Saturday, October 7, 2017
The Washington Huskies (6-0 overall, 3-0 conference) beat up Cal Golden Bears (3-3 overall, 0-3 conference) Saturday, October 7, 2017. With the upset of former No. 3 Oklahoma by Iowa State, it helped moved the Huskies up one the AP poll Sunday morning.
This game was the first home conference game of the 2017 season for the Huskies. They faced off against former UW Defensive Coordinator Justin Wilcox who is the head coach of the Cal Bears. Husky Legend Marques Tuiasosopo in his first season as CAL’s QB coach and passing game coordinator returned to the Husky Stadium as a UW opponent. Knowing these two have ties to UW, it was questionable whether they could pull a win against their former team. The Cal Bears’ QB Ross Bowers is a native of Bothell, WA and ranks fourth in the PAC-12 in touchdown passes.
The Huskies gave Dante Pettis as many chances as possible to break the FBS record for punt return touchdowns but he didn’t get it in this game. Hunter Bryant, a freshman used the first Husky drive for the first TD of the evening. He showed the world why he is playing as a true freshman. The kick was good by Tristan Vizcaino for an extra point giving the Huskies a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Van Soderberg scored a field goal putting another three points on the board. Then with a 21 yard run, QB Jake Browning scored a TD and Van Soderberg kicked for an extra point, the score was 17-0. Finishing the second quarter, Miles Gaskins with an 8 yard run scored a TD and an extra point for the kick by Soderberg putting the Huskies lead 24-0 at half time.
UW’s defense held the Cal Bears to zero points and only 46 yards for the entire first half. Cal Quarterback Ross Bowers took four sacks by Jaylen Johnson, Taylor Rapp, Benning Potoa’e and Tevis Bartlett. The Washington offense wasn’t dominant as the defense but they still went into the break with 24 points which could have been more because of Tristan Vizcaino’s missed field goal.
In the 3rd quarter, with the 2 yard pass from Browning, Jusstis Warren scored a TD and Soderberg kicked for an extra point was good putting the Huskies 31 points ahead. Cal Bears’ one highlight came on Darius Allensworth’s 37-yard fumble return for a touchdown late in the third quarter after Dante Pettis lost control of the ball. With an extra point by Matt Anderson, it put the Cal Bears on the board for 7 points.
Starting with a score of 31-7 in the 4th quarter, Myles Gaskin scored a 7 yard run TD and Soderberg kicked for extra point was good. The Huskies sacked Cal QBs a total of eight times during the game. The No. 6 Washington Huskies dominated every quarter and won against the Cal Bears 38-7. The Huskies defense held the Bears to only 93 total yards, thanks to losing 41 yards on the final play of the game when a field goal attempt was not successful.
During the post-game interview, UW Coach Chris Petersen said, “Tristan needs work in the kicking game.” “Our defense played about as well as they could play. Our offense didn’t. They were sloppy. We’ll be better than that.” “My hat is off to my team. We challenged them this week. Our defense rose to the occasion.”
California Bears coach Justin Wilcox said, “We didn’t do anything on offense to give us a chance,” “We’re going to have to re-evaluate some things.”
Directed By: Davies Chirwa, Reported By: Dina Phiney and Photography by Stefan Photography.
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This was a very well-written and thought-provoking piece. The author’s insights were valuable and left me with much to consider. Let’s talk more about this. Check out my profile for more related discussions.