With Cal Spring Football postponed until at least June, UC Berkeley as a whole moving to remote instruction for the remainder of the semester, and Cal Athletics suspending spring sports altogether, we're taking a dive into games of the past and some of the greatest moments in the recent history of Cal Athletics. This continues with Cal's win over Washington State in 2017

Previous Installments: 2019 Big Game | 2007 FB vs. Tennessee | 2010 MBB vs. Arizona State | 2015 and 2016 vs. Texas | 2002 Big Game

I have been at Golden Bear Report for four seasons worth of football, and this is by far my favorite game that I've covered.

There's four big reasons for that:

1. There was a very loud contingent saying that the game shouldn't have happened. The Santa Rosa fires had decimated northern California, which blew plenty of smoke down to the Bay Area. The sky the week prior had a red tinge to it, a reminder of everything happening, if the throat tightness caused by poor air quality wasn't enough of a reminder. It probably shouldn't have happened.

2. The game took place on Friday the 13th, one of two nationally televised contests featuring a top 10 team going on the road.

3. Cal came into this game after three straight losses coming in progressively more demoralizing fashion, the first being a loss to USC where the game was tied in the second half, a loss to Oregon in Autzen where a long TD run snuffed out any comeback hopes, and a loss to Washington where the Bears didn't score an offensive touchdown. Against a Washington State team that came in 6-0 and ranked 8th in the country.

4. The flip. This is the Ross Bowers flip game.

To this day, the sound made in the press box when this happened is tough to describe. It was somewhere between a 'woah' and a collective gasp, as Bowers damn near stuck the landing. The son of a gymnastics coach, Bowers joked in the post-game press conference that his mother, now the women's gymnastics coach at San Jose State, told him that "he should have done a double."

This wasn't even the first time Bowers had done a flip in a game.

It wouldn't even be the last, as Bowers, now at Northern Illinois, did it again.

- Coming into this game, Washington State was 6-0, six days after taking down an Oregon team (33-10) that had just beaten Cal by 21 points. Luke Falk captained the Cougs, and the Wazzu senior had a tendency that the Bears would exploit. Falk was prone to holding the ball long as plays developed, which led to nine sacks (the most by a Cal defense since the 2005 Big Game)

Cal starting running back Patrick Laird was also out, having suffered a blow to the head against Washington. Vic Enwere would fill in for him. The 'Spearmint Rhino' would have one of his two 100+ yard performances, rushing for 102 yards against the smaller, Wazzu defense.

Thanks to the smoke, this was the lowest attended Cal game since a 2002 home contest against New Mexico State.

If you're reading this article, you've probably already seen this game. And you'll know that it was a destruction. A lot of it was Cal scheming well against a Washington State team that hadn't had holes poked in it to this point. There was luck. Washington State didn't play their best. There were a couple other small pieces that helped the Bears as well.

- A thing mentioned in the post-game press conference was the Bears using a fair amount of cover 6, which is half cover 2, half cover 4. It's a disguise that can make it look like a corner is bailing to a deep zone, but is actually coming back to the flat, which gave Cam Bynum his first interception.

- This game saw a handful of plays from guys who'd see their roles increase over 2018-19. Jaylinn Hawkins knocked a ball loose from Jamire Calvin. Bynum had another interception. Evan Weaver saw some extended action at middle linebacker. Tevin Paul, Cam Goode, and Luc Bequette all made plays. And Jordan Kunaszyk took home national defensive player of the week honors for his 11 tackle, 2.5 sack, 1 INT,1 forced fumble night.

- This game did see Devante Downs tearing his ACL in the 3rd quarter, which was a massive contributor to the Bears going 1-4 over their final five games. Downs was on a Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year pace up to this point.

- Two big breaks came at the end of the first half. The first was a one-yard punt by Washington State's Mitchell Cox. The second was an anti-meat protester, who ran out on the field as the Bears lined up for their final play of the half, inadvertently giving the Bears a fourth timeout, which they used to draw up the TD pass to Kyle Wells. Using bigger TEs was an emphasis that week, against a Washington State group that was meant to be smaller but quicker under Alex Grinch.

- Also had two toe tap catches by Jordan Veasy to end the half, as Bowers worked the left sideline on that drive.

- Falk would throw five interceptions, which can aptly be described like so:

1st - Thought Bynum was going to a deep zone, didn't anticipate

2nd - Thought Bynum was staying shallower

3rd - Bad shovel pass, one that cause shovel pass inventor Lee Grosscup to pass out in the press box

4th - Behind the receiver, tough catch by Kunaszyk

5th - Tip drill pinball into Quentin Tartabull's hands

- The final insult came with Kunaszyk's forced fumble, which Gerran Brown, who came in for Downs, returned for a touchdown. Brown then pulled out the John Cena "You Can't See Me" taunt for his celebration.

This was a ridiculous game, by any stretch of the imagination, and the perfect amount of craziness on a Friday the 13th.