California QB Davis Webb Passes for 441 Yards in College Football’s Season Opener

Most college football teams will open the 2016 season over the Labor Day Weekend, but California and Hawaii got the jump on things, playing the first game of the season on August 27th in Sydney, Australia (actually, it was August 26th in the U.S. and August 27th in Australia. That International Date Line thing). If the Aussies like offense, they certainly saw plenty of it as Cal beat Hawaii 51-31.

The Golden Bears were led by quarterback Davis Webb, who is a graduate transfer student, formerly of Texas Tech. A former starting QB at Tech, Webb was the backup to Patrick Mahomes in 2015. As a graduate with eligibility left, Webb did not have to sit out a year after transferring like undegraduates have to do, and could play immediately. This is what Russell Wilson did when he transferred from North Carolina State to Wisconsin for his final college football season, and that worked out well for him. Webb passed for 441 yards and four touchdowns, plus he scored a touchdown himself.

Webb had some big shoes to fill, succeeding last year’s quarterback and first round Los Angeles Rams draft choice Jared Goff, and Game 1 had to be encouraging for Golden Bears fans. Sure, the Rainbow Warriors aren’t exactly Stanford or USC (Hawaii was just 3-10 in 2015), and the defense will have to actually play defense, but Cal (8-5 in 2015) should at least be modestly competitive in the Pac-12 this season. Or at least exciting.