PROVO -- Heshi Robertson's fourth-quarter interception reversed the momentum Saturday so No. 24 BYU could seal a 38-28 Homecoming victory over Cal-Berkeley.
The Cougars, now 4-1, took an early 21-0 lead over Cal, now 2-3, only to have the margin close to 21-14 by halftime before the third sellout of the season with a crowd of 65,617. Robertson's interception on the BYU six yard-line with 7:07 left in the game stopped a four-play Bear drive.
"That play was huge for us," said BYU Coach LaVell Edwards, "because they had worked Kevin (Feterik) over all night long. He will be sore tomorrow. Cal has one of the best defensive fronts we have seen in some time, they are very, very good."
Twelve plays later Luke Staley scored on a seven-yard run to pad the lead to 38-21. That drive was aided by back-to-back, multi-tackle breaking runs of 27 and 11 yards from freshman Fahu Tahi which moved the pigskin out to the 35-yard-line.
"Fahu Tahi came on real big and we used up a lot of the clock," said Edwards. Tahi and Staley each netted 53 yards rushing.
"It was disappointing what happened at the end of the second quarter when we went three-and-out several times in a row."
After winning the toss for the fifth time this season, BYU stopped Cal's initial drive when a 39-yard field goal was wide right. Feterik soon found Jonathan Pittman for the first of two touchdowns to him at 7:25 in the first quarter on a 41-yard strike.
Feterik was 25 of 41 for 414 yards passing with four touchdowns and three interceptions. He completed his first eight passes of the game, next finding Tevita Ofahengaue for a 28-yard TD pass with 1:35 left in the first quarter and hitting Margin Hooks for a 29-yard pass with 8:19 in the second quarter. Hooks led all nine Cougar receivers with seven catches for 108 yards.
"We started off nice and then got a little too complacent," said Feterik, who had ice bags on both elbows and his left knee after the game. "I'm pretty sore. I thought last week was bad, but I got hit pretty much every play. Their defensive ends were on me almost before the snap."
Feterik got sacked six times for 42 yards midway through the third period, but rebounded in leading BYU to a drive which culminated in a 44-yard field goal in the third and a 44-yard TD pass again to Pittman with 12:11 in the fourth.
"We put a lot of pressure on him (Feterik), but they're passing game is pretty darn good," said Cal Coach Tom Holmoe, a former BYU player and graduate assistant coach. "We must have hit him 30 times, but he just kept coming back."
"We were disappointed we didn't give Kevin more time," said BYU center Jimmy Richards. "But for a bunch of little fat guys we did a good job adjusting. I was really impressed with their defense. They ran a lot of twists and stunts. They were extremely quick and they are good athletes."
Pochman's field goal tied him with Leonard Chitty for a school-record 34 career field goals.
Robertson's interception was the only one given up by Cal freshman quarterback Kyle Boller during the game.
"Good coaching helped me get that interception," said Robertson. "I was on an island and it was just me and him. I took away the inside and the fade."
Cal scored two of its touchdowns off interceptions, a 19-yard snare by Deltha O'Neal when Feterik was trying to throw the ball away in the second quarter and an 80-yard return by Damian Marzett when a Cougar running back fell down on a screen pass in the third quarter.
The Bears' other TDs came in the second quarter off a Joe Igber 11-yard run in the second quarter and a 55-yard pass from Boller to LaShaun Ward with two seconds left in the game. Igber netted 116 yards off 18 rushes.
This was the first meeting between Cal and BYU, who are scheduled for a rematch to start the 2001 season at Berkeley.
Date: Oct 09, 1999
Site: Provo Utah
Stadium: Cougar Stadium
Attendance: 65,617
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
California.......... 0 14 7 7 - 28
Brigham Young....... 14 7 3 14 - 38
Scoring Summary
1st 07:25 BYU - PITTMAN, Jonath 41 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
01:35 BYU - OFAHENGAUE, Tev 28 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
2nd 08:19 BYU - HOOKS, Margin 29 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
04:59 CAL - D. O'Neal 19 yd interception return (M. Jensen kick)
02:22 CAL - J. Igber 11 yd run (M. Jensen kick)
3rd 05:13 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 44 yd field goal
00:18 CAL - D. Marzett 80 yd interception return (M. Jensen kick)
4th 12:11 BYU - PITTMAN, Jonath 44 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
01:21 BYU - STALEY, Luke 7 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
00:02 CAL - L. Ward 55 yd pass from K. Boller (M. Jensen kick)
Team Statistics
CAL BYU
FIRST DOWNS................... 13 27
Rushing..................... 4 6
Passing..................... 6 18
Penalty..................... 3 3
Rushing Attempts.............. 33 37
Yards Gained Rushing.......... 161 151
Yards Lost Rushing............ 37 75
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 124 76
NET YARDS PASSING............. 173 414
Passes Attempted............ 33 41
Passes Completed............ 11 25
Had Intercepted............. 1 3
TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS......... 66 78
TOTAL NET YARDS............... 297 490
Average Gain Per Play....... 4.5 6.3
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 1-1 2-0
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 14-88 3-31
Number of Punts-Yards......... 9-425 7-276
Average Per Punt............ 47.2 39.4
Punt Returns: Number-Yards.... 3-31 6-45
Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards. 2-46 0-0
Interceptions: Number-Yards... 3-99 1-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yards.. 0-0 1-18
Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0
Possession Time............... 25:07 35:11
Third-Down Conversions........ 4 of 16 6 of 14
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 0 of 0
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 6-42 3-18