Cal keeps rolling with win over UCLA

Last night, the Bears kept their Pac-10 title hopes rolling with a solid win over UCLA, extending their winning streak to 8. While the Bruins made some impressive statistics and held on in the first half, Cal took over and finished with a nice victory.

Nate Longshore stepped it up, completing 20 of 24 passes for 3 touchdowns and also making a 21-yard scramble. Marshawn Lynch did not have gaudy stats but looked like a beast, tearing through tacklers to get 2 TD’s. Robert Jordan had a great day, grabbing 2 touchdowns as well. And, DeSean Jackson made the highlight reels with another punt return for a TD sprung free with a massive block by Thomas DeCoud.

Here is ESPN’s video recap of the game, followed by an extensive look at Cal’s performance by the ABC commentators.

Associated Press: “No. 10 California 38, UCLA 24”

From the two talented cousins to Tha Chosen 1, California’s playmakers took turns making life miserable for UCLA. Marshawn Lynch caught one of Nate Longshore’s three touchdown passes and ran for another score as No. 10 Cal won its eighth straight, 38-24 over the Bruins on Saturday night.

Robert Jordan had two touchdown catches and DeSean Jackson romped 72 yards on his school-record fourth TD punt return for the first-place Golden Bears (8-1, 6-0), who moved one big step closer to their first conference title since 1975.

ESPN: “Top 25 Overview”

It was over when… DeSean Jackson returned a punt 38 yards for a touchdown with just over two minutes left in the third quarter.
Gameball goes to… Nate Longshore. The Cal QB completed 20 of 24 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns.
Stat of the game… 4. Jackson’s punt return was his fourth, setting a school record in just 20 games.

Scout.com: “Bruins Fall to Cal, 38-24”

All the Bear units contributed to the win. Marshawn Lynch got yards when it counted, even if his statistics were not to his usual standard. Robert Jordan had his best game of the year. Nate Longshore was nearly perfect, and the defense came up with several big plays.

UCLA continued the “almost-but-not-quite” pattern they have established this year. They moved the ball up and down the field, but had trouble converting yards into points.

Contra Costa Times: “Brusin’ the Bruins”

With a full moon looming over Memorial Stadium on a clear Saturday night, a lightning bolt struck in the form of Cal’s Thomas DeCoud.

DeCoud’s teeth-shattering hit came late in the third quarter of the Golden Bears’ 38-24 victory over UCLA and not only crushed linebacker Korey Bosworth, but the Bruins’ hopes for an upset as well.

SF Chronicle: “It’s a big yellow taxi, and it’s running wild toward Pasadena”

You will know the kind of football you like by deciding which of these two plays was more influential in Cal’s 38-24 excision of UCLA on Saturday evening. Neither will tell you any more about whether the Golden Bears are fully prepped for the all-in game against USC in 13 days (or whether they’re going to wear their cornea-searing yellow uniforms for it), but epochal revelations like Rose Bowl invitations do tend to come in increments.

LA Times: “California tries to focus on present”

Their winning streak is more than two months now, not that the California Golden Bears are checking their calendars, but they surely know what’s on the schedule in just two weeks. That would be a showdown at the Coliseum with the USC Trojans, who just happened to be in the Bay Area on Saturday for a full-scale blowout at Stanford while Cal was administering a mini-blowout of UCLA.

…

What Longshore said afterward, when asked what he was thinking about, probably meant more. “Tucson, Tucson, Tucson,” he said. “Nothing but Arizona.”

SF Chronicle: “Longshore, man!”

Cal quarterback Nate Longshore pushed all the right buttons Saturday night in Berkeley.