The Oregon football team had two weeks to stew over an unexpected loss at Stanford. While Duck fans screamed for a change at quarterback, Oregon looked instead to steady the shop with its existing starters. For the first couple of snaps, the Ducks looked like a team on a mission – and then penalties and mistakes thwarted the opening drive as the Ducks settle for a long field goal to open the game with a field goal and the early 3-0 lead.
Unfortunately for Oregon, the ‘bend don’t break’ defense made an early appearance as Cal marched down the field methodically converting their first three third down conversion attempts to set up first and goal for the Bears; an easy completion to tight end Jake Tonges for a 9-yard touchdown erased the stilted first drive for Oregon giving Cal a 7-3 lead with 5:23 left in the first quarter.
The Duck offense looked flaccid early on moving the ball no closer than the 35-yard line before stagnating. Once again Anthony Brown proved predictable and was unable to make third-down plays as the Oregon offense struggled to make Cal pay for a couple of big plays. The season long story of sluggish starts and soft defense seemed to tell the foreboding story of another upset loss to an inferior opponent.
Coming into this game 1-4 and carrying the cellar in the Pac-12 North, Cal was hoping to regain the magic from last seasons upset victory over the Ducks and for much of the first three quarters, it seemed like the Golden Bears might just have a magic bean left.
The Ducks lacked discipline and focus to start the game and were outcoached, outhustled, and outplayed as Cal ran through, over and around Oregon with ease in the first quarter. Oregon preached a lot about 1-0 after the loss to Stanford; but it was a lesson not learned as the Ducks seemed uninspired and unprepared for a 1-4 team that barely beat Sacramento State. The outcome seemed predetermined when Chase Garbers made the Duck defense look stupid on a third down run for eight yards to get Cal within striking distance once again.
Even when Oregon forced a turnover on downs, a lack of discipline cost the Ducks 15 yards of field position starting the Ducks inside their own 20-yard line trailing 7-3 early in the second quarter. Even when the Ducks made plays to move down the field, they could not help but shoot themselves in the foot. Inside the red-zone an illegal block on first down left the Ducks facing third and long; a subsequent fumble once again thwarted the Oregon offense.
Without Devon Williams, the Oregon offense looked worse than putrid; but two really solid plays by Williams put the Ducks in the red-zone where Travis Dye gave Oregon its first touchdown of the game with 5:17 left in the first half to recapture the lead for the Ducks.
What was thought to be a strength heading into the season – the defense – often struggled in coverage with a soft zone allowing Cal to move the ball seemingly at ease for most of the first half. It’s the little things that undo unprepared teams. Oregon got the ball back with 2:57 left in the first half, but late substitutions, errant passes, runs that went nowhere, sacks, and poor decision making left the Ducks 45-yards away from the end zone with just 29 seconds left in the half.
Despite outgaining Cal 279-143 in the first half, the Ducks scored only 10 points and took a very slim 10-7 lead into the locker room. There was hope that a bye week and the return of Joe Moorhead would transform the Oregon offense into the juggernaut we saw at Columbus.
There was no such luck in the first half as Oregon struggled to convert yards into points.
Though the return of Kayvon Thibodeaux for the second half seemed to provide a short burst of energy, the soft coverage and softer tackling turned a third and long inside their own 10-yard line into a big play and first down at the 30 for Cal early in the second half.
Oregon was once known as a dynamic and versatile offense, but on this night the Ducks looked stagnant and old-fashioned. An unwillingness to open up the offense to all but a few players gave Cal life it should not have had and kept the Golden Bears competitive for far too long.
Former Oregon QB Bill Musgrave, now the offensive coordinator for Cal, adjusted quickly to Thibodeaux’s return neutralizing his speed and taking advantage once again of Oregon’s soft zone coverage putting the Golden Bears into field goal position to tie the game at 10-10 with 8:34 left in the third quarter.
After outgaining Cal in the first half, Oregon hoped to break out of a scoring funk in the third quarter, instead the offense regressed gaining just 28 yards on 11 plays in the third quarter as Cal began to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The Bears continued to move the ball with ease in the early parts of the fourth quarter and marched down the field to score a go-ahead touchdown with 13:37 left in the game.
With the students chanting ‘we want Thompson’ in reference to Oregon’s five-star freshman quarterback, the Ducks would need to stage a comeback if they wanted to salvage a sense of dignity against a Cal team that stumbled into this game with a 1-4 record. The fans would not get their wish – and were it not for the presence of Travis Dye, the Ducks would have likely lost in blowout fashion. Dye led Oregon with 19 rushes for 145 yards and a touchdown as well as 7 receptions for 73 yards.
Oregon would tie up the game with a 5-play, 62-yard drive capped by a 20-yard pass-and-catch from Anthony Brown to Jaylon Redd. But the Ducks were going to need some fourth quarter defensive magic to pull out a victory tighter than expected. After struggling to string together consecutive defensive plays, the Ducks were able to force a punt on Cal’s next possession and looked to seize momentum with 8:50 left to play.
What once promised to be a special season teetered on the brink – and then the Ducks proceeded to march 70-yards on 6 plays capped by an Anthony Brown 11-yard touchdown run to take the lead with 4:50 left in the game.
Clinging to a 7-point lead, shades of the Stanford game would haunt the Ducks as Cal completed a long desperation pass to get near midfield – and then on fourth and five, Oregon was flagged for defensive holding giving the Bears life inside the Oregon 40-yard line. Cal was taking a page out of the Stanford playbook looking to hold on to the ball and score late to force overtime. With less than a minute left in regulation, another defensive holding set the Bears up with first-and-three at the 7-yard line.
The Ducks forced a fourth-and-three play from Cal with 22 seconds left – a desperation shovel pass as Garbers was being tackled gave Cal a first-and-goal with 15 seconds left in regulation. Oregon was able to force an incomplete pass on fourth and goal with two seconds left in the game to escape with the 24-17 victory.
Though the hope of a college football playoff berth now seems remote at best, the Ducks have plenty in front of them still with a trip to UCLA next weekend in what was once thought to be a premier matchup following week two wins by UCLA over LSU and Oregon over Ohio State. Now both teams seem to be clinging desperately to the hope of a Pac-12 Championship appearance.
