Cougars Fall Behind by 18 but Rally to Win : Pac-10: Washington State defeats Cal, 26-23, after trailing in first quarter, 20-2.

Washington State’s stingy defense took over when the offense and special teams combined to drop the No. 22-ranked Cougars into an 18-point hole against California.

The defense, which entered the game as the nation’s stingiest unit, recovered five fumbles and intercepted a pass as Washington State, 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference, rallied for a 26-23 victory on Saturday.

“I told our team there were two ways to win this game,” Washington State Coach Mike Price said. “We could go out there and break their backs, get on them right away and score, or we could hang with them and keep it close and win it in the end. I guess I shouldn’t have talked about Plan B.”

Tony Truant’s 34-yard field goal with 5 1/2 minutes to play broke a 23-23 tie and completed the comeback against injury-riddled Cal, which was forced to use wide receiver Ziv Gottlieb at quarterback for most of the second half.

Still, the Bears (3-5, 2-3) had a chance to win, reaching the Washington State 23 in the closing seconds. But a holding penalty and two motion penalties forced Ryan Longwell into a 57-yard field-goal attempt as time expired. It was wide right.

Cal’s third-string quarterback, Kerry McGonigal, was knocked out of the game when he suffered a left shoulder separation early in the third quarter. First-stringer Dave Barr is sidelined for the season because of a broken collarbone and Pat Barnes sat out because of a bruised nerve in his shoulder.