Beavers overcome slow start to win season opener

A 5-0 start to the year got the Bears most of the way there but it wasn’t until they beat the Beavers that bowl season moved from goal to reality in Berkeley. We know exactly what it takes to get there, and we have a vision of what it’s going to take to go further. “They love playing together, love being on the team with each other and the good thing is they’re going to get an extra game of doing that”. “That’s what we want to do”, Dykes said.

A return to fast-paced normalcy on the offensive side of the ball provided the most encouraging development for the Bears, as Goff looked sharp throughout the night and Cal re-established its run game to restore the balanced attack that carried it through the early portion of the season.

Goff was 14 for 17 for 285 yards and two touchdowns the rest of the first half, and stretched that hot streak beyond intermission by completing his next eight attempts for 147 yards and three more TDs.

Goff threw one more touchdown pass to 300-pound freshman running back Malik McMorris before leaving the game with 5:10 remaining in the game.

In all, Oregon State has used three different quarterbacks this season. Eleven players are averaging double-digit minutes through four games.

When Oregon State’s defense took the field at Memorial Stadium Saturday night, starting cornerback Larry Scott stood in sweats on the sideline.

Omar Richards had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Beacons (4-0).

Cal rushed for a season-high 307 yards – its highest in three seasons under Dykes. The game also airs as a live stream online.

Goff passed for 453 yards and six touchdowns and the Bears finally got over the hump in their fifth try this fall – and eighth over two seasons – to win a sixth game necessary to play in the postseason. He also boosted his career TD total to 82, tying him for seventh on the all-time Pac-12 list.

Goff padded his total in the third quarter with a pair of touchdown passes to Maurice Harris, from 13 and 29 yards, to push the Bears lead to 44-18.

The Bears’ career leader in almost every passing category, Goff completed 26 of 37 passes while helping Cal (6-4, 3-4 Pac-12) pile up a school-record 760 yards in offense. A 54-yarder dropped into Trevor Davis set up a 4-yard touchdown strike in the back of the end zone to star Kenny Lawler and ignited Cal’s scoring barrage.

The Beavers needed just 32 seconds to answer, with freshman Nick Mitchell throwing a 29-yard TD pass to Jordan Villamin with 12 seconds left in the half, cutting the margin to 14 points. The Beavers out-of-conference schedule is a nice mixture of cupcakes and challenges, culminating in neutral site games next month against Kansas (December 12) and Tulsa (December 19). Cal travels next weekend to No. 7 Stanford, which tumbled out of College Football Playoff conversation Saturday with a loss to Oregon. The Beavers lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Gonzaga….Coach Scott Rueck was the Pac-12 coach of the year last season.