Stanford puts up Bear of a fight

In the 109th Big Game between California and Stanford, there was no big upset Saturday, with the possible exception of Cal’s margin of victory, only 26-17, which was much closer than anyone expected.

Other than that, it was all sort of routine, a matter of figuring out itineraries.

For 9-3 Cal, it’s on to San Diego to play Texas A&M; in the Dec. 28 Holiday Bowl. For Stanford, it’s back to the drawing board, or rather a 9 a.m. meeting Monday in the office of Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby, who must decide whether a 1-11 season is reason enough to say goodbye to Coach Walt Harris, two years into a five-year contract.

Harris said his expectations are high.

“I’m not worried about the meeting. I can only do what I can do.

“Losing is hard, and when you lose, somebody is always going to point the finger. We’ve just had too many years of losing, and it’s going to take awhile to work our way out of it, and in my mind, and I don’t mean to be bragging here, but we have someone who has done it before.”

A sellout crowd of 72,516 at wind-swept Memorial Stadium watched the heavily favored Golden Bears of Coach Jeff Tedford play just well enough to beat a downtrodden Stanford team for the fifth consecutive year.

“I knew going into this game it was going to be a very difficult game,” Tedford said. “I thought they stepped up.”

And even though his vote doesn’t count, Tedford said Harris shouldn’t be shown the door. “I just would hate to see that happen, because he’s a quality coach and a quality person.”

Bowlsby didn’t make himself available for comment.

Cal held Stanford to 97 yards in the second half, opened a 20-10 lead in the third quarter on a 32-yard scoring pass from Nate Longshore to Lavelle Hawkins, and added two Tom Schneider field goals to put an end to any Cardinal hopes.

It fell far short of an overpowering performance by Cal, but it was effective enough. Longshore completed 14 of 31 passes for 217 yards and the touchdown to Hawkins. Justin Forsett carried 11 times for 75 yards, and Marshawn Lynch had 67 yards in 15 carries.

T.C. Ostrander completed 15 of 31 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns, including a 51-yard scoring pass to Evan Moore in the third quarter that cut the Cardinal deficit to 20-17. That wasn’t what many expected, Golden Bears linebacker Mickey Pimentel said.

“A lot of people thought it was going to be a blowout, including the players. But you’ve got to give credit to Stanford. Every week we have to treat other teams as our equals, even though technically, they’re not.”

The biggest surprise in the first half, besides a relentless wind that forced stadium personnel to take down the hospitality tents on the press box roof so they wouldn’t blow away, was the fact that Stanford wasn’t blown away either.

Cal led, 13-3, late in the half, an advantage provided when cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson picked up a fumble by Ostrander and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown. But Stanford’s Marcus McCutcheon then hauled in a line-drive kickoff that flattened out in the wind and returned it 68 yards, setting up Ostrander’s eight-yard touchdown pass to Richard Sherman just before the half, cutting Cal’s lead to three points.

“I didn’t think it was going to be a difficult game,” Cal receiver DeSean Jackson said. “But that’s why they call it the Big Game. We definitely take this seriously.”

*

thomas.bonk@latimes.com