The California Golden Bears had something to prove on Saturday. They were at home against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Last week California was embarrassed and many started wondering why they were in the top 25 at all. They were dropped down to #22 in recent AP Top 25 poll?from 9. Questions on their character and ability were flying around this past week.



The first quarter of the game gave the California fans a little scare. Minnesota came out, went 71 yards down the field and scored a TD on a one yard run from Alex Daniels. Right away the Golden Bears of California were down 7-0. You could almost hear fans say, "here we go again." A few minutes later though the California Golden Bears put together an impressive 67 yard drive. They finished it off with a 24 yard TD pass from Nathan Longshore to Robert Jordan.

The second quarter was a good one for the Golden Bears. Their offense came alive. They scored three touchdowns. One of their drives was 96 yards long. Minnesota managed to score 10 points as well, but the game was fading from their grips. California led Minnesota 28-17 at the half. The California Golden Bears added a couple more TDs in the second half and put Minnesota away. Their 42-17 win over the Golden Gophers will help them build some confidence.

The California Golden Bears offense had a whopping 531 total yards. They had 300 yards in the air and 231 yards on the ground. Golden Bears QB Nathan Longshore was 22 of 31 for 300 yards. He threw four TDs and had a 9.7 passing average per attempt. His favorite TD target of the day was DeSean Jackson. Jackson had 114 yards over 7 catches and 3 TDs. Lavelle Hawkings had 9 catches for 125 yards. He had no TD catches. The other TD catch went to Robert Jordan.

On the ground, Marshawn Lynch was the workhorse. He carried the ball 27 times for 139 yards and two TDs. His longest run went for 15 yards and he had a 5.1 average per attempt. Minnesota QB Bryan Cupito was 21 of 33 for 243 yards, but he threw two critical interceptions and didn't throw a TD. California gets back on track with the 42-17 win and is now 1-1 on the season. The Golden Gophers are also 1-1.