Three Up Three Down: Oregon Beats Cal 42-24

Oregons win over the Bears today was a win but nowhere near perfect. Here's some things that went good and some that went not so good in Berkley.

The Oregon Ducks won their seventh straight came on Saturday after defeating the Cal Bears 42-24. It was by no means a perfect performance after getting shut out in the first quarter, but they rebounded nicely to come away with a comfortable win. 

Here are players/aspects that improved as well as three that maybe took a bit of a step back in this game.

Three up

1: Run Defense/pass rush

Oregon has again put the clamps on the run game. Oregon stuffed up the Cal run game and did a better job in the pass rush. Limiting Cal to 74 yards, they held both Bay Area schools to well under 100 yards rushing. Oregon also made life miserable for Cal quarterback Jack Plummer, hitting him a lot throughout the game including two sacks from DJ Johnson.

2: Noah Whittington/ Sean Dollars

Bucky Irving didn't have his usual dominant game on the ground, but he did score in the passing game. Throughout this game it was Noah Whittington and Sean Dollars who carried a big part of the workload out of the backfield.

Whittington and Dollars provided the juice on the ground for the Ducks. They continued to put on the pressure and turn it up on Cal. They showed that while you have a clear leader in Irving, Whittington and Dollars are enormous contributors on this Oregon team. Whittington led the way through the air with five catches for 67 yards and one receiving touchdown, while Dollars had two catches for a respectable 48 yards.

3: Bo Nix and his legs

Bo Nix had a pretty good day with his arm, throwing for more than 400 yards and three touchdowns. Cal's pass defense gave him a hard time in the first half before he settled in and really lit them up, but his legs bailed him and Oregon out. He got his tenth rushing TD on the season this year and showed that his legs are a pivotal part of rushing attack. He accounted for another six touchdowns: three in the air and three with his legs.

Three down

1: Getting out to a fast start

Oregon didn’t get anything out of their first two drives, and when it seemed like they were getting in rhythm they shot themselves in the foot with penalties or missed passes. 

They eventually scored in the second quarter, but then a second drive died with an interception. Granted they have had a hard time scoring in the first half this year, but they still had a rough time getting things going fast this game. While they still did find that rhythm and took advantage of it, it took a while for an offense as explosive as the Ducks have been this year. It may not have been as pretty as some wanted it to be, but it was still a win for the Ducks.

2: Passing and fourth-down defense

The Ducks allowed a few big passes by the Bears, missed an interception or two and the Bears moved the ball fairly efficiently through the air. The defense held Cal to just 4/15 on third down but was 0/2 on getting fourth down stops.

In the pivotal drive of the of the third quarter, the Bears drove down the field, airing it out and going after Oregon the whole time. The Ducks got help from a holding penalty and were able to keep the Bears out of the end zone and got the big field goal block, but the defense was starting to look gassed. This has been a problem all season for the Ducks and will hopefully look to address it heading into the back half of the season.

3: Injuries

Oregon had a few this game. In the first half, Wide Receivers Chase Cota and Troy Franklin got shaken up. Cota got hurt on a tackle and Franklin got injured on what appeared to be a non-contact injury. Franklin returned to action and looks to be alright but we're still waiting for a more significant update on Cota who missed the second half.

In the second half, outside linebacker DJ Johnson went down and got looked at by the training staff twice.

Oregon now preps for their next game against the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder, which is set for a 12:30 kickoff on ESPN.

RECAP: Oregon Dominates Cal en route to seventh straight win

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