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The BIG GAME goes to CAL this year
By Randy Leighton November 21, 2009 |
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Stanford, CA - 50,510 fans attended the big game this year, as Cal Bears and Stanford Cardinals battled it out to see who would take the Axe. Stanford’s honorary captain of the big game is Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods was also being inducted into the Stanford Athletics hall of fame tonight. Stanford lost to Cal 28-34 in a heartbreaker. Stanford was knocking at the door to beat Cal in the last 2 minutes when the unthinkable happened. Cal kicked a low bouncer to prevent Owusu long return. Stanford started at 31. Gerhart opens up the third play of the game with a 61 yard touchdown run. This touchdown run was Gerhart’s 20th of the season and longest of his career. STA 7, CAL 0 Cal starts on their 22. Cal quarterback Kevin Riley tried a 60 yard pass for his opening play, but overthrew his receiver. The Bears failed to convert a first down and had to punt away, the kick went out of bounds at the 35 yard line. Gerhart opened the drive with a 2 yard run. Luck converted the first 2 plays later with a diving run over the first down line. Facing 3rd and 7 at the midfield, Taylor caught a pass but went down short. The punt setup Cal at their 12 yard line. Cal failed again to convert on 3rd down and punted to Stanford. The punt was blocked and Stanford took over the ball on the Bears 19 yard line. A short run, a missed pass lead to a Andrew luck keeper run for 16 yards to the 1 yard line. Gerhart brought home his 21st TD, a 2 yard run that set a new school record. STA 14, CAL 0 Cal starting on their 26 this time. Quarterback Kevin Riley architected a 10play, 70 yard drive that ended up in a field goal for Vince D’Amato. Cal moved the ball all the way to the 2 before they were stopped 3 times by Stanford’s defense. This forced them to kick a field goal. STA 14, CAL 3 On their first drive of the second quarter Cal moved the ball up the field deliberately and slowly, using their running game to push the ball. They really started to look like they were coming alive, compared to the first quarter poor play. Amazingly for Stanford, Riley threw an interception to Richard Sherman at the 9 yard line as they looked like they were going to push the ball into the end zone with 9:25 left in the half. Stanford’s drive started with an 11 yard pass to Ryan Whalen for a first down. Next play to move the ball was a Gerhart long run along the right side for 6 yards. Gerhart is at 10 carries and 90 yards so far. Luck hit Griff Whalen on the left side for a 9 yard gain. Luck is 4 of 9 for 27 yards so far. On 3rd down, Luck fired right to Owusu, but he dropped it and they failed to convert. The punt went 48 with no return, Cal on their 15 to start. Cal finally delivered a scoring drive, as they moved the ball up and Verheen ran a 1 yard touchdown run in for a score. Riley put up 2 keeper runs this drive, and they converted on all their critical third down plays to keep the drive moving up. STA 14, CAL 10 Stanford took over with :41 seconds remaining in the half after receiving the kick, but didn’t move the ball significantly before the time ran out. At halftime, Cal had 124 rush yards, 89 pass yards for a total of 213. Stanford had 116 rush yards, 27 pass yards for 143 total. Stanford kicked off to start the second half, Cal picked up a penalty and hard to start on the 8. Cal Drive was 11 plays for 92 yards in 5 minutes. They drove the ball all the way to the end zone, culminating with another Vereen touchdown run for 4 yards. STA 14, CAL 17 That is 17 unanswered Cal Points. Owusu returned the ball to the 41 on the kickoff, then Cal caused a personal foul, moving the ball to the 26 yard line. Gerhart lost a yard on the first play, then Luck had another wild snap that he recovered off the ground, thrown to the ground. 3rd and 11 for Stanford at the 28. Luck had no pass and tried a shovel pass to Gerhart, but it was stopped. Facing a 45 yard field goal attempt, Whitaker could not convert the field goal. Cal continued to dominate the offensive game, including passing and running, spotlighted by a 34 yard run by Vereen. Cal pushed forward to the Stanford 5 yard line with 4:36 remaining in the quarter, looking unstoppable by Stanford’s defense. True to the word, Vereen pushed in another touchdown run of the night. 10 plays, 72 yards in 5:02 Stanford started the drive with 3:44 remaining and started on their 31 yard line. Looking at the yardage stats to this point shows how Cal is beating Stanford. Cal has 373 total yards to Stanford’s 142. Luck completed his first pass to Fleener, breaking the offensive drought from the quarter. Gerhart converted their first third down opportunity to keep the drive moving. Luck hit Conrad Reuland for a big play, moving down to the 26 yard line. Tyler Gaffney got a quick run up the open right side, reaching the ball into the end zone as he was tackled. Further review showed a 21 yard run stopped at the 1 yard line. 2nd down and Gerhart pushes in his 3rd TD for the evening, STA 21, CAL 24 If ever Stanford needed a stop, it was now to keep this game alive. Cal started the fourth quarter pushing up the field, playing their game and outplaying Stanford’s defense. Riley continued to move around in the pocket, nearly untouched by whatever the defense could muster. This really enabled him to put the ball where he wanted it, and as the 4th quarter starting drive wound down, Riley threw a pass right down the middle to Jones in the end zone. Drive was 6 plays, 72 yards in 1:49. STA 21, CAL 31 With 13:09 remaining, Stanford started at their own 42. Luck tried something that you rarely saw Stanford do this season. Three passes, three misses. Time to punt. The last time they tried this earlier in the season it didn’t work either. Cal started their next drive on the 27. They pounded the ground so they could run time on the clock. They converted their first third down conversion with a keeper 1 yard run. Riley and Vereen just continued to penetrate the defense, giving Stanford the kind of game that the Cardinals were so good at all this season. BIG TIME STOP, Stanford stopped them and with 8:46 started their drive on their 13. First play Luck connected long to Owusu, 37 yards, and a first down at the 50. Owusu again and it was first down at the bear 38. Next pass connected again to Ryan Whalen at the 26. Gerhart broke through and almost got in the end zone, but went down at the 5. Next play, Gerhart put in his fourth touchdown. STA 28, CAL 31 Cal started on their 28 after the kickoff return. First play on Cal was a big tackle and loss of 2 yards. 2nd down pass incomplete. Big catch for Cal by Tucker for 18 yards converted the first down to the Bear 44 yard line. So far this drive, Stanford has stopped the Cal run by Vereen. 3rd and 10 for Cal after 2 stopped run plays. Riley tried a long pass but got slammed by the blitz and they had to punt. Stanford started on the 21, after a 35yard punt with no return. First pass failed by Luck, Fleener was wide open and he overthrew it too high. Gerhart got 2 yards and setup 3rd and 8 for the Cardinals. Luck failed to connect with Owusu on third down and forced them to play for it on fourth and 8. Luck failed to connect with tight end Jim Dray, Cal takes over at the Cardinal 23 with 3:28 left. Cal went to Vereen who ran up the right and stopped at first down yardage on the 11. After moving to 3rd and 8, Riley would take a knee and setup a field goal for Cal. Stanford burned its last time out to stop the clock at 2:46. Cal’s Vince D’Amato would kick a 28 yard field goal. STA 28, CAL 34 Cal again kicked a low kick that Stanford grabbed and ran a few yards to the 42 yard line. Stanford had to score on this drive with 2:39 remaining and no time outs. Luck ran 2 in a row, the first one a first down, the second one for 5. Gerhart took a pass from Luck who broke left to avoid a sack and ran up the left line breaking 3 tackles and first down with 1:52 left. Luck passed to Fleener in the end zone, but it didn’t get caught. 1:42 remaining Luck threw a pass up the middle and it was intercepted on the three yard line!!! Good Game Stanford and Cal, Riley only needs to take a knee and the time is out. Final Score Stanford 28, Cal 34 |
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