The air quality in Berkeley was piss poor, but the Washington State Cougars’ performance was worse, as the the Cougars suffered a 37-3 beatdown at the hands of the Golden Bears. The real heros of the game were the 26,252 Cal faithful who weathered through the smoke-stuffed air to watch the Bears beat a top-10 team for the second time in 40 years. Who said all Berkeley liberals are snowflakes? Huge respect out to those fans as they earned the right to rush the field after The Bears blasted No. 8 Washington State 37-3.
This game was plagued with mistakes and turnovers for the Washington State Cougars. The Cougars opened with 99 yard kickoff return, but it was called back by a holding penalty; then Falk threw the first of five interceptions to give Cal the ball on Wazzu 20 yard line. Cal’s defense smothered Mike Leach’s high powered offense forcing 7 turnovers and registering 9 total sacks. It was easily the worst offensive performance for Wazzu during Mike Leach’s tenure.
Cal dominated the Cougars in every facet of the game from field position, the line of scrimmage, at quarterback, and at all the skill positions. A top 10 team is not supposed to be dominated in this type of fashion. The Golden Bears were able to gain constant pressure against one of the nation’s best pass blocking units with a four man pass rush. The Bears were able to mix up several zone concepts to shut down the Cougars passing game. Cal defensive back Camryn Bynum had two interceptions. It just all clicked for the Cal defense.
Cal QB Ross Bowers had a solid game as well. Bowers threw for 258 yards with a touchdown, including one in which he did an acrobatic flip into the end zone for Cal to put the game out of reach.
The Washington State Cougars will get bounced out of the top ten in the next polls after working 14 years to get there. Mike Leach will have this team regroup as they will play a tough home game against Colorado next week. This is a tough loss to swallow for the Mike Leach faithful, but we are looking forward to more interesting press conferences in the week ahead.
As for the Bears, this a huge win for first-year head coach Justin Wilcox. Wilcox as the Golden Bears trending in the right direction. The Bears will look to continue to build upon this win in their next game against Arizona on October 21st.