San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Bears score early; Garbers stymied rest of way
His team failed to score in the final 31⁄2 quarters against a Washington State team that entered Memorial Stadium on Saturday with a 1-3 record.
So after Cal’s 21-6 loss to the Cougars, head coach Justin Wilcox pointed the finger directly at himself.
“We had too many negative plays throughout the day,” Wilcox said. “We didn’t really do much of anything all that well. You know, that’s on me. My job is to prepare our team to be successful, and I failed.”
Before Saturday, the Bears (1-4, 0-2 Pac-12) had endured losses to Nevada, TCU and Washington this season, all games Cal could have — and perhaps should have — won.
No could have or should have against the Cougars, though.
“Flat out, they played better than we did,” Cal quarterback Chase Garbers said. “Their defense beat our offense. That’s simple. You saw it on the scoreboard.”
Garbers had thrown for 916 yards and six touchdowns in the previous three games, but the Cougars held him to 152 passing yards and no TDs. He went 14-for-30 with an interception.
“We’ve got to be better in each and every aspect offensively,” Garbers said. “We’ve got a bye week coming up next week, so we’re going to take a look in the mirror, little gut check for us and see what we’re all about.”
Washington State (2-3, 1-2 Pac-12) marched 75 yards on the game’s opening possession to grab a 7-0 lead. A 20-yard run by Deon McIntosh set up the Cougars at the Cal 28.
Then, on 3rd-and-4 from the 22, Jayden de Laura found Calvin Jackson Jr. wide open in the left flat. Jackson Jr. took it to the end zone and the Cougars were on top 7-0.
Cal (1-4, 0-2) answered with a 75-yard drive. On 4th-and-1 from their 34, the Bears had Garbers sneak for 2 yards. Soon thereafter, Garbers connected on a beautiful 44-yard completion with Kekoa Crawford to the WSU 11.
On the next play, Christopher Brooks bulled up the middle, shredded tackles and scored his first touchdown of the season. A bad snap on the extra-point attempt left the Bears down 7-6.
Bad luck on special teams hurt Cal on WSU’s ensuing possession. The Bears forced a three-and-out and Nick Alftin blocked Nick Haberer’s punt.
But instead of the Bears benefiting with great field position, the Cougars got a first down as Ron Stone Jr., a Valley Christian-San Jose alum, recovered the ball and gained 7 yards, 1 more than needed for a first down.
Washington State took full advantage of that break, which put the ball at its 36. The Cougars rolled downfield, and on 3rd-and-goal from the 5, de Laura lofted a pass for Jackson in the end zone, near the left sideline. Jackson leaped and made a brilliant one-handed grab.
He initially was ruled to have been out of bounds, but a review correctly changed the call to a touchdown and the Cougars led 14-6.
That ended the scoring for the first half. Cal had two interceptions of de Laura in the second quarter, one by linebacker Nate Ruchena and one by safety Daniel Scott, his third pick of the season.
The Bears did next to nothing on offense after their first drive. They finished the half with 104 yards of total offense. Cal had two decent drives in the second half, but each ended on a Garbers incompletion, one of which came on 4th-and-6 at the WSU 7.
Wilcox said the Bears had put together a good week of practice in preparation for WSU, so he “didn’t see (that performance) coming at all.
“Credit to Washington State. (Head coach Nick Rolovich) does a good job. They have good coaches, and they have some talented players, so they did some good things.
“We just expected to play much better than we did. Again, all it goes back to … that’s my job, prepare our team.”
Briefly: Cal’s next game is at Oregon on Oct. 15. … Cal wide receiver Nikko Remigio limped off the field after making a reception early in the fourth quarter . ... Chris Street, who had one career carry for 2 yards before Saturday, led the Bears with 51 rushing yards on eight carries . ... Stanley McKenzie, Cal’s usual starting nose guard, missed the game because of an injury. … The Bears had beaten WSU in their previous three meetings at Memorial.