Bears fail to score on offense
SEATTLE — Forget the debate between Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott and Washington head coach Chris Petersen. Cal has to be quite pleased that Saturday’s game finished while most of the nation was sleeping.
The Bears couldn’t have wanted anyone to see them get completely outmatched in a 38-7 loss to No. 6 Washington at Husky Stadium, moving their losing streak to three games, during which they’ve been outscored 113-51.
Cal (3-3, 0-3 Pac-12) lost for the eighth time in its past nine games against Washington (6-0, 3-0) and fell to 2-19 when the Huskies are ranked. This might have been the worst showing in the long line of losses.
The Bears didn’t score on offense, having totaled as many negative-yardage plays (nine) as first downs.
Huskies quarterback Jake Browning threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns and added a 21-yard touchdown run. Running back Myles Gaskin ran 24 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns, and Howard Bryant (nine catches for 121 yards) had nearly as many receiving yards as the entire Cal roster (133 yards).
After winning their first three games, the Bears have been in a freefall the past three weeks, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier as No. 11 Washington State comes to Berkeley on Friday. The Pac-12 schedule became a hot topic this past week when Petersen apologized to Washington fans for being tabbed with another late game.
“It hurts us tremendously, in terms of national exposure. No one wants to watch our game on the East Coast that late, and we all know it,” he said. “… I don’t think there is one coach out there, or probably any school in the west, that wants to play our games at late night and all of that. Everyone wants to play in the daytime.”
Scott was in Seattle for the 7:45 p.m. kickoff and said Oregon’s Marcus Mariota winning the Heisman Trophy in 2014 and Washington making the playoffs last year disproves Petersen’s contention that the late games hurt the conference’s exposure.
“In an ideal world, I’d like to get all the revenue the schools want, all the exposure they want and be able to pick the kickoff times, but that perfect world doesn’t exist,” he said.
Washington took a 7-0 lead eight minutes into the game, despite Cal getting its hands on back-to-back plays in the end zone. Derron Brown dropped an uncontested interception on second down, and Hunter Bryant wrestled an 11-yard touchdown away from Josh Drayden on third down.
Van Soderberg made a 23yard field to put Washington ahead 10-0 after Browning went 6-of-8 to drive the Huskies to the 6-yard line. Browning’s 21-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-2 gave Washington a 17-0 lead with 6 ½ minutes left in the first half.
Gaskin’s 8-yard touchdown run extended the Huskies’ lead to 24-0 at the 2:44 mark of the second quarter, a point at which Cal had managed just 32 yards of total offense and one first down.
The Bears finally crossed midfield in the closing seconds of the first half, but Matt Anderson’s 60-yard field-goal attempt fell well short and time expired.
When it got too easy to score with its offensive players, Washington used outside linebacker Jusstis Warren as a fullback to catch a 2-yard touchdown pass. That completed a 16-play, 90yard drive and gave the Huskies a 31-0 lead with about five minutes left in the third quarter.
Cal avoided the shutout in the final two minutes of the third quarter when defensive lineman James Looney forced a fumble from Dante Pettis. Cornerback Darius Allensworth scooped it up at the 37-yard line, made two Washington players miss and got into the end zone to trim the Bears’ deficit to 31-7.