The eighth-ranked Washington State Cougars ( 6-1 overall, 3-1 Pac-12) six-game win streak came to a screeching halt Friday night at Berkeley California. The Cougars coughed the ball up seven times to the Californian Golden Bears ( 4-3, 1-3) who were in a receiving mood. The Bears were also in a giving mood. As in giving out some pain. The Bears sacked Cougar quarterback Luke Falk nine times.
The tone for the game was set early when Falk was intercepted on his first attempt of the game which was the third play from scrimmage for the Cougars. Things never got better for the Cougars who were playing in the backdrop of a Friday the 13th game. Curse or no curse the Cougars offense never found its rhythm against the hyped up Justin Wilcox coached Cal defense.
“They did a really great job during the week. We practiced hard all week on a bit of a different schedule. They came in and prepared well, the coaches did an unbelievable job. They did a fantastic job of playing together and implementing it with those guys.” Wilcox said after the game. The level of details those guys played with. It wasn’t perfect, but they competed really hard, ran to the ball, obviously got our hands on the ball and that was obviously huge in the game and I am very proud of them.”
“The level of details those guys played with. It wasn’t perfect, but they competed really hard, ran to the ball, obviously got our hands on the ball and that was obviously huge in the game and I am very proud of them.”
Cal Quarterback Ross Bower, who led Bothell High to the Class 4 state title in 2014 out dueled Falk as he completed 21 of 38 passes for 259 yards with two touchdowns one running one passing and one interception. Luke completed 28 of 43 passes for 286 yards and five interceptions. While Falk had one of his worst days at quarterback WSU coach Mike Leach was quick to point in his post-game conference that the loss was a team loos.
“We weren’t good in any aspect of the game. Cal outcoached and outplayed us at every position that I saw. There may be an exception but I don’t think there is. Every position I saw, Cal outplayed us, they wanted to win more than we did, they tried harder than we did and tried more consistently than we did.”
Team Statistics
| Game Stats | WSU | CAL |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 337 | 365 |
| Pass Yards | 314 | 259 |
| Rushing Yards | 23 | 106 |
| Penalty Yards | 5-50 | 8-75 |
| 1st Downs | 16 | 18 |
| 3rd Downs | 4-16 | 7-17 |
| 4th Downs | 2-3 | 0-0 |
| TOP | 32:50 | 27:10 |
| 1ST QUARTER | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 11:12 – CAL – Anderson, Matt 26 yd field goal 7 plays, 11 yards, TOP 2:22
|
0 | 3 | |
|
04:34 – CAL – Enwere, Vic 6 yd run (Anderson, Matt kick ), 3 plays, 23 yards, TOP 0:57
|
0 | 10 | |
| 2ND QUARTER | |||
 11:27 – WSU – Powell, Erik 52 yd field goal 15 plays, 40 yards, TOP 8:07
|
3 | 10 | |
|
00:00 – CAL – Wells, Kyle 2 yd pass from Bowers, Ross (Anderson, Matt kick ) 8 plays, 45 yards, TOP 0:52
|
3 | 17 | |
| 3RD QUARTER | |||
|
05:13 – CAL – Anderson, Matt 48 yd field goal 4 plays, 7 yards, TOP 0:47
|
3 | 20 | |
| 4TH QUARTER | |||
|
13:10 – CAL – Bowers, Ross 7 yd run (Anderson, Matt kick ), 10 plays, 77 yards, TOP 4:39
|
3 | 27 | |
|
07:13 – CAL – Anderson, Matt 41 yd field goal 9 plays, 29 yards, TOP 4:34
|
3 | 30 | |
|
05:26 – CAL – Brown, Gerran 26 yd fumble recovery (Anderson, Matt kick )
|
3 | 37 | |
