Pacific 10 Roundup : Goal-Line Fumble Saves Cal, 26-21

A goal-line fumble by San Jose State tailback Sheldon Canley in the fourth quarter preserved California’s 26-21 victory Saturday in a nonconference game at Berkeley.

The Spartans had driven to Cal’s one-yard-line on a fourth-quarter drive given renewed life in a fourth-down situation when punter Jim Hughes faked the kick and threw a 31-yard first-down pass.

But with San Jose State poised to take the lead, Cal linebacker David Ortega stripped the ball from Canley as he was crossing into the end zone and cornerback Doug Parrish recovered the fumble.

The victory margin came courtesy of a 50-yard Robbie Keen field goal and a safety--Cal’s first in more than three years.

The safety was a result of three consecutive sacks in the waning minutes of the third quarter.

Linebacker Danny Slevin sacked San Jose State’s Matt Veatch for a loss of nine yards, pushing the Spartans back to their 10-yard line.

On the next play, linebacker Cornell Collier got Veatch for six more yards, and on the play in which Cal got the safety, it was Collier again, catching Veatch in the end zone.

The Bears are 2-3. San Jose State, which beat Stanford a week earlier, is 2-2.

The Cal defense gave up 406 yards of total offense. But the Spartans lost three fumbles and had five penalties, including an offensive pass interference call that negated a 48-yard play in the game’s final minute and ended San Jose State’s final threat.

Fresno State 35, Oregon State 18--Sophomore quarterback Mark Barsotti ran for two touchdowns and passed for another to lead the undefeated Bulldogs of the Big West Conference past the Beavers at Fresno.

Barsotti scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter and then completed an 88-yard touchdown pass to Dwight Pickens early in the second quarter as Fresno pulled ahead, 21-0.

Fresno (5-0) scored again on a two-yard run by Myron Jones.

Oregon State (2-3) cut the margin to 21-6 at halftime on field goals of 43 and 21 yards by Troy Bussanich.

Pat Chaffey’s one-yard scoring run early in the third quarter got Oregon State within nine points, but Fresno State sealed the victory with a pair of time-consuming drives.

Jones scored on a one-yard run to cap off a 75-yard drive, and Barsotti had a one-yard touchdown run to finish an 84-yard drive.

“The two main possessions we had in the second half were awesome drives,” Fresno State Coach Jim Sweeney said.

Fresno State has won 12 consecutive games since a 21-10 loss to Oregon State last year at Corvallis.

Matt Booher had to replace Oregon State starting quarter Nick Schichtle, who bruised his shoulder on the Beavers’ second offensive play. Booher had 85 yards rushing and 136 passing.