The 100th edition of Cal v Washington rivalry produced some fascinating numbers. It starts with the 2019 game ending with a score of 20-19 in the 2019. The game lasted 5 hours and 43 minutes. That’s how long it was from the kickoff to the final whistle. In between there were a lot of other interesting numbers in the 2019
10 At one point in the game the Huskies had a 10 nothing lead. They took a 7 point lead into the locker room, well, the send trip into the locker room. Cal looked like they were going nowhere. The Bears had less than a hundred yards of offense at the break. Whatever happened in at the half the Bears rolled up 148 yards of offense and 14 points in the brutal 3rd quarter face-plant by the UW defense.
9 The Washington rushing attack, between the 2 primary ball carriers produced 161 yards on 30 carries. Richard Newton had 9 carries for 42 yards while Salvon Ahmed Lost somewhere in the storm was an electric performance by Washington running back, Salvon Ahmed who had Washington’s lone TD on a lightening-quick 21-yard run to give Washington a 10-0 lead. He carried the ball 21 times for 119 yards.
UW QB, Jacob Eason was 18-30 for 162 yards for an average of 9 yards per completion. There were approximately 9 dropped or mishandled balls by Washington receivers as the passing attack was never really able to gain traction after the storm.
8 It’s not all bad news for the Washington offense turned the ball over twice but the defense rose to the occasion both times and didn’t allow any points. They held on 8 of 11 3rd down attempts. A part of that defensive efficiency was that Cal faced and average of 3rd and nearly 9 yards to go.
7 Given the limited number of plays for Cal (52) and the player rotation on the UW defense it’s remarkable that Joe Tryon accumulated 7 tackles. On the other side of the ball, big-talking, Evan Weaver racked up 18 stops including two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Tryon averaged a tackle every 7.4 offensive plays for Cal but was actually on par with Weaver’s efficiency given his participation/tackle rate.
6 Washington was 3 for 4 on fourth down. On 4th and 1, with the ball on the Cal 29 yard line, Jacob Eason got the first down but his helmet came off and he had to leave the game for one play. Enter Jacob Sirmon who was sacked for a 6-yard loss. Washington got into the Red Zone but were unable to get the yards lost on the sack back and had to settle for a Peyton Henry 36-yard field goal.
Washington had 6 drives of 7 plays or more including 4 drives of 10 plays or more. Each of those 10+ play drives resulted in field goals. Included in that number is a 17-play drive for 68 yards that ate up 8:40 on the game clock. Cal, on the other hand had 3 drives of of 8 plays or longer that accounted for their 17 second half points. In fact, Cal only touched the ball 4 times in the second half.
5 The Red Zone woes were self-inflicted. Washington scored 5 times but twice had to settle for field goals because of critical miscues. On 4th and 1 and lined up to go for it with the ball on the Cal 2 yard line tight end, Corey Luciano flinched and Peyton Henry was called on to kick a field goal to pull UW within one 17-16…instead of 20-17 lead. Earlier in the game Andrea Baccelia caught the ball out of bounds when all he had to do was drag one toe. Washington settled for another field goal.
4 Washington’s Special Teams Units, across the board, struggled in 2018. So far in 2019 they have shined…the kicking game, in particular. The majority of kickoffs have gone into the endzone for touchbacks. Field Goal kicker, Peyton Henry struggled in some big moments last season but he came up big late in the game with a 49-yarder to give the Dawgs a 19-17 lead. On the night he on all 4 field goal attempts.
Despite spending much of the night in the Cal offensive backfield Washington only managed to get 4 tackles for loss. Cal’s offense ran only 56 plays to Washington’s 76 they were a more efficient offense in averaging 5.4 yards per play to Washington’s 4.6.
3 Against both Eastern and Cal the Washington D had 3 first half sacks. Against Eastern they got to the QB one more time in the second half. However, against Cal looked to have Ethan Garbers looked to be dead-to-rights several times in the second half only to have the defender blow right past him. Garbers was sacked 3 times for for minus 16 yards.
2 Sean McGrew started the game off with a 42-yard kickoff return to the Washington 45 yard line. The drive stalled at the Cal 47 yard line. Coach Petersen left his QB in to punt and Jake Browning’s punt *correction* Jacob Eason’s punt was downed at the California 5 yard line. Washington only punted the ball 2 times.
1 DB-U has a way to go. Although Garbers only completed 11 of 18 pass attempts he averaged over 10 yard per completion. U-Dub was only able to get their hands onto 1 ball….which would have been a Pick 6 by Gordon. It gets recorded as their only pass break up on the night but it could have been a back-breaker.
