STANFORD — Unfazed by its two-week COVID-19 detour, Cal steamrolled Stanford 41-11 in the 124th Big Game on Saturday evening, the Bears’ second straight road victory over the Cardinal.

Chase Garbers passed for 246 yards with two touchdowns, giving him 50 for his career, and the Bears produced three plays covering 75 yards or longer in front of an announced crowd of 49,265.

The Bears rolled up 636 yards, a Big Game record by either team. Cal lost at Arizona two weeks earlier without 24 players who tested positive, then had their game last week against USC postponed when they didn’t have enough healthy players to field a team.

With the win, Cal (4-6, 3-4 Pac-12) kept alive its quest for bowl eligibility, but still needs wins next week at UCLA and on Dec. 4 against USC to reach six victories.

Stanford (3-8, 2-7) faces the prospect of finishing its season with seven consecutive losses unless it can pull an upset against Notre Dame next week.

When fourth-string running back Christopher Street scored a 5-yard touchdown with exactly 5 minutes left, the Bears matched the most points they’d scored in the Big Game since a 41-6 win in 2004.

The Bears pushed their 14-3 halftime lead to 20-3 on field goals of 24 and 34 yards by Dario Longhetto on their first two possessions of the third quarter. The second one could have been more.

After a 75-yard run by Christopher Brooks to the Stanford 17-yard line, Garbers threw to Nikko Remigio, who worked his way along the left sideline to the end zone. But the play was erased by a personal foul penalty against Cal offensive lineman Brayden Rohme, and Cal wound up with just three points.

It didn’t matter a bit. Senior running back Marcel Dancy sprinted 76 yards for a touchdown that made it 27-3 with 1:26 left in the third quarter.

Then, after Austin Jones scored on a 1-yard run for Stanford with 12:48 to play, Cal used a short field after a failed onside kick try to score again, on a 2-yard TD run by Dancy with 10:30 left.

After a scoreless first quarter, Garbers got the Bears on the board with an 84-yard touchdown pass to Trevon Clark for a 7-0 lead with 12:07 left in the first half. It was the longest pass play by either school in the history of a rivalry that began in 1892, eclipsing an 82-yarder by Stanford’s Ryan Johnson to Walter Batson in 1987.

Cal added to its lead with an 11-play, 80-yard drive that included a 34-yard completion to Monroe Young to the 1-yard line, followed by Garbers’ TD pass to Brooks with 5:38 left in the half.

Stanford cut the margin to 17-3 on the final play of the half when Joshua Karty kicked a 32-yard field goal.

The first quarter ended scoreless after Stanford twice reached the Cal 3-yard line but failed to convert on surprising fourth-down decisions.

The Cardinal faced fourth-and-goal at the 3 when McKee was stopped a yard short of the end zone on a sneak try with 10:18 to play in the first quarter.

Cal responded with an 80-yard drive to the Stanford 19 before Garbers was picked off in the end zone by safety Jonathan McGill, who was playing his first game this season after sitting with a linger fall camp injury.

It was Garbers’ first interception after 126 pass attempts.

Stanford marched to the Cal 3 before McKee was sacked by linebacker Cameron Goode on third down. Facing fourth down from 5, Shaw again opted against a short field goal, and McKee’s pass to Benjamin Yurosek was incomplete on the second play of the second period.

The Bears, who entered the game tied for the national lead with just six lost turnovers, gave away a fumble and an interception in the first quarter.