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In a game where everything seemed to be going their way, the Cal football team couldn’t put together enough offense to beat an Illinois squad that played half of the game without its most important player. 

The offensive woes that plagued the Bears last year came back with a vengeance Saturday afternoon in Champaign. Dropped and overthrown passes, miscommunication and a banged-up offensive line combined to make it a long day for quarterback Kyle Boller and the rest of the offense.  

Despite the nearly total failure of the offense, the Bears managed to come within a failed two-point conversion of tying the game with less than two minutes left on the clock. Boller showed off his outstanding arm with two great throws on the final drive, including a bullet snagged by wideout Charon Arnold for 32 yards and a touchdown. But Arnold’s celebration took him off the fieldand he barely made it on the field in time for the conversion, then got confused about the play call. He ran back and forth along the line of scrimmage twice before the snap as Boller tried in vain to get him lined up correctly on the right side. Following the confusion, Boller’s pass was knocked down by defensive end Fred Wakefield, his third knockdown of the day, and the Bears’ hope was extinguished. 

The Cal offense gained just 276 yards on the day and was unable to take advantage of nine drives that started past their own 40-yard line. 

The man to thank for that outstanding field position was punter Nick Harris, who put nine of his 12 punts inside the 15-yard line, including five that were downed inside the five.  

The Illinois offense wasn’t much better than the anemic Cal effort, gaining just 334 yards, but did manage to put together the three scoring drives it needed to hold on for the two-point victory. 

Illinois played without its offensive leader, quarterback Kurt Kittner, for most of the second half after Kittner sprained his knee while scrambling. The Illini relied on their running game for the rest of the game and managed just one field goal, but Cal couldn’t take advantage.