FIRST QUARTER
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!