LOS ANGELES -- After a second straight road defeat against a Top-25 opponent, Cal's bowl prospects are virtually gone less than a month into the season.
The Golden Bears were overpowered 27-9 by No. 13 USC in their Pac-12 Conference opener in front of 83,421 fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday. Cal has started 1-3 for just the second time in 11 seasons under coach Jeff Tedford.
On the heels of a seven-point defeat at Ohio State, the Bears lost to USC (3-1, 1-1) for the ninth straight time. Cal has been outscored 152-38 the past five games and hasn't beaten the Trojans in Los Angeles since 2000.
Only once in their history have the Bears rallied from a 1-3 start to play in a bowl game. It's a faint silver lining that Cal overcame those odds in 2003 -- Tedford's second season at Berkeley -- and went on to play in the Insight Bowl.
USC dominated with a running attack that produced two 100-yard rushers for the first time in a game since 2008. Penn State transfer Silas Redd ran for 158 yards and Curtis McNeal had 115.
Quarterback Matt Barkley shook off two first-half interceptions to finish with a pair of touchdown passes to Marqise Lee. The second of those, a 3-yarder with 5:56 left, put the game out of reach.
Cal, which totaled 512 yards at Ohio State, had just 250 and did not get into the end zone. Zach Maynard, coming off a sharp performance at Columbus, was sacked six times and finished 18 for 33 for 173 yards with
two interceptions.Sophomore tailback Brendan Bigelow, who exploded for 160 yards and two long touchdowns a week ago, was expected to play a bigger role in the Cal offense. But he carried just four times for 31 yards -- all in the second half.
Down 17-3 at the half, Cal pulled within eight points in third quarter on field goals of 26 and 35 yards by Vincenzo D'Amato.
The Bears got a break when Josh Hill stripped McNeal and Robert Mullins recovered at the USC 44 with 6:15 left in the period. But the drive ended when Maynard was intercepted on the sidelines by safety T.J. McDonald.
Andre Heidari pushed the margin to 20-9 when he converted a 41-yard field goal with 14:10 left in the game.
USC went ahead 7-0 on a 33-yard touchdown run by Redd with 7:54 left in the first quarter.
Cal answered with a 24-yard field goal by D'Amato, who earlier was wide right from 35 yards after missing all three of hits attempts at Ohio State.
But the Trojans struck back quickly, going 75 yards in six plays, capped by Barkley' 11-yard TD pass to Lee with 7:01 left in the half.
Heidari's 40-yard field goal with 3 seconds left in the first half made it 17-3.
For more on Cal sports, see the Bear Talk blog at ibabuzz.com/beartalk. Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter at Twitter.com/CalBearsBANG.
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