Things didn’t start well for the Bears, but give them credit: They didn’t go away.

Halftime score: Stanford 14, Cal 10.

Stanford tailback Toby Gerhart ripped off a 61-yard touchdown run on the Cardinal’s first offensive series of the game, at the time an apparent signal that Stanford’s rushing attack is everything it’s supposed to be. And Gerhart is as good as advertised — he doesn’t go down on first contact, he fights for yardage and — as we saw on the long run — he’s got the speed to get loose in the open field.

But the Bears’ defense is playing well. They’re swarming to the ball. When Gerhart doesn’t go down with the first hit, there’s been several other white jerseys there to wrap him up. He’s over 100 yards for the half, but take away the long run and he’s probably averaging about four or five yards per carry. Gerhart scored again with 4:46 remaining in the first quarter, but that was after a Bryan Anger punt was blocked and Stanford took over at the Cal 19-yard line. Working with a short field, the Bears were burned by a 16-yard run by Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck that brought Stanford to the 1-yard line. Gerhart finished it off two plays later.

As we said, though, Cal isn’t going away. The offense is showing something that it hasn’t showed for most of the season: the ability to sustain drives. One big key to that is that the Bears are getting themselves into a lot of third-and-short situations, when they get to third down at all. They ran 42 plays in that first half and amassed 213 yards, compared to 28 plays for 151 yards by Stanford. Shane Vereen is, again, fighting for yardage. He’s really matched Gerhart in that first half. Kevin Riley’s completion percentage isn’t great, but he has quarterbacked two long offensive drives, including one before the end of the half that resulted in a touchdown. That drive went 85 yards on 14 plays, and Vereen capped it off with a two-yard touchdown run.

Vince D’Amato — who is kicking field goals instead of Giorgio Tavecchio — converted a 21-yarder at the end of the first quarter to make the score 14-3. That ended another long drive, which stalled inside the Stanford five-yard line. The play calling on that one will probably be questioned by the masses. First-and-goal from the two-yard line, Cal runs two straight direct snaps to Vereen, who gains nothing on the first one, then loses two yards on the second. On third down, Kevin Riley throws a fade for Marvin Jones, which is broken up. Field goal is the result.

Overall, Cal is playing so well in this game that it should be winning right now. The Bears had another long drive to start the second quarter, which ended when Riley’s pass intended for Vereen was tipped by Vereen and intercepted by Stanford cornerback Richard Sherman (who’s been everywhere in this game — one pick and two pass break-ups). The defense, meanwhile, is swarming Gerhart. It helps that Luck isn’t playing too well. He’s 4-for-12 for just 27 yards. He has barely overthrown a couple balls, and hasn’t been helped any by a few drops from his receivers.

Cal gets the ball to start the second half, and has the momentum at halftime, on a 10-0 run. I think it’s safe to say the Bears have surprised so far. We’ll see if they can keep it up.