BERKELEY, Calif. – Cam Ward threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Arroyo with 26 seconds left and No. 8 Miami roared back from a 25-point deficit in the second half to beat California 39-38 on Saturday night.

Ward led four consecutive touchdown drives to end the game and spoil what seemed like the most monumental day in years for the Golden Bears (3-2, 0-2 ACC), who hosted and attended ESPN’s “College GameDay” for the first time were on the eve of their second victory over a top 10 team in the past 21 seasons.

Instead, Ward made the rare sellout crowd at Memorial Stadium go home unhappy after overcoming a 35-10 deficit in the third quarter. That gave the Hurricanes (6-0, 2-0) a second straight dramatic win after needing a replay review to hold off Virginia Tech last week.

Ward threw an 18-yard TD pass to Isaiah Horton with 10:28 left to cut the score to 38-25 and then scrambled in from 24 yards out to make it a six-point game with 4:04 left to play.

The Hurricanes forced a punt after being spared a potential targeting call on instant replay, and Ward then hit Xavier Restrepo with a 77-yard pass on the first play on the ensuing drive to get Miami into the red zone.

A personal foul buoyed the Hurricanes, but Ward converted a third-and-20 with a short pass to Joshisa Trader who went 22 yards to the 3. Two plays later, Ward found Arroyo with a jump pass that gave Miami the lead. .

Ward finished 33-for-53 for 437 yards with two touchdown passes and a TD run, overcoming a pick-6 that put Miami in the big hole in the third quarter.

Fernando Mendoza had several big games against the team he cheered for as a kid in Miami, but it wasn’t enough.

Mendoza threw a 57-yard TD pass to Jack Endries in the first quarter and had a 51-yarder to Trond Grizzell that set up Jaydn Ott’s 5-yard run that gave Cal a 14-7 lead.

Ott scored again on a 66-yard catch and run on a fourth-and-1 midway through the second quarter and Mendoza threw a 59-yard pass to Jaivian Thomas in the third quarter, setting up Chandler Rogers’ 9-yard TD run got going.

But Cal punted on its first two drives of the fourth quarter before Mendoza threw an interception in the final seconds to end it.