Berkelium97: That was pret-tay, pret-tay, pret-tay, pret-tay unpleasant. Ever since the 2007 win, all the games in Eugene have been thoroughly deflating. There was the 42-3 debacle, the monsoonal turnoverpalooza in 2013, and who can forget the time we stormed to a 10-0 lead before giving up 31 straight points to the Ducks? Fun times, all around.

Not surprisingly, the run defense and run offense were in a race to see who could out-awful the other. Pass offense and pass defense statistically weren’t too bad, but they also weren’t too good. Coaching earned the lowest scores of the Wilcox era, thanks to offensive ineptitude on first down and some boneheaded mistakes on defense (like that time we used three defenders to cover the Oregon receivers who lined up in quads—predictably, one scored an easy TD that was called back on some equally boneheaded penalty).

Our chances of a win against UW have plummeted. Despite playing almost no one, UW looks unstoppable and we look...quite stoppable. I predict pain in Seattle this weekend.

Before we submit ourselves to that pain on Saturday (and well into Sunday morning for us East Coasters), let us revel in some awards.

Awards

First we have our lowest scores of the week.

Justinjurious!

Tell us how you really feel.

Next we have the most optimistic of our graders. Man, I’m running low on Justin-puns.

Justinimitable!

Congratulations BacherBear! You’re our top optimist this week and as a reward we’re punishing bestowing upon you the honor of being our ambassador to our overlords at Addicted to Quack. You clearly enjoyed the game as much as those whiskey-guzzling, pantless heathens. The rest of you had more reasonable scores.

Not quite as reasonable as these handsome fellows, however!

The Voice of Reason

A winner is me! We also have several familiar faces this week. I don’t know how the rest of you manage to earn this award so consistently. Any ol’ schlub can get the optimist or pessimist award—this one takes true skill. Like the true skill GBB has in selecting the best of your comments from the report cards. Let’s see how you all felt about another disappointing day in Eugene.

GoldenBearsBandwagon: Oh boy. A demoralizing loss during what is likely the toughest 4-game stretch of any team in the nation. Let’s hope that the coaches can help the team bounce back and build from this performance.

Gameday Experience

Can'tBearIt: Kind of like a proctology exam I would imagine.

Sunshine under eclipse: Game day experience was like me being forced to watch a slug in ice cold rain while the usc band plays nonstop.

Gen4Bear: Watched it from the couch, the Glenfiddich actually burned -less- than our efforts on the field.

Calpaladin: Watched the game on TV for the first time season with the wife. Big mistake. She thought I was crazy as I'm flying to Seattle for next weekend's game, but now she thinks I'm stupid and crazy.

Poohbears: It was sunny, high 60’s and calm here in Berkeley. No sign of any game day activity other than the Cal flag on my neighbor’s house.

Rollonyoubears111: The mute button was on. It made the experience more surreal. Try it the next time Cal gets pummeled by a team with 3rd string qb's and back ups. It was like that scene where Tom Hank's character at the end of Saving Private Ryan where he's firing his pistol at a tank.

Old Bear 71: Another really late night on Florida. Watched the Bears pull to within 10, but had to hit the sack.

Next morning saw the final and...bummer!

Pass Offense

KMac: Bower's isnt the answer. Misses open receivers, terrible pocket awareness, and leaves too many big plays on the table.

Hardtobecalfan: awful. o-line can't protect. ross played much worse than his stats indicate.

Ososdeoro: Wow. Ross was scrambling for his life. Or actually, he didn't even have time to do that. Good of him to surface every once in a while and complete a big play.

DONTWORRYBEHAPPY: i miss Goffense

Yogi Bear: Bowers wasn't getting very good protection and missed some open guys. No QB is going to look good with poor pass protection and especially not a young QB who still is learning not to lock onto his primary receiver. Can't question his toughness though, he hung in there.

Gen4Bear: Kanawai Noa is both fearless and scrappy- And is unfortunately the only bright spot in an otherwise painfully mediocre -to- bad night.

Bowlesman: I am willing to be patient. Goff was some rough lessons and these are Bowers. I think we stick with him, let him learn up and make the most of it. This season is far ahead of expectations, but we need to keep it real and not break out the credit card and start burning "blueshirts." Stay with the cards we're dealt this year and marvel at the surprises.

1988goldenbear: Our O-line got dominated - they looked slow and confused, and they didn't get much help on the edges from the RB's on blitzes. Bowers threw some nice passes, especially that gem to Noa, but missed a bunch as well. The coverage/indecision/slow-read sacks hurt too. Coaches need to figure out how to keep Bowers upright, because he took a lot of hits.

BTown85: Watching live I didn't have the benefit of replay, but I'm gonna say Vic didn't pull in the passes I'm used to him grabbing. Two years ago we made Oregon's secondary look like NFL all-stars; feel like we had the same game plan this year............. Noa was the lone bright spot in the entire game.......

Bearsupporter: I'm trying to understand if Baldwin had that bad a game plan or if the OL play didn't allow for any type of success. How many times can Noa continue to take hits across the middle before he becomes injured?? The pass offense has just not inspired the same confidence as the Dykes offense. Is it the quality of receiver? I don't think so. Is it the different route assignments and their trees? Maybe.

Oaklandishbear: Bowers was better, i guess. No picks and the fumbles weren't his fault.

Noa had a good game. Just hope he can survive the pounding he is taking going across the middle all the time.

YPA were pretty bad, even if the YPC were decent.

But in the end, 7 sacks? Seriously?

OLine got worked and never game Bowers time to set.

Anon: Wide outs that run the wrong patterns, qb that locks in and takes too long to get ride of the ball, plus OLine injuries is not a good combo.

Run Offense

KMac: We rushed for 2 yards - what is there to say other than our line needs a lot of work

Yogi Bear: We got beat badly on the line and that was all she wrote

Gen4Bear: The Offensive line is getting no push up front, which is resulting in little to no gain on first down. I actually agreed with the frustration of the talking heads on FS1 when they pointed out the predictability of the bears running into the line every 1st down. I was pleased to see some 2nd half adjustments with Bowers taking shots downfield on first down rather than handing off for 1-2 yards. It also looked to me like Bowers was encouraged to attempt to run more this game. After watching what happened to Oregon's 1st AND 2nd stringers, maybe we should rethink that plan?

Calpaladin: No push, no holes, no rush. Just all around disappointing. Until Cal's last drive, we had 2 yards rushing for the game. That's sad.

Bowlesman: Against Lighting McDuck and crew? Hoped for better, but Oregon is good.

1988goldenbear: Really ineffective. We couldn't hit gaps (because there were no gaps), there was little or no push from the O-line, and we couldn't get the edge sealed nor outrun the Ducks. The stats were misleading because Bowers got mauled all game, but I think we will continue to struggle against the good teams without Tre.

BTown85: We lost the line of scrimmage in every facet of the game. No wonder we had 0 official rush yards in the 4th quarter (that includes sacks......seven f#cking sacks.........).

Harmonpreservationsociety: We failed to create any holes. 0.3 yards per carry is embarrassing. Our offensive line is a clear liability and will prevent us from becoming bowl eligible.

Bearsupporter: I'm trying to understand if Baldwin had that bad a game plan or if the OL play didn't allow for any type of success.

CoBears: Ew. -2 is not a play to be repeated, yet we kept repeating it, only to be outdone by a -3 or -4 now and again.

Pass Defense

Ososdeoro: It was okay after Helton left, but you really need to strike more fear into a newbie than we did.

Can'tBearIt: Admirable, again. Our defensive backs are doing a pretty good job.

Justbear: after Herbert went down, there was no pass to defend, but awful before that

Sacman701: Had one awful play and a bunch of meh ones during the short time Herbert was in. Oregon's passing game wasn't a factor (other than to set up one of our TDs with a pick) after he went out.

1988goldenbear: If Herbert played the whole game (or played until they pulled him out of mercy) the stats would've been so much worse. Ducks have no business getting him crushed on a keeper with RB's like theirs. Without a big rush, we will get picked apart by the more elite passers coming up on the schedule.

BTown85: This was my highest score. I think because they were forced to run since they had their freshman "burn my redshirt" QB in there and there was no way he was going to throw the ball so it SEEMS like played tight on their receivers. Maybe I should downgrade that highest score.......

Goldenlikethebears: Not bad.

Johnny C.: Very good against the backup QBs

CoBears: When they had a quarterback who could sling it around, we weren't very good in pass defense. We were good enough to limit the backups through the air. But . . .

Oaklandishbear: Fair, but not much of a sample size since they ran it in our face all game.

Run Defense

KMac: Did Sonny Dykes coach this game?

Absolute hot garbage. Oregon was on their 2nd and 3rd string QB and RB and they gashed us. We knew they were going to run and they ran right through us.

Hardtobecalfan: awful. we know oregon's not going to throw and we still can't stop them.

Ososdeoro: It was barely acceptable until the long run at 17-24.

DONTWORRYBEHAPPY: I think they're going to be late getting to Oregon.

Sunshine under eclipse: Matthew berry' s weekly hate list. We knew Oregon was going to run it for 3 quarters, and we still couldn't stop it.

Yogi Bear: We got absolutely dominated at the line of scrimmage. Their RB's were getting 3-5 yards before encountering any defenders.

Canes: I had to remind myself I wasn't watching Royce Freeman

Rollonyoubears111: Picture this, it's Black Friday, HDTV's are going for a buck fifty and lap top computers are going for 75 cents. A crowd, no wait, a mob gathers around the entrance while a minimum wage security guard with a slight ankle problem and new to this tradition decides to open the door manually. The security guard cracks the door open....

Oaklandishbear: Horrendous. #1 RB and QB had to leave the game, and we knew what was coming, but still couldn't stop them.

Noticed Downs and Davison weren't in on Benoit's TD. Wonder what happened?

2004-present: Felt like I was watching 2011 LaMichael James gash us at will. This was the matchup I most worried about coming in--could our front seven do something to neutralize Oregon's speed on the edges? Nope. Doesn't help when you get zero push up front either.

FireBaldwin: The rumors of Cal's defensive turnaround are a tad premature. Run D looked about as bad as last year.

Special Teams

KMac: The turnover lead to our best play of the game...

Ososdeoro: Competent. Kickoffs were long, kickoff coverage was good. The fumbled punt reception didn't even hurt us.

DONTWORRYBEHAPPY: No missed field goals!

Canes: We should figure out how to onside kick

Calpaladin: Anderson's back on track, but horrible muffed punt by Wharton (bailed out with the interception on the very next play, but still).

Goldenone: Not noticeable, which I guess is a good thing.

Bearturd: Plenty of opportunity to kick.

BTown85: Serviceable.............EXCEPT for fumbling a freakin' punt return when you've waved for a fair-catch on an easy kick with no rain or wind???? C'MON Vic!!!!! I feel like that was an arrogance miff; he seems to have a swagger that I kinda like, but that is ENTIRELY unnecessary on a FREAKIN' PUNT RETURN FAIR CATCH !!!!!!! FFS!!!!!!!!

Goldenlikethebears: Matt Anderson did not miss.

Texashaterforlife: compared to the offense and defense, it was serviceable

Old Bear 71: They're special.

Coaching

KMac: Awful - you have to be able to put away a team on their 2nd and 3rd string players.

DONTWORRYBEHAPPY: Their saving all their best ideas for next week.

Can'tBearIt: Worst coaching since Weber St. The team was not prepared. They were out-coached on both sides of the ball. Running those delayed dives on 1st and 10 the entire 1st half failed EVERY time. No pressure on the 2nd string or 3rd string QB. QB is still making high school-level mistakes. Terribly coached game.

Yogi Bear: We got physically dominated. I'm not sure that there is a coaching salve for that.

Gen4Bear: I think we used all our gas last week against $C, both lines looked unprepared for play, and seemed to give up outright in the final minutes. For all his faults, Bowers had more tenacity and guts than anybody tonight.

Sacman701: Worst game yet. Oregon completely outcoached us in the 1st quarter and made us look silly. Then we failed to do anything to stop their running game even after their passing game ceased to be a credible threat.

Calpaladin: I wanted to see how the team would respond after losing to USC last weekend and boy, they didn't. Really disappointed in the play calling (running up the middle didn't work the first 20 times you called it), lack of adjustments at the half, and overall lack of preparation.

Goldenone: Didn't make successful adjustments to stop the run.

Bowlesman: Still believe in this staff, but Oregon had our number. Faintly reminiscent of when the Dykes Raid was figured out and closed down. Gotta' give credit, Wilcox has few secrets from the Pac12 north and they knew their man.

TJ: With 8 yards rushing "the coaching can't be good". Is that some kind of record ?-someone needs to look that up. I never heard of such a stat for any team-ever. It's "back to the Cal of old". The "Curse of Cal" continues- the only time it was broken, in decades, was when Aaron Rodgers was QB- guess his "positive attitude genius " filtered down to the rest of the team. Per the "Curse of Cal" even when Cal is on the verge of an upset, or starting to play well against a team ranked higher , they always manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory- the USC game was the latest example. Cal is pretty incredible that way- I can't think of a team in the PAC 12 that consistently has this problem-only when Rodgers was there did this curse cease.

1988goldenbear: I don't know if we were unprepared as much as dominated physically. The defense was so gassed by the end of the game, it almost seemed like they became disheartened - I hope that wasn't the case. The offensive play-calling was questionable, but maybe all those runs into the middle were to run some clock and keep some heat off Bowers. But it was not a good show on either side of the ball.

disappointedBear: the insistence with the run made us predictable and ruined the first half offense and pretty much the game imo.

Harmonpreservationsociety: I like the continued aggressiveness on 4th down. Short of magic spells, I'm not sure how much improvement we can expect along the OL or defensive front 7.

Bearsupporter: Game planning on both sides was not good.

Johnny C.: Too conservative at the onset.

Texashaterforlife: the loss had more to do with execution and effort. I would expect more effort next game but it still would be wasted playing at UW. Better to survive the ass beating and give more effort at home against WSU. I think Cal was emotionally spent against USC and the coaching understood not much could be done on the road. Talent and depth still need upgrades to win conference games on the road.

CoBears: I liked the aggressiveness of going for it on 4th down three times, two of which ended up in penalty first downs, I believe, and one in a legit first down.

We weren't prepared well enough, though, and falling down 17 in the first quarter wasn't pretty. I'm not going to get too flustered, since this is what I expected this year, and they've been outperforming to date, but still sad.

2004-present: Can't think of any bad game management, but a 21 point loss is a 21 point loss.

FireBaldwin: Baldwin has no business being a Pac 12 OC.

Old Bear 71: They will get us there.

Overall Performance

Ososdeoro: I think I have to go back to Kerry McGonical (sorry Kerry, no offense intended) to remember a game this painful to watch. That or our first night game against Washington State in the rain.

DONTWORRYBEHAPPY: Last week, UCLA was destroyed. This week they beat Colorado. So, there's hope?

Can'tBearIt: Worst performance of the year. Unfortunate injuries to Oregon's top players kept us in the game, and we still couldn't change the momentum. We were unprepared for the game on both sides of the ball. Oregon was better prepared for us than we were for them. Hope we can bounce back.

Yogi Bear: Reality hit in a very big way tonight. Looks like 6 wins and a lower tier bowl is the best we can hope for this year. Hopefully we'll get stronger on the lines through recruiting.

Gen4Bear: In the immortal words of Cal fans everywhere: maybe next year...

Calpaladin: The USC loss hurt, but this hurts more - if the defense from last week played today, this is an easy Cal victory. Offensive line is banged up, but they need to step up - running backs can't make things happen if they never have a hole to hit. Bowers will be under fire, but frankly, you can't expect much when he's under siege all game and he's only a first year starter who appears banged up.

BacherBear: Not great but I have hope that we will learn and improve

ABVidale: When I saw that Oregon was upset in the desert I knew this game would be ugly, and it was. While this Ducks team isn't as good as teams of a few years ago, their raw talent is still at a level above the Bears. Throw in early bad breaks (the pass interference call--a correct call but a very unlucky play) and the result was entirely predictable.

Poohbears: As expected.the site is not iPad freidly

Bowlesman: I think it's fair to say that Oregon outplayed us, because they could. What made the "could," is likely varied, but Oregon deserves credit. Now, Oregon fans could just learn a little modesty. See what money does to people?

1988goldenbear: I guess Oregon is back. Team speed kills, and we couldn't compete. The only reason this game stayed within reach was because the Ducks were deep into their depth charts on both sides of the ball. And it still never felt like victory was attainable.

BTown85: I wonder if I'm more frustrated with this performance because I went to the game, which takes some investment of time, even if I'm just driving down from Portland. Or was it really THAT crappy? If I'd been watching on TV maybe this is a game I turn off in 3rd quarter, tape it and say I'll come back to it, but then never do, and just erase it in 3 weeks when I come across it looking for "Roxanne" which I taped a couple weeks earlier because it was a cute and fun movie back in college........

Harmonpreservationsociety: This game was telling. The shine has worn off, and we should temper expectations and strap in for a difficult remainder of the season.

Bearsupporter: First week where I felt the team wasn't properly prepared and ready to go. Need to go back to work to improve wrapping runners up and stop arm tackling.

2004-present: Fully expected a loss coming in--this was just wrong place, wrong time. The total butt-kicking up front was a rude awakening, but I think it'll be good experience for this young team going forward. While most fans will agree that this was an ok performance given circumstances, the coaches will preach that it was anything but, and the players will thus spend lots of practice time atoning for their mistakes. THAT'S how champions are made--champions don't get graded on a curve. They get graded on results--plain and simple.