Cal takes another beating from USC, drops to 1-3

LOS ANGELES – After a second consecutive road loss to a Top 25 opponent, Cal's bowl prospects are on the rocks less than a month into the season.

The Bears were overpowered by No. 13 USC 27-9 in their Pacific-12 Conference opener before an announced crowd of 83,421 fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday.

Cal is 1-3 for only the second time in 11 seasons under coach Jeff Tedford.

"I understand we're 1-3, but there's a lot of football left to be played," Tedford said. "I have a lot of confidence in the chemistry of our team."

Only once have the Bears rallied from a 1-3 start to play in a bowl game. It's a faint silver lining that Cal overcame those odds in 2003 and went to the Insight Bowl.

The Bears must win five of their final eight games to become bowl-eligible.

Wide receiver Keenan Allen said the Bears' performance was discouraging but that the team isn't despairing.

"It's in our hands," he said of the rest of the season.

The Bears return home next Saturday to face Arizona State, and quarterback Zach Maynard said: "We're going to come out with our hair on fire. We've got to get a win and make a statement."

But if the 35-28 loss at Ohio State a week ago provided encouragement, Cal had familiar troubles against USC:

• The Bears have lost nine straight in the series, their longest drought since losing 11 in a row through 1969.

• They have been outscored 152-38 in the past five meetings.

• They have not beaten USC in Los Angeles since 2000.

USC (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12) dominated with a running attack that produced two 100-yard rushers in a game for the first time since 2008. Penn State transfer Silas Redd ran for 158 yards, and Curtis McNeal had 115.

"I was surprised," Cal cornerback Steve Williams said. "They didn't have a running attack the previous game (in a 21-14 loss to Stanford). But they came out and just pounded the ball."

It started with a dominant offensive line.

"I thought up front they were better than us today," Tedford conceded.

That made life easier for quarterback Matt Barkley, who shook off two first-half interceptions and threw touchdown passes of 11 and three yards to Marqise Lee.

The Bears hoped to apply the same type of pressure on Barkley that Stanford did, but Barkley wasn't sacked.

Cal, which totaled 512 yards at Ohio State, had just 250 and did not score a touchdown.

"Against teams like this, you can't win the game with field goals," Allen said. "We've got to get the ball in the end zone."

Cal had five chances inside USC's 20-yard line but managed only field goals of 24, 26 and 35 yards by Vincenzo D'Amato.

Maynard, coming off a sharp performance against Ohio State, was sacked seven times and finished 18 of 33 for 173 yards with two interceptions. He and Allen said the USC pressure was such that Maynard often had to throw early, even before he could really see his target.

Brendan Bigelow, who ran for 160 yards and two long touchdowns against Ohio State, was expected to play a bigger role. But he carried just four times for 31 yards, all in the second half.

Bigelow said only that he planned to be ready when called.

Tedford offered no explanation for why Bigelow was in for only one snap in the first half, except to say: "Early in the game, there wasn't really any room to run. I don't put that on the backs."

A week after rushing for 224 yards at Ohio State, the Bears netted just 77.

"That's an explosive offense," USC coach Lane Kiffin said, "and at the end of the day, we won it up front."

• Read more articles by Jeff Faraudo

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