By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–Six days after the Bears were embarrassed by the Huskies, they were nearly flawless when confronted by the Cougars.

No dramatic story arc from an old National Geographic television segment, but Pac-12 football at its topsy-turviest, Cal’s dramatic turnaround produced the biggest upset of the conference’s season to date.

Eighth-ranked WSU and Heisman candidate quarterback Luke Falk hadn’t scored fewer than 30 points in any of their six victories, but a big Cal defensive effort shutdown the Cougars as Falk was sacked nine times, and intercepted five times. The ninth sack of Falk resulted in a fumble, and scoop-and-score for Cal’s Gerran Brown as the Bears rolled 37-3.

The win was just Cal’s second over a Top-10 team in the last 40 seasons, with the other coming in 2003 against USC as Aaron Rodgers starred. But unlike 2003, this win was foreseen by no one, and surprisingly lopsided.

“We weren’t good in any aspect of the game,” WSU Coach Mike Leach admitted. “Cal outcoached and outplayed us at every position that I saw.”

Coming in, Cal was reeling having lost three straight while allowing a combined 83 points in the two, previous road losses at Oregon and Washington. Offensively, things were even worse as the Bears managed less than 100 yards total offense and no points in Seattle.

But against WSU, Cal was better schemed, and more opportunistic than their opponent, who hadn’t played a game with a ranking this high in 14 years. The biggest key undoubtedly Cal’s ability to pressure Falk when common wisdom suggested Cal’s defense, and specifically their secondary, would be overwhelmed by the Cougars’ relentless passing attack.

“We wanted to change up where the four were coming from,” coach Justin Wilcox explained. “So most of it was four-man rush during the game. It was which four guys were coming. That’s what we changed up. That’s part of how we structure our defense and the guys executed it well.”

Cal hadn’t generated nine sacks since doing so against Stanford in 2005. The five interceptions were their biggest total since picking five against Washington in 2006.

The improvement for Cal was just as dramatic offensively as quarterback Ross Bowers was sacked just twice while throwing for 259 yards and a big touchdown pass to Kyle Wells before halftime that increased Cal’s lead to 17-3. In the previous three games, Bowers was sacked 17 times.

Afterwards, Bowers described a simple approach to the game that produced dramatic results.

“Preparation during the week, taking the right steps, working smarter and just focusing on doing our job,” Bowers said.