Cal's Roses hopes fade

By Kevin Clerici
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 22, 1996


Arizona Daily Wildcat

California's Pat Barnes' fumble on the Washington State 1-yard line in the final minutes cost the Golden Bears the game and their undefeated season.

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California fumbles itself out of its game, Oregon State finally wins and Arizona State's massive left tackle is getting a little respect - what's happening in Pacific 10 Conference football this week.


California quarterback Pat Barnes had the game in his hands, then he lost it.

The Golden Bears were on the Washington State 1-yard line, trailing the Cougars by five points with less than 90 seconds to play, three feet from staying undefeated and tied with Arizona State atop the Pac-10.

Then it all fell apart. Barnes never handled the snap and the hand-off to Brandon Wills was even worse. The ball squirted free when Barnes tried to save it on the 5-yard line and it eventually settled on the 11 in Cougar Duane Stewart's hands.

"I could not believe it," Cougar head coach Mike Price said. "There might of been some people who had lost hope, but one guy who didn't was Duane Stewart."

Three plays later the Cougars were forced to punt and decided to take an intentional safety rather than risk a punt block. Barnes was eventually sacked on the Golden Bears' last play and the 21-18 upset was final.

Leading up to the fumble, the Bears marched from their 20-yard line to the Cougars' 1 in a succession of double-digit yardage plays.

Cougar tailback Michael Black led all runners with 214 yards on 25 carries but had two second-half fumbles that led to Cal touchdowns.


Ending the longest current losing streak in major college football at 15, Oregon State is out of the Pac-10 cellar for the first time since 1994 with its 26-12 win over Stanford.

Sacking Cardinal quarterback Chad Hutchinson a school-record 11 times, the Beavers used a relentless defense all day to end a 12-game conference losing streak.

"We were so hungry for that victory. We were starving," OSU cornerback Marc Williams said. "And when you are hungry, you are going to find something to eat. We had a big lunch today."

Freshman quarterback David Moran ran for a touchdown and threw for another. The Beavers had 255 total rushing yards.

"I think that it was the finest defensive effort that I have seen around here in six years," Beavers head coach Jerry Pettibone said.

Oregon State will play for its second straight win this Saturday against Arizona, which has a 16-2-1 record against the Beavers in the teams' 19 meetings.


ASU left tackle Juan Roque is a favorite for the Lombardi Award, given to college football's best lineman. At 6-foot-8 and 320 pounds, the senior has his team undefeated and ranked No. 4 in the nation.

"From the beginning we said that this was our year and we are still thinking that way," Roque said.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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