• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Cal jumps out early, crushes Arizona

Sep 23, 2007 - 5:21 AM BERKELEY, California (Ticker) -- California opened its Pac-10 Conference slate in impressive fashion, pounding Arizona, 45-27, on Saturday.

Justin Forsett rushed 23 times for 117 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Nate Longshore completed 16-of-30 passes for 235 yards, a touchdown and one interception for the Golden Bears (4-0, 1-0 Pac-10), who jumped out to a 28-3 lead in the first quarter and cruised to their 21st victory in their last 23 home games.

"He's been nursing an ankle all week long and he had a quad contusion but he really gave us a spark when we needed it down the stretch there," California coach Jeff Tedford said about Forsett. "We needed to eat some clock and we had to drive the ball and keep our defense off the field. He's so reliable and solid as far as hanging on to the football. He has great vision and runs so hard. He's a warrior."

Cal also exacted some revenge for last season, when a 24-20 loss at the hands of the Wildcats on November 11 in Tucson knocked the team out of the Pac-10 title picture and and ruined a possible trip to the Rose Bowl.

"It's always great to start out like that," Tedford said. "We had some things going on defense and we got a touchdown, but offensively, I thought we moved the ball pretty well. We threw it, ran it and mixed it up pretty good. The guys did a good job of executing and we didn't stop ourselves so it was really good to jump out like that."

The Golden Bears looked as if they might take a step back in the running game prior to the season, with 2006 top rusher Marshawn Lynch moving on to the NFL's Buffalo Bills.

But Forsett, a senior, has filled in capably and entered Saturday's contest leading the conference at 122.3 yards per game.

"He is a really good player," Arizona coach Mike Stoops said. "He reminds you a lot of Marshawn (Lynch), he is not as big, but certainly as quick."

Forsett rushed for 23 yards on the Golden Bears' first scoring drive, capping the possession with a nine-yard touchdown run. He added a three-yard score with 8:53 remaining in the final quarter to push Cal's advantage to 45-27.

Longshore had his best drive in the first quarter, completing 3-of-4 passes for 78 yards - including an 18-yard touchdown pass to Lavelle Hawkins - to open up a 14-3 advantage.

A junior, Longshore was efficient in the second half, needing just seven pass attempts to guide his team to victory.

Arizona had a hard time getting anything going in the running game, gaining just 21 yards on 20 total rushing attempts.

With his team struggling on the ground and forced to overcome a huge deficit early, Wildcats quarterback Willie Tuitama attempted 61 passes in the contest, completing 42 for 309 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for a score.

"They were doing a good job of keeping some stuff away from us down field," Tuitama said. "I think they saw the stuff from last week against New Mexico when we had taken a lot of shots. They did a good job of taking away some of the deep stuff for us. We had some good plays underneath.

We just didn't do enough. We expected them to take stuff away from us downfield. That's why we had the short little crossing routes. We tried to get the ball downfield, but they were taking it away."

Tuitama made his job harder by turning the ball over three times. His fumble in the first quarter was returned four yards for a touchdown by defensive tackle Tyson Alualu to make the score 28-3.

The Golden Bears were 6-of-11 on third-down conversions and scored four touchdowns on the ground, outrushing Arizona, 188-21.