California Runs Over San Jose St. : Golden Bears: White rushes for 162 yards, Wallace has 143 and the defense stops conversion to save 35-34 victory.

California’s offense, irked by what players felt was a negative quote earlier in the week, piled up 485 yards Saturday, with backs Russell White and Anthony Wallace rushing for 162 and 143 yards, respectively.

And the Golden Bear defense, faced with the real possibility of losing, foiled a two-point conversion pass by San Jose State with 2:23 left to preserve a 35-34 non-conference victory.

“There was a news clipping that said they (the Spartans) were going to hold us to negative yards in the first quarter,” White said. “That made me, our backs and the offensive line juiced up. My motto was to come out and punish.”

Cal Coach Bruce Snyder added, “One of their players said teams couldn’t run on them in the first half and had to pass in the second half. Our players took that as a direct challenge.”

And the defense rose to its most direct challenge. After the Spartans’ Sheldon Canley had taken a short pass over the middle and turned it into a 53-yard scoring play to bring the Spartans to within a point, the Golden Bears denied the conversion.

“They had been playing man-for-man defense all day, and they suddenly went into a zone,” San Jose State quarterback Ralph Martini said. “We needed a timeout, but we didn’t have any more.”

White’s 10-yard third-quarter touchdown run had snapped a 21-21 halftime tie. Then, near the end of the third quarter, White reversed his field, after nearly being run out of bounds, and gained 27 yards to the San Jose State five-yard line to set up Mike Pawlawski’s five-yard touchdown pass to Brian Treggs.

However, Wallace’s fumble at the California six-yard line set up Martini’s three-yard scoring pass to Maceo Barbosa with 4:27 left in the game. Then came Canley’s big play.

The Golden Bears (3-2) had opened the scoring on Wallace’s two-yard run just 56 seconds into the game. The touchdown was set up when San Jose State punter Eric Negrey fumbled the snap.

San Jose State (3-2-1) soon tied the score, 7-7, on a three-yard pass from Martini to Barbosa, completing a drive highlighted by Martini’s 65-yard pass-play to Bobby Blackmon.

With 3:15 left in the first quarter, Mike Pawlawski threw a 31-yard scoring pass to Mike Caldwell, but the Spartans retaliated with Canley’s five-yard touchdown run and Martini’s 26-yard scoring pass to David Blakes.

California, however, tied the score, 21-21, on White’s six-yard run with 9:42 remaining in the half.