Oregon 27 ... California 20 OT
By Matthew Zemek
The last time Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti basked in the sunshine of gridiron glory, his team had just throttled Colorado in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl, finishing second in the chase for the 2001 national championship. Alongside Bellotti on the Ducks’ coaching staff that season was Jeff Tedford, the man who used that same season—as UO’s offensive coordinator—to land the head job at California. How fitting, then, that Tedford was on the same field as Bellotti registered his greatest moment since that ’01 Fiesta Bowl, four long seasons ago. After the Ducks’ stirring and impressive overtime win over Cal on Saturday in a frenzied Autzen Stadium, it’s clear that Bellotti has regained the mustard on his coaching fastball. In a college football season where so many issues remain unclear and unresolved, one thing that is unmistakably true is that Bellotti has done more with less than any other coach in the country. On Saturday, Bellotti threw not just one, but two quarterbacks into the line of fire in a battle for second place and bowl positioning in the Pac-10. He shuffled Dennis Dixon and Grady Leaf around, looking for combinations and a rhythm that would serve his offense well in the absence of senior leader Kellen Clemens. And while Marshawn Lynch did his level best to lift the Bears to victory, it was Oregon—not Cal—who had a better passing game and evidently showed signs of a better-coached and more fully prepared team. Dixon and Leaf not only made impressive touchdown throws—with Leaf providing the game-winner in overtime to James Finley, the MVP of the game—but they did a better job of providing the ball security that Cal quarterback Joe Ayoob failed to deliver for Tedford. All in all, Oregon—while surviving Lynch’s onslaught—was generally superior on both offense and defense. Without a blocked punt, the Ducks had an excellent chance to gain a hammer-lock death grip on the contest in the first half of play. As it was, the Ducks took Cal’s best punch, survived into the extra stanza, and then showed why they were clearly the better team on a rainy Northwest afternoon in Eugene.
Each team’s overtime sequence magnified Oregon’s overwhelming and decisive advantage in this game: pass catching. Whereas Oregon’s run game—with Terrence Whitehead—was complemented by the receiving of Finley and also Demetrius Williams, Cal’s ground game was not supplemented by any production whatsoever in the passing game. On some occasions, Ayoob missed open receivers, and on other occasions, an accurate ball from the Cal quarterback was booted, bobbled and butchered by a Golden Bear receiver. This game-long pattern held true in overtime, as the Bears—after Finley delivered two prime-time plays to get the Ducks on the board—could not come even remotely close to completing a forward pass. Oregon had the built-in reasons to not expect a quality offensive performance, and yet it was the Ducks who played with more precision and resourcefulness. Should this be surprising to college football observers across the nation? Well, it shouldn’t be—Oregon’s been supremely resourceful all year long. The Ducks survived Fresno State, pounded Arizona State, won at Arizona despite two injuries at the QB position, and have now defeated a Cal team that has underachieved in a big way in 2005. While everyone else in the Pac-10 falls by the wayside (and at the time of this report, UCLA is trailing Arizona 31-7 at halftime; if the Bruins lose, Oregon stands to finish second outright in the final conference standings, good enough for the Holiday Bowl), Oregon—whose only loss is to USC—has maximized its resources and achieved to the full extent of its capabilities. That’s a testament to an entire team’s resilience, but it’s an even bigger reflection of coaching excellence, and Mike Bellotti has once again brought his A-game to the sidelines in Eugene.
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