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Huskies lose Bearings at Berkeley A BEARitable nightmare for Gilby on his return By: Malamute, 15 November 2003
Junior college transfer Aaron Rogers connected with Geoff McArthur on a 79-yard touchdown pass to start the game, then threw for 2 more touchdowns and rushed for another, to lead California to a 54-7 win over the Washington Huskies in a game played at Berkeley, Cal. The Bears posted their first victory over the Huskies at Berkeley since 1975, while taking a step closer to a bowl game. Formerly the coach of the Berkeley Bears, Keith Gilbertson's return to Berkeley was far less than inauspicious. His defense, which gave up 729 yards, played as badly as any Husky defense has in its history. UCLA ran up 671 yards on a Jim Owens' defense in 1973, which at that time, was the most yardage ever given up by a Husky team. Cal averaged 10.6 yards per play. The Bears rushed for 389 yards and passed for 348, while holding the Huskies to 34-yards rushing on the day. The Huskies averaged 3.7 yards per play. Garth Erickson punted for an average of 45.4 yards. That was the good news. Oh, one thing should be mentioned. Last week, Arizona beat the UW on big plays, scoring three of them on the game. However, trailing for almost three quarters, the Wildcats tortured Dawg fans by giving them some hope. This week, mercifully, fans had little hope of victory from the game's inception thanks to the Washington defense. That was the rest of the good news. On Cal's first play from scrimmage, Aaron Rogers hit Geoff McArthur on a pass up the middle, McArthur beating Sam Cunningham for a score on a 79-yard play. On Cal's second drive, JJ Arrington ran over left guard for 51 yards to the Dawgs' 6 yard line. After the Dawgs put on the brakes, Tyler Frederickson hit a 20-yard field goal to give the Bears a 10-0 lead. On Cal's third drive of the game, Frederickson booted another 20-yard field goal, and the Bears led 13-0. The Bears amassed 241 yards of total offense on their first three drives of the game. Meanwhile, the Huskies generated just 30 total yards in the first quarter. To start the second quarter, California's Rogers, on a four-play drive, connected on a 13-yard scoring pass to Brandon Hall to give the Bears a 19-0 lead. Starting from its 12, the Huskies drove 88 yards for a touchdown, when FB Zach Tuiasosopo capped a 9-play drive on a 3-yard run. Following the UW touchdown, JJ Arrington ran over left tackle for 68 yards to the Huskies' 12, from where Rogers passed to Vincent Strang to give the Bears a 26-7 lead. After intercepting Pickett on the Huskies' next drive, Cal took a 33-7 lead after Arrington scored from 15 yards out. Cal missed a 50-yard field goal near the end of the second quarter, which was its first drive of the game that failed to score. Getting the ball back on their own 32, the Huskies drove to the Bears' 7, where Pickett suffered his second interception of the game with 1:02 left on the clock. At the break, the Bears led in total yards, 457 to 195, rushing yards, 200 to 36 and passing yards, 257 to 159. The Bears game into the game averaging 388 total yards. Reggie Williams caught 2 passes for 11 yards. "I'm not sure I've seen a worse defense at half," Washington coach Keith Gilbertson said. Hoping to score after receiving the kickoff to start the second half, the UW started from its 48 and garnered a first down before going three and out. Punter Garth Erickson rooted a 57-yard punt that rolled dead on the Cal 20. What happened next? Well, Cal drove 80 yards for a touchdown, capped by Aaron Rogers' one-yard sneak. A flummoxed Gilbertson pleaded with his defense to show some heart. On its next drive, the Huskies posted another first down and then went three and out. The Huskies stopped the next California drive, and the Bears punted for the first time in the game. But Charles Frederick fumbled the punt, giving the Bears a first down on the Huskies' 26. A breakdown on offense, defense, and now a breakdown in special teams all haunting coach Gilbertson on his ignominious return to Berkeley. Cal's drive ended on a missed field goal, with the Huskies' defense showing some heart, giving the offense the ball back on its 26. The Huskies drove to the Cal 37 and Erickson pooched a punt that was downed on the 2. The Dawgs failed to secure field position after stopping Cal on its 9, having to start from their own 36 after a block in the back moved the punt return backwards. The Huskies trailed at the end of three, 40-7, and Cal had the ball. The Bears drive started at their own 10. Co-highlighting a 33-yard pass to Aarington on the drive, Marcus O'Keith scored on a 48-yard touchdown run, the first of his career. Cal took a 47-7 lead in the fourth quarter. Casey Paus replaced Pickett at quarterback on Washington's next drive, with 11:59 left in the game. Pickett finished the game by topping the 10,000 yard career-passing mark, only the fourth quarterback to do so in conference history. The Huskies drove to the Cal 19-yard line, but Paus was sacked on the 29 on a third-down pass play. A false start took the Huskies back to the 34, where they had a fourth and 20. Paus' pass was incomplete and Cal had the ball. Reserve tailback Michael Porter ran 51 yards to close the scoring, with 2:44 left in the game. The Huskies are 5-6 on the season and 3-4 in conference play. Cal is 6-6 and 4-3 in the Pac-10. For Keith Gilbertson, this was a chance to prove Bay Area writer Glenn Dickey wrong. Before Gilby’s hiring, Dickey said that Gilbertson was not head coaching material. It was a chance for the Gilbertson persona to question the $1 million buyout in Jeff Tedford’s contract. No one is talking about a buyout in Gilby’s 4-year contract. It was a chance for Gilbertson to avenge his firing at Cal, where he coached the Bears from 1992-1995, with a 20-26 record. For the Dawgs, this was a chance to put the disappointing loss to Arizona behind them, while keeping a hard fought 10-game Berkeley winning streak alive. Win one for the Gilbber, should have been players’ mantra after Hugh Millen, former Husky quarterback, wondered last week if players think "Rick got screwed, (and) now they’re getting this program that is thrown upon them they didn’t sign up for." The Huskies needed this game to qualify for a bowl. Revenge, winning streak, Arizona, the mantra, the buyout all went down the drain in this disappointing day at Berkeley. Going to a bowl seems less likely, considering the Apple Cup next week that closes out the regular season against eighth ranked Washington State. Frankly, I think Gilbertson has been dealt a bad hand in a way. In this game, due mainly to injuries, the Huskies were without 14 players counted upon at the end of last season to perform significantly this season. "Oh gosh, yeah, this is way more than I've ever seen in my coaching career," Gilbertson told the Seattle Times this week, commenting on the injuries. "I can't think of any year where we've suffered them as frequently as this." The following players were missing in action: Rich Alexis, Chris Singleton, Chris Massey, Joe Toledo, Tusi Sa’au, Junior Coffin, Josh Miller, Aaron Butler, Quinton Daniels, Owen Biddle, Ben Bandel, Justin Robbins, Rob Meadow, Joe Lobendahn. Three of them, Coffin, Miller and Butler were counted out before the season began. CB Roc Alexander returned to action after a 5-week absence. Kenny James and Marquis Cooper went out of the game with injuries. Injuries, defections, or whatever, should never be an excuse for losing. That's a moral victory I'll never buy into. During the game, Gilbertson repeatedly pleaded with his defense to show some heart. So, the question remains, why did the team quit on Gilbertson, and so early in the game? Surrendering 729 yards to a 5-6 team says a lot about giving up. Scoring just 7 points says something also, regardless of what the coaches and players will say. Could it have been a silent mutiny, a mutiny of the heart?
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