Bay Area Sports Beat: What You Need to Know Right Now

Bay Area Sports Beat: What You Need to Know Right Now

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When Sonny Dykes took the reins to Cal’s football team, he promised a new, prolific, high-octane offense.


Check. The defense? Well…to be determined.

The storied Ohio State Buckeyes, ranked No. 4 in the nation, visited Berkeley on Saturday without the services of their starting quarterback, Braxton Miller, and still shredded through the young Cal defense.

Ohio State led by 21 points after six minutes, eclipsed 600 yards on offense and rode it to a 52-34 victory in front of a sellout crowd.

James Grisom and Chris Harper scored for Cal (1-2) to get within 10 points in the second quarter, but never got any closer and Ohio State pulled away in the second half. Jared Goff led the Bears with 371 passing yards and three touchdowns but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the prolific Ohio State attack.

“Our guys battled, they kept battling, Dykes toldThe San Francisco Chronicle. “That’s going to be the trademark of our football team. We’re going to play hard no matter what’s going on.”  

Stanford went to West Point and defeated Army 34-20.

More gridiron shenanigans

A prime-time and highly anticipated game was played on Sunday night, but we really don’t want to talk about it (yet).

Instead, let us pay homage to the Raiders (!), who put forth an encouraging performance in Oakland with a 19-9 victory over the visiting Jaguars.

Jacksonville isn’t expected be the most competitive units in the NFL, but the Raiders have to be happy with a down-and-dirty defensive display. The Raiders had five sacks and held the Jaguars without a first down for a two and a half quarter span.

With their first win of the season, they’ll have an extra hop in their step when playing Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in a week on Monday Night Football.

The 49ers, on the other hand…

Seattle and San Francisco were widely tipped to be the two obvious Super Bowl contenders in the NFC. Only one looked the part, as Seattle steamrolled the 49ers on national television, 29-3.

Colin Kaepernick threw an uncharacteristic three interceptions and an offense that looked unstoppable a week ago never found its footing in Seattle.

Dodger Stadium: conquered.

The San Francisco Giants have turned into a bit of a baseball afterthought as they’ve faded out of playoff contention and into obscurity over the past few months.

But a record-setting night in the house of your worst enemy? Shabby it’s not.

San Francisco romped over the Dodgers on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium 19-3 to set the historic stadium’s record for most runs scored in a game.

For the Dodgers, it’s a dubious distinction to be branded with en route to winning the NL West and for the Giants it’s a rare highlight in a season that’s had few of ‘em.

Hunter Pence belted a grand slam and drove in a career-high seven runs and Brandon Belt had to play second-fiddle in spite of his inspired six-RBI output.

America’s Cup

Both Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand had reason to smile on Saturday during the America’s Cup, albeit, for different reasons.

Team USA won Race 8 to win its first race and cut the deficit to New Zealand to 6-0 (USA was earlier penalized and started negative two races) but it was largely as a result of the Kiwis avoiding a disaster.

The New Zealand ship nearly capsized during the second leg of Race 8, but was able to right the ship to avoid a dangerous and costly crash.

They ended up losing the race, but spared their ship and their safety as a result. “I think we had someone looking down on us, giving us a little help,” skipper Dean Barker told the Chronicle

Come say hi: @seanswaby

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