PULLMAN, Wash. - Taking advantage of three first half Cal turnovers, Washington State built a 17-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 31-7 victory over the Golden Bears in front of 27,682 Saturday afternoon at Martin Stadium. With the victory, the Cougars extended their home winning streak to nine games over the Bears and snapped an overall 12-game losing streak.

For the second time in two road games, the Cal offense was unable to generate any points and that doomed any chances. The Bears fell to 2-2 (1-1 Pac-10) on the season while the Cougars went to 1-4 (1-2 Pac-10) in 1999.

Cal seemed to get a break on the opening drive when a roughing the punter penalty gave the Bears a first down at their own 42-yard-line. With a total of four first downs on the drive, Cal moved as far as the 13-yard-line. But a mishandled handoff to Joe Igber on a 3rd-and-2 draw play resulted in a fumble that Tomasi Kongaika recovered for the Cougars, and Cal came up empty after a 13-play drive.

Neither offense could generate any serious threat the rest of the first quarter as Washington State ended the period with just a single first down and Cal only had one additional first down the rest of the period.

Early in the second quarter, WSU converted a pair of 3rd-and-1 situations and then capitalized on the opportunity when quarterback Steve Birnbaum hit freshman Collin Henderson in the right flank, and he went 18 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 9:45 left in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars floated a high short kickoff. Cal's Fa'avae Fa'avae, neglecting to call a fair catch, fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Jeremy Thielbahr at the Cal 30-yard-line. Cal's defense stiffened and Ryan Lindell came on to nail a 40-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead.

Things went from bad to worse four plays later when Mory Banks broke through to block a Nick Harris punt. Wendell Smith picked the ball up and returned it to the Cal 11-yard-line. Four plays later, Birnbaum went in on a quarterback sneak from one yard out and it was 17-0 Cougars.

Cal had a fine opportunity late in the half, thanks to a 35-yard punt return by Deltha O'Neal, which moved the ball to near midfield with 3:00 left in the half. A personal foul penalty against Washington State moved the ball to the Cougar 36-yard-line. However, a sack on third down killed the threat, and the Bears had a 17-point differential staring them in the face at halftime.

Cal defensive tackle Jacob Waasdorp took matters into his own hands early in the second half. After recording a tackle for loss on the first play after the intermission, he made an even bigger play. He broke through the line of scrimmage and stripped the ball from Birnbaum, grabbed the ball off the turf, and rambled 25 yards into the endzone for the score. Suddenly, Cal had some life at 17-7 less than two minutes into the second half.

However, Cal's offense continued to struggle and WSU finally put together a long touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter to ice the game. Taking over at their own 4-yard line, the Cougars drove 96 yards for the touchdown and a 24-7 lead.

WSU completed the scoring late in the fourth quarter. With Deon Burnett running on all five plays, he eventually went in from 24 yards out with 2:33 left.

Cal held Washington State to just 95 yards rushing and had 13 tackles behind the line of scrimmage (including five sacks), but it wasn't enough on a day the Bear offense failed to penetrate the endzone.

The Bears were undermanned for the game as starting CB Chidi Iwuoma and OG Scott Tercero did not make the trip due to injuries, and starting DT Jerry DeLoach was unable play due to a stinger. Because of Cal's lack of depth at receivers, back-up quarterback Sam Clemons got several snaps at wide receiver.

LINESCORE
	        1	2	3	4	F
California	0	0	7	0	7
Washington St.	0	17	0	14	31


GAME STATISTICS
	Qtr	Time	Play	                                        Score

WSU	2	9:45	C. Henderson 18 pass Birnbaum (Lindell kick)	0-7
	Scoring Drive: 59 yards in 12 plays, 4:23
WSU	2	9:17	Lindell 40 FG	                                0-10
	Scoring Drive: 7 yards in 4 plays, 0:28
WSU	2	6:15	Birnbaum, 1 run	                                0-17
	Scoring Drive: 11 yards in 4 plays, 1:37
CAL	3	13:44	Waasdorp 25 fumble return (Hershey kick)	7-17
WSU	4	9:32	M. Williams 10 pass Birnbaum (Lindell kick)	7-24
	Scoring Drive: 96 yards in 16 plays, 5:43
WSU	4	2:33	Burnett 24 run (Lindell kick)	                7-31
	Scoring Drive: 55 yards in 5 plays, 2:13


TEAM STATISTICS
	                                CAL	        WSU
First Downs (Rush-Pass-Penalties)	13 (5, 4, 4)	21 (9, 10, 2)
Rushing (ATT-Net Yards)            	35-58	        41-95
Passing (PC-PA-Nit)	                13-33-1 	23-38-0
Passing Yards	                        116	        227
Total Offensive Plays	                68	        79
Punts-Average	                        9-39.2    	8-40.1
Penalties-Yards                    	7-60	        13-125
Fumbles-Lost	                        2-2	        1-1
Time of Possession                 	28:38      	31:22

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS

RUSHING
CAL:
Fields	17-56
Igber	3-11
Muhammad	3-5

WSU
Burnett	24-104
Hawkins	2-19
Thielbahr	4-6

PASSING
CAL:
Boller	13-33, 116 yards
	0 TD, 1 Int.

WSU
Birnbaum	23-38, 227 yards
	2 TD, 0 Int.
RECEIVING
CAL:
Igber	4-15
Pipersburg	4-12

WSU
Taylor	9-77
Williams	5-64
Henderson	2-30