OREGON 7/21/7/7 - 42
CALIFORNIA 3/7/7/7 - 24
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA - After falling behind 10-7 on the road to the Golden Bears, the Ducks rebounded from a tough loss suffered the week before by scoring 28 unanswered points and forcing a total of five turnovers to take control of their first road game of the season. Cal made it a two-score game with 4:31 left in the final quarter, but senior Ugochukwu Amadi picked off Brandon McIlwain for a 32-yard return that sealed the win.
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox elected to use both Chase Garbers and Brandon McIlwain as quarterback, and on the opening possession it appeared to pay off as the Golden Bears marched 72 yards in 15 plays to set up a successful 25-yard field goal from Greg Thomas to take an early lead. Justin Herbert, who finished the game 16-of-22 for 225 yards and two touchdowns, completed all four of his passes in Oregon’s opening drive, concluding with a 30-yard touchdown to tight end Kano Dillon, who started in place of the injured Jacob Breeland.
On the first play of California’s second possession, Ugo Amadi picked off Chase Garbers at the Oregon 37. However, Justin Herbert and the Oregon offense were forced to punt on their following drive, and McIlwain made them pay for it by capping off a long drive with a 28-yard touchdown run to take a 10-7 lead with 9:32 left in the second quarter.
The Ducks responded well by scoring on their next two drives, first on a 45-yard run from freshman Travis Dye then a 36-yard pass to Dillon Mitchell to put the Ducks up by 11 points. With under a minute remaining before the half, Drayton Carlberg fueled Oregon’s momentum by sacking McIlwain at the Oregon 28. The hit caused the mobile quarterback to fumble the ball, which resulted in a 61-yard scoop-and-score from La’Mar Winston Jr to give Oregon a 28-10 lead at the half.
On the first play of the third quarter, CJ Verdell ran for 74 yards before being brought down at the one-yard line. Cyrus Habibi-Likio, the Ducks’ short-yardage specialist, failed to pick up a yards on the next play, but punched it in for a one-yard score one play later. Running back Patrick Laird snapped Oregon’s 28-point scoring streak with a 10-yard run to cap off a Chase Garbers drive that began at the Cal 35, then linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk added to the momentum by stripping the ball from Troy Dye, which was quickly recovered by Rusty Becker.
But just as the Golden Bears appeared to replicate last week’s incredible comeback by the Stanford Cardinal, freshman Jevon Holland tallied his second career interception when Chase Garbers challenged him in the end zone. Oregon failed to translate the turnover into points when Adam Stack missed a 41-yard field goal attempt, and later in the final quarter McIlwain made it a two-score game by travelling 96-yards in six plays to set up a one-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Duncan.
Oregon fans had flashes of the gut-wrenching comeback bid they suffered the week before as Herbert and the offense were forced to punt the ball after a three-and-out that left 3:28 on the clock, but safety Ugo Amadi came up with the play of the game when he took an interception thrown by McIlwain 32 yards for the final touchdown of the game. Down 42 to 24, the Golden Bears hoped to save face by ending the matchup with another score, but Jevon Holland’s second pick of the night put an exclamation point on the Oregon victory.
"Coach Cristobal preaches fundamentals and working on what you need to work on to help the team. We take that serious as individuals, and as a team. So that helps us, when people go down; the next man is able to step in and we don't miss a beat."
- Drayton Carlberg, who started in place of the injured Austin Faoliu
Oregon Offense (total: 485 - pass: 225 - rush: 260)
California Offense (total: 427 - pass: 186 - rush: 241)
Oregon Defense (forced turnovers: 5 - INT 4 - FUM: 1)
California Defense (forced turnovers: 1 - FUM: 1)
UO (4-1, 1-1) CAL (3-1, 0-1)