Cal Sports Report

Cal Football Game Summary: Bears Lose to Notre Dame 24-17

Game ended with Cal players juggling a Hail Mary pass in the end zone that fell incomplete.

Jake Curtis

In this story:

Cal suffered its first defeat of the season, a 24-17 loss to Notre Dame on the Irish's home field on Saturday. But what Cal fans will remember is a controversial offside call that led to Notre Dame's first touchdown, and the final play, which almost resulted in a game-tying touchdown.

Cal got to the Notre Dame 29-yard line in the closing seconds, but could get no closer.  On the final play from the Notre Dame 35-yard line, Jack Plummer's throw into the end zone was juggled by Cal receivers Jeremiah Hunter and Mavin Anderson in the end zone, but fell incomplete.

Notre Dame took a 24-17 lead on a seven-play, 66-yard touchdown drive midway in the fourth quarter.

But it was the Irish's first touchdown that was controversial.  It came after a five-yard offside penalty on fourth down gave the Irish a first down, even though it appeared no offside had been committed.

Cal quarterback Jack Plummer successfully scrambled for several first downs, but the Bears' downfall was allowing the Irish to sack Plummer six times.

NOTRE DAM 24, CAL 17

RECORDS: CAL (2-1), NOTRE DAME (1-2)

PLAYER OF THE GAME, OFFENSE: Notre Dme quarterback Drew Pyne.  Despite a shaky start, Pyne was 17-for-23 for 150  yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in his first career start.

PLAYER OF THE GAME, DEFENSE: Cal linebacker Jackson Sirmon. Sirmon recorded 15 tackles, including two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

TURNING POINT: Notre Dame used a seven-play, 66-yard drive to take a 24-17 lead with 9:16 left in the game.

KEY PLAY 1: On a third-and 3 play from the Cal 47-yard line on the Bears' first offensive possession of the game, Cal running back Jaydn Ott got behind a linebacker covering him on a pass pattern, but Jack Plummer overthrew Ott for an incompletion on what might have been a touchdown if the throw had been accurate.

KEY PLAY 2: Cal kicker Dario Longhetto missed a 45-yard field goal attempt that bounced off the left upright with 16 seconds left in the first quarter.

KEY PLAY 3: Notre Dame fumbled the snap and Cal's Femi Oladejo recovered the ball at the Notre Dame 33-yard line on the first play of the second half.

KEY PLAY 4: On consecutive plays, Jack Plummer completed a 15-yard pass to a diving J.Michael Studivant on a third-and-10 play that started on the Notre Dame 33-yard line, then Plummer completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Sturdivant to give Cal a 7-0 lead with 14:27 left in the first half.

KEY PLAY 5: Notre Dame missed a 45-yard field goal attempt on a fourth-and-5 play, but Cal was called for offsides on a questionable call. Notre Dame scored a touchdown two plays later.

KEY PLAY 6: Two plays after the offsides penalty, Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne threw a 21-touchdown pass to a wide-open Chris Tyree with 8:54 left in the second quarter to tie the game 7-7.

KEY PLAY 7: Cal quarterback Jack Plummer scrambled for 21 yards on a third-and-12 play from the Cal 36-yard line to the Notre Dame 43-yard line..

KEY PLAY 8: On that same drive, Plummer completed a 33-yard pass to Jeremiah Hunter to the Notre Dame 8-yard line, setting up Longhetto's 24-yard field goal that gave Cal a 10-7 lead with 4:11 left in the first half.

KEY PLAY 9: On a third-and-4 play from the Cal 28-yard line Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne threw an incomplete pass, but Cal's Blake Antzoulatos was penalized for a late hit and ejected from the game for targeting. Instead of fourth down, the penalty moved the ball 14 yards to the Cal 14-yard line for a first down. It led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Audric Estime that gave Notre Dame a 14-10 lead with 9:14 left in the third quarter. 

KEY PLAY 10: Consecutive runs by Cal running back DeCarlos Brooks of 24 yards and 11 yards moved the ball to the Notre Dame 1-yard line. Jack Plummer then scored on a 1-yard sneak to give the Bears a 17-14 lead with 4:48 left in the third quarter.

KEY PLAY 11: Notre Dame's Blake Grupe made a 47-yard field goal to tie the game 17-17 with 14:48 left in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 12: Notre Dame's Audric Estime caught a 36-yard pass from Drew Payne to give Notre Dame a first down at the Cal 6-yard line. On the next play tight end Michael Mayer caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Drew Pyne to give Notre Dame a 24-17 lead with 9:16 remaining in the game.

KEY PLAY 13: On fourth-and-10 from the Notre Dame 22-yard line, Cal quarterback was sacked by Isaiah Foskey for an 8-yard loss, keeping the score 24-17 in favor of Notre Dame with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 14: On the final play of the game from the Notre Dame 35-yard line, Plummer's Hail Mary pass into the end zone was juggled by Mavin Anderson and Jeremiah Hunter, but fell incomplete

STAT OF THE GAME: Notre Dame sacked Cal quarterback Jack Plummer six times for 47 yards in losses.

QUARTERBACK STATS: Cal's Jack Plummer was 16-for-37 for 184 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He also ran for 34 yards despite being sacked six  times.  Notre Dame's Drew Pyne was 17-for-23 for 150 yards and two TDs.

WHAT IT MEANS: It shows Cal can compete with talented teams on the road in a difficult atmosphere. It generally provided some optimism for the rest of the season, even though Notre Dame is not as good as preseason polls suggested. 

CAL'S BOWL BAROMETER: Cal's bowl chances remain at 50%, but the Bears missed an opportunity to greatly enhance their chances to land a postseason berth.

NEXT GAME: Arizona (2-1) at Cal (2-1 ), Saturday, September 24. Kickoff: 2:30 p.m. TV: Pac-12 Network. This is the Pac-12 opener for both teams. Arizona pulled out a 31-28 victory Saturday night over North Dakota State, which is the No. 1-ranked FCS team and had beaten five straight FBS opponents before Saturday's loss.  Cal’s game against Arizona is Homecoming for the Golden Bears, who lost to Arizona 10-3 last year for the Wildcats’ only win of the 2021 season. Cal quarterback Chase Garbers and several other Cal starters missed that game because of COVID protocols. This year, Arizona beat San Diego State 38-20 in its opener, then lost to Mississippi State 39-17 in the Wildcats’ home opener.

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Cover photo of Justin Wilcox by Matt Cashore, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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