Turnovers, Sofele bury Beavers in San Fransisco

Zach Maynard gets into the end zone against Oregon State
(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Isi Sofele ran for 190 yards and C.J. Anderson added another 96 on the ground as the Golden Bears defeated the Oregon State Beavers 23-6 Saturday night. The Beavers were unable to get anything going on the ground, gaining only 27 yards on the ground and could not keep the Bears at bay. Zach Maynard managed his position well. completing 13 of 19 passes for 128 yards, providing enough balance to keep OSU off guard.

The story of the night though was turnovers. Sean Mannion threw two interceptions and fumbled at the Cal 1 yard line early in the fourth as Oregon State's offense continued to go through growing pains with the first year signal caller.

The Beavers started out promisingly enough, opening the scoring with a field goal and intercepting Zach Maynard on the next California drive. The Beav's drove deep into Cal territory on the ensuing drive but Sean Mannion was sacked by Trevor Guyton to push OSU out of field goal range and force them to punt. After Johnny Hekker's punt pinned the Bears inside their own 10, Isi Sofele lead the Bears on a 91 yard scoring drive in just over 3 minutes. The drive was capped off when Maynard connected with Michael Calvin to put the Bears on top. They wouldn't look back. Maynard bounced back to throw for a score and run for another against an Oregon State defense which has struggled against mobile Quarter Backs this season.

Cal went on their second 90+ yard scoring drive, this time taking 9 minutes off the clock in a long 16 play drive to put the Bears up 14-3. The Beavers would answer back with another field goal just before the end of the half in a 7 play drive in which Sean Mannion completed 7 of 9 passes to get the Beavers in field goal range.

The Bears received the second half kick off and pounded Oregon State repeatedly, Sofele eventually breaking through on a 20 yard run to pay dirt. In what would show as the story of the night, the Beavers drove down into California territory but Sean Mannion was intercepted by D.J. Campbell in the red zone ending the Oregon State threat.

Once the Beavers got the ball back in the fourth quarter, they once again got the ball into the California red zone and were poised to punch it in, when Sean Mannion coughed the ball up at the 3 yard line and Cal recovered the fumble to keep the Beavers at bay. The Bears managed to turn the turn over into a Giorgio Tavecchio field goal to give the final margin of 23-6. Oregon State would get into Bear territory, put were thwarted on their final drive as another errant Mannion pass was intercepted with under a minute remaining to kill the last drive the Beavers had on the day.

For the Beavers, they return home to face a Washington squad which features one of the best running backs in the conference. At this point, Oregon State is reduced to spoiler against their northwest rivals Washington and then on the road to face North leader Oregon.

With the win, the Bears became bowl eligible and not a moment too soon as they face a Stanford squad in their yearly rivalry game. They close out the season on the road against Arizona State who is still looking to make a statement and stake their claim for the South division crown. California broke the streak that Oregon State held over them. Prior to this game, the Beavers had won the last four match ups against the Bears.