BERKELEY, Calif. – The Washington football team had overcome so much, it seemed almost destiny that the Huskies would pull off a shocking upset.
Down to its backup quarterback and running back, throwing five interceptions, playing a highly-ranked team on the road, and yet Washington was somehow in position to do what few thought it could.
But for the Huskies, it wasn’t to be, and instead they are left with the bitter taste of once again almost beating one of the Pacific-10’s top teams only to fall in a thrilling ending.
Three weeks after nearly stunning USC in Los Angeles, the Huskies took No. 11 California to overtime Saturday before watching Marshawn Lynch take over the game and lead the Golden Bears to a 31-24 overtime victory at Memorial Stadium.
Washington has now lost three in a row to drop to 2-3 in the Pac-10 and 4-4 overall.
“We had a couple opportunities to win this game,” Washington cornerback Dashon Goldson said. “We just didn’t take advantage of it. We were supposed to win this game. We deserved to win this game. But they came out and answered. Big-time players make big-time plays, and that’s what Lynch is and that’s what he did.”
It wasn’t all Lynch, though. The senior running back scored Cal’s last two touchdowns on electrifying runs, but the Golden Bears (5-0 Pac-10, 7-1 overall) also intercepted Husky quarterback Carl Bonnell five times and swarmed running back Louis Rankin, preventing the Huskies from getting anything going.
Despite all of that, though, Washington had a chance. The Huskies led 17-16 late in the fourth quarter but Cal twice converted third-and-10 plays, and Lynch scored on a 17-yard touchdown run.
The Bears went for a two-point conversion and Washington seemed to wrap up Justin Forsett in the backfield only to see Forsett get in to give Cal a 24-17 lead.
Miscommunication led to the Huskies having just 10 players on the field on the play.
“We had it in the backfield and didn’t wrap up,” UW defensive coordinator Kent Baer said. “It’s unfortunate.”
Washington took over at its own 22 with 1:43 to go and the Huskies converted three fourth downs on the drive, putting them at the Cal 40 with six seconds to go.
Scrambling to his right, Bonnell launched a pass that was fought for and tipped by three Bears in the end zone. As time expired, Husky wide receiver Marlon Wood snagged the tipped pass at the 3-yard line and lunged into the end zone as he was tackled by Cal’s Damymeion Hughes, sending the game to overtime.
“It was right there in my hands,” Wood said. “I just had to bring it in. I couldn’t drop that one.”
Washington won the coin toss and elected to be on defense first. Cal got the ball on the 25 and it took Lynch just two plays to score, going 22 yards on a pitch to the left to give the Bears the lead. The Huskies answered with a 15-yard pass from Bonnell to Corey Williams that went to the 6, but Louis Rankin was stuffed for a 5-yard loss on a run to the right. On the next play Bonnell tried to hit Johnie Kirton, but Cal linebacker Desmond Bishop stepped in front of the UW tight end and intercepted the pass, ending the game.
“They have a great secondary, one of the best in the country,” said Bonnell, who was 17-for-31 for 284 yards and ran for 64 yards in his first start since 2004. “They made some plays today. I tried to stick the ball in there (on the last play) and the gap closed real quick.”
“We didn’t do well enough anywhere,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “We came up close, our guys gave us great effort, they tried their best. We played a good football team. I think we can say we played them toe-to-toe, but we didn’t win, so we came up short.”
Washington controlled the first half, holding a seven-minute advantage in time of possession as the defense held down Lynch and Forsett and the offense overcame the loss of starting running back Kenny James to a first-quarter ankle injury.
The Huskies led 10-0 when Bonnell found a wide-open Anthony Russo for a 49-yard touchdown with 47 seconds to go in the first half.
Washington elected to go for a squib kick that Cal recovered at the 42 and the Bears turned it into a field goal to make it 10-3 at halftime.
That seemed to give Cal a bit of momentum, as Forsett scored on a 1-yard run on his team’s first drive of the second half and, after a Bonnell interception, Tom Schneider booted a 50-yard field goal to give the Bears their first lead, 13-10, with 4:41 to play in the third quarter.
Zach Follett got Cal’s fourth interception on the ensuing drive and the Bears drove to the UW 14, but on fourth-and-1, Lynch was stopped by Jordan Reffett in the backfield to give the Huskies the ball.
“It’s fourth-and-1, big play in the game,” Reffett said. “I just tried to keep my pads down, help my team. Fortunately I got in the backfield, got a piece of him and took him down.”
A 44-yard run by Rankin set up a 7-yard TD dash up the middle by Bonnell to give Washington a 17-13 lead.
Unfortunately for Washington, Reffett’s tackle was the last time the Huskies would stop Lynch, who, despite a bad ankle, finished with 150 yards on 21 carries. Lynch got 102 yards in the second half.
“It was such a gutsy performance by Marshawn today,” Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. “He put the offense on his back and to make so many plays like he did today is just a phenomenal performance.”
The performance was a solid one for the Huskies as well, but just as with USC, it wasn’t good enough. Now Washington has four games left in which to win two more contests to become bowl-eligible.
“It’s not enough for us to almost win a game,” senior linebacker Scott White said. “It’s time for us to find a way to get it done in these games.”
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