Cal Football Game Summary: Bears Lose to Washington State
Cal lost to Washington State 21-6 on Saturday afternoon in Berkeley.
The important facts of the game:
WASHINGTON STATE 21, CAL 6
RECORDS: CAL (1-4, 0-2 Pac-12), WASHINGTON STATE (2-3, 1-2 Pac-12)
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Washington State quarterback Jayden de Laura. De Laura was 25-of-41 for 219 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
TURNING POINT: Washington State led 7-6 and planned to punt when it faced a fourth-and-6 from its own 29-yard line. The Cougars' Nick Haberer had his punt blocked by Cal's Nick Alftin. However, WSU's Ron Stone Jr. picked up the loose ball and advanced it 7 yards for a Cougars first down. WSU turned that possession into a touchdown and a 14-6 lead with 1:46 left in the first quarter.
KEY PLAY 1: WSU quarterback Jayden de Laura threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Jackson Jr. to complete a 75-yard drive on the Cougars' first possessions of the game. De Laura was 5-for-5 for 53 yards on the drive, which gave WSU at 7-0 lead with 11:21 left in the first quarter.
KEY PLAY 2: Cal quarterback Chase Garbers completed a 44-yard pass to Kekoa Crawford, putting the ball at the Washington State 11-yard line. Chistopher Brooks scored on the next play on an 11-yard run to reduce the WSU lead to 7-6 with 7:44 left in the first quarter. Cal had converted a fourth-and-1 play from its own 34-yard line early in that drive.
KEY PLAY 3: A low snap on on the extra point following Cal's first touchdown prevented the Bears from converting the PAT, leaving the score at 7-6.
KEY PLAY 4: Washington State faced a fourth-and-6 from its own 29-yard line when the Cougars' Nick Haberer had his punt blocked by Cal's Nick Alftin. However, WSU's Ron Stone Jr. picked up the loose ball and advanced it 7 yards for a Cougars first down. WSU turned that possession into a touchdown on Key Play 5.
KEY PLAY 5: WSU's Calvin Jackson Jr. made a remarkable one-handed catch of a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jayden de Laura. The play was initially ruled incomplete but the call was overturned on review and called a touchdown. That gave Washington State a 14-6 lead with 1:46 left in the first quarter.
KEY PLAY 6: WSU quarterback Jayden de Laura threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to De'Zhuan Stribling to complete a 66-yard scoring drive and give the Cougars a 21-6 lead with 8:47 left in the third quarter.
KEY PLAY 7: On a fourth-and 3 play from the Washington State 28-yard line, Chase Garbers threw an incompletion, keeping the Cougars lead at 21-6 with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.
KEY PLAY 8: On fourth-and-6 from the Washington State 7-yard line, Chase Garbers threw an incompletion, and the score stayed 21-6 with 11:20 left in the fourth quarter.
STAT OF THE GAME: After three quarters Cal had 65 yards passing, and 44 of those came on one completion early in the first quarter.
STAT OF THE GAME 2: Washington State, which had just four sacks over its first four games, had four sacks against Cal.
QUARTERBACK STATS: Cal's Chase Garbers was 14-of-30 for 152 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. Washington State's Jayden de Laura was 25-of-41 for 219 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
WHAT IT MEANS:. Cal is the only team in the Pac-12 North without a conference win. The Bears are still winless against FBS opponents this season. (Their win was against Sacramento State, an FCS team.) Cal lost its first two conference games for the second straight year. The Bears started 0-3 in Pac-12 play last year.
PLAYER AVAILABILITY: Cal: Outside linebacker Kuony Deng (lower body) missed his third straight game Saturday, and he is likely to out a little longer. Cal running back DeCarlos Brooks missed his second straight game with an unspecified injury, and starting nose guard Stanley McKenzie did not play because of an unspecified injury. Cal wide receiver Nikko Remigio, running back Damien Moore and tight end Jake Tonges all were available after getting injured last week.
Washington State: WSU quarterback Jarrett Guarantano did not make the trip to Berkeley. He started last week's game against Utah when Jayden de Laura was sidelined with an injury. Cougars quarterback de Laura and running back Max Borghi were both available Saturday after being questionable early in the week.
CAL'S BOWL BAROMETER: Cal's bowl chances shrunk to about 10 percent. The Bears would need to win five of their seven remaining games to become eligible for a bowl.
NEXT GAME: Cal has a bye next week, then plays at Oregon on Friday, October 15. Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. TV: ESPN. The third-ranked Ducks are 4-1 after losing to Stanford 31-24 in overtime on Saturday. Oregon also has a bye next week before hosting Cal at loud Autzen Stadium on national television. Oregon has won 15 straight home games, and its last defeat at Autzen Stadium was an overtime loss to seventh-ranked Stanford on Sept. 22, 2018.
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Cover photo of Jayden de Laura is by Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports
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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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