Cal brings momentum into face-off with Washington
A new quarterback — and facing one of the conference’s weakest teams — helped Cal earn its first Pac-12 win last Saturday.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Chase Garbers, taking over for Brandon McIlwain as the starter, threw for 234 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, as Cal crushed Oregon State 49-7 in Corvallis, Ore.
Cal (4-3, 1-3 Pac-12) is back home in Berkeley this week to host No. 15 Washington at 3:30 p.m. PT Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The Huskies (6-2, 4-1 Pac-12) half a half-game lead in the Pac-12 North over Stanford and Washington State.
The night before the Oregon State game, the Golden Bears held a players-only meeting in which they discussed their season and not letting it slip away after a rough stretch.
“I feel like it just really helped everyone out,” defensive end Tevin Paul said. “Just trusting each other.”
While Garbers was efficient for the Golden Bears, the offensive story as they snapped a three-game losing streak was the running attack. Former walk-on Patrick Laird barreled his way for 193 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.
Cal amassed a whopping 305 rushing yards, averaging more than seven yards per carry. And the Golden Bears captured their first road win since topping Washington in 2015. That was a string of 14 consecutive Pac-12 road losses.
“They responded like we thought they would,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said. “…We were able to play a little cleaner and get a little rhythm going.
“There was never a question of want-to or desire. What we ask them to do in practice, they try to do to the best of their ability. We just have to play more consistently, and we got some of that done today.”
The Golden Bears defense also generated its best pass rush of the season, with seven sacks, and Traveon Beck and Josh Drayden each nabbed an interception.
Washington features fourth-year starting quarterback Jake Browning, so that pass rush will need to continue its climb upward from obscurity.
Browning, though, was uneven at 15 of 25 passing for 150 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, as Washington beat Colorado to rebound from a loss to Oregon.
Cal is seeking its first bowl game appearance since the 2015 season, when Jared Goff was quarterback. The Golden Bears need two wins in five games to become bowl eligible, but on paper, Cal will be the underdog in all five of those matchups — against Washington, at No. 14 Washington State and USC, and at home against No. 24 Stanford and Colorado.
