For the second time this season Cal has had two players earn ACC Player of the Week honors.
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza was been named the ACC Quarterback of the Week and kicker Derek Morris was named ACC Specialist of the Week as announced by the league office Monday.
It marks the second week this season that the Bears have had two players earning conference honors following linebacker Teddye Buchanan (linebacker) and cornerback Nohl Williams (defensive back) earning awards following Cal's Week 2 win over Auburn.
Mendoza, who was recently named as one of 25 quarterbacks still in the running for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award earlier this month, turned in a career day or the Bears in their win dominant 44-7 over Oregon State on Saturday.
The redshirt sophomore guided Cal to their first win since Sept. 14 with a career-high 364 yards passing to go along with a pair of touchdown passes, including one that ended up in his own hands after a lateral from running back Jaivian Thomas early in the game.
Mendoza has been efficient in recent games, and Saturday's win marked his third consecutive performance with a completion percentage of at least 70%. His season completion percentage of 68.5% is good enough for second in the ACC entering Week 10.
The Cal quarterback connected on 27 of his 36 attempts against the Beavers and now has 2,095 yards passing on the year. Mendoza has tossed 10 touchdowns against just 3 interceptions and has rushed for another score this year.
He is just one of four ACC quarterbacks with over 2,000 yards passing this season.
"It really comes down to the synergy we play with as an offense," Mendoza said about his big performance in Saturday's game. " ... When the first or second read isn't there and the O-line is able to protect and kick the Oregon State D-line and linebackers' butts, and our receivers are able to have that extra time when they can get open. When our receivers have that extra time to get open there's no stopping our receivers, our tight ends — Jack [Endries] — and I think it's really unfair at that point when our guys have that extra time."
Morris was able to bounce back from a challenging close to the game against NC State when he missed his final kick that would have put the Bears in the lead. Ultimately, Cal lost to the Wolfpack by a point with the freshman going 3 for 4 on field goal tries in his first start.
Against Oregon State, Morris was perfect when called into action on five attempts including a season-high make from 46 yards out in the second quarter. In all, the Franklin, Ohio native connected on field goal tries from 33, 46, 19, 25 and 38 yards out in addition to hitting each of his three extra point attempts in Saturday's win.
The five made field goals tied a program record that has been reached just two other times by Mark Jensen against Air Force back on Sept. 21, 2002 and most recently by Matt Anderson against UCLA on Nov. 26, 2016.
The Bears have their second bye in Week 10 and will return to action Nov. 8 for a Friday night matchup with Wake Forest on the road in Winston-Salem.
