Cal quarterback tosses four TD passes in blowout win at Washington
By Dave Newhouse, STAFF WRITER
SEATTLE — Joe Ayoob's first pass Saturday was picked off. His next two passes fell incomplete, making him 0-for-13 as a Cal quarterback. Then was it an illusion, or did he step into a phone booth at Husky Stadium? Because what emerged after that was the other Joe Ayoob, the gun-slinging, touchdown-flinging, street-smart kid who cut up Washington with four touchdown passes as the Golden Bears rolled to a 56-17 victory. That's four touchdown passes in the first half as Ayoob served notice to the Pac-10 that Aaron Rodgers may not be missed as much as was speculated in the aftermath of Ayoob's awful college debut last week. "Around the locker room this week, I wanted to be the role model, where everyone has confidence in me," Ayoob said after his breakout game. "In my mind, there was no doubt that this was my team, and I proved it today." Proved it big time. Ayoobcompleted 17 of 27 passes for 271 yards, focusing chiefly on wideout Robert Jordan, whose 2005 debut produced 11 catches for 192 yards and three touchdowns, all scored before halftime.
"The sky's the limit," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said of Ayoob's future. "He's going to get better each week." It's too early to predict if Ayoob has Superman potential, but his foot speed and shiftiness as a runner give Cal another dimension at quarterback. But Tedford saw something else in Ayoob this time. "The look in his eye wasn't one of awe," said the coach. "It was one of competitiveness." This was the Ayoob that Tedford recruited out of City College of San Francisco to replace Rodgers, now with the Green Bay Packers. Only Ayoob couldn't beat out Nate Longshore, who broke his left leg last week against Sacramento State. Then No.3 quarterback Steve Levy outplayed Ayoob in that game.
But Tedford knew Ayoob was made of stronger stuff. So two days later, he named the junior from San Rafael as his quarterback. And so confident was Tedford in Ayoob that he turned him into the "Mad Bomber" against the overmatched Huskies, winging the ball deep with regularity. "Going into the game, we said, 'We're going to let it rip,'" Tedford said. "It was nice to get his feet wet a little bit, and there's not a better stage to do it than on ABC-TV." Ayoob's reputation is that of a prime-time player, and he played up that image on the banks of Lake Washington. "It was just like Aaron," Cal offensive tackle Ryan O'Callaghan said. "I didn't look at Joe as a rookie. He looked composed."
Ayoob did a 180 in that respect from last Saturday. "I felt comfortable the whole game. I didn't get rattled," he said. "After that first completion, I got the monkey off my back." Ayoob went downfield on the game's first offensive play, but the ball was thrown short to Lavelle Hawkins, who collided with cornerback Matt Fontaine of Oakland, and safety Darin Haris intercepted. The very next play, Sonny Shackelford juked Cal corner Tim Mixon, and Isaiah Stanback hit him with a 56-yard touchdown pass.
If Washington coach Tyrone Willingham thought then he would improve his 7-0 career record against Cal, Ayoob had other ideas. He connected with Jordan on three straight touchdowns of 9, 24 and 58 yards. Ayoob's fourth scoring strike, 14 yards to David Gray, put Cal up 28-10 at halftime. Even with an explosive tailback in Marshawn Lynch, Tedford's game plan was designed to burn the Huskies deep. Then Cal was able to achieve that end with the run, too, especially after Lynch injured the little finger on his left hand in the third quarter. His talented backups, Marcus O'Keith and Justin Forsett, then took over with dazzling results. O'Keith had touchdown runs of 71 and 5 yards in a 103-yard rushing afternoon, while Forsett added 80 yards, including a 35-yard scoring burst on the game's final play. "It was more typical of the way we play," said Tedford, who was upset by his offense's "sloppiness" last week. "We knew coming into this game that they had some injuries at the corner, and we had to test those guys ... so that's why play action went down the field a little bit.
"Joe not only did a nice job of throwing the ball, but he ran the ball pretty well. He made some big plays on third down with his scrambling ability. Those were the things that we saw when we recruited him."
Jordan's performance Saturday was equally stunning. The sophomore from Hayward, making his first appearance of the year after a one-game suspension, established himself as the team's go-to guy by repeatedly making Geoff McArthur-like clutch catches, three for touchdowns. "That doesn't concern me. I just want to win," Jordan said. "During the week, we told Joe to throw the ball up to us and we would catch it for him. He was more poised in the huddle; last week, he was more nervous. People thought we had a quarterback problem. He's a gamer."
No. 16 Cal 56, Washington 17
Cal—56
Washington0—17
FIRST QUARTER
Washington 7, Cal 0: Shackelford 56 pass from Stanback. Knudson PAT. 56-yard drive, 1 play. Key play: Harris interception of Ayoob pass. 14:40 left.
Washington 7, Cal 7: Jordan 9 pass from Ayoob. Schneider PAT. 80-yard drive, 5 plays. Key plays: Lynch 25 run to Cal 45; Jordan 31 pass from Ayoob to UW 9. 2:16 left.
SECOND QUARTER
Cal 14, Washington 7: Jordan 24 pass from Ayoob. Schneider PAT kick. 80-yard drive, 10 plays. Key plays: Ayoob 26 run on 3rd-and-13 from Cal 29; Lynch 25 shovel pass from Ayoob on 3rd-and-24 from Cal 41. 11:43 left.
Cal 14, Washington 10: Knudson 46 FG. Key play: Shackleford 45 pass from Stanback on 3rd-and-10 from UW 20. 8:25 left.
Cal 21, Washington 10: Jordan 58 pass from Ayoob. Schneider PAT. 94-yard drive, 8 plays. Key play: Ayoob 4 run on 3rd-and-2 from Cal 38. 2:50 left.
Cal 28, Washington 10: Gray 14 pass from Ayoob. Schneider PAT kick. 14-yard drive, 1 play. Key play: Punter Douglas -6 run (forced to run by T. Williams, tackled by Storer). 1:57 left.
THIRD QUARTER
Cal 28, Washington 17: Chambers 39 pass from Stanback. Knudson PAT kick. 86-yard drive, 8 plays. Key play: Shackelford 5 pass from Stanback on 3rd-and-3 from UW 21. 11:07 left.
Cal 35, Washington 17: O'Keith 5 run. Schneider PAT kick. 76-yard drive, 12 plays. Key plays: Jordan 12 pass from Ayoob on 3rd-and-10 from Cal 19; Jordan 19 pass from Ayoob to UW 19. 1:43 left.
FOURTH QUARTER
Cal 42, Washington 17: O'Keith 73 run. Schneider PAT kick. 96-yard drive, 6 plays. 7:20 left.
Cal 49, Washington 17: Hughes 41 interception return. Schneider PAT kick. 6:25 left.
Cal 56, Washington 17: Forsett 35 run. Schneider PAT kick. 75-yard drive, 7 plays. 0:00 left.
RUSHING—California, O'Keith 6-103, Forsett 11-77, Lynch 5-46, Ayoob 8-27, Williams 4-23, Manderino 3-10, Storer 1-3, Team 1-(minus 3). Washington, Rankin 13-38, Stanback 9-23, Sampson 2-7, James 2-6, Douglas 1-(minus 6).
PASSING—California, Ayoob 17-27-1-271, Levy 0-0-0-0. Washington, Stanback 22-39-1-301.
RECEIVING—California, Jordan 11-192, Manderino 3-37, Lynch 1-25, Gray 1-14, Stevens 1-3. Washington, Shackelford 6-124, Chambers 3-65, Kirton 3-38, Lewis 3-23, Russo 2-31, James 2-7, Rankin 2-2, Ellis 1-11.
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