Oct. 30, 2004
By Nate Policar
ASU Sports Information
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Traveling north to Berkeley, the Sun Devils found themselves facing one of the hottest teams in the nation, the California Golden Bears, under the lights at Memorial Stadium and came away empty-handed, falling 27-0. Five turnovers led to the loss, which snapped a school-record 109-game scoring streak dating back to 1995 (a 31-0 loss to USC on Sept. 30, 1995).
"We came in with high hopes. We feel in our hearts that we can play with anybody. We had some tough breaks today. Turnovers really hurt us," said defensive end Ishmael Thrower. "Defensively I think we played well enough to win. Offensively we made too many mistakes, too many turnovers. You have to limit your mistakes against Cal because they're a great team. I give all the credit in the world to Cal. They capitalized on all mistakes and they beat us fair and square."
ASU got off on the wrong foot as the Sun Devils fumbled the opening kickoff on their own 24-yard line. On the Bears' first offensive play, Aaron Rodgers found Robert Jordan on a 24-yard touchdown reception to give Cal the early 7-0 lead with just 10 seconds off the clock. Following an ASU punt, Cal completed a couple of passes to move into field goal range and called on kicker Tom Schneider who bounced a 48-yard field goal off a camera on the back of the crossbar to give Cal a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.
ASU opened the second quarter with another fumble at midfield but caught a break when Schneider missed a 36-yard field goal. After playing scoreless for most of the rest of the first half, Cal took over at midfield following an ASU punt and ran the clock down to 14 seconds before nailing a 42-yard field goal attempt to take a 13-0 halftime lead.
Arizona State opened the second half with intensity, forcing Cal into a punt and then mounting a drive of its own. However after senior Andrew Walter completed a 22-yard screen pass to tailback Rudy Burgess, ASU committed its third turnover of the game when Cal's Tim Mixon intercepted a pass at the Cal 42-yard line and returned it 58 yards for the touchdown to give the Golden Bears a 20-0 lead.
"Minus 5 (turnover ratio) - that was the whole game. We're 92 percent in the red zone all year, but 0-3 tonight. Cal's a very good football team, but we did that to ourselves. You're not going to beat anybody going -5 (in turnover margin)," said ASU head coach Dirk Koetter. "We'll be back. It's frustrating to lose 27-0 even though Cal's a good team."
Following the return, junior Hakim Hill took a handoff from Walter and rushed a career-long 57 yards up field to set up a field goal attempt by sophomore Jesse Ainsworth. The 31-yard attempt hooked wide right, however, and left the Sun Devils scoreless. Cal was unable to convert on its next drive following a 32-yard rush by Marshawn Lynch as Schneider missed his second field goal of the night, a 43-yard attempt in the third quarter. The Sun Devils again looked to make some noise on offense late in the third. Walter connected on an 18-yard pass to junior receiver Derek Hagan to bring ASU across midfield, but the Sun Devils' fourth turnover of the night cost them as sophomore Terry Richardson hauled in a completion on the Cal 10-yard line but fumbled the ball into the hands of Cal's Ryan Riddle near the end of the third quarter.
ASU's defense forced the Bears to punt on the next drive, which stretched into the fourth quarter, but Walter fumbled the ball on the ASU 17-yard line in ASU's next possession, allowing Cal to capitalize on good field position again. Setting it up through the air, Rodgers handed the ball to Arrington for a one-yard TD run, which gave the Golden Bears the 27-0 lead. Cal handcuffed the ASU offense in the final 10:43 of the fourth quarter to keep the Sun Devils off the scoreboard.
"Give Arizona State credit. They have some guys who played very, very hard. That's a good group over there," said Cal head coach Jeff Tedford. "When the defense plays like that, you always have a chance to win."