Vereen Leads Cal to 20-13 Victory Over Cougars

Nov. 6,2010

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PULLMAN,Wash. (AP) Shane Vereen ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns, andup-and-down California snapped a six-game road losing streak that datedto last season with a 20-13 win over Washington State on Saturday.The Bears (5-4, 3-3 Pac-10) wereplaying without quarterback Kevin Riley, who injured his knee in a gameagainst Oregon State last week.Brock Mansion started in his place,completing 12 of 24 passes for 174 yards while throwing twointerceptions against a WSU (1-9, 0-7) defense that ranked at or nearthe bottom of the conference in nearly every defensive statistic.But a staunch defensive effort byCal, which had lost its previous four road games this season by acombined score of 145-61, bailed out the Bears' ineffective offenseagainst a Cougar team that has now lost 16 consecutive conferencegames.Vereen also scored Cal's firsttouchdown, a 2-yard rushing score that was the end result of a 95-yardCal drive early in the second quarter.Washington State managed a 10-7 leadat halftime thanks to a 51-yard field goal by Andrew Furney, theCougars' first halftime lead in a Pac-10 game since 2007.Cal responded early in the third,though, as Jeremy Ross took a fly sweep 27 yards for a touchdown with11:17 left in the third quarter to give the Bears the lead for good.The score followed a 27-yard passfrom Mansion to receiver Marvin Jones, who used a one-handed catch tosteal an interception from WSU safety Deone Bucannon.Another Furney field goal cut the Callead to 14-13 with 1:24 remaining in the third, but the Bears extendedthe lead to seven with a 10-play, 65-yard scoring drive capped byVereen's 1-yard touchdown run that gave the Bears a 20-13 lead - thePAT was blocked - with 5:29 to play.The Cougars had two chances to drivedown the field and tie the game after Cal's final touchdown, but bothseries resulted in three-and-outs and the Bears were able to run outthe clock.Those last-ditch attempts by theCougars were typical of their offensive performance all day. WSUquarterback Jeff Tuel finished just 9 of 25 for 92 yards, and wassacked six times by a California defense that held the Cougars to 194yards of total offense, and just 60 in the second half.Jones caught four passes for 101 yards.