Two years ago, the Cal Golden Bears seemed to have little interest in spending their post-Christmas week in San Diego. Two years later, Cal seemed perfectly happy to make America’s Finest City home for the holidays.
Cal (10-3) used 111 yards on the ground from star back Marshawn Lynch and a pair of TDs to rout Texas A&M 45-10 last Thursday evening in the 29th edition of the Pacific Holiday Bowl.
Cal, feeling snubbed two years ago when it didn’t receive a BCS invite, proceeded to lose handily to Texas Tech in the 2004 Holiday Bowl. Flashing forward to this contest, Cal fell behind early to the Aggies but roared back to dominate the Big 12 representative.
“We wanted to prove our brand of football and I think we showed ourselves well,” Cal head coach Jeff Tedford remarked. “I think we played pretty physical football in the Pac-10.”
Not only did Cal click offensively, but the defense also was key on this night.
Cal ended up with a 476-349 edge in total yards of offense, limiting the Aggies to 163 yards on the ground.
Holding onto a 14-10 lead in the third quarter, Lynch scored on a 1-yard run, flying over the line and fumbling as he came down in the end zone. The Aggies recovered, but the call was that Lynch broke the plane and the Golden Bears were up 21-10. Cal would go on to run the clock and continue controlling the line of scrimmage en route to the win.
Winning QB Nate Longshore had a big night, going 19-of-24 for 235 yards. Longshore also rushed for a TD on the night.
Texas A&M (9-4) got its only touchdown early in the game as QB Stephen McGee threw a 19-yard TD pass to Chad Schroeder to make it 7-0. True freshman Mike Goodson made his first career start in the Holiday Bowl and finished with 62 yards rushing on 13 carries. Goodson ended his freshman season with 847 yards, third highest in A&M history.
Cal linebacker Desmond Bishop, the game’s defensive MVP, led the Golden Bears with 12 total tackles, one tackle for loss and one pass broken up.