By Jonathan Okanes
Sometimes, it's the team that has the ball last that decides the outcome of a game. Saturday, it was the team that gave away the ball last that did the honors. Oregon punt returner Jairus Byrd fumbled the ball away at his own 11-yard line early in the fourth quarter, allowing Cal to score a game-clinching touchdown in a 26-16 victory over the No. 23 Ducks at soggy Memorial Stadium.
Byrd's miscue capped a turnover-fest in front of an announced crowd of 61,432, about two-thirds of which actually showed up to brave more than three hours of heavy rain. The Bears overcame five turnovers, mainly because their defense turned in a performance for the ages. "There's no question that was tough out there as far as the conditions were concerned," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. "We turned the football over, but the defense just kept playing hard, keeping them out of the end zone." The Bears' defense held Oregon's potent offense to just 290 yards, well below its season average 474.9 per game. Cal forced the Ducks into three turnovers themselves, two of which were turned into touchdowns.
The victory sets up yet another epic showdown against USC next weekend at the L.A. Coliseum. Cal (6-2, 4-1 Pac-10) will enter Saturday one-half game behind the Trojans in the Pac-10 standings. "We knew this was a big game, that it was going to separate the Pac-10 from the top to the bottom," said Cal running back Shane Vereen, who rushed for 61 yards and scored the final touchdown on a 2-yard run with 8:57 remaining. "It definitely sets the table for next week."
Vereen lost a fumble, Jahvid Best lost a pair, and Nate Longshore mishandled a snap on a field-goal attempt. Quarterback Kevin Riley was intercepted on the third play of the game and had to leave later in the quarter with a concussion. "When you have conditions like that, you really have to hustle to put yourself in position to make plays," Tedford said. "The ball is going to be on the ground. It's just so slippery out there."
Longshore replaced Riley and was 13-for-27 for 136 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown pass to Nyan Boateng that gave the Bears a 16-6 halftime lead. Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, the reining Pac-10 Player of the Week for offense, rushed for 97 yards on 21 carries but was a miserable 7-for-21 for 44 yards and two interceptions.
Cal thought it matched up well with Oregon's spread option because of its fast 3-4 base defense, but that didn't appear to be the case at the outset. After linebacker Spencer Paysinger intercepted Riley on the Bears' first possession, the Ducks easily drove 46 yards in four plays for a touchdown, although a mishandled snap on the PAT made it only 6-0.
But one possession evidently was all Cal's defense needed to figure out the Ducks (6-3, 4-2), because Oregon managed just two first downs the rest of the half. "It's so hard to simulate this offense in practice," Cal defensive coordinator Bob Gregory said. "One of the hardest series to adjust to against these guys is the first series. You just cannot simulate how fast they go. It was different. We did settle down after that first series and kind of got into a groove a little bit." Riley's 22-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Ross gave the Bears a 7-6 lead, and Cal made it 9-6 later in the first quarter when Oregon long snapper Zach Taylor sent one way over the head of punter Josh Syria and through the end zone for a safety.
Oregon used a couple of timeouts on defense near the end of the first half to try to get the ball back with just over a minute left, but the strategy backfired when Cal linebacker Worrell Williams intercepted a Masoli pass and returned it to the Ducks' 3 with 34 seconds left. Longshore hooked up with Boateng for a score two plays later. The Ducks started moving the ball better in the third quarter, opening the second half with a nine-play drive that resulted in a 39-yard field goal by Matt Evensen to make it 16-9. Giorgio Tavecchio's 33-yard field goal pushed the lead back to 10, but Oregon cut it to 19-16 by going 55 yards on three plays, with Jeremiah Johnson scoring on a 17-yard touchdown run.
That set up the game's pivotal sequence. Oregon had a third-and-one at the Cal 10 early in the fourth quarter but was called for a false start. The Ducks had to settle for a field-goal attempt, and Evenson's try from 29 yards out was wide right. Oregon stopped the Bears on the next possession, but Byrd couldn't handle the punt by Bryan Anger, and Cal's Matt Russi recovered at the Ducks 6. Vereen scored, and Cal's defense once again went into shutdown mode. "Overall, I thought it was a great performance by our kids," Gregory said. "It was one of the best performances since we've been here, against that kind of offense. Our guys are playing with a lot of character right now. We're very proud of them."
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