Can Washington State Stop Cal Bears from Taking Momentum into Pac-10 Slate?

Week Two is the Pac-10 opener for both Cal and Washington State. That's about the only thing these two teams will have in common when they meet Saturday in Pullman, Washington.

What's so different about these two teams?

Cal began its season last Saturday with an impressive home victory over Michigan State. We're talking "very impressive" for the first game of the season.

Coach Jeff Tedford put together another well conceived offensive plan for the Spartans. Nothing much new there.

Some folks were trying to blog-up a quarterback controversy between Nate Longshore, last year's starter, and Kevin Riley, a kid with quite an upside. After Longshore threw two interceptions in his first five attempts when he finally got in the game against MSU, any rumblings about who should be "the man" for the Bears were quashed. (Quashed? OK, silenced.)

Kevin Riley is a player at quarterback and ran the Cal offense brilliantly against a decent Spartan defense.

The Bears were supposed to be weak at running back because of inexperience. Yeah, right. Jahvid Best rushed for over 100 yards. Heck, Cal racked up over 200 yards on the ground! Who knows what might happen when Best gains "experience?"

On defense, Cal lived up to its press clippings. Its linebackers were all over the field, making life miserable for the Michigan State offense.

So much for praising the boys from Berkeley.

The Washington State Cougars did a few things right in their season opener against Oklahoma State, but not enough to avoid a lopsided score of 39-13.

New Wazzu coach Paul Wulff kept the offense limited to the first three pages of the playbook in the first half. The result? Fifth-year senior quarterback Gary Rogers didn't make many mistakes during the first 30 minutes. Rogers didn't make any big plays, either.

And when the offense didn't score on the first possession of the second half, the storyline became, "Will WSU be shut out for the first time in 128 years?" OK, maybe the Cougars' scoring-in-a-game streak isn't that long, but it's pretty darn close.

The big shock of the first game for WSU was the awesome play of its defense. At halftime, the vaunted high-powered offense of Oklahoma State managed a mere 13 points, with a two-point safety added by its defensive unit.

Make no mistake, the 2008 version of Cougar defense looked vastly improved over the teams of the past few years.

So the offense started to look better in the second half once Rogers was given more of the playbook to work with. The defense spent way too much time on the field in the first half, but were looking through the third quarter.

How did the game get away from the Cougars?

Special teams. Their play was spectacularly awful, undisciplined, and inept. Without a punter, kicker or kickoff specialist, Washington State didn't give up big yards on special teams. No, the Cougs gave up low mileage on special teams.

The coverage on the kickoff run-back by OSU for a touchdown in the third quarter was so pathetic, WSU wouldn't have even had a chance to down the returner using touch football rules. They never breathed on him!

Here's what to expect Saturday in this matchup.

Washington State is going to light up their new multi-million dollar scoreboard with more than double the offensive scoring of their first game.

Cal is going to test the young Cougars defensive backs because of constant blitzing by the front seven. That's the only way to disrupt coach Tedford's nice collection of players on offense. Blitz from everywhere and pressure the talented Bear offensive backfield.

WSU special teams will look much improved, though it's the kickoff unit that will get more reps this week.

Make no mistake, this is going to be a very emotional game for the Cougs. It's not likely that very many of the Cal players will take WSU seriously. After the drubbing WSU took last week, who would? Even Cougar fans have become world-class apologists this week.

No apologies or pleas for patience will be forthcoming in this article.

WSU can win Saturday. Coach Wulff will keep his players battle-ready for 60 minutes of football. Cal is one of the elite teams in the Pac-10, which is why it will be ripe for an upset by the lowly, picked-to-finish-last, Cougars.

Ready for Saturday at Martin Stadium?