Early in the week leading up to Saturday's Big Game, Cal linebacker Worrell Williams promised that if Stanford's power rushing attack wanted an "alley fight," the Bears had the personnel for it.

Right before halftime, Cal's defense got the chance to prove him right.

Trailing 10-0 with under a minute left in the second quarter, Stanford was perched on the Bears' one-yard line with a chance to go into halftime with momentum and down just three points.

There was little doubt about where the ball would go.

Cardinal tailback Toby Gerhart entered the game as one of the Pac-10's two 1,000-yard rushers on the season, and with a reputation of being a physical, downhill runner. Stanford needed him to get one yard on two plays.

Instead, he went backward.

"We'd heard all week about how powerful and how big of a running back he is, and how he likes to punch the ball downfield," Cal linebacker Anthony Felder said. "When we got in the red zone it wasn't so much that we were worried about Gerhart punching the ball in the end zone. We were anticipating the opportunity to show that we are a physical defense."

On second-and-goal from the one-yard line, Gerhart rushed up the middle but was tripped up by Bears defensive end Tyson Alualu at the line of scrimmage.

On third down, he took the handoff right and was stuffed again for a loss of two. After Alualu drew first contact, nose tackle Mika Kane wrestled him to the ground in the backfield.

Stanford settled for a chip-shot field goal. And on the first play of the second half, Cal linebacker Eddie Young intercepted Tavita Pritchard to spark the Bears to 27 unanswered points.

"That was huge," Williams said. "That was a letdown for them. They didn't want (the field goal). They wanted seven. And all of a sudden, we come out in the second half and get an interception on the first play.

"Now, they're like, 'What are we gonna do?'"

It was indicative of a game in which the Bears gave up 435 yards of offense to the Cardinal-over 100 yards more than the defense's season average-but clutched up when it mattered most. Even more impressive, they did so against a Stanford team that entered the game with the highest red zone scoring percentage (95) in the nation.

On Saturday, the Cardinal converted just one of its three chances.

"That's big-boy time down there," Williams said of the red zone. "You've got to really stiffen up down there and you've got to really show your guts and show what you're made of. That's what football's all about."

Cal's defense kept Gerhart out of the end zone until halfway through the fourth quarter, continuing its season-long propensity for negating the effects of power backs-like Michigan State's Javon Ringer and Oregon's LeGarrette Blount-and validating Williams' pre-game claim.

"Only reason I'd say something like that is if I really truly feel confident," Williams said. "And we're built for that."

Tags: CAL FOOTBALL, JEFF TEDFORD, ZACK FOLLETT, WORRELL WILLIAMS, ANTHONY FELDER