Cal blows 25-point lead to lose to No. 8 Miami after festive day in Berkeley

BERKELEY — The Cal football experience on Saturday began and ended in darkness. In between, over a span of more than 17 hours, the Golden Bears assembled one of their brightest performances in years.

Then it all fell apart.

After fans packed Memorial Glade in the heart of campus and wowed the ESPN ‘College GameDay’ crew for three hours beginning at 6 a.m., the Bears forged a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter against No. 8 Miami in front of a capacity crowd of 52,428 at Memorial Stadium.