Cal emphatically snaps four-game losing skid with 44-7 rout of Oregon State

BERKELEY — If four straight defeats by a combined nine points did any harm to the Cal football team’s psyche, it didn’t show Saturday as the Bears crushed former Pac-12 rival Oregon State 44-7 in front of 33,090 fans at Memorial Stadium.

“We’ve had some really difficult, frustrating, kind of agonizing losses and I’m really proud of the guys for coming out and playing confident, believing in themselves and committing to playing good football,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said after the Bears squared their record at 4-4.

“After four tough losses like that, there are people out there who would crumble.”

Cal built a 31-0 halftime lead — its biggest against any opponent since a 52-0 margin over FCS-level Grambling State in 2015. The score was 44-0 before the Beavers (4-4) got into the end zone with 5 minutes to play.

Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who passed for a career-high 364 yards with two touchdowns, said his team needed a game like this to alter the course of its season.

“We’re trying to take down the dam,” he said. “Ironically enough, because beavers build dams, we broke the dam today. We’ve been playing so much good football — it was so frustrating.

“We’re going to have great momentum into our last four games and they’re all great, formidable opponents but we believe in ourselves.”

The Bears have a bye next week before resuming play in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a trip to Wake Forest a week from Friday. Cal is 0-4 in ACC games.

Here are takeaways from Saturday’s much-needed victory:

MENDOZA’S BIZARRE TD: Cal scored its first touchdown on a strange third-and-8 play from the OSU 9-yard line that began with Mendoza dumping a pass to running back Jaivian Thomas in the right flat. Thomas was being tackled for a 6-yard loss when he lateraled the ball back to his quarterback, who ran 15 yards into the end zone with 11:33 left in the first quarter.

Mendoza was credited with a touchdown pass and a touchdown reception, a 15-yard receiving gain but no actual catch. “As long as we get in the end zone, I’m thrilled,” he said.

But Wilcox was uneasy with the risk involved in the play in the opponent’s red zone.

“OK, we didn’t plan that,” he said, after initially joking the Bears practiced the play. “Football players need to play football and from time to time those things happen. In those moments, the player’s got to be right.”

JAYDN OTT RETURNS: After missing the two previous games and three altogether this season with a nagging ankle injury, star running back Jaydn Ott was back in action. He ran 10 times behind a banged-up offensive line, gaining just 11 yards. But he caught four passes for 58 yards.

O-LINE’S MIXED PERFORMANCE: Cal did not allow a sack all day, a welcome change after surrendering 27 over the first seven games. “The pass protections were pretty darn good compared to where we had been,” Wilcox said. “The run game we can still be better.”

Four Cal running backs carried 22 times for 62 yards, an average of just 2.8 yards per attempt.

KICKER TIES RECORD: Freshman kicker Derek Morris, who made three field goals in his college debut last week but missed a 28-yard attempt late in the 24-23 loss to North Carolina State, had a better day. He converted all five of his field goals — from 19, 25, 33, 38 and 46 yards to become the third Cal kicker to make five in a game.

MORE INJURIES: Cal played without linebacker Cade Uluave, the team’s second leading tackler who suffered a lower-body injury, according to a report by ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Wilcox said the injury does not appear to be long-term. “All signs pointing to him being back,” he said.

Senior offensive guard Sioape Vatikani, who missed the three previous games, returned but the Bears’ other starting guard, Bastian Swinney, left the game with an injury late in the first quarter.

With senior tackle T.J. Session sidelined by an injury from last week, redshirt freshman Frederick Williams III got a start in his first collegiate action.