The Cal Bears in their match with the Washington Huskies last week were needless to say overwhelmed. They couldn’t control the Huskies passing game let alone top it in their landslide loss. It was big play, after big play, after big play, I was calling the game for ESPN and Washington kept us busy upstairs you just wanted to yell “flag.”
Cal is headed for Washington State and the Cougars just might very well come into that game undefeated the conference. Cal’s defensive secondary is so young so inexperienced so undermanned and underskilled they can’t put eight in the box so it’s not out of the realm of impossible that Washington State may rush the ball half the time in this game.
AP file photos: Cal Bears head coach Sonny Dykes takes a look at the action against the Washington Huskies last Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley
On the Cal Bears podcast with Morris:
The Cal Bears (4-5) head coach Sonny Dykes said of the Washington Huskies (9-0) there wasn’t much the Bears could have done about it in getting crushed 66-27. Cal quarterback Davis Webb said, “the Huskies laid down an old fashion butt kicking” last Saturday the Huskies were tallying up points in the first three quarters and Dykes said the Bears primarily were helpless keeping up. Cal will need to step it up after last week’s loss when they head to Washington State against the Cougars at Pullman.
Team speed, pervasive throughout Washington’s 66-27 dismantling of Cal on Saturday night, must have disembarked the Huskies’ charter flight from Seattle to the Bay Area even before the UW players and coaches.
It must have. What else could explain the parade of Huskies racing into the end zone—some untouched, almost all racing ahead of the pack—in what would become a record setting rout for the nation’s No. 5 ranked team?
In all, five different Washington players registered at least one play of 32 yards or longer, as the Huskies rolled, at one point scoring 38 consecutive points. The 66 points allowed was the most the Bears had allowed since 1973, and UW’s seven touchdown passes—six courtesy of quarterback Jake Browning—surpassed the Washington (9-0, 6-0 Pac-12) school record of six.
“All of the credit goes to those guys,” Cal quarterback Davis Webb said. “They were coached well, they played really well and that’s a really great team over there. That’s the best team we’ve played this year and I think they proved that tonight.”
Two circumstances conspired to turn this one into a rout—Cal’s injury situation which left them perilously thin in their defensive, back seven, and undefeated Washington’s psyche following the release of the first College Football Playoff rankings which placed them fifth, behind one-loss Texas A&M. Dykes spoke about Cal’s situation that put them at the mercy of Miles Gaskin, UW’s speedy back, and their dominant pair of receivers, John Ross and Dante Pettis, who racked up 14 catches for 312 yards and all six of the touchdown passes thrown by Browning.
“We’re banged up on the backend, so Washington got some matchups on guys that weren’t necessarily a great matchup,” Dykes admitted. “There wasn’t much we could do about it. We knew going into the ballgame that we’d play the best players we had available to us, that’s what we do every week.”
So lopsided were those matchups between the Washington receiving duo, and Cal’s corners and safeties, one’s reaction was either wide-eyed surprise, or a frustrated shake of the head. Ross’ 67-yard score had all of that as Browning wound up and hit the junior in stride 45 yards down field where he shook Bears’ corner Chibuzo Nwokocha. Ross then retreated several yards while gaining momentum and that caused Nwokocha to run into teammate Luke Rubenzer, removing both from the pursuit. Twenty yards later Ross was untouched as he crossed the goal line with safety Khari Vanderbilt able to apply only a fruitless, arm swipe.
On Pettis’ option pass for a touchdown, normal starting safety Rubenzer bit hard on the possibility of a run, allowing Darrell Daniels to slip past him where he was waiting for Pettis’ pass and a 39-yard scoring play.
Those two spectacular plays came in the first quarter with Ross’ score putting UW up 21-6. But after Cal rallied to within 21-20 on Davis Webb’s scoring run and Chad Hansen’s touchdown catch, Washington dropped the hammer with five consecutive touchdowns, then Cameron Von Winkle’s 36-yard field goal that put Washington up 59-20 with 12:58 remaining in the game.
As Washington turned on the gas, Cal kept shooting itself in the foot. At one point, the Bears turned the ball over on three, consecutive possessions. Offensively, Webb got little done, even with Hansen back in the starting lineup after missing two games with injuries. The Bears converted just one of their 13 third-down opportunities, a credit to Huskies’ effective pass rush and the cover skills of the veteran secondary.
Defensively, the Bears drew high praise from UW Coach Chris Petersen who said the Bears did well by crowding the line of scrimmage to stop the run, disguising coverages to protect their deeper defenders, and mixing it up to prevent the Huskies from recognizing any tendencies. But Browning, the Folsom, CA product sorted through it all, making big plays in the passing game when he needed. In all, Browning completed just 19 passes, but they covered 378 yards and six were touchdowns.
Webb finished 23 of 47 for 262 yards, but threw three interceptions. Cal’s running game was stymied as Khalfani Muhammad rushed for just 34 yards, and Tre Watson had 10 carries for 29 yards. Muhammad also suffered the indignity of being picked up off both feet and thrown back by UW’s 350-pound Vita Vea on a goal line play during Cal’s brief, second quarter rally.
Afterwards, the Huskies refused to say they were motivated by the CFP’s snub, with Petersen, Pettis, Browning, Ross and corner Kevin King all saying that too much football remains for them to get ruffled over the initial, playoff poll. And who can blame them? After 12 consecutive wins dating back to last season, the Huskies have matchups with improving USC at home, and Washington State (6-0 in conference play) on the road to consume their attention.
“There’s a lot of football left to play,” Browning said. “Put us outside the top four and make us earn it.”
The Bears travel to Pullman next Saturday night to face the Cougars, who smashed Arizona 59-7.
NOTES: Cal’s attendance continued to suffer as the team was given a third, 7pm or later start time in four home games this season. Only 47,000 attended the game and the stadium was half full for the second half when the outcome was all but decided.
Marshawn Lynch was honored with a bobblehead giveaway that captured his wild, cart ride following Cal’s 2006 overtime win over Washington. Lynch recreated the ride, with his mom, Delisa in tow, then after leading the Bears on to the field with a few, sharp turns, Lynch was joined by rapper E-40 for a final spin.
calbears.com photo: The Cal Bears hosted the Cal Baptist Lancers in exhibition basketball Thursday night at Haas Pavillion
BERKELEY, Ca. — Exhibition games are not expected to be works of art, and Thursday’s game at Haas Pavilion certainly was anything but. The California Golden Bears held on for an 81-73 win over a game Cal Baptist Lancers squad.
The little-known Lancers are actually expected to be a good team this year, ranked #9 nationally in NCAA Division II after finishing last year ranked #14. Senior Michael Smith, who scored in double figures in 33 of 35 games last season, led all scorers on the night with 25 points on 9-of-27 shooting (1-for-5 behind the arc).
The Golden Bears got off to a blistering start, and held a 15-2 lead after just 3:57 of play. They hit their first 5 shots from the floor, but finished the game 21-of-60 the rest of the way. Cal Baptist whittled away at the lead throughout the rest of the first half, and trailed 40-32 at the break, after closing the gap to as little as 24-20. Cal extended their lead to as many as 15 in the second half, but the teams finished the game with each scoring 41 points after the break.
California had balanced scoring, with four players in double figures. The team was led in scoring by Kameron Rooks and graduate transfer (from Columbia) Grant Mullins, each of whom scored 16. “A game like this,” said Cal coach Cuonzo Martin, “you want to establish low post presence, and I thought Kam did a good job of scoring on those plays.” Martin was pleased with what he saw from Mullins, also. “Just watching Mullins from the sidelines, I thought he did a good job, good decisions, seven rebounds, doesn’t make mistakes.”
The Lancers hung in all night, and Martin did not sound terribly pleased with his defense. “I thought Cal Baptist did a good job of spreading us out and attacking the rim,” he said. “They made some shots and kept spacing the floor all night.”
Freshman Charlie Moore, Mr. Basketball Illinois last year, chipped in 9 points on 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. He may well be giving lessons to the remainder of the squad, which went a horrendous 14 for 33. The Golden Bears did seem more relaxed at the line in the second half, when they hit 11-of-17; still, they will have to do a LOT better shooting free throws to have lasting success on the season.
“We did a poor job of free throws,” Coach Martin said, “and it’s hard to get into a flow and extend a lead when you are not shooting free throws.”
Rooks, who broke his foot in the offseason, showed no ill effects of the injury. “It’s all healed up now and I’m trying to get my timing back, but that will come along,” he said after the game. His eight rebounds led all players, as did his four offensive boards. Rooks looked confident, was able to run the floor well, and was aggressive to the basket, with very good foot work – all positive signs of growth since last season.
Stephen Domingo served notice he will be a part of the offense, hitting his first three shots on the night and contributing seven points to the 15-2 run that opened play. Domingo finished the night with 12 points and six rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting, and Martin reminded the assembled media that he had touted Domingo’s shooting improvement at Pac-12 Media Day.
Ivan Rabb did not play, and Martin smiled when he said, “It wasn’t a coach’s decision – he injured his foot in a scrimmage and is not yet ready to play.” When asked about Rabb’s current condition, since he was seen on the bench not wearing the protective boot he’s worn the past few days, Martin acknowledged that, while Rabb remains “day-to-day”, he expects the consensus All American to be practicing “any day”.
Next up for the Golden Bears is the first game of the season where stats will count: Friday, Nov 11th versus South Dakota
AP file photo: Cal Bears receiver Chad Hansen on the sideline during their game against USC on Thu Oct 27th at LA Memorial Stadium in Los Angeles
It’s mammoth that Cal Bears wide receiver Chad Hansen is returning this Saturday after being on the DL. It is the biggest single thing to have Hansen back in the Cal lineup their opponents the Washington Huskies are well aware of what Hansen can do and he’s going to attract double coverage. You may not see a lot of balls get thrown his way but he will open up the field for a lot of receivers.
The Huskies know they got to double cover the guy who was the leading receiver in the nation before he got on the DL. He had 59 catches for 770 yards and eight scores and he hasn’t been in a game for Cal since Oct 8th when he sprained his ankle he got in the game vs. USC on Thu Oct 27th. Hansen was the best receiver in the country before the injury and was in the top three in yardage.
Michael Duca does the Cal Bears podcasts each Wednesday and Morris Phillips does Cal podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
calbears.com photo: Cal Bears quarterback Webb Davis (7)
The Cal Bears going into last Thursday’s 45-24 loss at USC the team was worn out from playing just seven short days previous as they had mid terms and academics that they had to study for besides get ready for the game in Los Angeles. That’s why Cal head coach was as upset as he was in the post game press conference in regards to how the team was treated in the Pac 12 scheduling. The Bears will get a couple of days preparation to get ready to play the best team in the conference the Washington Huskies this Saturday the game will be at Cal.
The Bears are hoping to get a couple guys back the guy they need to get back is receiver Chad Hansen their chief offensive threat. This is a tough league and the game against USC started the season off loosing to Alabama and loosing then to Stanford and the Cardinal are just not the same team. The Trojans have a new quarterback Sam Darnold and if you listened to the announcers during last Thursday’s game they were saying that Darnold might be the best quarterback that the Trojans might have had down there.
The not-so carefully orchestrated clash of athletics and academics heaped upon the Cal Bears at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Thursday created a not-so pretty result.
The Bears–preoccupied by mid-term exams and overwhelmed by the Trojans—suffered through a rough evening under the microscope of national television, losing 45-24 to USC.
Just six days after the Bears set an FBS record by running 118 offensive plays in their double overtime win over Oregon, they weren’t anywhere near where they needed to be to deal with resurgent USC and their redshirt freshman quarterback, Sam Darnold. The tight scheduling irked Coach Sonny Dykes, and Darnold brought Dykes’ fears to life, leading the Trojans to an early, 21-0 lead from which they wouldn’t look back.
“We tried to get them as fresh as we possibly could,” Coach Sonny Dykes explained, noting that the Bears practiced in pads just once in preparation for the Trojans, but conceded that while it may have made his team fresher physically, they were far less rehearsed than he would have preferred.
In addition, Cal players had to take and prepare for midterms this week, after missing class last week in preparation for Oregon, and again this week for their trip to Los Angeles.
Add injuries (41 Cal players reportedly missed at least one practice this week) including the absence of standout receiver Chad Hansen, limited practice time, and the fact that USC had eight more days of preparation time than Cal, and you start to understand how the Bears appeared so flat in the early stages of the game.
According to San Jose Mercury News reporter Jon Wilner, there had never been a meeting of Pac-12 football teams where one team had eight more days of prep time than their opponent. When asked Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said that while Cal’s consecutive weekday games were unusual, they did fit into the parameters for scheduling agreed upon by the member schools’ athletic directors before the season. But Scott also said, Cal’s situation would cause the conference to revisit the subject.
While Dykes continued his criticism of the Pac-12 in his postgame press conference, quarterback Davis Webb did not. Webb refused to jump on questions regarding preparation time, and he declined to throw receiver Demetris Robertson under the bus, whose first quarter drop of a deep pass that likely would have resulted in a touchdown had it been caught, contributed to Cal’s early, three-touchdown deficit.
“We moved some receivers around this week on a short week,” Webb said. “That’s the thing we had to deal with because of our injuries. That’s the cards we got dealt. We didn’t play very well with it tonight. It starts with me.”
Webb finished 33 of 53 for 333 yards and two touchdowns, and briefly had the Bears in a competitive spot, down 28-17 early in the third quarter. But USC’s offense was granted way too many favors by Cal’s leaky run defense that surrendered 223 yards and two touchdowns to Ronald Jones II alone.
Jones got started early with his 61-yard scamper that set up USC’s second, first quarter touchdown. And Jones’ big runs were littered across all four of the Trojans’ first half scoring drives. After Jones gashed Cal early, Aca’Cedric Ware took it from there, finishing with 120 yards rushing himself.
In all, USC rushed for 398 yards, eclipsing the numbers Texas and Oregon State put up in their turns against Cal’s porous run defense.
We’ve got to tackle better,” Dykes said. “It’s up to us to teach your guys how to tackle. If we don’t play well, then we didn’t coach well.”
Darnold ate Cal up through the air as well as the young quarterback appears to be a star in the making for the Trojans with his size, ability to throw, and decision making. Juju Smith-Schuster was a favorite target of Darnold, compiling 66 yards receiving and 25 yards rushing.
The Bears got 89 yards rushing from Khalfani Muhammad, and Robertson recovered from his early drop to grab nine passes for 92 yards. Hansen missed his second straight game, but the Bears are expecting their biggest threat to return for the Washington game on November 5.
The Bears are the only team in FBS to not win—or lose—two consecutive games this season. At 4-4, Cal’s biggest opportunity comes against Washington, the undefeated leader in the Pac-12 North race to the conference championship game.
AP photo: Cal Bears running back Tre Wilson (5) and the his teammates put on a lot of miles on offense in the double overtime win over the Oregon Ducks last Friday at Cal Memorial Stadium
That last game with the Oregon Ducks last Friday was an interesting one to say the least for the Cal Bears and the Bears won that one with the only turnover in the entire game. The Bears set all manor of NCAA records most players run in a game, they set a school record for the most first downs (41), their two leading rushers combined for over 300 yards one was 152 the other 148. The team rushed for over 300 yards and it was a question would anyone blink. Would any defense make a play at any point in the game?
Wide receiver Chad Hansen was not in this offensive scoring fest and did not warm up and did not play for Cal so quarterback Webb David had to work with his other receivers he didn’t seem to blush at making the effort. Davis threw for nearly 300 yards. The scheme they use in the Bear Raid allows receivers to spread the field so much that as long as you got somebody whose like Webb whose a senior and has run the offense for years their going to be able to find the open man.
Erza Shaw californiagoldenblogs.com photo: Cal Bears linebacker Jordan Kusanzyk is the center of attention after intercepting Oregon Duck quarterback Justin Herbert’s pass in the second overtime at Memorial Stadium last Friday night
The TV contract of the Pac 12 requires each team to host at least one weeknight game during the season and it was Cal’s turn last Saturday against the Oregon Ducks that turned into a longer night than expected a double overtime win for Cal 52-49 for their first Friday night home game. This will be the schedule rotation running every couple of years. Berkeley is a city of rules and regulations and there are no freeways near downtown Berkeley or the Cal campus.
The City of Berkeley and it’s residents make sure that Cal does not have these night games with permanent lights as this was done with temporary generators. The neighbors want to also keep the noise down at night who could blame them because they must’ve heard all of the celebrating by the fans at Memorial Stadium when Cal sophomore linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk intercepted Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert’s pass and took a knee to end the game in the second overtime.
California wide receiver Raymond Hudson (11) celebrates after catching a touchdown pass against Oregon during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Berkeley, Calif., Friday, Oct. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
By Morris Phillips
In their recent, turbulent history with the Oregon Ducks, Cal has been embarrassed, nipped, popped, blown out, blasted, outlasted and outclassed a second time in losing annually to the Pac-12’s most accomplished program over that period.
Jared Goff let it slip away in the rain, Cal’s been cooked, roasted and boiled as well. Had any of the seven consecutive losses gone the Bears’ way it would have been the signature win of Jeff Tedford’s final four seasons, or the biggest win in Sonny Dykes’ first three.
But none did, and Cal was only competitive once, November 2010, losing 15-13 to the top-ranked Ducks who went on to the BCS National Championship Game that season.
Flash forward to Friday night, and the Bears experienced something far different with the Ducks.
Cal jumped to a 21-0 lead, only to see the Ducks rally behind true freshman quarterback Justin Herbert to lead 35-34 early in the fourth quarter. After Matt Anderson’s last minute field goal attempt to win for Cal sailed wide, the Bears pulled it out in overtime, 52-49 when sophomore linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk intercepted Herbert as Oregon was driving for a potential game-winning touchdown.
Enough explained in a small space? Probably not, but this one lasted four hours, twenty minutes, with a tidy ending just before midnight on ESPN’s national broadcast.
“Just another boring Cal football game,” Coach Sonny Dykes said in jest as the opening of his postgame statements.
And a huge win for Dykes and his crew that’s bounced around through the first seven games of this season, beating ranked Texas and Utah, while getting beat up by San Diego State and Oregon State. On Friday, the suddenly downtrodden Ducks lost their fifth straight, and the Bears nearly let them off the hook.
“You have to credit the defense,” Dykes said. “In the second overtime, we had three offensive penalties in a row that killed us. Matt (Anderson) came in, nailed the field goal. Our defense’s back was against the wall, just like it was against Utah. Jordan (Kunaszyk) made a big time play on the ball—you could kind of see it developing.”
In fact, Herbert had made the fatal mistake negating what had been an eye-opening second start for the freshman quarterback. While no threat to burn the Bears with deep stuff, Herbert threw short crosses, scrambled impressively, and kept his team in it until his final throw, which was late and right to Kunaszyk, who wasn’t too startled to juggle it and drop it. Instead the linebacker grabbed it, and heeded the instructions of his teammates to take a knee so that the celebration could begin.
“Coach was raving the whole time about getting to the boundary hash,” Kunaszyk said. “That’s where they’d been throwing a lot. So I opened up the field, and in the back of my head I remembered coach saying ‘boundary hash, boundary hash.’ Low and behold, I went to the boundary hash, found myself the ball, and made the play.”
Boundary hash, the buzz phrase for ending a painful losing streak to a key conference opponent. On the other sideline, boundary hash wasn’t anything good, as Herbert was inconsolable coming off the field, needing coach Mark Helfrich to apply an emergency hug.
“(Herbert) has a ton of support in the locker room,” Helfrich said. “Already you can see guys rally around him. He’s obviously very hard on himself, how the end occurred. We really shouldn’t have been in that position but I’d do the exact same thing at the end and trust him to make the play.”
“It was comforting but it still doesn’t ease the pain,” Herbert said of the encouragement he received from Helfrich and his teammates. “They said to keep my head up and start working hard for next week.”
In losing four straight coming in, the Ducks allowed 41.3 points a game, and 522.3 yards per game, both numbers right at the bottom of FBS rankings. The Bears continued the trend, living off the Ducks’ shortcomings along the defensive line where Cal made constant withdrawals. Against Cal, Oregon surrendered 636 yards in offense, including a combined 304 yards rushing for Cal’s Khalfani Muhammad and Tre Watson alone.
But the star for Cal wasn’t Muhammad or Watson, Kunaszyk or Anderson. And it wasn’t Dykes who admitted his fourth down decisions in the third quarter in which Cal decided to punt with a short field and shanked it, then opted to go on fourth and were stuffed, allowed the Ducks to rally.
Davis Webb stood alone for Cal in that regard, throwing 61 times, completing 42, and doing so without starting tailback Vic Enwere, who was declared out for the season with injury on Thursday, or Chad Hansen, the nation’s top receiver, who was nicked up and a late scratch. In the absence of his biggest weapons, Webb threw five touchdowns with no picks and was sacked just twice by an ineffective Oregon pass rush. Throughout, Webb showed great arm strength, throwing out patterns that took advantage of the Ducks’ passive corners and compensated for Cal’s inability to throw deep.
Just two weeks after Webb threw four touchdown passes against Utah, none shorter than 24 yards, he completed 42 passes, none of which went longer than 17 yards. When things got tight in the fourth quarter, Webb calmly led Cal on an 11-play drive culminating with his touch pass to Watson that covered just 14 yards but was thrown beautifully beyond a trailing Oregon linebacker.
Is Webb having a more impressive season than Goff did last season, one which led Goff to be the NFL’s top overall pick? Yes.
“It was a great team win,” Webb said. “When a guy goes down of (Hansen’s) caliber, someone’s got to step up, and our whole team did.”
The Bears travel to Los Angeles for a Thursday meeting with USC at the Coliseum. Dykes expressed his displeasure with the scheduling that not only had the Bears playing in front of a less-than-full crowd on a rare Friday at home, then needing to transition to the Trojans almost immediately.
“We have a game in six days, which is crazy,” Dykes said.
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