Cal found his deep passing game against TCU on Saturday, but couldn’t stop the Horned Frogs’ running attack in a 34:32 loss in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Bears started 2-0 against two non-conference opponents for the first time since 2001.
After 34-26, Cal made a two-point move 4:09 to the left as Damien Moore scored on a 1-yard pitch play and crowned a 68-yard drive with three games. But Moore was close to the goal line in a two-point conversion attempt.
Chase Garbers had his third 300-yard passing game with 309 yards and two touchdown passes, and Cal led 19-14 at break.
When temperatures reached the mid-1990s in the second half, the TCU’s ground attack wore the bears down. Zach Evans ran for 183 yards, averaging 9.4 yards per attempt, and TCU (2-0) ran for 264 yards.
Quarterback Max Duggan passed for 234 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 71 more and one score.
The teams exchanged touchdowns early in the fourth quarter. Cal took the lead 26:21 when Moore stormed 12 yards in the middle into the end zone with 11:37 to go, crowning an 80-yard drive in which Garbers turned one in two third-down games with an 18 = yard run.
But it only took the TCU four games to take the lead again, with Duggan matching Quentin Johnston to score a 45-yard scoring game. The Frogs’ two-point attempt failed, leaving them 27:26 with 9:53 ahead of the game.
After Cal had dominated most of the first half, a questionable game call helped TCU back in the game. Cal tried to go deep to third-and-2 from his own 28-yard line with less than a minute at halftime when a running game would have kept the clock going.
The TCU took advantage and went 65 meters in just two games, crowned by Evans’ twisting 51-meter sprint into the end zone with 11 seconds of playing time. The PAT got the Horned Frogs on break within 19-14.
The Horned Frogs then took the lead for the first time in the first drive of the second half when Duggan swept 30 yards past Johnston to score a 21:19 touchdown.
The Bears went early and often deep after rarely showing a downfield passing game against Nevada the week before.
Garbers completed a 49-yard pass to Kekoa Crawford in the Bears’ inaugural possession, but Cal was stopped by the TCU 1-yard line on a fourth down game.
The Bears were right back on their next try, with Garbers throwing a 54-yard TD pass at Trevon Clark with 5:01 in the first quarter. A bad snap prevented Cal from converting the PAT kick.
Cal’s defense increased the margin when Daniel Scott Duggan picked up a third and 16 pass from the TCU 5 yard line and stormed 9 yards into the end zone for a 12-0 lead.
Cal failed a two-point attempt this time after removing the one-point conversion point from the board when TCU was marked offside.
TCU eventually broke through with a 30-yard TD pass from Duggan to Blair Conwright at 6:01 in the half, but it only took the Bears two games to counter that. Garbers, who passed for 235 yards in the first half, found Clark for 68 yards and a first down at 7. He then scored with Nikko Remigio for the TD and took a 19-7 lead with 5:09 before half.
Check back later to find out more about the game, including post-game comments from Cal coach Justin Wilcox.
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