The Cal Bears quarterback Chase Garbers (7) throws past the Colorado Buffaloes defense in the second half on Sat Oct 23, 2021 at Cal Memorial Stadium (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Saturday, October 23, 2021

California was looking for an opportunity to snag that first football win of the season over an FBS opponent, and achieved that goal with a 26-3 win over Colorado in a Pac-12 game at Berkeley.

Golden Bears quarterback Chase Garbers completed 22 of 29 for 225 passing yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Garbers also ran for 96 yards, moving into first place on Cal’s career rushing chart for quarterbacks, passing Joe Kapp.

The defensive standout for Cal (2-5 overall, 1-3 Pac-12) was safety Elijah Hicks, who recorded six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, picked off one pass and had one of the Bears’ six sacks.

Buffaloes quarterback Brendan Lewis was 9 of 17 for 69 yards. He had a minus-9 yards rushing.
The Bears were off and running early. Garbers scrambled for 38 yards on a third-and-6 from the Cal 30, leading to a Dario Longhetto 49-yard field goal with 9:47 left in the first quarter. That put the Bears ahead to stay.
Minutes later, Colorado (2-5 overall, 1-3 Pac-12) drove to the Cal 49 before Buffaloes running back Jarek Broussard was stopped for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1.

That stop of Colorado on downs led to Garbers throwing a 24-yard scoring strike to freshman tight end Keleki Latu, giving the Bears a 10-0 lead at 6:05 of the opening period.

Longhetto booted a 30-yard field goal at 9:23 of the second quarter, putting Cal up 13-0. After Brenden Rice (son of Hall of Famer Jerry Rice) returned a kickoff 67 yards to the Cal 33, Cole Becker connected on a 33-yard field goal.
With 3:21 to play in the second quarter, Garbers threw a TD pass to Gavin Reinwald. Longhetto hit a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the quarter, putting the Bears up 23-3 at halftime. Cal scored on each of its possessions in the first half and outgained the Buffs 297-91 in total yards.

The Bears host Oregon State next Saturday, with a 4 p.m. kickoff. The Beavers (5-2 overall, 3-1 Pac-12) beat Utah 42-34 in their last game.