Cal Football: Chase Garbers Directs Virtuoso Offensive Performance in Big Game Rout

The Bears' senior quarterback had both coaches raving after Cal's 41-11 triumph.

Cal had just rung up 636 yards of offense, the most ever by either team in 124 Big Games, and Justin Wilcox was doing what coaches rarely do. He looked ahead.

Not to next week or, heaven forbid, the week after.

Wilcox was pondering a random day years from now when his quarterback, Chase Garbers, wanders back onto the Berkeley campus.

In the wake of the Bears' 41-11 dissection of rival Stanford, Wilcox was brimming with praise for Garbers, who passed for 246 yards and two touchdowns, ran for an additional 58 yards and deftly operated an offense that produced an average of 10.1 yards per snap.

Chase Garbers / Photo by Stan Szeto, USA Today

Two years ago on this same Stanford Stadium field, Garbers scrambled 16 yards with 1:19 left in the game to propel Cal to a 24-20 win, which ended nine years of anguish by Old Blues.

Wilcox is pretty sure Garbers' standing with that crowd is secure for life.

“He’s had two big wins in the Big Game and I’m sure people at Cal will remember that a long time,” Wilcox said. “If he happens to come back when he’s older and is sitting around campus for lunch, I’ll bet he doesn’t have to pay.”

Second-year offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave's unit has never been better. The 41 points the Bears posted were the most they've scored against Stanford since 2004 and the most against any Pac-12 opponent since 2018.

Six different running backs were handed the ball at least once, fueling a ground game that had 352 yards. Christopher Brooks, a 6-foot-1, 235-pound senior, punished tacklers, carrying them for 131 yards, including a career-long 75-yard burst.

Third-stringer Marcel Dancy had gotten the ball just 15 times for 12 yards this season, an average of barely 2 feet per attempt, and hadn't scored a touchdown since 2019. He rushed for 92 yards on four tries, including touchdowns of 76 and 2 yards, to averaged 23 yards per carry. 

The only Cal back who suffered a rough evening was starter Damien Moore, who fumbled on the Bears' first play of the game and was checked out by the medical staff afterward, never to return to the field.

Monroe Young goes high for a 30-yard reception / Photo by Stan Szeto, USA Today

Wide receiver Trevon Clark caught three passes for 135 yards, including an 84-yard TD from Garbers that was the longest pass play in Big Game history. He also hauled in a 34-yard catch on a trick-play pass by fellow wideout Kekoa Crawford.

In all, nine different Cal receivers caught balls, including Monroe Young, whose 30-yard gain to the 1-yard line set up Garbers' TD pass to Brooks that made it 14-0 midway through the second quarter.

In the middle of all of it was Garbers, who says in the video below he never worried that two weeks after testing positive for COVID-19 would slow him or the Cal offense.

Two weeks after backup Ryan Glover was able to help the Bears produce just a field goal against Arizona, Wilcox was happy to have his four-year starter back on the field.

“Chase is playing his best football since he’s been here and it’s not even close,” Wilcox said. “The last month of so, his execution, control, making plays with his arm and his feet, it’s just been a lot of fun to watch him.”

In four Big Games, Garbers has completed 63 percent of his passes, and accounted for 1,078 yards of total offense with six TD passes and three interceptions, only one of those in the past three seasons. His 226 rushing yards, include the decisive 16 yards into the end zone in 2019.

Linebacker Cam Goode, representing the Cal defense, also paid tribute to Garbers and the Bears' offense.

Likewise, Stanford coach David Shaw has developed a great respect for the Bears quarterback.

“Typical Chase Garbers game. Made some big-time throws, put the ball in safe places,” Shaw said, noting that Garbers also hurt the Cardinal by getting loose on the outside for scrambles. “He's the X factor. All the guy does is come out and make plays. But he's also a senior, older guy. Knows how big this game is. 

"And he came out and played a great game.”

Cover photo of Kekoa Crawford, left, celebrating with Marcel Dancy after Dancy's second touchdown by Stan Szeto, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo