk’s face mask. Seven plays later, the Sun Devils were tied again after Benjamin Eno’s touchdown run.

Ogunbanjo gained some redemption when he recovered ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels fumble forced by linebacker Cameron Goode. That set up the Bears at the ASU 30-yard line with 11:58 remaining. But the Bears did little offensively, settling for Greg Thomas’ 47-yard field goal.

The field goal and the 17-14 lead would be Cal’s final push of the evening. Behind the running of Benjamin, ASU responded, turning a 15-play drive into a 21-17 lead with 6:16 remaining. Benjamin challenged himself and his offensive mates on the sideline prior to the drive.

“They don’t have their starting quarterback,” Benjamin told his teammates. “We have to take advantage of it.”

The Sun Devils registered back-to-back road upsets of ranked teams in nearly 15 years by beating the Bears, and No. 18 Michigan State two weeks ago. Edwards declared that being the visitor took the pressure off his team in both cases.

“When it’s a one-score game, you’re comfortable being uncomfortable,” Edwards said of his team’s mindset.

Afterwards, the Bears pointed to their lack of effort as the difference in the game.

“Can’t play very well and can’t win games when you’re not even making the simple plays, and we didn’t today. That was it,” said linebacker and defensive leader Evan Weaver.

The Bears failed to move to 5-0 for the first time since 2015. They travel to Oregon next week for a meeting with the No. 13 Ducks.