2005 California Golden Bears football team

2005 California Golden Bears football
Las Vegas Bowl champion
Las Vegas Bowl, W 35–28 vs. BYU
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 25
AP	No. 25
Record	8–4 (4–4 Pac-10)
Head coach	Jeff Tedford (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	George Cortez (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Bob Gregory (4th season)
Home stadium	California Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 67,537)

2005 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 USC † $		8	–	0					12	–	1
No. 13 Oregon		7	–	1					10	–	2
No. 16 UCLA		6	–	2					10	–	2
No. 25 California		4	–	4					8	–	4
Arizona State		4	–	4					7	–	5
Stanford		4	–	4					5	–	6
Oregon State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Arizona		2	–	6					3	–	8
Washington State		1	–	7					4	–	7
Washington		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion † – USC later vacated 12 wins (8 in conference) and 1 loss due to NCAA sanctions. Rankings from AP Poll

The 2005 California Golden Bears football team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season. They played their home games at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California and were coached by Jeff Tedford.

At the beginning of the season quarterback Nate Longshore was chosen to succeed Aaron Rodgers as the starting quarterback. However he was injured during the first game of the season and replaced by Joe Ayoob for the next nine games. The Bears got off to their best start, at 5–0, since Steve Mariucci coached them in 1996. But then stumbled and lost four of their next five games. Third string quarterback Steve Levy, replaced Ayoob, and was named as the starter for the Big Game. Levy played as fullback during the previous season, in his first time as a starter he led the team to defeat Stanford 27-3. The team ended up in the 2005 Las Vegas Bowl, where they beat BYU, 35–28.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 3	2:00 p.m.	Sacramento State*	No. 19	Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	CSN	W 41–3	65,938
September 10	12:30 p.m.	at Washington	No. 16	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	ABC	W 56–17	57,775
September 17	2:00 p.m.	Illinois*	No. 15	Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 35–20	57,657
September 23	7:00 p.m.	at New Mexico State*	No. 13	Aggie Memorial Stadium Las Cruces, NM	ESPN	W 41–13	11,312
October 1	2:30 p.m.	Arizona	No. 12	Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	TBS	W 28–0	55,944
October 8	4:30 p.m.	at No. 20 UCLA	No. 10	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (rivalry)	TBS	L 40–47	84,811
October 15	12:30 p.m.	Oregon State	No. 18	Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	ABC	L 20–23	57,174
October 22	7:15 p.m.	Washington State	No. 25	Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	FSN	W 42–38	52,569
November 5	12:30 p.m.	at No. 15 Oregon	No. 23	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	ABC	L 20–27 OT	58,309
November 12	12:30 p.m.	No. 1 USC		Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	ABC	L 10–35	72,981
November 19	4:00 p.m.	at Stanford		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (Big Game)	ABC	W 27–3	71,743
December 22	5:00 p.m.	vs. BYU*		Sam Boyd Stadium Whitney, NV (Las Vegas Bowl)	ESPN	W 35–28	40,053
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Game summaries

Washington

#16 California at Washington

1 2 3 4 Total • California 7 21 7 21 56 Washington 7 3 7 0 17 Date: September 10 Location: Husky Stadium, Seattle, WA Source: ESPN

Scoring summary 1 14:40 Washington Sonny Shackleford 56-yard pass from Isaiah Stanback (Evan Knudson kick) Washington 7-0 1 2:16 California Robert Jordan 9-yard pass from Joseph Ayoob (Tom Schneider kick) Tie 7-7 2 11:43 California Robert Jordan 24-yard pass from Joseph Ayoob (Tom Schneider kick) California 14-7 2 8:25 Washington Evan Knudson 46-yard field goal California 14-10 2 2:50 California Robert Jordan 58-yard pass from Joseph Ayoob (Tom Schneider kick) California 21-10 2 1:57 California David Gray 14-yard pass from Joseph Ayoob (Tom Schneider kick) California 28-10 3 11:07 Washington Craig Chambers 39-yard pass from Isaiah Stanback (Evan Knudson kick) California 28-17 3 1:43 California Marcus O'Keith 5-yard run (Tom Schneider kick) California 35-17 4 7:20 California Marcus O'Keith 71-yard run (Tom Schneider kick) California 42-17 4 6:25 California Dante Hughes 41-yard interception return (Tom Schneider kick) California 49-17 4 :00 California Justin Forsett 35-yard run (Tom Schneider kick) California 56-17

USC

#1 USC at California

1 2 3 4 Total • USC 7 14 7 7 35 California 3 0 0 7 10 Location: California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, CA

Cal then hosted the #1-ranked USC Trojans, led by head coach Pete Carroll and an offense including Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Matt Leinart and running back Reggie Bush. The Trojans scored first after Ayoob's first of four interceptions in the game, on a LenDale White rush. Ayoob recovered after the interception, and led the Bears to a field goal to cut their deficit to four at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Leinart rushed for a pair of touchdowns to give the Trojans a 21–3 lead at half-time. After a pair of White rushing touchdowns, the Bears scored again on a Chris Manderino rush that ended scoring in the game, with the Trojans winning 35–10. With the win, the Trojans clinched at least a share of the Pac-10 title.

Stanford

1 2 3 4 Total • California 6 0 7 14 27 Stanford 0 3 0 0 3 Date: November 19 Location: Stanford Stadium, Stanford, CA Game start: 4:00 p.m. PST Source: [1]

Scoring summary 1 9:05 CAL DeSean Jackson 56-yard pass from Steve Levy (kick blocked) CAL 6-0 2 9:54 STAN Mike Sgroi 37-yard field goal CAL 6-3 3 9:33 CAL Justin Forsett 21-yard run (Tom Schneider kick) CAL 13-3 4 7:14 CAL Marshawn Lynch 3-yard run (Tom Schneider kick) CAL 20-3 4 3:31 CAL Craig Stevens 14-yard pass from Terrell Williams (Tom Schneider kick) CAL 27-3

Steve Levy had 125 yards passing and Marshawn Lynch had 123 yards running.