California has just enough at the end

After trying to give the game away for most of the afternoon, California pulled itself together just in time.

Cal mounted a dramatic fourth-quarter drive against one of the Pacific 10 conference’s top defenses to defeat Arizona State, 23-21, on a 24-yard field goal by Giorgio Tavecchio with 21 seconds to play on Saturday at Tempe, Ariz.

That’s how the Golden Bears prevailed on a day they committed 12 penalties for 115 yards, fumbled four times -- losing two -- and missed two field-goal attempts.

“It wasn’t pretty by any means,” Cal Coach Jeff Tedford said. “But when you run into games like this, it’s real important for people to dig down deep and believe in each other, and I thought that was evident today with our team.”

The Golden Bears (6-2, 3-2) have won three straight after back-to-back losses to Oregon and USC by a combined 72-6.

Tavecchio bounced back after hooking a 39-yarder with 5:46 to go and the Bears down 21-20.

After Cal stuffed ASU (4-4, 2-3) on its next possession, the Golden Bears took over at their own 19 with 3:16 to go.

Quarterback Kevin Riley led the march through the shadows in Sun Devil Stadium, completing five of seven passes for 85 yards on a drive that officially covered 74 yards. The Bears had to overcome a personal foul by receiver Marvin Jones, who grabbed a defender’s face mask.

“He showed what I know Kevin is really made of,” Tedford said. “He’s a great competitor. It was a great drive for him and for us as a team.”

No. 25 Notre Dame 40, Washington State 14 -- Golden Tate scored two touchdowns, including a spectacular grab of a desperation heave at the end of the first half, and the Fighting Irish (6-2) got their first easy win in almost two months by clobbering the Cougars (1-7) at San Antonio.

The previous six games for Notre Dame were nerve-racking games decided in the final seconds. But Washington State was buried by halftime.

Robert Hughes rushed for 131 yards in 24 carries and had a touchdown, delighting a Texas crowd that was overwhelmingly filled with Fighting Irish fans.

The Alamodome blowout was the debut of Notre Dame’s plan to play one off-site home game a year.

Jimmy Clausen completed 22 of 27 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns, including the 50-yarder that Tate somehow pulled down between three defenders.