As the Cal football team (6-4) paced up and down the sidelines in the second quarter in front of a more than half-empty Memorial Stadium, there seemed to be a quiet confidence building along the team bench. After four losses, the Bears had gotten their groove back and looked like an offense that was on the verge of putting together a complete game.

A team that had struggled immensely in its past four games was finally resembling the offense that had kicked off the season. It went on to become the team that would break the school record for the most offensive yards in a game, with 760.

And for tonight, it was enough. It was enough to beat a mediocre Oregon State team (2-8), 54-24, as the Bears found their magical win No. 6 — making them bowl eligible for the first time in four seasons.

“Any time you lose football games, when you haven’t had success recently, it creates a little bit of doubt,” said Cal head coach Sonny Dykes. “Anytime you play well, it erases some of that doubt.”

Cal’s offense didn’t look all that different from the way it had during its losing streak until things started moving when Goff brought the offense 85 yards in three minutes. The drive was aided by a 54-yard dart to wide receiver Trevor Davis on first down, which brought the Bears to the Beavers’ 4-yard line. And on the next play, Goff & Co. finished off the drive with a pass to the back of the end zone to redshirt junior wide receiver Kenny Lawler — his 10th touchdown of the season.

Things really started flowing on Cal’s next drive. Goff, backed up in his own end zone, lofted an arching pass to senior wide receiver Maurice Harris. Harris, who was running between two defenders, waited for the ball to finally float its way down into his hands. The two Beavers just couldn’t keep up with Harris, who found himself with a 51-yard completion.

The catch then opened up running lanes as the Beavers were protecting against the pass, with Enwere completing his successful drive with a 1-yard score and bringing the Bears’ lead out to 17-3 with less than five minutes to play in the half. Enwere’s touchdown was his seventh rushing touchdown of the season, which leads the team.

After another Beavers failed drive, Goff, with some assistance from sophomore running back Tre Watson, brought Cal 83 yards using a little less than two minutes. After bringing the ball to the Oregon State 40, Goff found Watson across the field. But then it was all Watson, who ran all the way across the field, slipping by multiple defenders and somehow pushing his way into the end zone, bringing the score to 24-3 with less than a minute to play in the half. Watson finished with 10 carries and 110 yards rushing — the best game of his career.

Oregon State responded with redshirt freshman Nick Mitchell throwing the ball from 29 yards out and finding sophomore wide receiver Jordan Villamin in the end zone for the Beavers’ first touchdown of the game. Villamin was able to jump over sophomore cornerback Darius Allensworth to find the ball in the air and come down with it clean. Oregon State was aided by a holding penalty on junior nickelback Cameron Walker the play before, resulting in the score 24-10 at the half.

To open up the half, Goff found senior wide receiver Bryce Treggs for 31 yards all the way down to the Beavers’ 37. It took only two more plays until Goff found senior wide receiver Darius Powe on the right side of the end zone.

Cal traded back-to-back touchdowns with the Beavers to continue the half. Both of Cal’s went to Harris and were scored within two minutes of each other, while a 4-yard rushing touchdown by Mitchell was sandwiched in between, leaving the score 44-18, with the majority of the quarter still left to play.

The Bears put an exclamation point on their work with a touchdown from Goff to freshman halfback Malik McMorris — Goff’s sixth touchdown pass of the night, tying the school record for the most touchdowns in a regulation game. Goff threw for a total of 453 yards, six touchdowns and one interception. He also surpassed 3,000 passing yards on the season, finishing with his first 400-yard game and more-than-five-touchdown performance of the year.

“Our losing streak is over. We hit a tough little skid there and weren’t playing the best football,” Goff said. “We just scored 54 points.”

Alaina Getzenberg covers football. Contact her at [email protected]