Barnes Forced to Face Reality

Pat Barnes was one of the first players to jump on the California bandwagon after the Golden Bears cracked the Top 25 two weeks ago with a 5-0 record.

The 6-foot-4 quarterback didn’t back down last week, even after costing his team a scoring opportunity by fumbling on the one-yard line in the closing moments of a 21-18 loss at Washington State.

“We could still go down as one of the best teams in Cal history,” Barnes, a senior from Mission Viejo, said last week. “We’re still competing for the Pac-10 championship.”

Barnes backed down a bit Saturday night, however, following a 38-29 loss to UCLA before 54,000 at Memorial Stadium that dropped Cal to 2-2 in the conference, 5-2 overall and out of the Top 25.

“Obviously the Rose Bowl isn’t a realistic goal any more,” said a dejected Barnes, who didn’t find any solace in setting a school record by passing for 435 yards. “We’re still going to win some games and the program has turned around, but we’re far from being the best.”

Barnes, who began the the UCLA game as the Pac-10’s most efficient passer, completed 26 of 57 attempts, including three touchdowns. But he also was sacked seven times and had two turnovers (a fumble and an interception) that led to 10 UCLA points.

Cal Coach Steve Mariucci had stressed the importance of establishing a running game against the Bruins, but when that was shut down he turned to the air.

Barnes, who passed for 2,685 yards and 17 touchdowns last year in his first complete season as a starter, made great strides in his game over the summer and has been among the nation’s leading passers. Despite his costly fumble last week, he was also responsible for rallying Cal and putting it in a position to win the game in the closing minutes.

With many Cal players still talking of a trip to the Rose Bowl last week, Barnes speculated that perhaps his team wasn’t as focused as it could have been.

“I think this shows everybody around here how competitive the Pac-10 is,” he said. “You have to stay focused on every opponent each week, and maybe that’s part of what happened out there today. You can’t go out, get in trouble and start pointing fingers.”

Mariucci, who is in his first year at Cal after coaching Brett Favre at Green Bay for four years, has devoted much of his time to developing Barnes. The work paid off with impressive performances in victories over San Jose State, San Diego State, Nevada, Oregon State and USC.

Barnes, who attended Trabuco Hills High, passed for 371 yards against Washington State and broke the school record of 421 established by Rich Campbell against Florida in 1980.

His mistakes outweighed his numbers against UCLA, though. His fumble deep in Cal territory on the opening series resulted in a Bjorn Merten 36-yard field goal.

With his team trailing, 31-21, early in the fourth quarter, Barnes had a pass intercepted by Andy Colbert on Cal’s 20.

Five plays later, Skip Hicks scored his fourth touchdown on a one-yard run to give the Bruins a 38-21 lead.

“We really wanted to pressure Pat because he’s not as mobile as some other quarterbacks we’ve faced this season,” UCLA Coach Bob Toledo said. “We lost containment a couple of times, but all in all we did a good job on the pass rush.”