PASADENA–On a chilly night when the full moon illuminated brightly over the San Gabriel mountains, Cal soundly defeated UCLA on Saturday, November 25 at the Rose Bowl. Even more important than the outcome however, this contest was the final regular season game of the century old PAC-12 Conference, which is disbanding and will shortly cease to exist.

The final chapter of the California Golden Bears UCLA Bruins rivalry is coming to an end. The Golden Bears will join the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), while the Bruins alongside the USC Trojans will be members of the BIG 10 Conference in 2024.

A brief summary of the action; everything went right for the plucky Golden Bears as the victory made them Bowl eligible finishing the season at a mark of 6-6.

In stark contrast, it was a huge letdown on Senior night after the rousing beatdown of Crosstown rival USC 38-20 just a week ago at the Coliseum. Bruins Senior Quarterback Ethan Garbers was injured early, and true freshman Dante Moore struggled while the Bruins running game was held in check all night. Usually a constant for the Bruins, they just couldn’t establish a running game.

The Bruins finish the regular season 7-5 overall and 4-5 in Pac-12 play with Kelly at the helm. UCLA has scored 10 points or less in three out of the last four games and now awaits placement in a bowl game, which will be announced December 3.

Moore completed 28-of-38 passes for 266 yards in the loss and quickly marched the Bruins to the 20-yard line early in the game, but Cal pushed running back Carson Steele back to force a turnover on downs. UCLA’s Kamari Ramsay intercepted quarterback Fernando Mendoza five plays later to get the ball back.

UCLA’s defense gave up 178 total passing yards and 124 rushing yards. Only three other teams gained over 100 rushing yards against the Bruins this season. Jadyn Ott led Cal with 80 yards on the ground.

Moore went on to throw a five-yard touchdown pass to Logan Loya who was waiting just inside the blue turf of the end zone for a 7-6 advantage. It was the one time that UCLA scored in the red zone out of five opportunities.

Cal’s Jaydn Ott returned the ensuing kick 100 yards for a touchdown to pull Cal ahead again. The Golden Bears’ David Reese forced a fumble with just under a minute remaining until halftime and Brett Johnson recovered it. Mendoza connected with Jeremiah Hunter for a 14-yard touchdown and a 20-7 lead with 10 seconds left.

It was disheartening for Bruins fans to watch the Bruins falter in all three phases of the game. What once was home field advantage at the iconic Rose Bowl in the beginning of the season, turned into a disadvantage in the second-half of the season.

One glaring issue was protecting whatever quarterback the Bruins threw out there, the offensive line struggled to gel and protect any of the three QB’s all season.

Cal linebacker David Reese rushed to the Golden Bears’ marching band after the game had ended. He climbed the drum major’s ladder to begin conducting the band, a roaring backdrop to celebrate a gigantic victory.