(Written by kencraw)

After the heartbreaking loss to UCLA, the overall feeling about the Bears was still good. UCLA was ranked 16th at the time of the game after all. Minus the special teams mistake and some only minorly concerning redzone effectiveness issues, the Bears played pretty well, scoring 40 points. With a lowly regarded Oregon State coming to town, it was assumed the Bears would get back on track. All it would take is for the still suspect UCLA to lose a couple and the Bears were still on track to meet USC at home for the rematch that could send Cal to their first Rose Bowl.

The Bears got the ball to start the game. After a steady dose of running loosened the OSU defense enough to get the ball on the OSU side of the field, OSU keyed on the run on 1st down, stuffing Marshawn Lynch. After a sack on 2nd down setup a difficult 3rd and 13 that Ayoob was not able to complete, the Bears had to punt.

OSU only accomplished one 1st down before the Bears clamped down and forced a punt, getting the ball back deep in their own territory at the 12 yard-line. The Bears went straight back to the running game on 1st and 2nd down, setting up a 3rd and 5. Ayoob did his best to run for the 1st down after the pass-coverage broke down, falling one yard short.

Unfortunately on the punt, Bears fans were forced to re-live their all too fresh special teams mistakes, allowing OSU to run it back to the Cal 21 yard-line, instantly in position to score. After a 3rd down completion on a nice out-pattern gave the Beavers 1st and goal from the 9 yard line, the Bear defense clamped down and forced the field-goal attempt. The 24 yard field-goal was good, putting the Bears in an early yet small hole 0-3.

On the Bears next possession, although switching things up on 1st down resulted in an incompletion, the fruit of that choice was realized on 2nd down when Lynch was able to run for 24 yards to the outside, getting the ball out to the Cal 38. Cal used the same strategy on their 2nd set of down with much less success with the same 1st down incompletion but Forsett being stuffed on 2nd down and Ayoob sacked on 3rd down, forcing the punt.

The Beavers didn’t waste any time taking advantage of the Bear ineffectiveness, throwing a deep slant for 58 yards down to the Cal 9 yard-line. The Beavers again found the going more difficult deep inside the redzone, settling for another field-goal, this one from 25 yards, adding to the Bears deficit, now down 0-6.

On the Bears next drive, the Bears were saved from disaster twice. First, an instant replay kept things going on 2nd and 10, giving DeSean Jackson a catch setting up 3rd and 1. After the 1st down, a fumble that was returned for a touchdown by the Beavers was overturned by a 15 yard facemask penalty. Two additional personal foul penalties, one for an extended tackle after the whistle on a Manderino run play and another on a blatant pass-interference shoving DeSean out of bounds on a fade pattern to the endzone, got the ball just outside the OSU redzone. After a sack on Ayoob, the 3rd of the game, the Bears busted out some trickery. A run play to the right by Lynch was turned into a pass back across the field to Ayoob who streaked down the left sideline for a touchdown, putting the Bears in front for the first time, 7-6.

OSU was able to chip away at the Bears defense getting the ball out to midfield. The Bears had the drive stopped when a complete pass 3rd down came up 7 yards short when a very marginal personal foul penalty on Zack Follett when he threw the receiver to the ground just as he had stepped out of bounds. The Bears defense was able to cover their mistake on the next play when Pimentel stepped in front of a pass up the middle, intercepting it on the Cal 32 yard line.

Sam DeSa prevented OSU from returning the favor by breaking up an interception two plays into the Cal drive when Ayoob made a bad read. After Lynch was stuffed on the following run play and Ayoob missed Lynch on the screen play, the Bears had to punt.

The Beavers were able to get a couple more 1st downs, getting the ball back out near midfield again before they were forced to punt. Unfortunately for the Bears, they gave the Beavers a gift on their first play of the next drive. Lynch allowed the ball to be stripped after he had a 4 yard gain, giving the ball back to the Beavers with a 1st and goal from the 8.

After the Bears held again on 1st and 2nd down a desperate Matt Moore, wanting to see the Beavers finally get a touchdown in their 3rd redzone appearance, forced a ball on a slant that Pimentel was all over. To add insult to injury for the Beavers, Pimentel was able to run the ball all the way down to the OSU redzone. Adding to that, a block in the back penalty gave the Bears the ball at the OSU 8 yard line. Two plays later Ayoob found DeSean in the back of the endzone on a fade pattern to put the Bears up 14-6.

After the Bears forced a 3 and out with the Beavers inside their own redzone, it looked like the Bears were in a position to extend their lead before halftime. However, after a great punt gave the Bears the ball at their own 41, Lynch fumbled yet again, again stripped as he was stood up. To make matters worse, the ball was run down to the Cal 12 yard-line off of the fumble setting up the Beaver’s fourth redzone appearance. Again the Bears held and again the Beavers kicked a field-goal, this one as time expired in the 1st half, putting the halftime score at Cal 14, OSU 9.

Summing the 1st half, the Bears were lucky to have the lead. The offense had been inconsistent and the two fumbles by Lynch were very troublesome. Also troublesome was how frequently the Bears had let OSU into the rezone. Whether escaping with only 9 points on the opponent’s scoreboard was a result of good defense or good luck, it was not a position that left Bear fans feeling very comfortable with the slim 14-9 lead the Bears had. If the Bear offense couldn’t generate more yards, having only gained 122 in the 1st half, and points, there could be trouble in the 2nd half if OSU could resolve their offensive woes.

The halftime break proved to be very valuable for the OSU offense. After they converted on a 3rd and 5 with a nice pass under pressure that went for 17 yards, running back Yvenson Bernard took the team on his back. On his 3rd consecutive play getting the ball he busted the run to the outside, picked up a great block and ran it into the endzone on a 31 yard run play, proving that the best way for the Beavers to get into the endzone was from outside the redzone.

On the first possession of the half for the Bears, Justin Forsett came in as the running back, an indication that Lynch was being held out of the game for fumbling twice late in the 2nd half. However, with Lynch out, Cal mostly went to the air, moving the ball out to about midfield including a 27 yard post pattern to DeSean. After another pass to Robert Jordon got the ball down to the OSU 39, Ayoob decided to pull his best Lynch impression by scrambling to get some extra yards and then coughing the ball up, giving OSU back the ball.

OSU went right back to work. Between the power running of Bernard and a personal foul on Ma’afala the Beavers quickly had the ball inside the Cal redzone yet again. Bernard then ran the ball down to the Cal 7 yard-line setting up their 5th 1st and goal. This time it was not the Cal defense that kept OSU from converting the touchdown but a fumble into the endzone where it bounced out of bounds before it could be recovered by wide-receiver Mike Hass, that gave Cal the ball back at the 20 yard-line.

The Bears continued to shoot themselves in the foot on their next possession when a holding penalty called back a touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson. Luckily for the Bears, with Ayoob now seeing how to expose the weaknesses in the OSU secondary, the Bears were able to get back down into the redzone on the back of passes to Jackson and Marcus O’Keith. Ayoob was then able to run it into the endzone on a quarterback draw, giving the Bears the lead back. The Bears attempted the 2-point conversion to try to extend to a 7 point lead but the fade pattern was slightly overthrown, leaving the Bears up only by 4, 20-16.

The Cal defense stiffened on the next OSU possession. Unfortunately the Beavers punt rolled down to inside the Cal 1 yard line. Cal was unable to work out of their short field and the best they could do was to punt the ball to midfield. However, the Bears were able to significantly improve their situation on the next play when McCluskey intercepted a ball intended for Hass giving the Bears the ball at the Cal 45.

The Bears looked to be capitalizing on the good fortune after Ayoob completed a pass to David Gray getting the ball down to the OSU 34. Sadly, Ayoob threw an interception of the type he will always be remembered for. Under pressure without a good receiver to throw to, instead of throwing it away or taking the sack, he threw up a wounded duck that landed in the defenses hands, negating the momentum swing the Bears had gained.

After the defense forced a 3 and out, Ayoob showed just how shaken he was from the previous interception. Working again out of his own endzone after another great punt, he skipped a ball to an open Robert Jordon on 2nd down. After a mediocre completion on 3rd down gave the Bears another set of downs, Ayoob threw another interception, this time way too close to the Bear goal-line, giving the Beavers the ball at the Cal 32.

After OSU got into the redzone on a screen pass, OSU put the ball into Bernards hands again on 3 consecutive plays under the premise that he was the only one to be effective in the redzone. Sure enough, minus the fumble into the endzone, he was able to duplicate his previous redzone performance giving OSU back the lead, the Bears needing a field-goal with 6:41 remaining to get back into the game, down 20-23.

What transpired in the next four possessions was a exercise in futility for both offenses. 4 consecutive 3 and outs where Ayoob looked more shaky with every incompletion and OSU was unable to run the ball with the Cal offense keying on the run with the clock winding down.

Cal was able to get the ball back one final time with 1:02 left in the game and the ball on the Cal 11 yard line after another good punt, the 5th to land in the Cal redzone. Ayoob then threw a fairly good pass to DeSean Jackson who was unable to go up and get it with his shoulder injury from earlier in the game. On the next play pressure on Ayoob forced him to throw it away. On 3rd down Ayoob was given plenty of time but was unable to find an open receiver. Finally on 4th down Ayoob broke his 9 pass incompletion streak (if you’re willing to count an interception as an incompletion), hitting DeSean for a 1st down. Ayoob then threw another one of his signature under pressure wounded ducks that should have been intercepted had it not been dropped. Two more incompletions later, Cal turned the ball over on downs, effectively ending the game.

Summing the game, while there had been minor lingering doubts regarding Ayoob, the OSU game was the turning point in the criticism of Ayoob. His performance in the 2nd half clearly sunk the Bears. While there was plenty of blame to go around between fumbles and giving the Beavers too many redzone opportunities, it was impossible to deny that Cal had 3 end of game possessions to make up a 3 point deficit in which Ayoob was unable to shake his nearly back-to-back interceptions from just prior to those possessions.

The Bears had now lost two in a row, including a loss to a team thought to be in the bottom half of the conference. With another home game against a bottom of the Pac-10 WSU the next week, would the Bears be able to correct their mistakes in time to turn it around?

Tune in on Wednesday to find out.