California retains slim bowl hopes with 36-10 win over UCLA

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) Davis Webb punctuated his one-year career at California with a pair of touchdown passes, a milestone achievement shared by only one other quarterback in school history and a legacy of work ethic that coach Sonny Dykes couldn't stop gushing over.

Barring a surprise invitation to the postseason for his Golden Bears teammates, Webb's next pass will be thrown at the Senior Bowl before he tries to make the leap to the NFL.

Webb became the second quarterback in school history to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season, Matt Anderson tied a team record with five field goals and California beat UCLA 36-10 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

''That's probably the most talented defense in the Pac-12, top to bottom,'' Webb said of the Bruins. ''We basically dominated the entire game in moving the ball.''

Webb completed 32 of 48 attempts for 301 yards in his final game with the Golden Bears. He threw touchdown passes of 7 and 2 yards, giving Webb 37 this season.

A graduate transfer who played three seasons at Texas Tech, Webb finished his one-year career at California with 4,295 yards - second only to Jared Goff, the No. 1 overall pick in this year's NFL draft who threw for 4,719 yards in 2015.

''His impact will be felt in our program for a long time just because of his work ethic and dedication,'' Dykes said. ''He's a great example for the rest of our players, especially our quarterbacks, about the time that it takes to be a great quarterback at this level. He's got a really bright future in front of him and I can't wait to watch him play on Sundays.''

Wide receiver Chad Hansen, who caught 11 touchdown passes this season, said Webb set the tone for this season last summer.

''I knew that he was going to be a really good quarterback,'' Hansen said. ''Obviously he has talent but the stuff he did off the field really helped him.''

Anderson converted field goal from 43, 25, 44, 24 and 19 yards to set the Bears' modern day scoring record with 111 points. That matched the school record set by Mark Jensen in 2002.

California (3-6, 5-7) also snapped a four-game losing streak overall to keep its slim postseason hopes alive. If there are not enough six-win teams to fill out the bowl games, invitations are sent out to teams with five wins based on Academic Progress Rate.

UCLA (2-7, 4-8) has no such hopes after ending its disappointing season with a thud in the Pac-12 finale. The Bruins lost for the sixth time in seven games and matched their worst record since 1999.

THE TAKEAWAY

UCLA: The loss was just the latest in a long series of disappointments for Mora and the Bruins, who face a huge uphill climb to turn the program around. UCLA never really recovered from losing quarterback Josh Rosen to injury. Mora's job isn't likely to be in jeopardy but he has to shake things up in the offseason and might start by making some changes to his staff of assistants, particularly on the offensive side.

''In order for us to get back to where we want to be, we all have to resist the urge to look somewhere else for the problem and look at ourselves first,'' Mora said. ''If we can do that first, then we can come up with the solutions that are necessary to be a good football team again.''

California: The Bears actually played well defensively, although the Bruins gave them plenty of help. They also had good balance on offense with running back Khalfani Muhammad rushing for 116 yards on 29 carries. Hansen had another strong game (10-156) and now must consider whether to leave for the NFL or come back for his senior season, though in the postgame he sounded like he's intent on staying in college.

OVER THE TOP

California's 330-pound fullback Malik Jackson scored on a 1-yard dive when he tried to leap over the pile and got the nose of the football across the goal line.

''It didn't surprise me because he is such a good athlete,'' Dykes said. ''That's something we've had in our gameplan for a while and we haven't had an opportunity to use it until tonight.''

UP NEXT

California: The Bears will sit back and await word on whether or not they'll be going to a bowl game. It's a longshot at this point but it's better than no shot at all.

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AP college football website: collegefootball.ap.org