Trying to explain the unexplainable is often times futile and mind boggling.
What’s unexplainable is how this highly ranked Oregon team could suddenly go into a deep freeze and lose consecutive games to Oregon State and a winless California team.
What’s even more unexplainable is how they could look so good at times, and then so lethargic at other times.
It really is unexplainable.
Heading into the Cal game, the Oregon defense had been struggling mightily in the run game, however against the Bears the Ducks defense arrived in Berkeley and seemed more like the Oregon defense of 2019.
When the Ducks desperately needed a stop to get the ball back and score, it was the Oregon defense that gave them those opportunities. Six times in the second half, the defense came up with huge stops forcing a Cal punt.
And six times the Oregon offense remained absent or found ways to give the ball back to the Bears.
There were times when the offense showed bouts of electricity, but at other times they seemed anemic and appeared to remain back in Eugene.
It was simply confusing to watch.
As most games do, you can typically point to a single play that can change the complexion and momentum in a game. Late in this game and needing a single yard to keep their drive alive and move inside the Bear red zone, the Ducks offense needed to convert on a 4th and 1.
They couldn’t get it.
C.J Verdell, who saw limited action against the Bears, came up short.
A single yard and the drive continues, and a possible go-ahead touchdown.
Failure and the ball is turned over on downs, and Cal simply runs out the clock and secures the win. The Ducks offense failed and Cal did exactly that.
This is one of those unexplainable moments.
Travis Dye had the hot hand all night finding and hitting holes, twisting through blocks and running over tacklers on his way to racking up 71 yards on 12 carries while converting multiple first downs.
But in this single moment when a single yard is needed at this crucial time of the game, the offense exchanges Verdell for Dye. Verdell, one of the most productive backs on the Ducks team, came into the game cold and wasn’t able to execute. Some of that is certainly on the offensive line, but a back as good as Verdell should be able to crush a single yard.
On the night, Verdell carried the ball just six times and gained just eight yards.
With the hot hand, it’s realistic to believe that Dye would have somehow gotten the one yard and the first down.
“It’s obviously not good enough,” said Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal after the game. “Self-inflicted issues. And just not generating any type of points in the second half. Stopping ourselves on drives. Just coming up short. Not good enough.”
Another unexplainable issue – Penalties!
The Ducks were flagged nine times for 60 yards. This isn’t a characteristic you’ll often find with a Mario Cristobal coached team.
But for some reason, the Ducks were simply playing substandard football and giving the Bears multiple opportunities, mostly from several self-inflicted wounds.
Early in the second quarter, Oregon was down 7-3 and forced a Cal punt, however their special teams unit was caught with 12 men on the field giving the Bears a first down.
Later in the drive, and in their own red zone, the Ducks once again forced a stop on 3rd down but another penalty moved the chains for another first down. And then once again on a 4th down, the Ducks’ secondary was flagged with a questionable pass interference penalty in the end zone and again gave the Bears the opportunity to score, which they did on the very next play to push the score to 14-3.
Trying to explain all of these miscues is something Cristobal isn’t used to.
And it’s something we’re all not used to seeing.
“We gotta play cleaner football, more disciplined football,” Cristobal said. “Which means we gotta coach more disciplined football.”
Now, Cristobal and his staff will head back to Eugene and try to work through a lot of these unexplainable errors and fix whatever ails this team.
A tall task indeed, especially with rival Washington coming to town next week with the Pac-12 north division still within reach.