At No. 2 is Mike Bellotti. He went 77-34 as Oregon’s coach during the decade. Then at No. 10 was Chip Kelly for his stellar debut as Duck skipper.

http://jackhunterphoto.com/TD.jpg

As for the Daily Emerald crew of me, Lucas Clark, Robert Husseman and photographer Jack Hunter, we made it into Los Angeles around noon on Tuesday and were settled into the media headquarters at the downtown Marriott by the afternoon (complete with four Rose Bowl tumblers). It has been a whirlwind for sure, as I’ve never been to LA and not only am I trying to get my bearings in the city, I’m also trying to figure out my thoughts on this game. Hopefully tomorrow morning’s Media Day will help me clear my thoughts. Right now, I’m still up in the air as to what team should win, although the Ducks are the early favorite just because of the fact I’ve covered them all year and I don’t know a single team that is playing as well as Oregon is right now.

So as the final days tick down until New Years Day and Pasadena, keep on coming to dailyemerald.com to check out our coverage. For Wednesday we’re going to have six articles and tons of photos and another round on Thursday.

Also, be sure to check out odesports on Twitter.

Look for more coverage in the Oregon Daily Emerald tomorrow.

The Stanford press box is the nicest one any of us have been in, without much debate. We are sitting in our Stanford-emblazoned ergonomic office chairs, working on granite (!) countertops, presiding over the beautiful Stanford Stadium and surrounding countryside. We just had lunch (an incredible sandwich spread, thanks to Stanford Catering) and are soaking up the sunny weather — it’s expected to be around 70 degrees by kickoff.

Fans are just beginning to trickle into the stadium, and Duck fans in the stadium currently outnumber Stanford fans 25 to 1. This may not be that surprising — Oregon fans represented very well in the tailgating areas around the stadium. One endzone is serving as the location for an impromptu student section. Ben estimated that the final fan ratio could be half and half — I see no reason not to believe him.

A couple of quick player updates: Stanford MLB Clinton Snyder (leg) is out for the season, and starting FB Owen Marecic will go two ways, usurping Snyder’s starting spot. For Oregon, RB LeGarrette Blount did not make the Ducks’ travel roster, so his “comeback” will wait yet another week.

Check out our live blog at dailyemerald.com/sports for more information, and enjoy the game.

Some of the questions are pretty good, especially when Yahoo! asks him whether or not he saw himself here after just three years.

Pretty interesting.

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=rivals329769&prov=rivals&type=lgns

On the kick off to open the game, Walter Thurmond III was rocked, but he actually got up on his own power and limped off. I think he’ll be back sooner than a knee injury usually entails.

Mike Bellotti is a good color guy. He’s very insightful. He knows a lot about the game (obviously) but he conveys that knowledge in a way that anyone can understand it.

Before the Ducks got the fourth and four early in the first they were 0-4

Masoli was so sharp on his throws against Cal. They were crisp. Two of his completions were on the second drive, so he was even more stellar as the game went along.

Bellotti pointed it out, and I noticed it as well, the Ducks were playing a lot faster than the last three weeks. A lot of times they were set up before the ref was even ready.

In the first quarter Masoli gained his confidence by completing some short passes to Maehl and Dickson. He said as the game went on he gained his confidence. We saw that on the very first play of the second when he took a shot down field.

SECOND QUARTER

First play Ed Dickson gets his first TD and UO gets its first passing TD. Oregon scored twice on screen play fakes.

Me and Lucas Clark watched practice on Wednesday and they worked on the two point conversion play for 15 minutes. I thought it was brilliant

It was good to see Remene Alston get a few carries in the game. He’s a feel good story, especially after being ineligible. Everyone was so happy for him, especially Masoli. He sprinted towards Alston who was on the ground and pulled him up and was patting him on the helmet.

Bellotti about has a cardiac arrest when Barner catches a fair catch punt with 5:43 left in the first half over his shoulder like Willie Mays. “Oh my heart,” he says.  Funny stuff.

The Ducks were smart on offense. Instead of letting themselves get pushed out of bounds when they went to the sideline, they cut back inside and tried for one or two more yards.

Man. Just watched Jackson Rice’s 5 yard punt. Ouch. He just shanked it off the right side of his foot.

Kevin Riley looked very off against Oregon. He continually threw balls high and long and everywhere but to his receivers.

D’Amato for Cal shanked his 5 yards too. Both were horrible. Bellotti said that on the short drop from the hands to the foot on a windy day the wind can sometimes push the ball and rotate it.

Bellotti pointed out something interesting. He says that Oregon changed up how they handed the ball off to throw off Cal’s reads on defense. I watched and a lot of times Masoli will lean the opposite way of the way the play is going to go or just move his arms while remaining facing forward so they don’t know where its going to go until after the running back has taken a few steps.

THIRD QUARTER

First play of the second half for Cal and they go fifty yards. But then the Ducks force them to go three and out after that. Every time it looked like Cal was going to break something, UO was there to reel them back in.

In the second half Masoli was sharp. He was running to his left, and fired back to his right a bit.

I didn’t think I would ever see someone hit Ed Dickson hard enough to flip him, but Cal’s db sure did. His feet flipped above him! That’s 250 pounds of pure muscle!

Ed’s second touchdown was on a check down from Masoli. Perfectly executed. Maehl wasn’t open up the middle, and he looked right, where Dickson was just floating three with no one on him.

Watching Oregon’s epic 96 yard drive in in the third quarter now. They just punched at Cal for the entire drive and converted a few third downs.

Dickson’s third td was on a fake WR screen to the right. Ed stepped up over the middle and caught a little six yard pass or so from Masoli turned into 36 yards.

FOURTH QUARTER

Just had a thought: Where would Oregon be if they hadn’t lost to Boise State? With all of these upsets, No. 4? No. 5? Woulda, coulda, shoulda I guess.

Ok. I  almost made it. But Nate Costa is in, it’s 1:53 a.m. and I’m tired. To sum up why I watched the game again, I was impressed with Oregon’s ability to make plays when they needed to on defense. Every time Best had the ball there were eight guys coming to hit him.

But now the Ducks have to keep the ball rolling. Instead of a let down, the Ducks need another statement game going into the middle of October.

Good night!

Anthony Seminary of Portland, a graduate of the class of 1996, returned the original check to Kelly but kept copies of the check for personal use. Sports information director Dave Williford was unavailable for comment.

The full story can be found here: http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2009/09/21/chip-kelly-is-a-man-of-his-word-seriously/