BERKELEY -- Cal heads north as it takes on Washington to open Pac-12 play on Saturday at Alaska Airlines Field in Husky Stadium. Cal will look for its second straight victory over the Huskies after defeating Washington, 12-10, at California Memorial Stadium last year. Washington native Evan Weaver scored Cal's only touchdown on a interception return for a touchdown. The game will kickoff at 7:40 p.m. PT and be broadcast on FS1. 

RECENT SUCCESS VS. THE HUSKIES
- Cal has enjoyed some success vs. Washington over the past four years, despite the fact that UW has ranked in the nation's top 15 heading into the game in three of the last four meetings. 
- Cal enjoyed a 12-10 victory last season as the Bears pulled the upset over No. 15/13 Washington at California Memorial Stadium as Evan Weaver had the defining interception return for a touchdown, to give Cal its only touchdown. 
- Cal's last win at Husky Stadium came in 2015, when the Bears won, 30-24. It was the first victory for Cal in Seattle since 2005.  
- Cal has lost three straight Pac-12 openers, its most recent win was vs. Washington in 2015. 
- Trey Turner III was the only current Bear to play in the 2015 game against Washington. 

EARLY PAC-12 OPENER
-Cal is 11-4 in their past 15 openers away from California Memorial Stadium, including five straight wins. That five-game win streak has come against BYU, UNC, Hawaii (in Sydney, Australia), Texas and Northwestern. 
- This is the earliest Pac-12 opener for Cal since they won a week two matchup with Pac-12 newcomer Colorado on Sept. 10, 2011, 36-33, in overtime. 
- Cal is 3-0 in week two Pac-12 matchups in the past 15 years. They defeated Washington State, 66-3, on Sept. 6, 2008. The last time the Bears played Washington in week two was Cal's 56-17 win in Seattle on Sept. 10, 2005.

WASHINGTON AND CHRIS PETERSEN CONNECTIONS
- Cal has four players on the squad from the state of Washington: Evan Weaver (Spokane), Matthew Cindric (Sammamish), Orin Patu (Seattle) and Ben Moos (Pullman). 
- Justin Wilcox was the defensive coordinator at Washington during the 2012-13 seasons while Peter Sirmon served as the Huskies' linebackers coach for those same two years. 
- Wilcox and Sirmon played at Oregon while Chris Petersen was the wide receivers coach for the Ducks. Wilcox was also Petersen's defensive coordinator at Boise State from 2006-09.  
- Cal coaches Gerald Alexander and Andrew Browning played at Boise State from 2003-06 while Petersen was the offensive coordinator (2001-05) and head coach (2006-13). 
- Peter Sirmon's son Jackson Sirmon is a redshirt freshman linebacker for Washington.
- Peter Sirmon's nephew, Jacob Sirmon, is a redshirt freshman quarterback with the Huskies. 
- Marques Tuiasosopo was a star quarterback at Washington, leading the team to a 11-1 record as a senior as he was named Rose Bowl MVP. He was the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year and finished eighth in the Heisman voting. 
- Tuiasosopo served as the quarterbacks coach at Washington in 2013, he took over as the interim head caoch at the end of the season and led the Huskies to a victory in the Fight Hunger Bowl.
- Torre Becton served on the strength and conditioning staff at Washington from 2011-15 including two seasons with Chris Petersen.
- Beau Baldwin's entire coaching career came for schools based in Washington prior to being hired as Cal's offensive coordinator in 2017. He coached at both Central Washington and Eastern Washington. 

OFFENSE STARTS EXPLOSIVELY
- Cal opened the season with seven explosive plays vs. UC Davis. That was more than the Bears had in all but one game during the 2018 season (Oregon State, 8). 
- Cal notched 24 first downs vs. UC Davis, the most it has had since they secured 27 first downs vs. Oregon State last season. The team surpassed 24 first downs just three times in 2018. 
- Cal was efficient in its only trip to the red zone, converting the trip into a touchdown with a 5-yard run by Christopher Brown Jr. Cal also scored twice on passes of 37 and 26 yards. 
- However, late in the opener when Cal needed to kill the clock and ice the game, it held the ball for 11 minutes and 48 seconds in the fourth quarter to secure the game. 

GARBERS IN CONTROL TO START SECOND YEAR
- With an emphasis on creating more explosive plays, redshirt sophomore Chase Garbers responded to begin his second year at the helm of the Bears' offense.  
- Garbers had a career-high 238 yards passing in the season-opener vs. UC Davis. 
- He notched three completions of 30+ yards in the season opener, after collecting only five passes of 30+ yards all of the 2018 season. 
- Garbers' five completions of 20+ yards vs. UC Davis was the most he's had in a game at Cal.  
- He ranks 18th nationally in yards per completion at 14.88.
- Garbers started slow, completing only three of his first eight passes. On his ninth pass, he hit NIkko Remigio on a 30-yard pass, that helped propel him to a 13-19 (68.4%) finish to the game.
- Garbers started the season opener after playing in 12 games with 10 starts during the 2018 season. He started each of the last seven contests for the Bears. 

BROWN SHOULDERS OFFENSIVE LOAD
- Sophomore Christopher Brown Jr. carried the offensive load in the season opener vs. UC Davis as he had 36 carries for 197 yards and a touchdown. 
- The 197 yards was the most by a Cal player in their first start in recorded history. The most recent running back to top 100 yards in their first career start was Jahvid Best, who had 111 yards in the 2008 season opener against Michigan State.
- Brown's 197 yards was the 20th-best rushing performance in school history.  
- Brown's 36 carries were the most by a Cal running back since Shane Vereen had 42 in 2009 Big Game win at Stanford.
- He ranks third in the NCAA and first in the Pac-12 in rushing yards (197.0). 
- Brown ranks seventh in the NCAA and first in the Pac-12 in all-purpose yards (206.0).

CRAWFORD EMERGES AMONGST BALANCED RECEIVING CORPS 
- Michigan transfer Kekoa Crawford debuted with a notable performace against UC Davis. He caught three passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns. 
- Crawford is tied for fifth in the NCAA and first in the Pac-12 with two receiving touchdowns. 
- He ranks 26th in the NCAA and third in the Pac-12 in scoring with 12 points. 
- Cal spread the ball around with seven wide receivers and three tight ends seeing significant time. Crawford was one of 10 receivers to catch a pass in the opener, with two more receiving targets.  
- Nikko Remigio had a career-high 46 receiving yards on four catches vs. UC Davis.

TAKERS HIGHLIGHT DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
- Cal recorded eight pass breakups in the opener vs. UC Davis, with five of those coming from five different members of the secondary. 
- The eight PBUs is the most for Cal since it had eight against Oregon State on Nov. 21, 2011.
- Cal held UC Davis well below its season averages from last year. In the opener Davis scored 13 points and had 264 yards of offense, after averaging 36.7 points and 488.9 yards per game in 2018. 
- Cal's experienced defensive backfield has taken on the nickname of the "Takers" after the 2010 movie with the same name. A group of six players - senior NB/CB Traveon Beck, redshirt junior CB Camryn Bynum, redshirt senior S Ashtyn Davis, senior CB/NB Josh Drayden, junior CB Elijah Hicks and senior S Jaylinn Hawkins - have started 104 games in the defensive backfield since the start of 2017. 
- Four members of the team - Bynum, Davis, Hawkins and Hicks - have garnered 2019 preseason recognition; Davis was named honorable mention preseason All-American by PFF, while both he and Bynum are preseason first-team All-Pac-12. Hawkins is a second-team All-Conference honoree by multiple publications while Hicks is a third-team member according to Phil Steele.  
- Cal's secondary was ranked among the top eight in the nation in the preseason by three different media outlets. Phil Steele lists the unit second, while the Golden Bears are ranked fourth nationally according to Athlon and eighth by Lindy's.
- Hawkins is tied for sixth in the NCAA amongst all active players with seven career interceptions. 
- Bynum has four interceptions and 19 PBU's in his career. The 23 passes defended is tied for 23rd amongst all active NCAA student-athletes.