(Written by kencraw)

(We continue our hugely unpopular look at The Half Season Of Which We Shall Not Speak (THSOFWWSNS) with the Washington game. Go here for past posts.)

The pre-game Storyline:
The horrid stretch was finally over. Things could not have gone worse (or could they?) than they had over the last 5 weeks with Longshore’s injury at the most unfortunate time. Things would have been very different if USC would have come to town when OSU did and UCLA and ASU been later in the year, after the WSU game, allowing Longshore more time to heal. Now, finally, Longshore appeared to be getting more healthy and the most difficult stretch of the schedule was behind them. Washington and Stanford should be easy victories.

The pre-game Reality:
In reality, Washington was not nearly as bad as people thought and it was yet another road game for the Bears. When one adds in all the weakness of the defense that had been exposed over the last month, there was far more to be concerned about than either the players or the fans knew.

The key plays:

• Rain is the order of the day, at least for kickoff.
• In a horribly stupid move that has Tedford visibly disgusted on the sideline, Cal opts to kickoff after Washington wins the toss and defers. As a result, Washington will receive the kick to start both halves.
• UW RB Rankin takes the first play of the game nearly 50 yards down into Cal territory.
• 3 plays later, with Rankin still bowling over Bears, Washington scores its first TD. Bears in a hole early: 0-7
• A delay of game penalty forces 3rd and 11 instead of 3rd and 6, stalling Cal’s first drive.
• Cal puts in its 2nd string defensive line for the second Washington possession because of how weak the 1st string played the first possession.
• Rankin runs over them too getting across mid-field with 5 consecutive runs.
• Cal puts 1st string line back in.
• Later in the drive, Rankin has a dancing, cross-field run, with Cal players diving and missing all over the place, for 28 yards down to the Cal 9 yard line.
• Two more run plays later and the Husky’s are in the endzone again. The Bears are in real trouble early: 0-14
• Forsett gets to work on the 2nd drive, loosening up the passing game.
• Longshore throws a strike over the middle to Morrah for a Cal TD. The extra point is missed due to do a bad hold. Bears still in a big hole: 6-14
• Hampton makes a nice pass breakup on 3rd down forcing the first Husky punt.
• Bears go for it on 4th down around midfield and convert on a Forsett run for 15 yards.
• Longshore continues his love of his Tight Ends with a nice pass over the middle to Stevens for another TD. Bears back in it, only an extra point down: 13-14
• The rain had pretty much dried up by now.
• Bear defense back in sync and forces another 3 and out.
• Another Longshore to WR miscommunication results in another interception, giving Washington the ball at the Cal 32.
• Rankin rumbles for two more big runs down to the goal line (what happened to the Cal D?) where it is punched in. Bears are 8 points down again: 13-21
• DeSean Jackson injures his ankle/knee and was limited for a couple series and then out of the game entirely.
• A number of drives later, with only 3 minutes left in the half, Forsett busts a 58 yard run down to the Washington redzone.
• Longshore finds Montgomery in the endzone for a touchdown on the next play. Bears back in it: 20-21
• The Bears force another punt before halftime but disaster strikes when Syd’Quan runs into Hampton, who is returning kicks in place of the injured Jackson, just as he’s about to catch the ball. It’s ruled on the field that Hampton never touched the ball, but an instant replay reverses the call based on marginal data, giving Washington the ball deep in Cal territory with a minute left in the half.
• Bonnell throws up a jump ball in the endzone and the receiver goes up and gets it over Conte for a TD. Halftime score is no longer hopeful: 20-28
• Washington receives the kickoff to start the 2nd half, completing the disasterous coin toss decision.
• The Cal defense goes back to their weak ways, giving up another long Rankin run, this time a 46 yarder on the first drive of the half.
• The Cal defense holds from there and Washington makes the 46 yard Field Goal. Cal down by two scores again: 20-31.
• Longshore completes a long pass to Jordan down to the Washington 2 yard line.
• But a loss of 2 on 2nd down, after a no-gainer on 1st, sets up a throwing down on 3rd down and Cal can’t convert, only getting the Field Goal. Back down to a touchdown with a 2-point conversion deficit: 23-31.
• Later in the quarter, the Huskys get a break when what was clearly a lateral was called incomplete and intentional grounding, taking away what would have otherwise been a Cal recovery in Washington territory.
• The Bears can’t even capitalize on the big penalty and Bonnell completes a 3rd and 24 pass down the sideline over a leaping Conte (again) getting Washington down into Field Goal range again.
• Cal defense holds and Washington kicks the Field Goal. Bears back down by two scores: 23-34
• Cal gets another bad break at the end of the 3rd quarter when a marginal review calls a tackle on Hawkins a fumble and Washington recovers.
• Another Cal drive is stalled by a holding penalty and personal foul in one set of downs and the Bears are unable to convert on 3rd and 32.
• Washington gets another instant replay break when a punt return that was already a strong one but still out of field goal range is not called out of bounds when the player was clearly out. Instead the ball is all the way down at the Cal 11.
• The Cal defense stiffens again and Washington kicks another Field Goal. Cal down by two full touchdowns: 23-37
• Montgomery stalls yet another Cal drive when he fumbles the ball and recovers it himself. However, the yardage damage stalls the last drive for the Bears
• Washington bowls over the now demotivated and tired Cal defense getting 4 first downs to run out the clock.

The forgotten

• Cal was back in this game at two different points in the 1st half, being down only one point, but successive series of bad defense put them in a deficit again. This game was not a case of a slow start gone bad.
• The replay booth and the refs were not kind to Cal, particularly in the second half. While the Bears were doing plenty of other things to shoot themselves in the foot, they were additionally hampered by bad calls.
• Forsett again had a monster game and it was yet again wasted.
• Conte was picked on again and again and again by the Washington offense. Considering this game was won on the ground, the UW passing game consisted almost entirely of picking on Conte.
• Longshore at this point had played a pretty good game. It was the fumbles that were the turnovers that doomed the Bears and Longshore made a number of good passes. While his form was still poor, his accuracy and reads were pretty good. He was not the reason why Cal lost.
• This was most definitely Montgomery’s best game. While he was no Best, his transfer was a bigger blow to the program that most of us remember.

The post-game storyline:
The excuses about the previous 4 loses being a result of a tough situation with Longshore’s injury and a tough stretch of the schedule were no longer valid. There was no excuse for the Bears to play so poorly or lose this game no matter how bad the bounces and the refs were against them. Frankly stated, the 336 rushing yards Washington had in the game were disgusting and reflected a defense that wasn’t trying very hard. Add in that injury to Longshore and the team was in ruins.

The post-game reality:
In the end, it was the defense that lost the game. Longshore played fairly well and was not the reason the Bears lost. The Bears had gotten a tough lesson in not trying hard enough. Being honest, there was still plenty of talent on this team. All the needed to do was try.

The 2007 learnings:

• Cal continued their struggles around the goal line. The failure to convert in the mid-3rd quarter was probably the moment the game was lost, even though it wasn’t clear at the time.
• For the first time it was truly clear that there was something wrong on this team that didn’t have to do with talent, injuries or game-planning. The Bears had an effort/team chemistry problem.
• Longshore’s injury was now mostly healed and there were no longer any excuses in this department.

The conclusion
This was by far the most disgusting game for me of the Tedford era. Never before and never since have I seen a Tedford team so implode. At the same time, I was nearly beside myself with disgust for the replay booth. They overturned a marginal situation on the botched punt return, with really weak angles, but then uphold the bogus punt return where he was CLEARLY out. Then they don’t over turn the Hawkins fumble when, admitting that the evidence was weak, it looked to me like his hand was still over the ball when he hit the ground. What. A. Joke. And it was the last thing this team, a team that was looking for an excuse to lose, needed in the 2nd half of a winnable game. But all of that aside, what was just as frustrating was to watch the inconsistent play of the defense. Sometimes it looked like they had Rankin figured out for a possession or two but then he’d burn the Bears later on. The final drive of the game, with the 4 first downs was just inexcusable. Sure, it was unlikely the Bears were going to come up with 2 scores in less than 5 minutes, but the defense never game them a chance.

I was as disgusted with the Bears as I’d ever been. Heck, I was as disgusted as the lone Cal game I walked out on in 2001 during the Holmoe debacle. I couldn’t imaging being more disgusted.

Or so I thought…