Bears' superior talent overwhelms host Washington, 56-17.
By Chuck Stark, Cstark@kitsapsun.com
Tyrone Willingham never lost the "Big Game" against California during his seven years as head coach at Stanford. Saturday, in his first home game as head coach of the Washington Huskies, he found out what it felt like to lose big against the Golden Bears. Surprisingly, he didn't appear to be too terribly upset after Washington's 56-17 loss against No. 17 Cal in the Pac-10 opener for both schools. Overall, it was the eighth straight defeat for the once-proud Husky program and second under Willingham. The 56 points is the most an opponent has scored at Husky Stadium and margin of victory was the largest for California in the history of the series, which dates back to 1904. "I can say this honestly," Willingham said. "My boss instructed me that it would be difficult. He did not tell me we would win 10 games when I came in here. I understand that and we are prepared to keep this thing going." Junior linebacker Scott White said he was "disappointed and embarrassed," by the loss.
"Fifty-six to 17, that's not Husky football," he said. "It's a tough pill to swallow, definitely. We've got to come back and get Idaho next week." Early on, the Husky Stadium crowd of 57,775 — the smallest since 57,075 sat through a 48-0 win over Bowling Green 48-0 on Oct. 18, 1986 — had reason to believe the Dawgs might be primed for a major upset of Cal, which has emerged under coach Jeff Tedford as the new juggernaut on the West Coast. On the first play from scrimmage, Washington's Darin Harris intercepted a long pass from Cal quarterback Joe Ayoob. On the next snap, Husky quarterback Isaiah Stanback connected with Sonny Shackelford for a 58-yard touchdown. "The coaches have been preaching all week, to come out and start fast and finish faster," White said. "We couldn't start a game better; we just didn't finish."
That was also the mantra following the UW's 20-17 loss against Air Force last week. "There were some points in that football game where we closed it and I think we had a chance to really get ourselves back into it," Willingham said, "but we couldn't make the plays to get it done. That is still part of the theme that I have for our football team. You have to understand those moments. Good football teams do, and they find a way to make plays to get themselves over the hump."
The game turned in the final 2:50 of the first half. With the Bears leading 14-10, Ayoob shrugged off White's attempt at a one-handed sack, and stepped up to heave his third touchdown pass of the half to Robert Jordan, a 58-yarder. Husky cornerback Matt Fountaine went for the interception at the 20, but Jordan came down with the ball and scored easily. On the ensuing possession, Washington couldn't move it and on fourth down from the 20, punter Sean Douglas opted to run instead of trying to get off the punt in the face of heavy pressure. He was dropped for a six-yard loss. On the next play, 53 seconds after the Bears' last TD, Ayoob hit David Gray for a 14-yard touchdown and a 28-10 halftime lead.
"You could feel the energy in the stadium just leave and feel the energy on the sideline just leave," White said. "It's that same eerie feeling that was here during last year's season." Stanback completed all six of his passes in an 86-yard touchdown drive, including a 38-yard scoring toss to Craig Chambers, to get the Huskies within 28-17 at the start of the third quarter, but one never got the feeling that the Bears were going to let the Huskies back in it.
Cal, despite losing star tailback Marshawn Lynch (5 carries, 46 yards) with a broken finger early in the third quarter, had plenty of weapons. They finished with 557 yards total offense, Ayoob, a JC transfer who didn't complete a pass a week ago, was 17 for 27 for 271 yards and four TDs. Jordan caught 11 of those passes for 192 yards. Marcus O'Keith carried six times for 103 yards, including a 71-yard scoring romp in the final quarter.
"Our plan was to try and attack the weaknesses of the defense," said Tedford. "We knew coming in they had some injuries at corner and we had to test those guys. We were going to make them cover people and so that's why play action went down the field a little bit." Cal held Washington to 68 rushing yards, the sixth straight game they've held an opponent under 100 on the ground. That put the onus on Stanback, who finished with career-high numbers: 22 completions, 39 attempts and 301 yards. His one interception was returned for a touchdown. Despite an obvious discrepancy in talent, and particularly depth, Willingham attributed most of Washington's problems to mental lapses. "Your mind controls your muscles," he said. "That is where everything starts. We have to get through those mental hurdles to put ourselves in position to be a good football team." Shackelford, who caught eight passes for 124 yards, said he's ready to move on.
"We're trying to forget about what just happened because we can't remember what just happened in order to go on the next week and get a win."
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