Washington State went three and out to start the second half after the Cougar center bobbled a third down snap to Jeff Tuel. Also, Mike Mohamed apparently broke his wrist sometime this week. The Cougar announcer casually mentioned that there was some doubt he’d even play this week. Hooray injury blackouts.

Cal came back on the next drive with some big plays by the struggling receiving corps. Brock Mansion threw a difficult post route into tight coverage, but Marvin Jones one-handed the ball and took it away from defender Deone Bucannon for a 27 yard gain. Jeremy Ross then took the wide receiver handoff on the very next play and scooted into the end zone untouched, giving the Golden Bears their first lead of the game, 14-10. The drive lasted only 1:49.

After the Cougars got the ball back, freshman deep threat Marques Wilson escaped coverage from Darian Hagan and hauled in a crucial third down throw from Tuel for 25 yards to put the Cougars in Golden Bear territory. Then Tuel threw a critical fourth down conversion to Gino Simone, who got nailed helmet-to-helmet by Trevor Guyton and suffered a concussion and is out for the game. But a chop block penalty on first down ended the Washington State threat, as Mychal Kendricks sacked Tuel on third down.