BERKELEY — Opening their fourth-straight season on the road against a Division I-A opponent, Sacramento State again was overpowered in a 41-3 loss to California on Saturday in Berkeley.

Despite the final score, the Hornets played the No. 19-ranked Golden Bears tough in the first half as Sac State trailed only by 10-3 score going into the locker room. Cal was held to 10 points or less in the first half only three times during the 2004 season ?” one of those games was against USC and two were on the road.

The game didn’t get out of hand on the scoreboard until early in the third quarter when the Bears scored following a fumbled exchange between quarterback Chris Hurd and running back Ryan Mole. Cal got the ball at the Sac State 23 and scored three plays later on a Marshawn Lynch touchdown run.

“Today we played the best 36 minutes of football against a I-A program in this school’s history,” head coach Steve Mooshagian said.

“There are a lot of positives that we can grow on from this game,” he said. “We gave it our best shot today and came up short against a superior opponent, but we’re not going to back down from anyone. We showed that we can play with a tough opponent like Cal.”

Returning seven of 11 starters, Sac State defensive coordinator Tim Skipper’s unit played better than any outsider could’ve imagined Saturday. After allowing the Bears to drive down the field and score a touchdown on the opening drive, the Hornets didn’t allow a Cal point for the next 24 minutes in the first half.

“We just took this game as a challenge,” said middle linebacker Tyson Butler. “We knew they were a really high powered offense and we respect for them, but we had a lot of confidence in coach Skipper’s game plan.”

Butler and cornerback Brandon Smith were two of the big playmakers for the Hornets against Cal. Both finished with an interception and three tackles on the day. Smith’s second-quarter pick set up a potential scoring drive, but the Hornets stalled inside Cal territory early in the second quarter.

“This is a real confidence booster for us,” said Smith, a senior out of Oakland. “Right now we feel like we can play with anybody out there. Cal is a highly ranked team and we came in here and played our game. We wanted to leave everything on the field and we did that. We’re all upset that we lost the game, but we did play hard and we played as an entire unit. I’m very proud of that.”

After the Hornets’ defense forced the Bears to punt for a third time in four possessions, quarterback Chris Hurd directed the lone scoring drive of the game. He connected with receivers Jordan Farrell and Ryan Coogler each for gains of 20 yards on a drive that set up an opportunity to tie the game late in the second quarter. On a third-down play, Hurd couldn’t connect with an open Bobby Mooshagian in the end zone, resulting in a Juan Gamboa field goal.

Hurd played well in his first appearance with Sacramento, completing on 9-of-17 passes for 82 yards, despite being with the program for less than a month. He thinks with more time in the offense they should see much better results offensively.

Leading receiver Ryan Coogler knows the Hornets played well in defeat, but says there is one big thing the team needs to work on for the rest of the season.

“We showed we can play with anybody today, but we must learn how to finish games,” said the junior receiver. “We had this game somewhat in our hands and we let it slip through our fingers. Coach told us we need to finish games and I’m sure that’s one thing we’ll focus on”

Lynch, a sophomore and Heisman Trophy candidate according to ESPN.com, led Cal with 147 yards and one touchdown. The Golden Bears’ starting quarterback, Nathan Longshore, severely injured his ankle midway through the game ?” Jeff Tedford reported it as “broken” ?” and backup Joe Ayoob failed to complete one of his 10 pass attempts.

The Hornets will continue their season on the road next week in San Luis Obispo at Cal Poly.