Bears beat Stanford 27-15 to keep Axe in Berkeley for third straight year
Saturday, Cal kept the Axe in Berkeley defeating Stanford, 27-15, to get a third straight win over the Cardinal. While it wasn’t necessarily football of the highest quality, Cal’s offense was able to capitalize on momentum in key drives, while the Bears’ defense stepped up to get some key stops.
It was the Bears who got points on the board first with a touchdown late in the first quarter, and kept the lead throughout the entire game. A 9-yard touchdown pass to walk-on Trond Grizzell also kicked off what was a career game for the redshirt sophomore.
“Oh, man. It’s a big day. Dare you say, Big Game hero, he’s going to be in the conversation. I mean, Trond, from a year ago to now has made as big a jump as anybody, and cares deeply about football and the team. He’s a competitive guy, it matters to him,” said Cal head coach Justin Wilcox in the postgame press conference.
Grizzell was a key part of this Cal offense Saturday, leading the team with seven receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns — with a 19.4 yard average. After his first touchdown of the day, Grizzell would go on to score again early in the second quarter. A 54-yard dot by freshman quarterback Fernando Mendoza sent Grizzell on his way to the end zone on the Bears’ longest pass play of the season.
“Trond is a special player. He really stretched it downfield, and they were putting kind of one-on-one coverage the entire game — I thought that was a mistake. No offense to Stanford, but I thought that was a little bit of a mistake, and we took advantage of that,” Mendoza said.
Aside from Grizzell, a crucial playmaker for the Bears was, and continues to be, star sophomore running back Jaydn Ott. The sophomore bore the brunt of the carries for Cal Saturday, with 166 yards on the ground on 36 carries. Though Ott only averaged 4.6 yards as the Cardinal defense was honed in on stopping Cal’s run game, he managed to secure his fifth 100-yard rushing game this season.
In a smart decision from the Bears coaches in the last minutes of the game, Ott was told to take a knee instead of getting to the end zone for a second time — a chance for Cal to burn the clock and seal the win.
“Man, I’m so tired I’d rather be on the bus right now,” Ott joked with the media after being asked how tired he was. He added that 36 carries was a career high for him, even compared to high school.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bears kept the Cardinal to just one touchdown on the day. Stanford’s lone trip to the end zone came late in the third quarter with a 41-yard reception thrown to freshman receiver Tiger Bachmeier by quarterback Ashton Daniels.
The Bears held Stanford to a field goal on three separate drives as the Cardinal offense struggled to get much going both in the air and on the ground, with just 290 net total yards compared to Cal’s 455. Cardinal kicker Joshua Karty was certainly in contention for Stanford’s MVP of the day with three field goals over 40 yards, two of which were 50 or better.
Even with 10 minutes more of total possession time given Stanford’s offensive woes, the Bears still lost momentum following a Mendoza interception midway through the second quarter, after which they punted on two consecutive drives to finish out the half.
Mendoza took a hard hit in the third quarter — after which Stanford linebacker Tristan Sinclair was ejected for targeting — but returned to the field soon after following concussion protocol. Bears’ backup quarterback Ben Finley was in for the rest of the drive, though accounted for no passing attempts as Cal was leaning heavily on its run game.
After Mendoza was back in the game, however, Cal was able to capitalize on its momentum and some key first downs for a five and a half-minute 67-yard scoring drive, resulting in Ott’s lone touchdown of the day.
The Bears would find the end zone once more in the fourth quarter to extend their lead from six to 11 points on a 8-yard reception from Jeremiah Hunter. Hunter, Cal’s lead receiver, had just four catches on the day but made a big play to solidify Cal’s lead, forcing his way into the end zone.
Despite the injury, Mendoza managed to have a career game in his sixth-ever start, going 24 for 36 and throwing for just shy of 300 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. The game also marked Mendoza’s second career win — and the first Big Game win of his career.
The Bears are now 5-6 with the possibility to become bowl eligible. Cal’s game against UCLA next week becomes a must-win situation — should the Bears win, they’ll sit at 6-6 on the season, which would be their best record since 2019.
“Everybody on the team knows that the job’s not finished, the job’s not done,” Mendoza said. “We want to go bowling, we want to make a bowl game, but, like I said, this game means more so everyone’s just exhilarated, just celebrating in the locker room and having a great time, I’m sure everyone is going to go out and celebrate tonight. But we all know that (when) Sunday, Monday comes around we’ve got to be focused and dialed in on UCLA.”