Berkeley, CA -- (Sports Network) - Kevin Riley threw for 229 yards and three touchdowns to lead the California Golden Bears to a resounding 49-17 win against the Washington State Cougars in a Pac-10 Conference showdown at Memorial Stadium.

Riley converted 12-of-18 passes for the Golden Bears (5-2, 2-2 Pac-10) as they won their second straight outing. Also having a strong outing for Cal was Jahvid Best who registered a game-high 159 yards and scored twice on 13 attempts.

The Cougars (1-6, 0-5), losers of four straight, were paced by Jeff Tuel who hit on 28-of-42 passes for 354 yards and two scores, but the signal-caller was also sacked five times in the losing effort.

Cal ran out to a 21-0 advantage in the first quarter on the strength of two Riley passing touchdowns of 27 and 37 yards to Best and Marvin Jones, respectively, while Jeremy Ross returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown at the 8:04 mark.

The only scoring of the period for Washington State came from kicker Nico Grasu, a 24-yard effort, to make the score 21-7.

Riley tacked on a 21-yard TD pass to Shane Vereen before the end of the period and Best made his way into the end zone to begin the action in the second quarter, boosting the Cal advantage to 35-3.

Tuel logged TD passes of 68 yards to Johnny Forzani and a 19-yard effort to Gino Simone, cutting the WSU deficit to 35-17 at the break.

Best capped a five-play, 89-yard drive in the third frame with a two-yard TD run and Vereen added a seven-yard scoring run in the fourth to put the game on ice and earn California the convincing 32-point home win.

The Bears, who entered the week ranked third in the conference and 18th nationally with 200.5 ypg on the ground, rolled up an astounding 309 yards on 39 rushing attempts on the afternoon.