After Win, Couging Gains New Meaning

To longtime Cougars, it’s about time.

When California quarterback Pat Barnes fumbled for no apparent reason Saturday night - essentially allowing Washington State to escape with a 21-18 victory - WSU fans could finally laugh at someone else’s incomprehensible gaffe.

“I think (athletic director) Rick Dickson said it best when he said we Couged it at the very end - meaning that we came through when we had to with the fumble recovery,” Washington State football coach Mike Price said Sunday.

“That is the new definition for Couging it.”

Despite having their way with 19th-ranked Cal for most of a frigid Saturday night at Martin Stadium, WSU couldn’t put the Bears away.

Suddenly, with Cal at the WSU 1-yard-line and poised to score the go-ahead touchdown with 1:11 left, it appeared a victory was going to slip away.

Then, inexplicably, Barnes lost the ball when he went to hand off to running back Brandon Willis. WSU strong safety Duane Stewart alertly recovered on the 11, and the Cougars held on.

“I’ve been here for eight years and that hasn’t happened very many times to the Cougars,” Price said. “Sometimes that happens to build a championship or to win a championship or to have a good year or to go to a bowl game.

“Sometimes you need lucky breaks. We got one there, there’s no question about it. I’ll take it.” So will left tackle Scott Sanderson, a fifth-year senior who has suffered through a few tough losses.

“In the five years I’ve been here we’ve never really had the ball bounce our way,” Sanderson said after the game. “In the last four years, we’ve had games similar to this and unfortunately we came out on the losing end.

“Tonight, somebody upstairs was smiling down on the Cougars and we pulled this one out.”

Quarterback Ryan Leaf downplayed the close call.

“Stuff happens, but we get the win,” he said. “Stuff happens, it happens to us. We fumbled on the (Cal) 9-yard-line because of miscommunication between me and Michael Black on a handoff (to set up a late Cal touchdown).

“So it’s the same difference as what they did. They can’t say, ‘Oh, if we wouldn’t have fumbled that ball, we would have won.‘“Yeah, if we wouldn’t have fumbled the ball a couple three times, we would have won (by) more.”

No stopping Black

Michael Black possesses speed, strength and agility. Now in his possession is one of the best days a WSU running back has ever had - the 5-foot-11, 196-pound junior rolled up 214 yards on 25 carries.

“He ran like a man possessed today, but that’s Michael Black,” said Sanderson. “I don’t think anything was going to stop him from what he accomplished today.

“There’s no doubt in my mind he can keep this pace the rest of the year if we open the holes for him.”

Black posted just the sixth 200-yard game in WSU history and the first since Steve Broussard went for 205 at Oregon in 1989.

“I play hard in everything I do,” Black said. “The offensive line did a great job.

Cal bottled up

The Bears rolled into Martin Stadium with the 10th-best offense in the country. But the Cougars didn’t blink, bottling up the Cal offense for three quarters.

Only fourth quarter drives of 88 and 79 yards - when the hot-and-cold Barnes began to heat up - gave the Bears respectable stats.

Cal was averaging 467.4 yards per game coming in and finished with 415 against the Cougars. That included just 44 net rushing yards, far below the Bears’ 201.4-yard average.

In addition, Barnes was sacked five times - one more time than he had been during Cal’s 5-0 start.

And Willis, who had 496 yards in five games, was held to 26 on 18 carries.

The P.A. jinx

When Black went over 200 yards with a 5-yard carry to the Cal 9-yard-line early in the fourth quarter, the public-address announcer promptly informed the crowd of Black’s feat.

On the next play, however, Black and Leaf couldn’t get together on a handoff and the ball was fumbled away. The Bears then went on their 88-yard scoring drive.

Comparison drafting

Who knows what the scouts saw, but the hometown fans felt their left tackle had the edge in the not-really-head-to-head battle between potential first-round draft picks.

Sanderson opened plenty of holes for Black, and the Bears had to blitz like crazy to pressure Leaf. Cal’s 350-pound Tarik Glenn, meanwhile, was on a line that gave up more sacks in one game than it had in five previous games combined.

All 4 one

The Cougars lost Johnny Nansen in practice during the week when the starting linebacker suffered a broken jaw during a freak collision.

In a show of support, teammate Ray Jackson wore Nansen’s No. 4 against Cal (instead of his usual No. 2).

Jackson wasted little time in backing up the symbolism, blocking a punt on Cal’s first possession. Teammate Dee Moronkola recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown 101 seconds into the game.

“It was a special moment because that’s the first block of the season and I wanted to do it for Johnny,” Jackson said.

Injury report

Cornerback Shad Hinchen suffered a minor concussion and did not play in the second half.

Moronkola filled in and played well. Hinchen will be held out of practice at least two days.

The most serious injury may have come on the sideline. “I was chasing the official trying to help him do his job and I popped a groin muscle,” said Price, listed call-to-call for this week’s home game against USC.. “I’m going to need to stretch out before the game.”

Extra points

Cal played without two suspended players. Starting center Jeremy Newberry and backup safety Marlon McWilliams were suspended for violating unspecified team rules, Cal coach Steve Mariucci revealed late Friday.

Newberry is out one game, McWilliams indefinitely.

The Bears were also hurt when linebacker Matt Beck went down with an ankle injury in the first half.

The two most penalized teams in the Pac-10 combined for 19 penalties for 154 yards. WSU had one less penalty for 2 more yards than Cal.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo