It looks like we will have to wait another year before triumphantly reclaiming CGB North.
Kevin Gemmell: Cal could pull off the spoiler of all spoilers. But as the warrior poet Wayne Campbell once said: "It could happen, and monkeys might fly out of ... " -- well, you know the rest. Ducks roll. Oregon 49, Cal 21
Ted Miller: Oregon's defensive line has some injury issues, but the Cal O-line has been awful -- in large part due to its own injury woes. And the Bears will be without quarterback Zach Maynard. Another Super Bowl win for Chip Kelly's crew. Oregon 45, Cal 17
- ESPN's prediction machines unanimously favor Oregon. Fun fact: Oregon has covered the spread in every conference game this season.
Predictor | TeamRankings | numberFire | AccuScore |
Score | Cal 18.9, Oregon 46.5 |
Cal 20.4, Oregon 38.6 | Cal 19.2, Oregon 51.0 |
- 4 out of 6 CBS writers pick Oregon to cover the spread. Everyone picks Oregon to win.
- Athlon unanimously picks Oregon.
Oregon at Cal Oregon, 41-17 Oregon, 44-17 Oregon, 48-17 Oregon, 49-14
Bears HC Jeff Tedford was the OC at UO from ‘98-’01 before coming here. He was 4-1 from ‘04-’08 but has now dropped 3 in a row to the Ducks. Two years ago Tedford’s D held UO to a season-low 317 yards and a missed FG cost them the upset win at home,15-13. Last year his D did it again, at least in the 1H, as Cal led 15-14 at the half but the Ducks ended up winning 43-15 on a Thursday night. The Ducks offense was virtually unstoppable last week at USC putting up 62 points, 37 FD’s and 730 yards in an 11 point win. UO RB Barner rushed for a school record 321 yards and 5 td’s while earning some mentions for the Heisman in the process. Cal, meanwhile, outgained the Huskies on Friday night but was done in by 4 TO’s and now enters this meeting with some major injury concerns at both QB (Maynard questionable, knee) and WR (Allen out, knee). The Ducks have now won 16 in a row on the road in Pac-12 play but in a USC/Stanford sandwich and playing their third away game in 4 weeks means the Bears could keep it closer than expected.
PHIL’S FORECAST: OREGON 44 CALIFORNIA 24
– No. 2 Oregon at Cal, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN): It’s good news/bad news for Cal (3-7, 2-5). The bad: This is not a match the Bears need to show the entire country. The good: By the time it starts to get out of hand, it’ll be way past everyone’s bedtime on the East Coast. Cal has fared better defensively against the Ducks (9-0, 6-0) than most conference opponents in recent years. That was then. Oregon 49, Cal 20.
At least we have a better mascot
Never forget.
Football
- ESPN looks at 20 of the top coaching candidates this offseason. Former Arizona OC and current Louisiana Tech HC Sonny Dykes tops the list. There was a rumor a couple weeks ago that he was interested in moving west. Naturally, the ESPN article speculates almost exclusively about filling SEC positions
- Victor Egu, line backer at De La Salle High School, has committed to the Bears.
- Faraudo has some fun (yet terrifying) facts about the Oregon offense. Maynard was again leaving practice on a cart, so the odds he will play are extremely low. Matt Summers-Gavin is also questionable for Saturday.
- The season finale at Oregon State will kick off at 7:30pm and air on the Pac-12 Networks.
Basketball
- Jay Bilas ranks the top-68 men's basketball teams. The Bears check in at 46th. He says the Bears have the talent to be a strong team, but they need to find consistent leadership.
- Faraudo recaps the Bears 89-80 exhibition win over San Francisco State. The Bears certainly looked like it was their first game of the season.
- Monty expressed concern about defense and rebounding (on both ends). He did not have an update on Brandon Smith's shoulder injury.
- The women's team was picked to finish 2nd in the Pac-12 in Tuesday's media poll. Cal received 2 of the 14 first-place votes.
Soccer
- Ifeoma Onumonu was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. She leads all Pac-12 freshmen with 11 goals scored. She joins Betsy Hassett on the All-Pac-12 first team. Emi Lawson earned a spot on the second team and Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick was an honorable mention.
Volleyball
- The Bears' string of upsets came to an end. Despite having match point in the fourth and fifth sets, Cal couldn't capitalize and lost to no. 5 Washington in five sets.