Cal Football

Bears Fall Decisively in the Palouse, 28-9

By Jim McGill

October 1, 2022

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PULLMAN, WA - The feel-good feeling after their conference-opening 49-31 win over Arizona last week dissipated somewhere over the Palouse in Cal’s decisive 29-9 loss to Washington State Saturday afternoon in Pullman.

Both programs came into the game evenly matched in almost every statistical category, including matching 3-1 records and the first half did nothing to disabuse viewers of the apparent parity of the matchup in the scoreless first stanza.

The Cougars drew first blood quickly in the second quarter, returning a Jamieson Sheahan punt 34 yards to the Cal 35, with TE Elijah Mojarro whistled for a personal foul call that immediately put WSU in the red zone before running a play. They quickly capitalized, hitting paydirt in 4 plays as RB Jaylen Jenson punched it in from the 2 to take a 7-0 lead after the PAT two minutes into the quarter.

On the next possession, the Bears finally shook off their early offensive futility to garner their first 1st down of the game on a 33-yard completion to receiver J.Michael Sturdivant followed by a 13-yard Jaydn Ott run that moved the Bears to the WSU 24. Their drive stalled from there and they settled for a 42-yard Dario Longhetto field goal to get on the board, 7-3 with 9:10 left in the half.

In the next series, WSU parlayed several third down conversions into a red zone opportunity but an errant Cameron Ward pass was hauled in by safety Daniel Scott in the end zone, keeping the Cougs off the board. The pick was Scott’s second straight game with an INT. He had six tackles on the day to go along with his INT.

After holding a potent WSU offense to just 102 total yards in the first half. both teams came out of the locker room looking like different teams as the Cougars took just 1;09 to widen their lead to 14-3.

Ward started the half hitting receivers Ollie Donovan for 11 and Renard Bell for 47 yards respectively. Two plays later, receiver Robert Ferrell hauled in a 17-yard Ward pass for the quick score.

WSU threatened to extend their lead again on their next possession with the Bears’ anemic 3-man rush seemingly giving Ward all day to throw as the Cougars marched downfield but another timely end zone interception -this time by safety Craig Woodson kept the Bears in the game. It was the Bears’ 18th straight game with a forced turnover.

Taking over at the WSU 2, the Bears’ offense finally came to life as Ott picked up gains of 18, 11 and 10 yards and receiver Monroe Young corralled a 22-yard Plummer pass to move the ball to the WSU 37 but a critical Brian Driscoll holding penalty derailed the Bears’ momentum as they were eventually forced to punt with 6 minutes remaining in the quarter.

After stopping the Cougars on their next possession, the Bears finally put together an impressive drive, going 90 yards in 7 plays with Plummer hitting receiver Jeremiah Hunter on back-to-back 30 and 49-yard completions and Ott finishing it off with a 3-yard stroll off tackle for the score.

The Bears gambled on a 2-point conversion attempt but receiver Mavin Anderson was tripped up after a quick toss, getting his feet tangled with OT Ben Coleman after the catch as the conversion attempt failed, leaving the Bears trailing 14-9 with 13:28 remaining in the game.

When the defense needed to stand tall, they were torched for consecutive long Ward completions, the first a 32-yarder to WR De’Zhaun Stribling followed by a TD grab of 37 yards by Bell over a trailing Lu-Magia Hearns to give WSU a 21-9 lead with 12 minutes left in the game.

After the Bears failed to muster anything on offense the next possession, the Cougars put the proverbial nail in the coffin, driving 67 yards in 9 plays, gambling on a 4^th and goal from the 1, converting on a play-action TD pass to tight end Billy Riviere for the final points, putting WSU up by the final margin, 28-9 with 6:23 left.

After containing Ward much of the first half, the talented QB was the difference maker in the game in the final two stanzas.

''We had three or four chances for some negative plays on them, but we just couldn't get him (Ward) on the ground,'' said Wilcox.

On their end, Plummer had a solid statistical day but the OL was not able to give him the consistent protection needed to sustain drives.

''We had a couple of big plays in the air, and that was nice to see, but we gotta score more than that, everybody knows that,'' said Wilcox.

''We got nothing going in the run game. Pass protection wasn't where it needed to be. We're all gonna share in that, but we didn't expect to be as poor as we were in those areas today, especially coming off of last week.”

Scott was asked what changed defensively late in the game as an early 4^th quarter 5-point deficit quickly ballooned to a 28-9 disadvantage.

“Hats off to Wazoo,” said Scott. “I think they made some good adjustments. I think defensively, there were some plays that we could’ve been more detailed on that we just missed out on.

“I think whether we win or lose, you have to keep your head up. We don’t need any mopers in the locker room. We don’t need to hang our heads.

“We’ve got to get right back to it and focus on the bye week, get better physically and mentally and then come back for Colorado.”

J.Michael Sturdivant had a career-high 71 receiving yards and quarterback Jack Plummer completed 23 of 33 passes for 273 yards for the Bears when he wasn’t getting pummeled in the second half. Ott, coming off his 274-yard rushing performance last week was held to 69 yards in 16 carries along with 41 yards through the air on 7 catches. Hunter led the Bears with 109 yards in 6 receptions in the loss.

After a fairly solid first half the OL struggled mightily, giving up 4 sacks and 7 total TFLs on the day. The Bears’ D mustered 1 sack and 4 TFLs in the loss.

On defense, the Bears were led in tackles by Jackson Sirmon and Collin Gamble with 8 a piece.

The Bears fell to 3-2/1-1 after the loss and will have a bye before facing Colorado in Boulder in two weeks.