BERKELEY (AP) — Chase Garbers threw one of his three TD passes one play after California partially blocked a punt and the Golden Bears beat Oregon State 39-25 Saturday.
The key point in the game came in the closing seconds of the third quarter with Cal (3-5, 2-3 Pac-12) leading by seven points.
Chance Nolan couldn’t connect with Trevon Bradford on a third-down pass and sent out Luke Loecher to punt.
Nick Alftin got a piece of the kick and it went out of bounds 1 yard past the line of scrimmage. Garbers then went deep and connected on a 38-yard TD pass to Trevon Clark to make it 31-17 on the final play of the third quarter.
The Beavers (5-3, 3-2) lost for the second time in three games and fell a game behind rival Oregon in the Pac-12 North.
Oregon State tried to mount a comeback, cutting it to 31-25 on a 46-yard TD pass from Chance Nolan to Trevon Bradford followed by a 2-point conversion.
But the Golden Bears answered on Garbers’ second TD pass of the game to Christopher Brooks followed by a 2-point conversion of their own and held on for the win.
Garbers also ran for a score on the opening drive and threw a 38-yard TD pass to Brooks earlier in the third quarter to lead Cal to their its second straight conference win.
THE TAKEAWAY
Oregon State: The Beavers were done in by three turnovers and the partially blocked punt as they failed in their first chance to become bowl eligible. They also struggled to get going on the ground with B.J. Baylor held to 42 yards on 13 carries. Baylor came into the week sixth in the nation at 118.6 yards rushing per game and had topped the 100-yard mark in four straight and five of the past six games contests.
California: The Bears followed up a lopsided win over Colorado last week with a more impressive one in a tougher opponent in the Beavers. They need to win three of the final four games to get bowl eligible.
FAST START
Cal jumped out early with Marqez Bimage ripping the ball away from B.J. Baylor for a fumble on the first play from scrimmage. That set up a 3-yard TD run by Garbers that gave him the most TD runs by a quarterback in school history with 10.
Cal has now scored on the opening drive in six of eight games this season with five touchdowns and one field goal.
UP NEXT
California visits Arizona on Saturday.
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Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.