By Morris Phillips
Re-energized and inspired by an injured teammate’s recovery, Colorado was a force to be reckoned with for the Cal Bears.
It didn’t matter that the Buffs were allowing an average of 38 points per game, they held Cal scoreless in an eye-opening, first half.
Then Colorado withstood a back-and-forth fourth quarter, and scored the only touchdown of overtime, a 22-yard pass from J.T. Shrout to Montana Lemonious-Craig to win 20-13.
“This is all about their response, their resolve,” interim coach Mike Sanford said. “The stuff that I said here 10 days ago, everyone thought I was crazy when I talked about what an unbelievable group of resilient fighters that we have in our locker room. I think everybody had a chance to see that on full display today.”
From 0-5 to winning a sixth game in front of a raucous, home crowd that stormed the field after Cal’s Jake Plummer’s last pass attempt in the end zone fell incomplete doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Throughout, the Bears couldn’t sustain anything offensively, and they looked nothing like the team that put up 49 points on Arizona three games ago.
“It’s very hard to win at this level scoring one touchdown,” coach Justin Wilcox said. “You’ve got to put the ball in the end zone, and credit to them. They did it more than we did.”
Plummer’s pass to Mason Starling on first down in overtime appeared to be caught to pull call within an extra point of getting Cal even, but fast-closing safety Trevor Woods ripped the ball loose.
“I saw the ball lobbed in there, and he didn’t really make an effort to go get it,” Woods said. “I punched it as hard as I could.”
Plummer finished 29 for 52 passing for 262 yards and one interception where he overthrew a deep ball down the middle. While Plummer was mildly effective, the Cal run game suffered a miserable afternoon with only 35 yards rushing and one, lengthy run of 22 yards from Jadyn Ott.
“You can’t run a run play or a pass play very effectively if you don’t start up front. Generally speaking you have to block the people up front in the run and pass game and we we didn’t do a good enough job of that today, and their front got after our front.”
The high point for Cal was a third quarter touchdown pass from Plummer to J. Michael Sturdivant that saw Sturdivant calmly get his feet down in bounds after a leaping catch along the sideline. That put Cal up, 7-3.
The Buffs responded early in the fourth with a one-yard run from Anthony Hankerson that capped a six-play drive, and put Colorado up, 10-7. Cal got a field goal from Dario Longhetto to tie at 10, then with time expiring, Longhetto hit from 34 yards to tie the game, 13-13, at the end of regulation.
Buffs running back Deion Smith was injured early in the fourth quarter, and after several anxious moments, Smith was removed by a stretcher while surrounded by the entire Colorado team. When the celebration moved from the field to the locker room after the game, the team was given that much more to celebrate. Smith was up and walking.
“Deion is up and walking and I think he was emotional because he didn’t have a chance to celebrate on the field with his teammates. But he was a huge part of that victory, both in his play and more importantly, just how much this team loves him and showed their support for him.”
If Colorado’s story wasn’t improbable enough, Shrout replaced starter Owen McCown, who was hit in the mid-section, and couldn’t continue. But Shrout came on and led Colorado to it’s only touchdown in regulation, and a 10-7 lead.
The Bears (3-3) return to Memorial Stadium in Berkeley on October 22 to host Washington.
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