BERKELEY, Calif. - California let a golden opportunity slip away as Washington rallied for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns and post a come-from-behind 31-27 victory in Memorial Stadium.

The Bears seemed to have the game under control with a 24-10 lead midway through the third quarter, but an 83-yard TD pass got the Huskies back in the game and set the stage for the late rally.

Freshman Joe Igber was sensational in the disappointing loss. He ran for 182 yards before leaving the game with a shoulder injury. His rushing total is the most rushing yards by a freshman running back in school history and is the 15th best rushing performance ever.

Sekou Sanyika started the game on a high note, intercepting a Marcus Tuiasosopo pass on the fourth play of the game and returning the ball 34 yards to the Washington one-yard line. That led to Cal's first points of the day when Joshua White went in for the score on the next play.

The early part of the game was a battle of field position, and the Huskies took advantage of a short field after a Nick Harris punt left the ball at the Cal 43-yard-line. Five plays later, the score was tied when Jerramy Stevens caught a 19-yard pass in the end zone.

After two three-play possessions by the Bears, Washington got another short field with a 14-yard punt return by Joe Jarzynka putting the ball at the Cal 29-yard-line. Cal's defense stiffened at the six-yard-line and John Anderson hit a 24-yard field goal to take a 10-7 lead with five minutes left in the opening quarter.

Cal finished off the first quarter with a strong drive that began with a 19-yard pass to Igber on the left sideline. Igber then rushed for six more yards before Boller found Jemeel Powell on a crossing pass for another 19 yards to put the Bears at Washington's one-yard line. Boller handed off once again to Igber who ran the ball into the end zone to regain the lead at 14-10.

Sanyika got his second interception of the game midway through the second quarter, catching Marques Tuiasosopo's pass at Washington's 20 and returning it three yards to put the Bears in excellent scoring position. But Cal was unable to convert, and after two incomplete Boller passes, the Bears settled for a 33-yard field goal by Mark Jensen for a 17-10 lead.

On the Bears' next possession, Cal put together an impressive 52-yard drive and had a first-and-goal at the Husky six-yard-line. Igber contributed 27 yards on the drive. However, Boller tripped coming back from center and a handoff to Joshua White fell to the ground and was recovered by the Huskies.

Cal came out with an impressive opening drive in the second half, moving 82 yards in 9 plays and Boller threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to make the score 24-10 with 10:45 left in the third quarter. It was a 26-yard run by Igber that was the key play in the drive.

The turning point of the game came three plays later. Facing a third-and-13 from their own 17-yard-line, the Huskies hit pay dirt. A pass was thrown to Todd Elstrom, who was closely covered by Chidi Iwuoma. However, Elstrom managed to make the catch over Iwuoma's shoulder and go untouched into the endzone.

The Huskies tied the game early in the fourth quarter on a drive that began at their own 34-yard-line. Tuiasosopo threw a pass over the middle to a wide-open Dane Looker, who took the ball to Cal's 16-yard line for a 36-yard gain. Maurice Shaw took it the rest of the way to the end zone in two plays, a seven-yard rush and a nine-yard break into the end zone.

Deltha O'Neal provided a spark for Cal with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game when he intercepted a Husky pass intended for Quentin Morgan and returned it 19 yards to Washington's 24-yard-line. Again, the Bears could not convert the turnover into a touchdown, but they got the ball all the way to Washington's four on and scored on a 22-yard field goal by Jensen. That gave Cal a 27-24 lead with 6:50 left in the game.

Washington's next drive was stopped, but the ensuing punt left the Bears with a first down on their own three-yard-line. Igber broke through the defense to run the ball 18 yards on the first play of the drive, but left the game with a shoulder injury with 3:32 left and the Bears couldn't get another first down.

Washington got the ball back with 2:53 remaining. O'Neal broke up a pass from Tuiasosopo on the first play, but the quarterback got his revenge on the next play, taking matters into his own hands and running the ball 14 yards for the first down at his own 36. Then Tuiasosopo found another wide-open receiver in Looker who caught a pass over the middle for a 39-yard gain to the Cal 21. Four plays later, Shaw ran the ball the last yard into the end zone putting the Huskies up 31-27 with only 50 seconds left in the game.