BERKELEY, Calif. — Cam Ward threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Arroyo with 26 seconds left and No. 8 Miami roared back from a 25-point deficit in the second half to beat California 39-38 on Saturday night.
Ward led four straight touchdown drives to end the game and spoil what looked like the most monumental day in years for the Golden Bears (3-2, 0-2 ACC), who hosted ESPN’s “College GameDay” for the first time and were on the verge of their second win over a top 10 team in the past 21 seasons.
Instead, Ward made sure the rare sellout crowd at Memorial Stadium went home unhappy after overcoming a 35-10 deficit in the third quarter. That gave the Hurricanes (6-0, 2-0) a second straight dramatic victory after needing a replay review to hold off Virginia Tech last week.
Ward threw an 18-yard TD pass to Isaiah Horton with 10:28 left to cut it to 38-25 and then scrambled in from 24 yards out to make it a six-point game with 4:04 to play.
The Hurricanes forced a punt after being spared a potential targeting call on instant replay and Ward then hit Xavier Restrepo on a 77-yard pass on the first play on the ensuing drive to get Miami into the red zone.
A personal foul backed up the Hurricanes but Ward converted a third-and-20 on a short pass to Joshisa Trader that went for 22 yards down to the 3. Two plays later, Ward found Arroyo on a jump pass that gave Miami the lead.
Ward finished 33 for 53 for 437 yards with two touchdown passes and a TD run, overcoming a pick-6 that helped put Miami in the big hole in the third quarter.
Fernando Mendoza delivered several big plays against the team he grew up cheering for as a kid in Miami but it wasn’t enough.
Mendoza threw a 57-yard TD pass to Jack Endries in the first quarter and had a 51-yarder to Trond Grizzell that set up Jaydn Ott’s 5-yard run that gave Cal a 14-7 lead.
Ott scored again on 66-yard catch and run on a fourth-and-1 midway through the second quarter and Mendoza threw a 59-yard pass to Jaivian Thomas in the third quarter that set up Chandler Rogers’ 9-yard TD run.
But Cal punted on its first two drives of the fourth quarter before Mendoza threw an interception in the closing seconds to end it.
Miami: The Hurricanes are off to their third 6-0 start in the past 20 seasons, having previously done it in 2017 and 2013, as they try to establish themselves as a championship contender.
California: The Bears have lost 10 straight games against ranked teams and are 1-26 against top 10 teams since the start of the 2004 season with the lone win coming in 2017 against Washington State.
Miami: At Louisville on Oct. 19.
California: At Pittsburgh on Saturday.
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