Memorial Stadium in Berkeley has been a bit of a house of horrors for UCLA the past 15 years. It almost was again on Saturday afternoon.
The Bruins used a couple of key calls, a few lucky bounces and a strong offensive showing from quarterback Brett Hundley to squeak past the Golden Bears for their first win at Cal since 1998.
Hundley went 31-of-42 for 330 yards, two touchdowns and an interception through the air while also leading the team in rushing with 96 yards and a score. Although he still displayed a few traits that NFL scouts will knock him for -- holding on to the ball too long, throwing behind receivers -- he did enough to keep his team afloat in the Pac-12 South and help the Bruins roll up 567 yards of offense.
Turnovers were one of the few issues the team had on the offensive end, losing two fumbles in addition to Hundley's pass that was picked off on a throw he would have liked back late in the fourth quarter.
Cal's Jared Goff had pedestrian numbers -- by his standards -- with just 303 yards passing with two touchdowns and a pick against an active UCLA defense that forced eight punts and held the Bears' offense to just 4-of-15 on third down. The front seven, led by defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa, also limited Cal to just 1.8 yards per carry on a grand total of 56 rushing yards.
Still, UCLA nearly suffered another heartbreak in Strawberry Canyon.
After Hundley scampered 15 yards to score a touchdown to take the lead at the end of the third, Cal mounted a comeback, jump-started by an interception as the Bruins were driving on their next series. Thanks to a great catch in the end zone between defenders by Kenny Lawler, the Bears re-took the lead but failed to score the two-point conversion that would have given them a three-point lead.
Hundley moved the team 55 yards to set up Ka'imi Fairbairn, who missed a game-winning kick against Utah, for the eventual winner. Cal moved down inside the UCLA 40, but Goff was picked off on a questionable decision by the Pac-12 refs as Marcus Rios appeared to be bobbling the ball out of bounds.
It didn't seem to matter, as Jim Mora's team survived and moves on to keep their slim Pac-12 title hopes afloat in just another strange game in one of the craziest conferences in the country.
You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDfischer.
