By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–At some subtle, hard to determine juncture approaching the three-hour mark of a lengthy, college football game, Cal lost its grip.

Miami coach Mario Cristobal sensed it, then framed it after his Hurricanes scored 29 of the game’s final 32 points to stun the Bears, 39-38 to remain unbeaten and squarely in the hunt for a national championship.

“I don’t know how many teams in the country would have come back against that defense,” Cristobal said of Cal, which held Miami to 10 points until 3:02 remained in the third quarter.

Damian Martinez’ 1-yard touchdown run and Xavier Restrepo’s two-point reception didn’t trigger an avalanche for the Canes. Instead, Cal proved steadfast and took another three plus minutes off the clock in increasing their lead to 38-18 on Ryan Coe’s 37-yard field goal.

Three Miami touchdowns would follow, capped by Elijah Arroyo’s 5-yard catch and score with 26 seconds remaining.

“We kept clawing and scratching, and the defense held up,” Cristobal recounted.

“How many people cut this off?” he said, touching on the fact that the Hurricanes’ comeback didn’t hit maximum thrust until after 1:00am in Florida.

What caused the television audience to rest was Cal’s defense. Nohl Williams picked off Miami’s Cam Ward, his fifth of the year, which leads the nation. Linebackers Cade Uluave and Teddye Buchanan combined for 23 tackles while Cal built a 25-point lead. But the experienced Ward played the waiting game, and the result was 35 completions, 437 yards, and two fourth quarter touchdown passes that sandwiched his 24-yard touchdown run.

“That’s two games straight we had to do that. We have to lock in,” Ward said. “It’s good to get a win. We’re not going to complain. An ugly win is better than a good loss.”

Ward improved to 2-1 against California with the first win and loss coming when the quarterback was with Washington State in 2022 and 2023. Conversely, the Bears missed a rare opportunity to upset a team ranked in the top ten nationally. The last time was 2017 versus the Cougars prior to Ward’s arrival.

Ward’s 437 yards passing gives him six consecutive performances of 300 plus yards passing to put him squarely in contention for the Heisman trophy.

Fernando Mendoza led Cal with 285 yards passing. Jadyn Ott made the most of a slow night with a 66-yard touchdown catch and run. That production helped the Bears build a sizeable lead, but 2 of 10 third down conversions left the Bears defense vulnerable to fatigue that surfaced in Miami’s comeback.

Coach Justin Wilcox didn’t appear to agree with a targeting situation that didn’t draw a penalty on Miami after a review. That non-call on third down forced Cal to punt and gave the ball back to Miami for their game-winning, six-play drive.

Wilcox was close-lipped regarding that play but was open regarding the game in its entirety.

“We had every opportunity to win that game, obviously,” Wilcox said. “We didn’t get it done, so every individual has to own it.”

The Bears travel to meet undefeated Pittsburgh (5-0) next week. The Panthers posted an impressive 34-24 road win over North Carolina on Saturday.