In front of an announced crowd of 57,775, the 16th-ranked Golden Bears (2-0, 1-0
Pac-10) gained 557 yards (286 yards running and 271 yards passing) highlighted by a
stellar bounceback game from quarterback Joe Ayoob and strong performances by Marcus O'Keith and Justin Forsett in putting up a point total that's the highest ever scored in
Husky Stadium by an opponent. Washington (0-2, 0-1 Pac-10) was led by the valiant efforts
of quarterback Isaiah Stanback, but the Huskies were overwhelmed by a team that was too
deep and too strong.
The Bears were largely without the services of Marshawn Lynch who missed most of the
second half with an injured left pinky/knuckle after he pushed off on a helmet while
making a run. Lynch, who finished with 46 yards in five carries, was taken to the locker
room for x-rays and he returned to the game in street clothes. Following the game, his
hand was wrapped up in an enormous amount of ice. Lynch said he expects to be ready for
Saturday's game against Illinois.
The overriding subplot in Saturday's game how would Ayoob respond to being named the
starting quarterback. While his 0-for-10 performance against Sacramento State might
have given some people cause for concern, there was never any issue about his ability in
either Ayoob or head coach Jeff Tedford's eyes.
"I always knew I could do this," said Ayoob, who was 17-of-27 for 271 yards
and four touchdowns. "It's just a matter of showing people I could play. It was
good to get thorse four touchdowns going into halftime, but I couldn't get too excited
about it, we still had a half to play.
Those who saw Ayoob play in junior college recall a swashbuckling, daring quarterback
who wasn't afraid to take chances. Against Sacramento State, that player disappeared. On
Saturday, he was back again.
"You have to put games like that behind you," said Ayoob. "I know I need
to prove that I'm capable of leading this team. This week in practice I got a lot
more reps, and it made a lot of difference."
Coach Jeff Tedford was happy with his play.
"It's more typical of the way he plays," Tedford said. "It's great for
Joe to go through a whole game, to go through the ups and downs, and he hung in there and
showed composure."
When asked if he was concerned after Ayoob's first pass was intercepted, Tedford
deadpanned, "Hey it's been worse. He's been 0-for-10."
Before the game, Tedford was well aware of concerns that opening the passing attack
with something safe might be helpful.
"Coming in, everybody was saying that we should start with short passes,"
Tedford said. "I said 'Forget that, we're going deep.' It was our plan to attack the
weaknesses of their defense. They had injuries at the corner and we had to test those
guys. We weren't going to go conservative."
Ayoob wouldn't have wanted in any other way.
"Let's just play," said Ayoob who was 17-of-27 for 271 yards and also ran for
26 yards. "Let's not try to do anything special. I was unexpected to see single
coverage, but they wanted to make me throw."
Tedford was glad to see a performance more reminiscent of the player he recruited in
junior college than a player going through opening game jitters.
"Joe was not apprehensive, and we weren't looking for some safe game," said
Tedford. "It was nice to see that look in his eyes, it wasn't one of awe, it was one
of competitiveness.
For the record, his first completion was an 11-yard slant pass to Robert Jordan with
9:57 left in the first quarter. Following his first completion, Ayoob showed the verve
that was a hallmark of playing days at City College of San Francisco. During a 25-minute
stretch of the first half, he was 13-of-17 for 227 yards and four touchdowns.
With the Bears trailing 7-0 with 2:16 left in the first quarter, Ayoob found Robert
Jordan on a slant pattern for a 9-yard score.
Jordan who had a career day with 11 catches for 192 yards and three scores, spoke to
Ayoob soon after last week's 0-for-10 performance.
"I told Joe to keep his head and that we were going to need him."
Jordan, whose 192 yards receiving were the sixth-most in California history, had
two other touchdowns which were far from conventional.
Jordan who missed the first game of the season, drew praise from Tedford, not just for
his onfield approach but also for the role he plays with the Bears young receiving corps.
"Last year, Robert was thrown into the mix as a true freshman. This year, he's
been much more mature; and he's been a leader. A perfect example is today. We started
Lavelle (Hawkins) and DeSean (Jackson), but Robert doesn't let it bother him. He wants
this team to be successful."
Jordan credits another Bear great for his influence.
"On and off the field, we're always together," said Jordan, who certainly
comes across more poised and more confident than he did last year. "I'm trying to
show them the same things that Geoff (McArthur) taught me last year."
With the score tied 7-7, Ayoob threw a corner pass to Jordan that was initially ruled
incomplete. However the Pac-10 is now using instant replay, and the replay clearly showed
that Jordan caught the ball and managed to get one foot in bounds, giving Cal a 14-7 lead.
Washington responded with a 46-yard field goal from Evan Knudson, to close within
14-10, but much of their offensive total to that point had come from two offensive plays.
In the first half, the Huskies had gained 151 yards, but aside from two pass plays of 56
and 45 yards, the Washington attack was largely toothless.
Cal closed the first half with two touchdowns within 53 seconds of each other to go
into halftime with a 28-10 lead.
On a first-and-10 from their own 42 with 2:50 left in the half, Jordan streaked down
the middle of the field when Ayoob threw the ball over the outstretched hands of
Washington cornerback Matt Fountaine. The ball at first appeared high, but the ball
bounced up off of a leaping Jordan's hands who regathered it and ran the rest of the
way for a 58-yard touchdown to put the Bears up 21-10.
On the following possession, Washington gave up the ball deep in their territory when
on a 4th-and-11, a hard-rushing and unblocked Wale Forrester forced Husky punter Sean Douglas to step forward, where he was tackled by Thomas DeCoud.
The following play, from the Husky 13, Ayoob found an unguarded David Gray in the end
zone for a touchdown which effectivly sent Washington into the rest of what would be a dog
day afternoon.
When Lynch left the game early in the second half with an injury to his left pinky
finger/knuckle, there was concern about how this might affect Cal's running game. Between
the offensive line play and the depth at running back, the Bears rushed for 170 yards in
the second half including a 71-yard touchdown run by Marcus O'Keith and a 35-yard
touchdown by Justin Forsett on the game's final play.
"We knew we need to step it up," said Forsett. "It's my responsiblity,
it's Marcus's and it's T-Dub's."
A five-yard touchdown run by O'Keith put the Bears up 35-17. In the fourth quarter on a 2nd-and-17 from he Cal 29, O'Keith, who ran six times for a team-high 103 yards, ran off right tackle and up the right sideline, outracing the Husky defense all the way to the end zone.
"The coaches worked us hard during the summer," said O'Keith who for the
season has run the ball eight times for 172 yards, a ridiculous 21.5 avg. "We stay in
shape and never get winded. We got a good offensive line, a good coaching staff, and
today the defense was making things happen."
Forsett was originally headed toward Notre Dame, then coached by Tyrone Willingham. The
Notre Dame coaching staff withdrew its scholarship offer to Forsett during early 2004,
setting off various circumstances which took him to Berkeley.
A consistently upbeat person from whom seldom is heard a discouraging word, Forsett was
asked if meant something special to score in front of Tyrone Willingham and give him a
glimpse of what he might have missed on.
"Naaah, I was just happy to score," said Forsett who ran 11 times for a
career-high 77 yards. "This was my first touchdown of the year. I wasn't expecting to
score, but the hole just opened up."
The Huskies had difficulties on both ends of the line; all but abandoning their running
attack for large chunks of the game. The Huskies ran 27 times for 68 yards, and were
saved from an even lower total by the athletic Stanback who made some nifty moves to avoid
sacks. Late in the game, Cal's pass rush took a toll on the Washington signal-caller, who
was a respectable 22-of-39 for 301 yards and two touchdowns.
Down 42-17, Stanback was nailed by a blitzing Fahim Mujaahid Abd Allah for a seven-yard
loss. On the following play, with the Bear pass rush again coming hard, Stanback wasn't
able to step into a pass which was intercepted by Donte Hughes for a 41-yard touchdown.
Notes...Greg Van Hoesen injured his ankle in the middle of the first
quarter and was replaced by Worrell Williams who played most of the rest of the
game...Desmond Bishop led Cal with 7 tackles, Donte Hughes and Ryan Folts each had six.
The Bears had eight tackles for losses, Donnie McCleskey had two, while Bishop, Abd Allah,
Harrison Smith, Brandon Mebane, Thomas DeCoud, and Phillip Mbakogu each had one...Jordan's
three touchdowns tied a school record held by several players. The last Bear to do so was
Chase Lyman who had three touchdown against Oregon State...For Tyrone Willingham,
Saturday's loss was his first to Cal. Coming into the game he was 7-0 against the
Bears, with all wins taking place as head coach of the Stanford Cardinal...Cal's win is
its fourth straight against Washington, the last time the Bears had three straight wins was
1953-1956.
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