Page One

Big plays and the breaks. Two things the Cal football team hasn’t gotten much of in the past few seasons. But on Saturday against Baylor, the Golden Bears got both in spades. 

Cal pulled off a trick play for a score on the game’s first play and scored back-to-back defensive touchdowns on the way to a 70-22 win over Baylor at Memorial Stadium, kicking off the Jeff Tedford era with the second-most points in school history. 

In a game filled with Cal highlights, none were more spectacular than senior linebacker Matt Nixon’s 102-yard interception return for the Bears’ fourth touchdown of the game. Baylor drove down to the Cal five-yard line, but when Baylor tight end Shane Williams got open on a crossing pattern near the goal line he bumped into an official just as quarterback Greg Cicero released a pass for him. Williams got his hands up late, and the ball bounced right into Nixon’s hands in the end zone. 

Nixon took off down the right sideline with fellow linebacker Calvin Hosey paving the way with a block on Cicero. Nixon was untouched until Baylor wide receiver Reggie Newhouse caught him 65 yards down the field. Newhouse dove in front of Nixon, who pulled off a hesitation move that left the speedy wideout grasping at air. After getting started again, Nixon rumbled the remaining yards with no one near him. 

“Linebackers aren’t supposed to run that far,” Nixon said after the game. “I was so tired, I just wanted to lay down and let the offense get back on the field.” 

But the Cal offense wouldn’t get onto the field for another few minutes, thanks to another interception return for a score by cornerback Jemeel Powell. He broke hard on Cicero’s next pass and took it out of receiver J.T. Thompson’s hands, then juked past Cicero for a 26-yard touchdown. That made the score 35-0, the most points ever by a Bears team in a single quarter and more points than the Bears mustered in a game last season. Cal tacked on two more touchdowns in the second quarter and took a 49-7 lead into the locker room. 

“To have 49 points in the first half is remarkable in any college game,” said Cal quarterback Kyle Boller, who threw for 213 yards and three touchdowns. “It’s like a high school score.” 

Baylor didn’t look much better than a high school team, stumbling through the contest with sloppy turnovers and poor execution. Cicero threw three interceptions in nine pass attempts before being yanked after Powell’s score, and replacement Aaron Karas wasn’t much better, throwing a pick and fumbling three times. The Bears looked like a team that had just met each other as confusion reigned on both offense and defense. But 10 touchdowns is nothing to scoff at, no matter who the opposition, and Cal wasn’t apologizing for their demolition of their Waco namesakes. 

“Nobody felt sorry for us last year. They just came out there to cut our throats,” Powell said of the 1-10 fiasco in 2001. “It feels good to be on the other side of that.” 

Tedford managed a compliment for Baylor, saying they were “well-coached,” but later admitted the lopsided win didn’t tell him a whole lot about the quality of his own team. 

“We’re going to play a lot tougher teams in the Pac-10, which I think is the most competitive conference in college football,” he said. “We’ve got a long, hard road ahead of us.” 

Tedford made an instant impression on the crowd of 27,185 with a trick play to start the game. On the first play from scrimmage, tailback Terrell Williams went in motion to the right, settling in behind two receivers. Boller threw an overhand lateral to the sophomore, who proceeded to heave the ball downfield to a wide-open David Gray, a true freshman wide receiver who lined up at tight end for the play. Gray was at midfield without a player within 25 yards and spun around to catch the ball. He nearly lost his balance making the catch, then stumbled while getting started toward the end zone. Last season, any Cal player in that situation undoubtedly would have fallen down, but not on Saturday. Gray recovered and went in for a 71-yard touchdown on his first college play. 

“I was like, ‘if I fall, I’m going to hang myself,’” Gray said. 

Tedford said the opening gambit was more than just a simple play-call. 

“We wanted to start things off with a bang and get the fans into it,” he said. “We’ve been planning that play for the last two weeks.” 

Tedford was certainly successful in winning the hearts of the Golden Bear faithful. Chants of “We love Tedford!” rang through the student section late in the game, along with “We want 70!” as their team drove toward its final score. True freshman Marcus O’Keith gave them what they wanted with a 2-yard run with four minutes remaining in the game.