Crunching numbers of 60-59 win at WSU
After all of the yards and points and records, Cal’s Bryce Treggs stood in Washington State’s weight room and answered a simple question: Having fun?
“It’s always fun when you put up 60,” Treggs said.
That’s what you’d expect a receiver playing on one of the best offenses in the country to say.
Sixty didn’t appear to be enough until Washington State’s Quentin Breshears missed a 19-yard field-goal attempt with 15 seconds to play to give Cal a 60-59 win Saturday in Pullman, Wash.
The Bears (4-1, 2-1 Pac-12) returned to Berkeley on Sunday alone atop the Pac-12 North standings, a half-game ahead of Oregon (4-1, 1-1), Oregon State (4-1, 1-1) and Stanford (3-2, 1-1).
Those numbers are hardly the only eye-popping ones to come out of the weekend.
The Cal defense allowed an FBS-record 734 passing yards to Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday, who broke David Klingler’s record of 716 set in 1990 for Houston.
Washington State had 812 total yards and lost. That’s the most yards gained by a losing team in FBS history. Nevada had the previous record of 791 yards in 2001 while losing to San Jose State.
Cal quarterback Jared Goff broke his own single-game school record by throwing for 527 yards (he was 37-for-53 with five touchdowns). He set the previous mark of 504 yards against the Cougars last season.
The two quarterbacks combined for the most passing yards ever in an FBS game —
“It’s kind of like the football gods are in our favor right now.”
Jared Goff, Cal quarterback
1,261 — breaking the mark of 1,253 set by TCU and Houston in 1990.
Cal receiver Trevor Davis followed his 100-yard kickoff return in the third quarter with a 98-yard return to become the first player in Cal history to have two kick returns for touchdowns in the same game.
Aside from kneeling at the end of the game, the Bears scored touchdowns on all five second-half possessions, plus Davis’ two kickoff returns. Cal scored one touchdown in the first half.
But even with all that offense, Washington State ended up a yard short. Cougars running back Gerard Wicks, who had run for 3 yards to the Cal 1 on 1st-and-goal, was tackled for a 1-yard loss on the next snap, setting up the apparent game-winning kick. Breshears pushed the chipshot try wide right, and Cal had only to take a knee for its fourth win in five games — quite a turnaround from last season’s 1-11 record.
“There was just kind of a good feeling on our sideline,” Cal head coach Sonny Dykes said of the kick.
Goff called the miss compensation for the Bears’ Hail Mary loss to Arizona on Sept. 20.
“It’s kind of like the football gods are in our favor right now,” Goff said.
Cal’s schedule isn’t favorable, though: Washington, UCLA and Oregon in its next three games.
The Bears confront those teams with an offense that ranks second in the nation, scoring 50 points per game, but their defense is ranked 121st of 125 FBS teams in total yards allowed (541.8 per game).
The counterweight to the poor defense? More offense.
“Might as well go for 70,” Treggs said.
Davis had a slightly greater goal in mind.
“Why not 75?”