For The Record, Leaf Sits

Gifted as he is, Ryan Leaf hasn’t been a starting quarterback long enough to put his name on many Washington State passing records. But he got a share of one Saturday.

The junior quarterback helped his long shot Heisman Trophy chances by throwing for five touchdowns in a 63-37 pasting of California - tying a school record held by some familiar names.

Jack Thompson. Timm Rosenbach. Drew Bledsoe.

Leaf’s TDs came on completions of 72, 14, 57, 55 and 43 yards - the last one a beautiful strike to Nian Taylor in the end zone with more than 20 minutes still to play. But on WSU’s next possession, it was backup Steve Birnbaum at quarterback.

And coach Mike Price had no second thoughts about leaving Leaf in to try and break the record.

“Steve needs to play,” Price said. “And Ryan wants Steve to play. Ryan’s a great team guy and he’s great about sharing the recognition with everybody else.”

Leaf’s other WSU records include yards passing in a half (303 vs. San Jose State) and yards passing in a first start (291 vs. Washington). This one was impressive because of the company.

The 12th man

Cougar linebacker Steve Gleason had another fine day - 10 tackles to lead all players. But one of those was credited as an unassisted stop, when it should have just been an assist.

Cal quarterback Justin Vedder scrambled out of the pocket on first down and Gleason scrambled toward him - only to find umpire Steve Wilson at the intersection. Gleason and Wilson bumped, and the momentum knocked the official into Vedder, who went down for a 1-yard loss.

Gleason hopped up and tried to high five the ref.

“He helped me out,” Gleason said.

On the clock

It’s official: The least important statistic in football is time of possession.

By halftime Saturday, the Cougs had had the ball for just eight minutes, 22 seconds to Cal’s 21:38. But WSU led 42-6. In all, only two of WSU’s nine touchdown drives lasted longer than 1:43 - and four were under a minute.

What a difference a year makes

Last year, the Bears were 5-0 and ranked 21st when they came to Pullman. The Cougars, 4-2 at the time, held on for a 21-18 win. Saturday, it was the Cougars with the perfect record (5-0) and national ranking (13) while the Bears were 2-3 and going nowhere. But instead of mustering up, they folded up, falling behind 56-6 before losing 63-37.

“Last year, it was down to the wire. It was kind of a shocker, kind of a heartbreaker the way the game went,” Cal receiver Bobby Shaw said.

The Bears went on to stumble home with a 6-6 record.

What a difference a week makes

The Bears had a reason, however slight, to think Saturday’s game might be a good one.

Last week, they played No. 10 Washington and lost 30-3, although they only trailed 7-3 at the half.

“I said it last week, Washington was a darn good team and our guys played with them for a while,” Cal coach Tom Holmoe said. “We weren’t quite good enough to overcome our mistakes. (The Cougars), I don’t know if they have played that well this year. They made some plays that were absolutely incredible. Give them credit for having the players and the scheme to do the things they did.”

Holmoe expects the Apple Cup to be for all the Pac-10 apples.

“They’re both very good teams,” he said. “They’re balanced, they have good offense, defense and special teams. They’re the two teams that will undoubtedly battle it out for the conference championship.”

Getting an edge

WSU offensive linemen Cory Withrow said the Cougars were better able to handle Cal’s defensive line - and star tackle Brandon Whiting in particular - because of a tendency they spotted in watching films.

According to the Cougars, Whiting’s plan of attack was often revealed by which hand was touching the turf during his three-point stance.

“We saw a lot of film and had a good idea of what they were going to do tendency-wise,” Withrow said, adding that he and left guard Jason McEndoo used the information to make occasional audibles.

Vedder fails to impress Cougars

Pat Barnes may have been the goat for Cal when he fumbled away last year’s game against WSU, but the Bears probably could have used their old quarterback on Saturday.

Vedder, who joined Cal this season after a stellar junior-college career, never got untracked until the game was well out of reach.

He finished with respectable numbers - 26 of 44 for 351 yards and three scores - but failed to earn the Cougars’ respect.

“(Vedder) is supposed to complete every ball he throws - that was his comment last week - so I was ready,” WSU left cornerback LeJuan Gibbons said. “I was a little bit ticked off and I was ready to play.”

Added Dee Moronkola, WSU’s other corner: “Vedder is really shorter than Barnes and I don’t think he can see over our D-line. Barnes was tall and his passes were a lot more accurate.”

Vedder is 6 feet tall and weighs 190 pounds. Barnes, who became an NFL draft pick, goes 6-5 and 215.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos