Mario Cristobal wouldn’t have scripted it out quite like this, but he had to have liked the ending.
Oregon held on a 4th-and-goal with just five seconds remaining to preserve the 24-17 win over California and to avoid a monster upset by one of the worst teams in the Pac-12.
Cal had the ball on the two-yard line facing a game-tying fourth down.
Defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter called for an all-out blitz which forced Bear quarterback Chase Garbers into a rushed and off-balance throw that landed in the endzone and that was ball game.
With the win, the Ducks improve to 5-1 on the season ( 2-1 Pac-12 ), while the Bears dropped to 1-5.
Oregon will likely come out of this contest thinking that was way too close for comfort as the Ducks offense was stymied for most of the night.
“Again it was a battle” said Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal after the game.
“I think all conference games are battles and with Cal its been some really tight football games. This was another one. I think we started off doing some of the self-inflicted stuff and then we found our rhythm offensively.”
Quarterback Anthony Brown didn’t have the best of nights, but the super senior came up big when he had to as he led the Ducks to two scoring drives in the last 15 minutes to erase a 17-10 deficit.
The Oregon rushing attack finally looked like it did in Game 2 against Ohio State.
Travis Dye, now the Ducks number one ball carrier due to the season-ending injury and loss to C.J Verdell, had a noteworthy night. Dye answered the call with 145 yards on 19 carries and a thrilling second-half touchdown that tied the score at 17.
He also caught seven balls for 73 yards.
“He did [play with heart] and he always does” explained Cristobal when asked about Dye’s performance.
“And he probably got a few more touches tonight than he usually does but his style of play, his energy, his leadership – which really stood out all week long and made a tremendous impact – he was the guy who spoke to the team before the game as well and his message was strong and from the heart. I think it really carried through and showed up in
the fourth quarter.”
With the score tied at 17, Brown led Oregon on a seven-play, 70-yard drive that took four minutes and ended with Brown himself scoring from 11-yards out.
He dove for the right pylon and gave the Ducks a 24-17 lead with 4:50 remaining, a lead once again the Ducks were in jeopardy of losing in the last moments of regulation.
After an extremely sluggish first half, things began to change after the halftime break.
“He did a lot of really good things and was very resilient.” said Cristobal.
“They’ve got a couple really good edge rushers and those guys are very hard to block. I think the little things like stepping up in the pocket, his pocket presence and avoiding some issues. On paper there are a few sacks on there, but there were also a few high-difficulty protections against some pressures and movement stuff our guys accomplished
when they needed it most. Overall, hats off to all of those guys. They all played really hard and Anthony
did some good things tonight.”
Oregon De Kayvon Thibodeaux was forced to sit out the first half of the game from his second-half targeting call against Stanford two weeks ago. When Thibodeaux began play in the second half, the entire defensive tenor of the game changed for the Ducks.
Thibodeaux was consistently in the Bears backfield attacking Garbers forcing errant and off-balance throws.
Thibodeaux ended the game with five tackles and a sack, but simply his presence in the second half changed the way California ran its offense and how it eventually struggled to score down the stretch.
“We’re trying,” said Cristobal when asked about the Ducks defensive performance.
“We have to grow up faster. That’s the bottom line. We have some moments where we have some great 3-and-outs and some great defensive stops and some other ones with eye discipline here, mental alignment there and all of a sudden we have an extended drive. Those are some things we’re working on. And we need to work on it better. We need to coach it better. We’ve got to teach it better.”
Now the Ducks will prepare to hit the road for what is expected to be their stiffest challenge in conference play.
Oregon heads to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl to face Chip Kelly and the Bruins of UCLA next Saturday on October 23rd.
The two teams are scheduled for a national ABC telecast at 12:30 PST.