Justin Wilcox preaches about what his team shows when the situation isn't perfect.

It wasn't perfect Friday night, as quarterback Chase Garbers went down with a presumed shoulder injury in the first half. It turned into a nightmare in Berkeley, as the Cal offense turned stagnant after the first drive of the second half and the Cal defense struggled to tackle a slippery Jayden Daniels and a tough running Eno Benjamin

Garbers' injury occurred as the sophomore quarterback scrambled for more yards, got upended, and landed on his shoulder. Garbers was seen on the sideline during the second half with a sling on his right side. Garbers left the game having gone 9-12 for 117 yards and 1 TD. Devon Modster was 5-14 for 23 yards and an INT in relief.

The Bears made a couple plays, with Cameron Goode forcing a key fumble on Jayden Daniels in the 4th quarter, Joseph Ogunbanjo recovered, and Greg Thomas delivered a 47 yard field goal to give the Bears a lead. Jayden Daniels showed why he's been a strong player for the Sun Devils, methodically leading a 15 play, 75 yard drive, sealed with Eno Benjamin's 3rd touchdown run, which, along with a Cristian Zendejas 43-yard field goal, gave the Sun Devils the final margin in a 24-17 loss for #15 Cal.

Cal struggled in the second half after marching for a touchdown to start the half. A Chris Brown touchdown run briefly gave the Bears a touchdown lead, but Daniels, who finished with 12 carries for 84 yards in addition to 14-24 passing for 174 yards, escaped pressure time and time again, and Cal's run defense, despite seven tackles for loss, couldn't consistently contain Daniels, who consistently found the right man or the space to get away.

"We need to limit those runs, get to third down quicker," outside linebacker Cam Goode said.

"It was poor tackling, poor leverage, poor finish, it showed up on defense and special teams," Justin Wilcox noted.

The defense wasn't the only issue, as Modster was inaccurate on a handful of throws, had a couple of drops on the final drive, and showed some of the struggles that Chase Garbers had shown during the early part of the season,

Garbers, prior to his injury, had a handful of solid plays early, including on the first touchdown drive to Trevon Clark. He hit Clark on a 45 yard bomb early, then floated in a fade to Clark for 16 yards and a score. It was Clark's second of the year.

Arizona State missed two field goals, which kept the margin at 7-7 at the half, as well as with Devon Modster throwing an interception to kill a promising drive at the end of the first half.

"If we play like this next week, we'll be run out of the building," Evan Weaver noted at the end of his press conference.

Weaver finished with 15 total tackles, but 3 solo tackles, not quite his normal self as the Bears just had a number of issues on both sides of the ball that stagnated them.

"You can't keep winning games playing okay games," offensive lineman Jake Curhan said.

Explosives: Cal 2, ASU 3

Turnovers: Cal 1, ASU 1

3rd Downs: Cal 7-16, ASU 8-17

Yards per play: ASU, 5.1, Cal, 3.9

- Deshawn Collins made his Cal debut

- Makai Polk had his first ever start

- Josh Drayden also got a start in place of an injured Traveon Beck