Head over heels about prospects after huge win
Midway through Ross Bowers’ postgame news conference Friday night, Cal running back Vic Enwere saddled up next to his quarterback.
“What were you guys talking about?” Enwere joked.
Of course, the trending topic of conversation late Friday and into Saturday morning was Cal’s stunning and thorough pasting of No. 8 Washington State, a 37-3 upset that provided both the most indelible image of the season and a signature victory in head coach Justin Wilcox’s young tenure.
Cal had just one victory over a top-10 team in the previous 52 tries. That win came against then-No. 3 USC in 2003, the season that started the Bears’ school-record string of seven bowl berths.
Friday’s upset of a top-10 team marked Cal’s fourth win of the season, putting the Bears two victories away from bowl eligibility with five games to play. Cal made a bowl appearance just once in the previous five seasons, but Friday’s performance has the Bears dreaming about more.
“Every game on our schedule from here on out is winnable,” said inside linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk, who had a team-leading 11 tackles, to go along with 2½ sacks, a forced fumble and one of the Bears’ five interceptions. “… If we continue to build on what we did tonight, I think we’re going to be able to do great things.”
They’re already doing great things.
Cal’s defense, which is playing with a newfound edge, had nine sacks and seven takeaways against Washington State, boosting its season totals to 20 in each category. The Bears had 18 sacks and 18 takeaways all of last season.
Cal hadn’t held any opponent to three points since 2010 or a Pac-12 opponent without a touchdown since 2008. The Bears hadn’t recorded five interceptions in a game since 2006 and hadn’t piled up nine sacks since 2005.
These numbers came against a Washington State team that came into the game averaging 39.7 points and 474.4 yards.
“There is no bright spot,” Washington State head coach Mike Leach said. “We were pathetic. We were a bunch of pathetic front-runners.”
Cal had plenty of bright spots, including the first two interceptions of Camryn Bynum’s career, Kyle Wells’ first touchdown catch and Cameron Goode’s first sack. But the play of the night was a repeat performance.
Bowers, who threw for 259 yards and a touchdown, flipped over a defender to score a touchdown in a play reminiscent of a highlight he made at Bothell (Wash.) High. This time, on 3rd-and-goal from the 7-yard line, Bowers took a shotgun snap at the 12 and dropped to the 15 as he surveyed the field.
The sophomore darted left, and as Justus Rogers went low for the tackle at the 3-yard line, Bowers launched himself into the air. He might have landed the full flip standing up if Frankie Luvu hadn’t dived and taken out his feet a yard into the end zone.
“That’s him. That’s Ross, right there,” Wilcox said. “You look at it, and you say: ‘What are you thinking?’ Then, you just want to go hug him, because he plays with guts. I appreciate that about Ross.”
Bowers said: “You just never thought you’d do that twice in a lifetime. … I didn’t think I could go left or right, so why not over the top? Luckily, I was able to land safely.”
Bynum scored Bowers’ flip “an 11 out of 10,” but Bowers’ mother, the former gymnastics coach at Washington, asked: “Why didn’t you do a double?” Don’t put it past him. Bowers has thrown 104 consecutive passes without an interception and is leading a team that already has more wins than some people expected it would get all season.
“Gosh, man,” Kunaszyk said. “Can we just acknowledge 37-3 against a team like that?”