Trevon Clark turned a short pass from Chase Garbers into a rivalry-record, 84-yard touchdown Saturday afternoon as California used big plays to roll past host Stanford 41-11 in the 124th rendition of the Big Game.
Garbers passed for 246 yards and two scores, Christopher Brooks ran 13 times for 131 yards and Clark totaled 135 yards on three receptions in the Pacific-12 Conference affair for the Golden Bears, who won at Stanford for the second time in three years.
Cal ran up a Big Game-record 636 total yards, aided by a non-scoring 75-yard run by Brooks and a 76-yard TD scamper by Marcel Dancy in the third quarter.
The Golden Bears (4-6, 3-4 Pac-12), who remained bowl-eligible with the win, also scored on a 1-yard TD pass from Garbers to Brooks in the first quarter, a 2-yard run by Dancy early in the fourth period, a 5-yard run by Chris Street with 5:00 remaining in the game and Dario Longhetto field goals of 24 and 34 yards.
Dancy just missed a 100-yard rushing game with 92 yards on just four carries.
Garbers finished 17-for-26 with one interception. He also ran seven times for 59 yards.
Cal rushed for 352 yards and had 284 passing.
Tanner McKee passed for 234 yards on 27-for-44 passing with two interceptions for Stanford (3-8, 2-7), which completes its season next week at home against Notre Dame.
Austin Jones had Stanford’s only touchdown on a 1-yard plunge early in the final period after the Cardinal had already fallen behind 27-3. Joshua Karty added a 32-yard field goal for Stanford.
Stanford’s Michael Wilson led all pass-catchers with seven that went for 73 yards. Jones was the Cardinal’s leading rusher with 28 yards on 10 attempts.
Garbers’ record-breaking connection with Clark came 2:53 into the second quarter.
Cal had suffered a fumble and an interception on its first two possessions. But each time, Stanford failed to capitalize on goal-to-go situations, turning the ball over on downs both times as the game remained scoreless.
Despite the loss, Stanford retained a 65-48-11 advantage in the all-time series.
–Field Level Media
