Huskies have three-game losing streak against Cal

09/06/2005

By JIM COUR  / Associated Press

How fortunes have turned for the Washington Huskies and the California Golden Bears.   While the teams don't play each other every year, the Huskies won 19 consecutive games from the Bears from 1977-2001. But under coach Jeff Tedford, Cal has won three in a row from Washington: 34-27 in 2002, 54-7 in Berkeley in 2003 and 42-12 last season in Seattle.

"I thought they always had talent," new Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said Monday, recalling that each year he's seen two or three Bears' players reaching the NFL.   "But what they're doing a great job of right now is playing as a team," he said. "And that makes all the difference in the world. When you put the combination together that they're putting together in terms of great quarterback play, great running back play and a defense that is flying around, you get it done."

As Tedford has owned the Huskies in his three seasons at Cal, Willingham owned the Bears when he was the coach at Stanford from 1995-2001, posting a 7-0 record. Four of the wins came at Stanford and three in Berkeley.   Washington (0-1) will try to give Willingham his first Seattle victory on Saturday when the Huskies face the Bears (1-0). The Huskies lost their season opener to Air Force 20-17 on a touchdown in the final 34 seconds at Seattle's Qwest Field last weekend, while Cal beat Sacramento State 41-3.   After being fired at Notre Dame, Willingham was hired at Washington to restore some respectability to a program that was 1-10 last season.

When Washington was looking for a new coach, Tedford's name was mentioned prominently by Huskies' alumni and boosters. But Tedford got a contract extension from the Bears.   Cal will come to Seattle with its second starting quarterback in two weeks. Nate Longshore started the Sacramento State game, but suffered a broken left leg in the first half.   So Longshore's backup, junior college transfer Joseph Ayoob, will start in Seattle although he struggled in the Bears' opener, throwing 10 incompletions in a row, and was benched in favor of third-team quarterback Steve Levy.   Willingham noted the Bears had gotten speedier under Tedford.

"I think usually the more success you have ties in with getting better players," he said. "I don't think you can diminish that aspect of it. Usually the better your players, the faster, the bigger, the stronger they are. The more willing they are to play with confidence. Just playing with confidence alone when you're successful, you're usually faster."  Speaking by telephone Monday from Berkeley, Tedford said Cal's 2002 win over Washington was a major victory for the Bears' program.

"Going into that game, Cal hadn't beaten Washington in I don't know how many years," he said. "That was a big hurdle. I think our guys got a lot of belief and confidence out of that game. That one really made a big difference. Any time you have an opportunity to beat the Huskies, you've got to think it's a good day."   Cal had a 10-2 record last season, when Tedford was the Pac-10 Coach of the Year for the second time in his three years in Berkeley. Tedford's record at Cal is 26-13.