Turnovers, Oregon Offense Too Much for Bears, 42-24
Oregon, repeatedly picking up yardage by the huge chunks, just had too much offense for mistake-prone Cal to overcome Saturday night in Memorial Stadium as the No. 19 Ducks came away with a 42-24 victory.
A sprited crowd of 43,448 saw Oregon's Justin Herbert direct an offense that piled up 485 yards. Combine that with five turnovers, two of them that were returned for touchdowns, and the No.24 Bears (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) were on their way to their first loss of the season and likely out of the rankings.
The Bears last best chance ended early in the fourth quarter when they were stopped on downs after reaching the Oregon 1, trailing 35-17. That made an ensuing 90-yard Cal touchdown drive only so much window dressing.
"Offensively it starts with the turnovers," head coach Justin Wilcox said afterwards. "You can't turn the ball over that many times against a team like that. Fourteen points. We moved the ball well at times but had turnovers and missed opportunities We had chances for shot plays, big plays and we didn't connect on them. ...Against a team like that the margin for error is so much smaller."
Cal's two-quarterback system struggled to mount a consistent passing attack. Both Chase Garbers (4-for-9, 44 yards, two interceptions) and Brandon McIIwain (11-for-21 128 yards, two interceptions) were inconsistent throwing the ball and repeatedly missed open targets. Seventy four of McIlwain's passing yardage came in the fourth period, most of it after the game was all but decided.
"There was definitely more that we could have done," McIlwain said. "I've got to do a better job ot taking care of the ball and getting it to my receivers and my running backs and let them make plays."
Herbert on the other hand was 16-for-22 for 225 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. The Bears could not mount a consistent pass rush and Herbert was not sacked. When the protection did break down, he was able to avoid the would-be tacklers.
Oregon piled up 260 rushing yards, but 119 of those came on two plays, a 74 yard run by Travis Dye and a 45-yarder by CJ Verdell. In both instances, the runners burst through the line of scrimmage and saw nothing but open field in front of them. McIlwain was the Bears leading rusher with 123 net yards, counting a 13-yard sack. Patrick Laird had 92 yards on 18 carries.
The first half started with a bit of a disappointment and ended in a disaster. Having settled for a field goal on what was a very crisp opening drive, the Bears were still hanging with the Ducks, trailing 21-10, until McIlwain, who had led the Bears very quickly into Oregon territory, was sacked and fumbled. Linebacker La'Mar Winston, Jr. picked the ball up and there was no one between him and goal line.
When he finished his 61 yard run the Ducks were ahead, 28-10, and the Bears in deep trouble.
With McIlwain and Garbers sharing the QB duties on their first drive, the Bears had moved as deep as the Ducks' 8-yard line. But Garbers third-down pass in the end zone was incomplete and the best the Cal could do was Greg Peters' 25 yard field goal.
Herbert soon showed that settling for threes was not going to cut it this night. He engineered a 74 yard drive, hitting Kano Dillon with a perfect strike from the Cal 30 for the score.
In a drive kept alive by a senseless Oregon penalty after the Ducks had stopped the Bears on third down, Cal was able to move 90 yards and re-take the lead briefly. McIlwain, who had completed a clutch third down pass to Kanawai Noa for 24 yards, negotiated the final 28 yards on a brilliant run.But that 10-7 lead lasted only long enough for Oregon to go 75 yards. The first 30 took seven plays, the last 45 just one long run by Dye. He actually was trying to get just one, but once he got past the line of scrimmage there was no one to stop him.
Three minutes later Herbert hit Dillon Mitchell in the corner of the end zone from 36 yards out and it was 21-10. A few moments later came that fumble, return and the 18 point haftime deficit.
That stretched to 35-10 very quickly. On the first play from scrimmage after halftime, Verdell broke loose for the 74 yard run, that didn't end until he was forced out of bounds at the Cal 1. Two plays later Cyrus Habibi-Likio scored.
Showing character Cal came back with a spirited drive that quickly saw Laird scoring. from the 10. When Dye lost a fumble on the next Oregon possession, the Bears had hopes of putting some real pressure on the Ducks. But that chance died when Garbers overthrew Jeremiah Hawkins in the end zone and Oregon intercepted.
Following a missed Oregon field goal the Bears drove the length of the field only to be held outg of the end zone. On fourth down from the 1, Oregon's Troy Dye threw McIlwain for a two-yard loss.
Those missed points loomed large when Mcilwain hit Jordan Duncan on a 2-yard TD pass with 4:30 left.
The Bears got the ball back again with 3:28 left. The situation went from desperate to hopeless when Amadi Ugochukwu intercepted a MCIlwain pass and returned it 32 yards for the game's final score.
"They kept competing, nobody quit," Wilcox said. "We don't have quitters. We've just got to play cleaner and we've got to take advantage of opportunities. ...We'll use this experience and learn from it and they'll bounce back on Monday. It hurts, it feels like you got kicked in the gut. It sucks. But there's no other way to do it. Come back on Monday and go to work."
The Bears face Arizona in Tucson next Saturday night.
Notes: Running backs Marcel Dancy and Derrick Clark were both unavailable because of injuries....Linebacker Evan Weaver, who had 14 tackles to lead the Bears, was helped from the field in the fourth quarter, did return to the game. Wilcox had no update on his condition ...Rugby player Robert Paylor, who was paralyzed after an injury in the national championship game last year, was honored during the game and actually walked onto the field with the aid of a walker. ...Former Cal QB and #1 NFL draft pick Jared Goff was on the sidelines for the game...McIlwain's 123 net yards rushing were the most by a Cal quarterback since Joe Kapp ran for 130 yards against Oregon in 1958.