Bears Lose Conference Owner

Cal lost it's Pac-10 conference opener against the Washington State Cougars 48-38 on Saturday afternoon. This was the 2nd consecutive loss for the Bears, who are now 3-2 after the suprising 3-0 start.

Despite the loss the game was a good one. Cal led 21-9 at the half, but the Cougars scored 29 points in the third quarter to take a 38-28 lead. The third quarter has not been a good one for the Golden Bears this year, as they have been outscored 61-24 in the third quarter this year, the only quarter they have not outscored the opposition. This statistic has led some fans to start a "The Third Quarter is Theirs!" cheer.

Luckily for the 29,297 fans in attendance in Memorial Stadium, the third-quarter collapse was not the end of an game that had been very exciting up until then. The Bears would not quit, the Bears would not die, and Cal rallied to tie the game at 38-38 with just under 8 minutes left in the game.

But Washington State, a team that was favored in the pre-season to win the Pac-10, would not die either. Their quarterback, Jason Gesser, was able to complete more big passes to put the Cougars up 45-38, and Kyle Boller was intercepted on the next possession to seal the game for WSU. Overall, Gesser passed for 431 yards, with no interceptons and 4 TD's. Boller was slightly less prolific, passing for 374 yards and 4 TD's, but 2 critical interceptions may have been the deciding factor.

Coach Tedford had very little to say:

"I think as a whole, we need to tackle better. We let some people get away on special teams and a little bit on defense. We had guys in position to make plays and they (WSU players) bounced off and went for extra yards. We'll have to work on that a little bit."

HO'TFAA Member Vic Rethy, when asked about the game, had this to say:

"Great. Just friggin' great. It was a close game all the way! The big passes, the tackle-eligible play for the touchdown, the big fumble recovery to set up the tying score, this is a great team! GO BEARS! Oh - by the way - skip the nachos. They're horrible. "

Tim Hough, also watching the game, was more subdued:

"For the 2nd week in a row Cal's lack of overall talent on defense showed. They miss their best linebacker John Klotsche, who's injured. Cal did some good things. It was encouraging to see the problems from last week improve (catching passes and scoring TDs) and again the Bears played hard for 60 minutes, but the penalties and blocked punt were killers."