One week removed from a 44-30 beatdown at the hands of Northwestern, the California Golden Bears almost did not make it past the Portland State Vikings in Berkeley.
It took four quarters of explosive action, but the California defense finally woke up when it mattered most and held the Vikings scoreless on their last six offensive drives to notch a 37-30 victory.
However, the defense did not show up in the first three quarters, surrendering 549 total yards by the end of the night. California’s offense led by quarterback Jared Goff, mustered 617 total yards of their own as illustrated by the Golden Bears’ Twitter account:
Goff ended up throwing the ball 50 times thanks to the lack of his defensive help, completing 32 of those attempts for 479 yards and two touchdowns.
California had no answers on defense for Vikings’ running back DJ Adams, who toted the rock 21 times for 139 yards and two scores. The defensive secondary didn’t show up either, allowing Kasey Closs to reel in five passes for 160 yards and one score.
The Golden Bears have little time to address the variety of issues on the defensive side of the ball. If Portland State put up over 500 yards of total offense, welcoming Ohio State to Memorial Stadium next week is going to be a nightmare.
The Buckeyes have accumulated 905 total offensive yards through two contests of their own, and potential MCL injury to quarterback Braxton Miller or not, California is going to have trouble containing the unit after struggling with Portland State from the Big Sky conference.
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Source:
http://www.hollywoodbackwash.com/cal-survives-portland-state-upset-in-narrow-victory/