By Morris Phillips

It didn’t appear in the fine print on the game tickets, but most everyone in Strawberry Canyon on Saturday knew: for attendance to a Washington State-Cal football game, a calculator isn’t required, but a strong math background is recommended.

And while the Victory Cannon didn’t run out of ammunition during Cal’s 34-28 win over WSU, a couple of numerical talking points stood out as the Bears fashioned a narrow escape and moved to 5-0 for the first time since 2007.

In last year’s scoring cornucopia in Pullman, a 60-59 win for the Bears in which the teams combined for 1,400 yards in offense and no turnovers, obscured by the headlines were the facts that Cal trailed by at least 10 points in each of the first three quarters, and then trailed on two occasions (by smaller margins) in the fourth.

On Saturday, WSU had the jump on Cal again, leading briefly by two touchdowns in the second quarter, and almost grabbing a 31-20 lead late in the third quarter that would have been problematic for Cal had WSU’s Erik Powell not missed a 40-yard field goal attempt.  How could youthful WSU, losers to Portland State in their season opener get the jump on highly-motivated No. 24 Cal, a three-touchdown favorite?

According to Coach Sonny Dykes and Cal quarterback Jared Goff, WSU’s early success was all in the preparation.

“I think them having two weeks to prepare might have had something to do with it,” Goff said.  “They had an extra chance to clean up the wrinkles and put in some new stuff we weren’t ready for.  The stuff they didn’t show on film, and hats off to them for that.”

“The way they played fast, you can tell they had some time to prepare for us,” Dykes explained.

So how did Cal respond? By pulling off a feat they’ve accomplished in all five of their games this season: scoring in the last two minutes of the first half, and then again within the first five minutes (plus) in the second half.  Trailing 21-7, Goff and the Bears showed some urgency, needing just five plays to draw within 21-13 on Kenny Lawler’s 9-yard, touchdown grab with 34 seconds remaining before halftime.

The Cougs had the ball first in the second half, and when they lined up to punt on fourth down at midfield, their fake punt went horribly wrong and almost cost punter Zach Charme his health.  Charme, a more than competent punter, but an awful broken-play runner, faked the punt, then took off running tentatively towards the line of scrimmage.  Cal starting cornerback Darius Allensworth swooped in and separated Charme’s forearm from the ball, leading with his helmet, a move so forceful that it propelled the football away from the descending scrum of players.

That’s when senior Stefan McClure became the luckiest man in the stadium, scooping up the ball on the run and racing 45 yards for a touchdown that brought Cal within 21-20.

Cal’s back-to-back scores didn’t deter WSU, as they responded with a 15-play drive culminating with Gabe Marks’ 4-yard touchdown catch.  Marks may have been the best player on the field Saturday, the WSU junior finished with 10 catches for 141 yards.

Cal answered back, needing just two minutes to craft a six-play drive that ended with Lawler’s second score, a one-handed catch with a WSU defender clutching his other arm, and the tippy-toe job along the sideline to boot that prompted a brief, video review.

But when Cal attempted a two-point conversion in part because of the math, and in part due to Dykes’ likely frustration with his place-kicking game, Goff was picked and Cal still trailed 28-26.

Dykes then reached into his bag of tricks with the unexpected, onside kick featuring his embattled kicker, Matt Anderson.  Anderson’s pooch went diagonally towards the Cal sideline, out of the reach of all except Darius Powe who leaped to snag the ball just before it went out-of-bounds.  Again, a video review was needed to determine if Powe gained control before rolling out of bounds.

Of course, all video reviews aren’t created equal.  This one required a camera with a birds-eye view of the Cal sideline at midfield, which the Pac-12 Network couldn’t provide.  Instead, review officials were treated to a shot from a camera positioned below the north end zone scoreboard that was far from “definitive.”

The call on the field was upheld, Cal regained possession, and WSU–so well-prepared earlier–was trumped.

“That’s kind of a hard kick to executed and you have to credit Matt,” Dykes said.  “He did a fantastic job kicking it, and Darius did a great job making the play.  We were looking for the right time to call it, and we just felt at that point we had a little bit of momentum.”

Four plays later Cal had its first lead of the day as Maurice Harris took a short pass, bounced off a tackler near the 20-yard line and raced in from there, untouched.

What happened next no doubt surprised everyone gathered inside Memorial Stadium.  WSU’s “Air Raid” and Cal’s “Bear Raid” grounded to halt.  Neither team managed to score another point, as both teams went scoreless in the final 17 minutes of the game.   Cal iced the victory by controlling the ball offensively for nearly 12 minutes in the fourth quarter.

To close it out, Cal put the final touches on a seven-sack performance that has them atop the FBS in that category.  Defensive end Kyle Kragen was credited for 2 ½ sacks on the day.  The Bears forced four turnovers in all, and they also lead all major college teams in that category with 17.

In the coming weeks, Cal’s lofty position will be challenged by trips to No. 10 Utah, No. 7 UCLA and a home game with No. 17 USC.  Utah’s up next with an ESPN national telecast scheduled for next Saturday night at 5:15pm from Salt Lake City.