By Jack Ross
With only 33 seconds left in the second quarter and the ball at its own 11-yard line, Cal decided to make history. First, sophomore tailback Jahvid Best scampered down the left sideline for 53 yards. Four plays later, senior quarterback Nate Longshore threw a touchdown pass to Cameron Morrah. Those two plays said it all-Saturday's 48-7 win over Washington was a historic day for the Bears. Not only did Cal dominate the Huskies on both sides of the ball-Washington couldn't break 200 total yards, while the Bears piled up 550-but they also had little trouble crossing off a number of prestigious individual feats. Best, for one, went into the day only 171 yards short of the Pac-10 rushing crown. The sophomore speedster came through and then some, as his 186 first-half rushing yards gave him the conference mark. In the end, Best tallied a gaudy 311 yards, the highest single-game total in Cal history, easily besting the previous mark of Jerry Drew, who rushed for 283 in 1954.
More impressive, the Richmond, Calif., native needed only 19 carries and thirty-five minutes to do it, as he sat out the majority of the third and entire fourth amidst the blowout.
"It was kind of tiered day today," Bears coach Jeff Tedford said. "Once (Best) had a couple big runs and we knew he was really close (to the rushing title). The next thing was 200 yards, then he only had 15 yards for the school record. "He took his brace off and I told him, 'You're off now.' But he only needed 15 yards, so we wanted to give him an opportunity to get it. Thankfully he didn't have to take too much of a pounding to get it." Aside from Best, Longshore also made history of his own.
The senior's throw to Morrah to end the first half was the 50th scoring toss of his career, something that only three other Cal players have ever accomplished. Not surprisingly, his coach expressed nothing but pleasantries regarding the accomplishment of his embattled signal caller. "I'm really happy for Nate," Tedford said. "It's nice to see him have success. He's one of the seniors that has brought a lot of great moments. And it's nice to see him go out on top." Though Longshore and Best both accomplished personal feats, they were only cogs in the machine that helped Cal accomplish a team goal of their own-a perfect 7-0 record at the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium in 2008. A fitting accomplishment for an accomplished senior class. "We talked a lot about how this is our house, how we own our house," Tedford said. "This group has had three out of five years of being undefeated at home. That says a lot about this group. More than anything, after having some adversity last year, for them to bounce back and hold this thing together. I'm really proud of this group."
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