No. 14 Washington and division rival California officially kicked off at 7:40 p.m. PT but their conference tussle ended eons beyond what any normal college football game would have run on Saturday night... into Sunday morning.
Yes, behold folks: Pac-12 After Midnight.
The Golden Bears waited out a nearly three hour weather delay in Seattle to take home a 20-19 upset win at 1:24 a.m. local over the Huskies in the Week 2 action that never seemed to end despite the clock advancing well past midnight on both the East and West Coasts.
Ok, here’s the moment the power went out at Husky Stadium: pic.twitter.com/bnuqgoUalg
— Nick Patterson (@NickHPatterson) September 8, 2019
As was expected given the lengthy time spent in the locker room due to the delay and the fact that the matchup pitted two of the best defenses in the Pac-12, a low-scoring affair broke out by Montlake. UW quarterback Jacob Eason completed just 18 passes for only 162 yards and tossed an interception -- numbers which were actually solid given the conditions and the fact that he wasn’t helped all that much by drops and false starts. Salvon Ahmed added 119 yards and a score on the ground as the home team did just enough to keep things interesting in their first test in Pac-12 play.
The numbers for the Golden Bears were along those same lines in a game could have been mistaken for a throwback to a contest decades before even the coaches were born. Cal was a borderline Wing-T team in rushing for 192 yards, using the punishing style of Chris Brown Jr. to tag team with the two scores from the shifty Marcel Dancy. Maybe the most impressive part, aside from Cal scoring their first offensive touchdown against Washington since 2016, was the fact that they never backed down.
QB Chase Garbers was 11-of-18 for 111 yards through the air but picked up a number of key first downs on the ground in rushing for 42 yards. They also marched 74 yards for the go-ahead field goal and scored on three of their four second half drives.
Neither coach is likely to wake up a few hours later on Sunday all that happy with what transpired deep into the night from Husky Stadium. Things will certainly sting for Chris Petersen, having not only dropped a division game but doing so in painful fashion to one of his old coordinators. Washington was held up as one of the few Pac-12 playoff contenders given their ranking that might be thrown out the window in light of the result while Cal continues to be the thorn in the division’s side with yet another upset.