127th Big Game: California comes from behind in fourth quarter to beat Stanford in thriller to extend winning streak to four, become bowl eligible
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Berkeley-If there’s one thing that’s true in a rivalry game, it’s that anything can and will literally happen.
In the 127th Big Game at California Memorial Stadium, California was able to use a huge fourth quarter to come from behind and beat Stanford, 24-21, in front of a capacity crowd to get their second Atlantic Coast Conference win.
The Bears (6-5, 2-5 ACC) stormed back in the final quarter when they had their offense finally come to life.
It was helpful that Fernando Mendoza found Jonathan Brady twice in the final quarter. The first of those two key scores came when there was 10:09 left to play on a 30-yard score that capped off an 11-play, 71-yard drive.
The other connection between the two came with just 2:40 left and was from 22 yards out. The Bears also converted the two-point try when Mendoza completed a shovel pass over the middle to Jaidyn Ott to make it 24-21. This also ended a long drive that spanned 98 yards and went 11 plays to go into Big Game lore.
“Yeah, it was a phenomenal drive, definitely the best he put together all season,” Mendoza said of the game-winning drive. “ 98 yards. It was a great Stanford punt. And, I mean, it was incredible. It was incredible, special moment, and it was a Big Game moment.”
In the game, Brady had 5 catches for 64 yards. This was his first Big Game, too.
“Yeah, a lot of people refer to Jonathan Brady as JB and JB, and he’s he’s a special player, and he makes special catches,” Mendoza added. “He has the last two touchdown catches, and I mean every touchdown catch, Trond back shoulder catch, the scramble drove the JB, and the last more he got held and he extended for the ball.”
Before the fourth quarter, the Golden Bears only other touchdown came on a 16-yard play where Mendoza found Trond Grizzell with 11:04 left in the first half.
California also got a 46-yard field goal by Ryan Coe with 47 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Mendoza finished the game by completing 25 of 36 passes for 299 yards. This mark also put him over 3,000 yards in his career.
To begin the game, Stanford (3-8, 2-6 ACC) moved the ball however it wanted to. It all came on the ground as Justin Lampson found the end zone twice to begin the game in the first quarter.
His first came with 7:49 to play in the frame and capped off a 12-play drive that went 75 yards and top 7:11 off the clock.
The next score came to end an 8-play drive, which went 54 yards when Lampson scored from two yards out with 1:27 left in the quarter. He ended the game with 6 carries and 14 yards.
The Cardinal scored for the final time when they broke out some trickery. It all began when Aston Daniels took the snap and handed it off to Micah Ford who found Emmett Mosley V for a 2-yard score. It made it 21-7 and ended an 11-play drive that went 52 yards.
“Yeah, honestly, it was surreal just seeing, like, how the defense really locked into the moment, you know, backs against the wall,” California defensive back Craig Woodson said of the key stops down the stretch. “Nobody believed, like in the in the other side, that we were going to come back and win that game and get those stops that were needed. But I think just in the moment, everybody believed, everybody kind of came together and said, like, ‘we have to go make a play.’”
With the win, the Golden Bears will be headed to a bowl game for a second straight season.
“Well, winning a bowl game is one of our goals every year,” Wilcox explained. “There have been a number of opportunities for us to get to that, that six-win throughout the year, and boy, it was tough.”
It also is the fourth straight Big Game win for the program. It also makes the series 66-54-11 in Stanford’s favor. This was also the first Big Game in ACC history between the rivals.
California will visit SMU next Saturday at 12:30 pm. Stanford will end the regular season with a trip to Silicon Valley rival San Jose State next Friday at 1 pm.
