Top 50 Cal Sports Moments — No. 37: Script Flip, 2017

As the Pac-12 Conference era comes to a close after more than a century, we count down the Top 50 moments involving Cal athletics.

THE MOMENT: With 13:10 left in the fourth quarter, Ross Bowers dashed toward the goal line, left his feet just outside the 2-yard line and delivered a forward flip into the end zone, sealing Cal’s victory over Washington State. 

THE STORY: The game almost wasn’t played due to smoky air, which had drifted south from the devastating fire in nearby Sonoma County that came at a cost of 24 lives and nearly 7,000 structures destroyed. Air quality in the East Bay had been at dangerous levels for several days but officials gave the go-ahead for the 7 p.m. matchup at Memorial Stadium after the air quality index dipped to the “moderate” range in the late afternoon.

Only 26,244 fans — a season low in coach Justin Wilcox’s debut year — braved the conditions for a chance to watch the underdog Bears. Perhaps the eighth-ranked Cougars should have heeded the calendar — Friday the 13th of October in 2017 — and stayed home. 

WSU arrived with a 6-0 record and averaging nearly 40 points a game under coach Mike Leach. Cal was 3-3, winless in three Pac-12 games, and coming off a 38-7 beatdown at Washington the week before.

But the Bears intercepted WSU quarterback Luke Falk five times, forced a total of seven turnovers and collected nine sacks to score their first win over a Top-10 opponent since beating No. 3 USC 34-31 in 2003. Cal entered the game with a record of 1-52-1 against Top-10 teams since 1978.

Cal built a 17-7 halftime lead before outscoring the Cougars 20-0 in the second half. Bowers passed for 259 yards and a touchdown and provided the night’s highlight 70 seconds into the fourth quarter.

His daring vault into the end zone pushed the margin to 27-3. Afterward, he gave his mother — a former gymnastics coach — a share of the credit.

“I didn’t think I could go left or right, so why not over the top?” Bowers said. “Luckily I was able enough to land safely and all that stuff.”

Cornerback Camryn Bynum, who had two of Cal’s five picks, said Bowers deserved more than a perfect gymnastics score for his flip. “That was 11 out of 10,” Bynum said. “That was really nice. That’s crazy.”

The defense owned the rest of the night. Gerran Brown returned a fumble 26 yards for a touchdown and fellow linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk had 2.5 sacks, forced a fumble and had an interception.

* Top 50 Moment No. 38: Extra Motivation

* Top 50 Moment No. 39:  BCS B.S.

Only specific acts that occurred while the team or athlete was at Cal were considered for the Top 50 list, and accomplishments spanning a season or a career were not included. 

Leslie Mitchell of the Cal Bears History Twitter site aided in the selection of the top 50 moments.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo