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PULLMAN, Wash. – Setting a record is sweet, but it’s even sweeter when it comes with an impressive win. 

Jason Gesser threw for a career-high 432 yards and four touchdowns as Washington State adjusted to California’s blitzes and put the Bears away 51-20 Saturday in the Pacific-10 Conference opener for both teams. 

“It’s always fun getting a record, especially in addition to getting a win,” Gesser said after the Cougars (3-0, 1-0 Pac-10) started the season with three wins for the first time since 1998. The Cougars had 513 total passing yards, surpassing the school record of 492 set in the 1992 Copper Bowl. 

“The important thing is that we won,” Gesser said. “The record is just a pleasure on top of that.” 

The Bears (0-3, 0-1) lost 118 yards on 12 penalties, lost two fumbles and Cal quarterbacks were intercepted twice. 

“We are struggling to wrap up a game. Today on offense, we dropped a lot of balls,” Cal coach Tom Holmoe said. “Their offense is better than our defense. We had a good pass rush today, but Gesser is better out of the pocket than he is in the pocket.” 

Defensively, “we missed a lot of tackles, and that’s frustrating,” Holmoe said. “You can’t win without attacking. Breakdowns cost us the game.” 

With California blitzing and pressuring Gesser, Washington State trailed for much of the first half, but outscored the Golden Bears 35-7 in the second half. 

“We were just a bit jittery in the first half from all the blitzing, but we just calmed down and I just started seeing everything in slow motion,” Gesser said. “We just came out and adjusted in the second half. We did a good job getting ahead before halftime and in the second half, we just put them away.” 

Washington State coach Mike Price credited his defense with keeping the team in the game in the first half, and his coaches for making adjustments to handle Cal’s defensive schemes. 

“We said all along that we needed a challenge. I was interested to see how this team would play through adversity,” he said. “Sure enough, they came out and we fought through it. Our players competed really hard and we finished them off in the second half.” 

Gesser’s favorite target was Nakoa McElrath, who caught nine passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns. 

Two other Cougars receivers caught passes for more than 100 yards. It was the first time in school history that three receivers had over 100 yards in a single game. Mike Bush caught five for 144 yards and a touchdown and Jerome Riley had 124 yards and a touchdown on three catches. 

Gesser completed 19 of 43 passes and was intercepted once. Washington State had 605 yards of total offense, compared to Cal’s 367 yards. 

Dave Minnich scored on a 2-yard run and Allen Thompson ran 6 yards for another score. 

Drew Dunning hit field goals of 38, 23 and 37 yards as Washington State took a 16-13 halftime lead. 

Charon Arnold hauled in a 45 yard pass from Kyle Boller to put Cal up 7-3 early. 

Terrell Williams, starting in place of injured Cal running back Joe Igber, carried 17 times for 63 yards and caught a 15-yard scoring pass from Boller. 

Eric Holtfreter took over for Cal starter Boller early in the second period, but Boller returned in the fourth quarter. Boller finished with 10 of 22 pass attempts for 135 yards and two touchdowns. Holtfreter was 10-of-27 for 161 yards. 

Mark Jensen hit field goals of 45 and 20 yards for Cal. 

Gesser’s performance surpassed his previous best game total of 348 last year against Arizona.