SportsDirect Inc. staff
Oct 5, 2014
California 60, Washington State 59: Connor Halliday threw six touchdown passes and shattered the FBS passing record with 734 yards but the host Cougars missed a 19-yard field goal with 15 seconds to play and the Golden Bears escaped with a wild Pac-12 Conference victory.
Jared Goff threw for 527 yards and five touchdown passes for California (4-1, 2-1) and Trevor Davis scored four times as the Bears rallied for their ninth win in the last 10 meetings in the series. Davis returned consecutive kickoffs for touchdowns (100 and 98 yards) for the Bears as the teams combined for eight touchdowns in the third quarter.
Halliday, who entered the contest leading the nation in virtually every passing category, broke the mark of Houston's David Klingler (716 passing yards in 1990 against Arizona) on the Cougars' final drive. Halliday, who finished 49-for-70 marched Washington State (2-4, 1-2) to the California 1-yard line setting up the potential game-winning field goal.
A pair of Washington State running plays fell short of the goal line before Quentin Breshears' field goal attempt sailed wide right. The miss spoiled the record-setting night for Halliday, who threw three scoring passes to River Cracraft, two to Isiah Myers and another to Vince Mayle, who finished with 263 yards receiving on 11 catches.
Goff, who threw seven touchdown passes a week ago in a double-overtime win over Colorado, also threw a pair of scoring passes to Bryce Treggs. The teams combined for 1,401 yards of offense and there were no turnovers.
GAME NOTES: Halliday has thrown for 300 yards in every game this season. ...Halliday went 58-for-89 for 557 yards in a game against Oregon last season to set the NCAA record for attempts and tie Drew Brees' NCAA mark for completions in a game. All three were Pac-12 records. ...The largest lead of the game was Washington's State's 24-10 advantage in the second quarter.