BERKELEY, Calif. – The California Bears do everything fast.
They run fast.
They score fast.
And Saturday afternoon they buried the Washington State Cougars fast.
California needed just eight plays from scrimmage, a kickoff return and a punt return to breeze to a 21-0 lead after seven minutes en route to a 49-17 romp at Memorial Stadium.
The Bears’ 550 total yards and 49 points were the second most allowed this season by a WSU defense that already ranked among the nation’s worst.
Washington State set a season high with 440 yards of offense, and true freshman Jeff Tuel passed for season highs of 354 yards and two touchdowns. The 17 points were the second most for WSU in a Pacific-10 Conference game since 2007, but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset the eye-popping advantage Cal had in team speed.
“You can’t duplicate it in practice,” WSU co-defensive coordinator Chris Ball said. “We talked about mentally preparing ourselves for the speed of the game. When you have speed like they have, it’s really hard to get that point across.”
That’s particularly true for a Cougars team that started seven freshmen, including three defensive linemen and 17-year-old cornerback Terrance Hayward.
The Bears (5-2 overall, 2-2 Pac-10) enjoyed a whopping 309-55 edge in rushing yards. Blurry-fast tailback Jahvid Best ran for a season-high 159 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. He also caught one of Kevin Riley’s first three passes, all of which went for touchdowns in the first quarter.
A wide-open Best kicked off the scoring parade with a 27-yard catch two plays after Jeremy Ross opened the game with a 54-yard kickoff return. Riley then found Cal receiving leader Marvin Jones all alone for a 37-yard TD pass before Ross blew past everyone to score on a 76-yard punt return.
“I knew coming into the game we had to slow down their big plays, and we didn’t,” Cougars coach Paul Wulff said.
WSU safety-linebacker Myron Beck, whose third-quarter interception accounted for the only turnover of the day, said “jitters” hurt the Cougars on defense as much as Cal’s speed in the early going.
“They didn’t do anything we didn’t expect or prepare for,” Beck said.
“We knew what was coming at us. It was just a lack of execution. The coaches coached us up on everything they ran.”
The last-place Cougars (1-6, 0-5) did themselves no favors by racking up a season high 13 penalties for 114 yards. Wulff said crowd noise played a factor, but the sunkissed crowd of 54,738 was a typically tame Memorial Stadium gathering, and WSU players said noise was not an issue.
“We are very disappointed (about the penalties),” Beck said. “It is tough enough to go out on the road and play.”
The Cougars had to overcome three false-start penalties on the drive that ended their first-quarter scoreless streak after nine games. WSU also needed a spectacular, one-handed, 36-yard catch from Jared Karstetter to sustain the drive, which stalled at first-and-goal at the 2 before Nico Grasu’s 24-yard field goal put an end to 105 unanswered points by opponents in the first quarter this season.
California led 35-3 after Best exploded up the middle for a 61-yard touchdown early in the second quarter. Tuel soon responded by launching a gorgeous, 68-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Johnny Forzani, one of the few Cougars fast enough to match the Bears.
“It was like a perfect ball, though, wasn’t it?” Forzani said with a smile. “It was really gutty. It made it easy for me. Jeff’s the man.”
On WSU’s next possession, Tuel nailed true freshman wideout Gino Simone with a 19-yard pass over the middle.
That was Simone’s first college touchdown, and when Toby Turpin blocked a field goal to end the first half, the Cougars had some momentum heading into the locker room, down 35-17.
“We had some nice ‘fire words’ in the locker room at halftime,” said Cal junior defensive end Cameron Jordan, who had a career-high 21/2 sacks.
“It came from the head coach (Jeff Tedford), and it even came from one of the young bucks. Steven Fanua (a freshman linebacker) came in and he fired everybody up.”
Cameron recorded one of Cal’s five sacks to help blunt WSU’s opening drive in the second half, and Ross quickly followed with a 61-yard catch that set up Best’s 2-yard TD run to quiet the Cougars.
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