California gets physical in 24-14 win over Arizona State

BERKELEY, Calif. — When quarterback Rudy Carpenter taunted Zack Follett during Arizona State's win over California last season, the Golden Bears linebacker held his tongue and hung on to the memory.

"He was calling me by my first name, like we're best friends or something," Follett said, still fuming at the thought.

A year later, Follett replied to Carpenter's big words with perhaps the most vicious sack his teammates had ever seen. The Bears saw that crushing hit and the resulting fumble, which killed a fourth-quarter drive, as an appropriate punctuation on a 24-14 victory full of shining moments for Cal's defense.

"I almost stopped playing when I saw that," defensive lineman Cameron Jordan said. "If you had seen the pain on his face when that quarterback got hit ... "

Nate Longshore passed for 198 yards and three touchdowns in his return to Cal's starting lineup Saturday, but the Bears (4-1, 2-0 Pac-10) won by turning Arizona State's experienced offense into a mess. Carpenter passed for only 165 yards and threw two interceptions, while Keegan Herring didn't do much to help the Sun Devils (2-3, 1-1), running for just 37 yards in their third straight loss.

"With the defense playing like that, we just have to go out there and make sure we don't waste what they're doing," Longshore said. "As an offense, we need to do better, but every win in a Pac-10 game is special."

LaReylle Cunningham, Cameron Morrah and Nyan Boateng caught scoring passes from Longshore, the senior two-year starter who lost his job in training camp to Kevin Riley. Cal reopened its quarterback competition this week after the offense made slow starts in its last two games, and coach Jeff Tedford kept the winner's identity secret until Longshore ran onto the field.

Not everything went well for the Bears and their current QB, particularly in the second half. The Cal offense failed to score after the opening minutes of the third quarter, and Longshore missed a handful of throws while finishing 17 for 28 with an interception.

Yet the Bears still did enough to overcome the absence of injured Jahvid Best, Cal's top rusher and receiver. Shane Vereen rushed for 93 yards and caught five passes for 51 more in Best's place.

"The offensive line really did its job all day, but the offense stumbled a bit in the second half," Vereen said. "We still got the job done, and we've got things to work on from this game during our bye week."

So do the Sun Devils — only they've got a trip to USC next week instead of a bye. Last season's conference co-champions averaged 32.3 points per game in 2007, but this Arizona State squad has managed just 44 total points in its three straight losses.

"It's our problem, and we need to fix it internally," said Kyle Williams, who caught Carpenter's only TD pass. "We dug ourselves into a really deep hole early, and it's hard to get out of."

What's more, Carpenter left Memorial Stadium on crutches with an injury to his left leg. Carpenter, who wasn't specific about the injury, played the entire game but appeared to be limping in the final minutes.

"We're just not good enough to have to depend on throwing the ball all the time," Erickson said.