Ducks' Gain Decisive Victory over California in First Conference Game

This past weekend saw the beginning of conference play for most of college football and the Pac-10’s featured matchup was Oregon and California in Eugene. While the Ducks looked to regain some amount of national prominence after an opening week loss to Boise State, the Bears were trying to stay undefeated and climb further up the rankings. Only one team could ultimately accomplish their goal on Saturday and the home squad took advantage of the Autzen Stadium setting, embarrassing the Bears, 42-3. California had not been defeated by Oregon since 2005.

The Bears had opportunities to make the score closer, particularly in the first quarter. The Ducks’ Walter Thurmond III fumbled the opening kickoff return, leading to California’s only scoring of the day, a 47-yard field goal by Vince D’Amato. Later in the same quarter, California’s defense forced a fumble, which was recovered by cornerback Josh Hill, but then he lost the football seconds later and allowed the Ducks’ offense to stay on the field. Multiple dropped passes for the Bears hurt Kevin Riley’s final line as well, as the junior quarterback finished 12-of-31 and averaged a meager four yards per completion.

Here are three more reasons why California fell to the Ducks and dropped to No. 24 in the polls:

1. Comeback Kid: Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli more than compensated for his poor throwing effort against Utah last week, when he completed a total of four passes. Prior to Saturday’s contest, he had not recorded a single passing touchdown in 2009. During the course of this game, he notched three scores through the air, all thrown to senior tight end Ed Dickson. Add 21 completions on 25 total pass attempts for 253 yards, and this is the signal caller Chip Kelly expected to have at the start of the season.

2. Don’t Call him a Backup: LaMichael James also delivered in place of the suspended running back LeGarrette Blount, picking up 118 yards and a touchdown on the ground. On the other side of the ball, Jahvid Best, who scored all five touchdowns for the Bears against Minnesota, ran for only 55 yards. That's a full 82 yards fewer that Best's average before the Oregon game. The only silver lining for the Golden Bears surprisingly came in the special teams, with Shane Vereen gaining some good field position on three separate kick returns, totaling 114 yards.

3. Move the Chains: Last season, if you had to choose one criticism of the California offense, it would most likely be the inability to turn third downs into first downs consistently. In 2008, the Bears only converted 47 third downs and found themselves in that situation 159 times. That’s good for a conversion percentage of 29.6. Through the first three weeks of the current campaign for the Blue and Gold, these numbers have markedly improved, going 20-of-38 (a much more respectable 52.6 percent) on third down. On Saturday, the Bears returned to their old ways, only managing three conversions in fifteen third down chances. Conversely, Masoli and Oregon were able to keep possession of the football with some risky calls, going 2-for-2 on fourth down plays.

The Golden Bears now find themselves with perhaps an even greater mountain to scale next week, as they host the USC Trojans in Strawberry Canyon. Pete Carroll and company also have a single loss, coming at the hands of the Washington Huskies two weeks ago. Southern California last fell to the Bears in a triple-overtime thriller in Berkeley in 2003. Check back to KNBR.com for a more extensive preview later in the week!