Saturday November 3, 2001

Associated Press

Arizona's Clarence Farmer (32) breaks free of California defender Matt Nixon for a touchdown in the second quarter Saturday, in Berkeley, Calif.

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) Jason Johnson passed for a career-best 315 yards and four touchdowns as Arizona snapped a 10-game conference losing streak with a 38-24 victory over winless California on Saturday.

In a meeting of the Pac-10's bottom-dwellers, Bobby Wade caught TD passes of 50, 13 and 16 yards from Johnson, and Clarence Farmer ran for a career-best 165 yards and a score.

The Wildcats (4-5, 1-5) had 474 yards of total offense while rolling to coach John Mackovic's first conference victory. Arizona scored 38 straight points after going scoreless in the first quarter.

Cal's nightmare season under coach Tom Holmoe reached another low point with a listless loss to the Pac-10's second-worst team. The Golden Bears (0-8, 0-6) made it reasonably close with three fourth-quarter touchdowns, but early penalties and an untold number of dropped passes kept Cal on pace for the school's first winless season since 1897.

Arizona was stung by last-second losses in its previous two games, but the Wildcats got a lead too big to lose against Cal, even after quarterback Kyle Boller rallied the Bears to three fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Associated Press

Arizona wide receiver Brandon Marshall (6) spins away from California defender Jemeel Powell after catching a pass in the second quarter Saturday, at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif.

Cal led 3-0 on Mark Jensen's 43-yard field goal, but Farmer got Arizona on the scoreboard with a 65-yard TD run through the heart of the Bears' defense early in the second quarter.

Johnson threw TD passes on the Wildcats' next three drives, hitting Justin Levasseur for a 3-yard score and finding Wade twice. Arizona made a methodical drive in the closing moments of the half, with Johnson hitting Wade for a 13-yard TD with a second left.

In keeping with Holmoe's plan to give playing time to more young players at the end of this lost season, freshman Reggie Robertson – a Tucson native – started at quarterback for the Bears. Robertson completed just 5-of-14 passes, however.

Boller, who missed the previous two games with a back injury, took over and threw TD passes of 38 and 44 yards to LaShaun Ward in the fourth quarter. Terrell Williams also had a 2-yard TD run.

Not even picturesque weather and thousands of giveaway bobblehead dolls of Cal's mascot, Oski, could attract more than a few thousand fans to Memorial Stadium. Even Arizona's cheering section, normally filled with San Francisco Bay area alumni, had only a few hundred fans.

Cal lost its 11th straight game dating back to last season, but there's a flicker of hope: The Bears' three remaining games include a trip to New Jersey to face Rutgers, which lost 80-7 to West Virginia on Saturday.