PULLMAN, Wash.– With about seven minutes remaining at Martin Stadium, the Cal football team clung to a 14-13 fourth quarter advantage over Washington State.

On 3rd-and-20, Bears quarterback Brock Mansion tossed a bubble screen to Jeremy Ross, who was stood up in a crowd after a 13 yard gain.

But the senior wideout, aided by a pile of Bears, kept pushing. And pushing. And pushing.

“I probably looked at the sideline two or the times to see what we we’re doing,” quarterback Brock Mansion said. “I was looking for the next signal, like ‘Should we go for this?’ All of a sudden, it’s still going, it’s still going.”

Eight yards later, Cal had a first down. Five plays and a missed extra point later, the Bears led 20-13 — the final margin of a win that, like Ross’ clutch play, was a painful struggle.

“It’s Jeremy, but everybody else, not giving up on the play,” Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said of the game’s defining sequence. “That play was huge. They must have pushed the pile eight, 10 yards. They continued to fight and scratch.”

Indeed, the Bears (5-4, 3-3 in the Pac-10) staved off an enormous upset by the Cougars (1-9, 0-7) to finally earn a road victory in 2010.

Cal avoided the embarrassment of being Washington State’s first Pac-10 victim in 16 games, but the Bears still found themselves on the wrong side of history in Pullman.

They were blanked in the first quarter against the the nation’s worst defense, Washington State its first opening period shutout of 2010. Cal was also the first FBS team ever to spot the Cougars a halftime lead in Paul Wulff’s three-year tenure.

“Washington State, they really came out fighting,” Bears defensive end Cameron Jordan said. “We could just feel it. They were fighting for every yard, everything they had was going into it.”

As fired up as the host squad was, Cal gave its opponent plenty of help early on — dropping would-be two touchdowns on the team’s opening drive.

After Marvin Jones couldn’t corral Mansion’s throw in stride, tight end Anthony Miller dropped a ball the following drive; a missed 37-yard field goal by Giorgio Tavecchio soon followed.

Instead, it was the Cougars who struck first.

Running back Logwone Mitz scored from 10 yards out to cap a nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that put Washington State ahead, 7-0, early in the second quarter. The Cougars would head into the locker room with a 10-7 edge.

Led by Jordan, however, the Bears settled down and claimed the lead after intermission.

Cal’s senior defensive end made consecutive tackles on Cougars quarterback Jeff Tuel to force a three-and-out out of the half. Jordan delivered a stellar afternoon, racking up a career-high 12 tackles (including four for a loss), 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.

Fellow end Trevor Guyton, who stepped in for Derrick Hill at nose tackle, contributed 2.5 more quarterback take-downs.

“Wow, that’s a lot. Then I think I’m doing alright,” said a laughing Jordan after finding out his own defensive numbers in postgame interviews. “(And) I was happy to see Trevor have a great game. That’s all I saw him, was in the backfield. He got in there like a knife through butter.”

Though Tuel gained 73 yards with his feet, almost half of that total was erased by six sacks. Washington State’s signal-caller finished 9-of-25 for 92 yards and no touchdowns, with his team mustering 194 total yards on the day. Only 60 of them came after the break.

Meanwhile, Cal’s offense found life out of the locker room, marching 65 yards in just four plays on the team’s opening second half possession.

Jones snatched the ball away from a Cougars safety Deone Bucannon with a leaping, one-handed grab for 27 yards. On the very next play, Ross took a fly sweep 27-yard fly sweep to pay-dirt and the Bears led, 14-10.

The two receivers turned in clutch performances in the absence of freshman Keenan Allen, who stood on the sidelines with an ice wrap after tweaking his knee in pregame warm-ups.

Jones finished with 101 yards receiving on four catches, greatly aiding Mansion in his first career start. Jones reeled in a 50 yard bomb in the second quarter to set up his team’s lone first-half score — a two yard run by Shane Vereen.

Meanwhile, Mansion ended the afternoon 12-of-24 for 171 yards and added 53 yards on the ground in his first career start. The junior signal-caller certainly showed some jitters, sailing a couple of early passes and throwing a pair of interceptions. But he shook them off to complete 3-of-4 on the Bears’ final scoring drive.

“He made very few mistakes,” Vereen said. “The mistakes he did make were very fixable. I think he’s proven that he can play.”