Cal blows 25-point lead to lose to No. 8 Miami after festive day in Berkeley

BERKELEY — The Cal football experience on Saturday began and ended in darkness. In between, over a span of more than 17 hours, the Golden Bears assembled one of their brightest performances in years.

Then it all fell apart.

After fans packed Memorial Glade in the heart of campus and wowed the ESPN ‘College GameDay’ crew for three hours beginning at 6 a.m., the Bears forged a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter against No. 8 Miami in front of a capacity crowd of 52,428 at Memorial Stadium.

But the Hurricanes scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns, the last one on a 5-yard pass from Cam Ward to tight end Elijah Arroyo with 26 seconds left. Andres Borregales converted the PAT kick for a 39-38 lead and Cal’s first-ever home game in the Atlantic Coast Conference ended with a thud.

Fernando Mendoza, who passed for 285 yards and two touchdowns, was picked off by Francisco Mauigoa with 5 seconds left in the game just after the clock hit 11:30 p.m. — 2:30 a.m. in Miami.

Cal (3-2, 0-2) led 38-18 less than a minute into the fourth quarter before the Hurricanes (6-0, 2-0) stormed back.

Ward threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Horton to make it 38-25 with 10:28 left, then scrambled 24 yards into the end zone, cutting the margin to 38-32 with 4:04 to play.

Jaivian Thomas ran 19 yards on Cal’s first play after the ensuing kickoff to start the drive strong, but Cal soon faced a third-and-7 from its own 47-yard line after the 2-minute timeout.

After a false start by the Bears, Mendoza took off on a third-and-12 scramble and was flattened by a hit from Hurricanes linebacker Wesley Bissainthe. Officials did a video review, checking for a targeting foul, but opted against it.

Lachlan Wilson punted to the Miami 8 with 1:42 left before disaster visited the Bears. On the drive’s first play, Ward found receiver Xavier Restrepo all alone for a 77-yard romp to the Cal 15-yard line.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Hurricanes pushed them back to the 25 with less than a minute left. But Ward’s improvised pass to Damien Martinez got them to the 3-yard line and Arroyo stretched the ball across the goal line after catching Ward’s final pass of the night.

Cal was hoping to beat a Top 25 opponent for the first time since knocking off No. 21 Oregon 21-17 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. It was so close to its first win over a top-10 team since a 37-3 rout of No. 8 Washington State in 2017.

Cal got the ball first to start the second half, but the offense could not build on its 21-10 halftime lead.

The defense took care of that, thanks to an ill-advised pass by Ward. Pressured by defensive lineman Nate Burrell, who played a splendid game, Ward threw the ball up for grabs on a first-and-10 play from his own 24-yard line.

Cornerback Nohl Williams snared the ball at the 40 — no doubt, the easiest of his five interceptions this season — and he raced untouched into the end zone for a 28-10 lead with 13:07 left in the third quarter.

Cal went 80 yards in five plays on its next possession, with Mendoza dumping a pass in the flat to Thomas, who raced 56 yards to the Miami 29.

Mendoza hit tight end Jack Endries for a 20-yard gain to the 9 and backup quarterback Chandler Rogers sneaked onto the field, took the shotgun snap and ran it in on a 9-yard keeper. The PAT made it 35-10 with 8:06 left in the third quarter.

The Hurricanes pulled within 35-18 after a touchdown and two-point conversion with 3:02 left in the third quarter, but Cal got three points back when Ryan Coe made a 37-yard field goal for a 38-18 lead with 14:13 left in the third quarter.

That eight-play, 55-yard possession was notable for Mendoza leaving the game after opting against a slide and being hit hard at the end of a 22-yard scramble. Rogers returned and completed the series at quarterback, but Mendoza finished the game, including the big hit from Bissainthe.

Big plays sparked the Bears’ 21-10 halftime lead.

Mendoza became the first Cal quarterback with three completions of at least 50 yards in a game since Jared Goff against Arizona State in 2015.

Here they are:

— Trailing 7-0, Mendoza passed 57 yards to tight end Jack Endries, who got behind defensive back D’Yoni Hill, then outran him down the left sideline to the end zone. That capped a seven-play, 89-yard drive and got the Bears even with 3:58 left in the first quarter.

— On their next possession, Cal went 56 yards in three plays, including Mendoza’s 51-yard completion to wide receiver Trond Grizzell to the Miami 5-yard line. Jaydn Ott went in from there on a second-down dash around right end, putting Cal in front, 14-7, with 13:43 left in the second quarter.

— After Miami kicked a field goal to get within 14-10, Cal faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 34-yard line. Mendoza appeared to get the first down on a sneak but the Canes had called timeout just before the snap.

Coach Justin Wilcox then went out of character, rolled the dice and had Mendoza drop a play-fake pass to Ott in the right flat. The junior running back sprinted untouched down the sideline, looking back to toy with Miami defenders over the final 20 yards.

That 66-yard scoring play gave Cal a 21-10 lead with 8 minutes left in the half.

The play represented much of Ott’s production, as he ran just seven times for two rushing yards. The Bears had 73 yards on 25 carries.

NOTE: The sellout was Cal’s first since the 2022 Big Game. The Bears’ most recent sellout against anyone other than Stanford was in 2013 against Ohio State when Memorial Stadium had a capacity of 62,647.