Cal Football: 3 takeaways from big win over Ole Miss in SEC country

A tight first half opened up after the intermission, and Cal football held on for victory in Oxford. Here are three things we learned from the Golden Bears win.

Cal went into SEC country on Saturday as one of the last few remaining undefeated teams in the Pac-12. The Golden Bears already had a statement win at Seattle under their belt, and Justin Wilcox’s team had hopes of restoring Pac-12 pride after several marquee disappointments against the SEC.

While Ole Miss was able to keep the game close in the first half, they were unable to crack the Cal defense after halftime adjustments were enacted. The defense stood up strong, holding the Rebels to just one touchdown in the second half as they pulled away and easily beat a point spread that had the Golden Bears as three-point underdogs.

Even then, Ole Miss had a shot to tie up the game and send things to overtime in the final minute. But Elijah Moore caught the ball diving back out of the endzone on third and goal, and with the clock still running the Rebels couldn’t get set well enough as they were stuffed on the goal line by the Golden Bears.

With the 28-20 victory in Week 4, the Golden Bears asserted their presence as a potential dark-horse on the national scene. At the time of their victory on Saturday, they were one of just two remaining unbeaten squads in the Pac-12 North. Though they started outside the AP Top 25 to start the season, the Golden Bears consolidated their position in the polls and could continue to move up in the coming weeks.

But not everything was perfect in victory for the Golden Bears. We learned plenty about Cal from this non-conference Power Five showdown. Here are three takeaways from the big win in Oxford.