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It was Washington's most disconcerting performance since a 13-7 loss to the Arizona State in October 2017, and one of the worst in the Chris Petersen era.
BERKELEY, Calif. – They lingered on the pitch, singing, dancing, smiling, enjoying one of California's greatest victories recently. A Cal player in the midst of mass celebration felt he had made 75 selfies on the field after Saturday's Bears 12-10 surprise against No. 15 in Washington.
Not far away, in front of Memorial Stadium's visitors' locker room, Chris Petersen quickly emerged. Do not linger here. He sat behind a microphone and did not have to wait for a question to tackle the hottest development of the last loss on the Huskies' road.
"Obviously painful. Painful at the offensive, "began the Washington coach. "Let me start by saying: by removing Jake (Browning), it had more to do with the fact that I was trying to do something to help this offense far more than with Jake. Jake is a competitor. Jake does everything we ask. But, you know, we have to try to help this offense one way or another. …
CAL 12, HUSKIES 10
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"We will not continue to bang our heads against the wall. But we love Jake and we intended to put it back there. But I just wanted to try to get things moving, see if that could do anything. "
Washington led 7-6 when Petersen made the decision to put his bench on Browning, his senior quarterback.
While it was 1:56 in the third quarter, the Huskies (6-3, 4-2 Pac-12) hanging on to a point in advance and their offensive tense, their Rose Bowl hoping well behave, Petersen turned to rookie Jake, a freshman. Haener for the first significant shots of his Husky career.
The first attempt by Haener in a Pac-12 match on a return road to Andre Baccellia lost 5 yards.
Two pieces later, disaster.
Haener's third pass over the center was intercepted by Cal's linebacker, Evan Weaver, on the Huskies' 37-yard line.
Weaver pulled to his left, cut the sideline after Haener's tackling attempt and dipped to the goal line against UW tackle Kaleb McGary. Weaver extended his left arm and hit the pylon with the ball with a second left in the third quarter.
Landing. Choose six. The bears lead.
The bears win.
It was that, really. It was the only touchdown of the Bears Saturday. It was all they needed.
The Washington defense basically did what it had to do, limiting the Bears offense to two goals and a total of 242 yards. Twice in the fourth quarter, UW's defense scored three and a half goals deep in Cal's territory, forcing the Bears out of their goal zone.
Haener had one more chance after his interception. He completed a pass for 11 yards on all four attempts.
"We put him in a difficult position," said Bush Hamdan, UW's first-year offensive coordinator.
Petersen then returned to Browning, his fourth-year starter, the first ever Huskies smuggler.
Aaron Fuller fired a 28-yard kick at Cal 22, putting the Huskies in a prime position for their last race. Then the Huskies had a glimpse of a Browning moment. Under pressure, the senior QB rushed to his right and, late in the game, opened the scoring for Ty Jones for a 23-yard gain to the Cal 9.
The Huskies were back in business. And then they were not.
In the next play, Kamari Pleasant was stopped without a win. Browning's second pass to the back of the end zone was too high for Fuller.
On the third descent, the Bears bombed. Browning went back, threw his foot back to … which is not clear … and his pass was almost stopped near the goal line. The Huskies had to settle for a 26-yard placement on Peyton Henry, reducing the deficit to 12-10 with 4:51 left.
It was that, really.
The Bears (5-3, 2-3) were able to use their time after, in part because UW had to use two time-outs earlier in attack (one with Haener in the match and the second before Browning's incomplete pass to Fuller in the end zone).
It was Washington's most disconcerting performance since a 13-7 loss to the state of Arizona in October 2017, and one of the worst years of the Petersen period.
"It's always all our phases – the line-up, the pass, the conversion to the third try, the conversion to the red zone," said Hamdan. "It just was not enough and we have to make sure we get back to it."
The most disconcerting part of Saturday's performance was that UW's offense was so good and so effective in his first training. The Huskies totaled 14 yards on 64 yards and Browning completed 5 of 6 assists – the only one if the receiver fell – and Jones' 3-yard pass gave the Huskies an immediate 7-0 lead.
Then, practically nothing of the rest of the game. Offensive half Myles Gaskin (shoulder) missed his second game in a row. Without him, the Huskies were held to 91 yards on 33 runs (2.8 yards per run).
Browning finished 11 with 21 for 21 yards with a touchdown and interception in the first half. He was fired twice.
"He phoned (in the fourth quarter) and said," I'm ready to go, "said Hamdan," I do not think I'll respect more than anyone, maybe ever. "I'm grateful to him for coming play a brave fourth quarter. "
The Huskies did not make Browning available for interviews after the match.
"He was crazy, I mean, Jake is a competitor, he's crazy right now, and I would not expect anything different from him," said Petersen. "That's what it is. Want to do something to trigger this offense because we have to score more than we score. "
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