BERKELEY – California posted 20 second-half points to cap off a defensive effort that kept Ole Miss scoreless in the final two frames of a scrappy battle to down the Rebels 27-16 on Saturday night at California Memorial Stadium.
 
The Golden Bears have trailed in all three of games at the intermission this season, but have fought back recording 57 total second-half points while allowing only 13. In that time, the Bears have only given up a single touchdown during the third quarter of the North Carolina game on Sept. 2.
 
Redshirt freshman Cameron Goode, an outside linebacker, cemented the win with a 32-yard pick-six with three minutes remaining in the game to put the final stamp on the night.
 
The Bears found momentum early in the second half taking the opening kickoff and going on a 72-yard scoring drive capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass from Ross Bowers to Vic Wharton III to close the Rebels' lead to 16-14. Two possessions later, after moving to the Ole Miss 2-yard line, Matt Anderson cleared the crossbar from 19 yards to give Cal its second lead of the game 17-16 with 4:11 remaining in the third quarter.
 
The defense finished with three interceptions and 5.0 sacks against Ole Miss' top-ranked passing offense, which it limited to two first-half touchdown passes. Cal's five sacks were its most since 2015 against Washington State.
 
"It's not always pretty right now with us," said Justin Wilcox, who remains undefeated in his first season as Cal's head coach. "It's the third week in a row we never flinched and fought back. We play our best when things get tough. There's so much more meat left on the bone in terms of how much better we can get. It took so many guys. We needed everybody. That was the ultimate team win."
 
Cal quarterback Ross Bowers completed 24-of-47 passes for 236 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Patrick Laird led the effort on the ground with 78 yards rushing on a career-high 22 carries and a score, followed by Vic Enwere who added 75 yards. Laird, who has scored in all three games this season, also added 28 yards on a career high five catches. Kanawai Noa finished with career highs of six receptions and 81 yards receiving to top the Bears' receivers while Wharton pulled in five catches for 57 yards and the touchdown.
 
Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson went 26-of-44 for 363 yards with three interceptions and two touchdowns on a pair of one-play drives. The first scoring throw came on a 72-yard pass to DaMarkus Lodge in the first quarter and the second on a 71-yard throw to D.K. Metcalf that gave Ole Miss a 16-7 lead with 13:02 remaining in the half.
 
But after three explosive plays of 20 or more yards including the two 70-plus touchdown plays, the Cal defense would not allow another point or explosive play the remainder of the game.

The defense posted several key plays throughout the evening including first-quarter interceptions by Jaylinn Hawkins and Devante Downs to help the Bears win the turnover battle, 3-2, with all of the takeaways interceptions. Downs finished with a career-high-tying and game-high-tying 14 tackles, as well as career-highs of 2.0 sacks (-8 yards) and 3.0 tackles (career-high -13 yards) while the interception was his second of the season and fifth of his career. Downs' second sack iced the contest on the final Ole Miss offensive play of the game with 0:36 remaining. Alex Funches (-13 yards), Davison (-11 yards) and Hamilton Anoa'i (-1 yard) also each had one of Cal's season-high 5.0 sacks.
 
Anderson went 2-of-4 on field goal attempts, his longest from 41 yards out that moved the Bears ahead 20-16 with 3:44 left in the game. With 244 career points, Anderson is now tied for sixth all-time with Robbie Keen and Mark Jensen on Cal's career points list.
 
Cal (3-0, 0-0 Pac-12) closes its three-game homestand next Saturday when the Bears host No. 4 USC (3-0, 1-0 Pac-12) at 12:30 pm PT. The game will be televised live nationally on ABC.