Game Thread: Washington at Cal

[LarsHanson]

End of 1st quarter: Washington 7, Cal 3.

Thoughts:

For just the second time all season UW scored on its opening offensive series. Jake Browning hit Ty Jones for a 3-yard completion to give the Huskies an early 7-0 lead. Browning moved into a tie with former Washington State QB Connor Halliday for No. 6 all-time in Pac-12 history with his 90th career touchdown.

The scoring drive was aided by a personal foul penalty of Cal which gave UW an automatic first down on 3rd and goal. In total the Huskies drive took up 6:22 time of possession (14 plays spanning 64 yards).

Seeing a long sustained drive, including a 4th down conversion by Browning, has to be a good sign for first-year offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. However the senior throwing an interception on the second drive negates the good UW showed on its first series.

On defense Levi Onwuzurike recorded the first sack for UW, a 5-yard loss for Chase Garbers that forced Cal to punt and bailing Browning out following his pick. The redshirt sophomore from Allen, Texas has been steadily growing his role this season and he's off to another good start on the road in Berkeley.

 

[LarsHanson]

Halftime: Washington 7, Cal 6.


BERKELEY, Calif. – A little bit of gamesmanship by Chris Petersen kept the slim lead intact for Washington heading into halftime against Cal.

The Huskies head coach used his final two timeouts to ice Greg Thomas which led to the redshirt junior missing a 41-yard field goal as the clock expired. UW maintained its slim 7-6 lead after Thomas pushed his attempt wide right.

Prior to the miss Thomas made his first two kicks from 22 and 35-yards for the only two scoring drives allowed by the UW defense.

Following a 14 play drive on their opening series that lasted more than six minutes the Huskies failed to sustain a drive longer than three minutes against the Golden Bears.

Senior quarterback Jake Browning capped off the first UW drive with a 3-yard touchdown to Ty Jones for an early 7-0 lead. He finished the half throwing six straight incompletions after the opening scoring drive.

Browning tied former Washington State QB Connor Halliday for No. 6 all-time in Pac-12 history on the TD to Jones. The senior now has 90 passing touchdowns in his four-year career at UW.

He finished the first half 6 of 13 for for 67 yards, throwing a TD and an interception in the first half, something of a pattern for the senior QB.

The reason UW remains in the game is due to the defense holding Cal to just a pair of field goals, bending without breaking and allowing a touchdown.

Levi Onwuzurike and Greg Gaines have the only two UW sacks that resulted in keeping the Golden Bears off the scoreboard. The redshirt sophomore from Allen, Texas got the first sack on Chase Garbers to force a Cal punt late in the first quarter.

Gaines, a senior, mauled his way through the Cal offensive line to sack Garbers for a second time on the final drive of the half. The sack pushed the ball back to the UW 35 and set up 3rd and 21, which resulted in the missed FG heading into halftime.