Washington runs over Cal

It’s been a long time, eight weeks to be exact, since the Washington Huskies gave their home crowd something to be excited about while watching a game at Husky Stadium, but today they delivered with a resounding 37-23 win over Cal in front of 60,005 fans.

Behind the running of RB Louis Rankin the Huskies posted one of their best days on the ground and it started early for the senior on his second-to-last home game. Rankin reeled off a 46-yard run on the game’s first play and finished the first quarter with 125 yards on 12 carries.

Rankin continued his tough running into the second-half, but didn’t finish out the third quarter leaving with a hip injury. Even though he missed the fourth quarter and most of the third, he still managed to gain 224 yards on 22 carries including the first touchdown of the day, a five-yard jaunt up the gut to give Washington an early 7-0 lead.

Freshman RB Brandon Johnson ably backed up ranking rushing for 121 yards on 23 carries including a five-yard touchdown run to give the Huskies a 14-0 lead with still over five minutes left in the first quarter.

For the Bears, both RB Justin Forsett and QB Nate Longshore did their best to keep California in the game.

Forsett rushed for 142 yards on 22 carries while Longshore completed 20 of 28 passes for 236 yards, three touchdown and one interception.

While the stat sheet showed the Huskies and Bears close in most categories, the area that separated the two teams was in the turnover column where Cal lost three and the Huskies had none.

Longshore’s one miscue, an interception by Washington LB E.J. Savannah, was turned into another Husky score putting the home team up 21-13 midway through the second quarter. Savannah was brought down at the Cal 32 and three plays later FB Luke Kravitz went over from one yard out.

Another problem for the Bears was the loss of dynamic WR Desean Jackson who left with a thigh contusion in the second quarter and never returned.

QB Carl Bonnell, subbing for a healing Jake Locker, didn’t have a great day on the stat sheet (7 of 19 for 108 yards and one touchdown), but he managed to hit WR Marcel Reece on a 12-yard touchdown pass right before the end of the first half sending the teams into the locker room with Washington leading 28-13.

On defense, the Huskies were led by the 11 tackles of S Darrin Harris, while DE Daniel Te’o-Nesheim had eigth and CB Matt Mosley added seven.

Washington (4-7, 2-6) will now look forward to the Apple Cup next week against Washington State (4-6, 2-5) which will be played at Husky Stadium.