Cal’s first win a stunner as it takes down Oregon
Cal’s defense mostly stifled the Pac-12’s hottest offense and the Bears rediscovered one of their top weapons to pull off a 21-17 upset of No. 21 Oregon and claim their first victory of the season on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.
Chase Garbers threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Nikko Remigio midway through the third quarter and the Bears’ defense pitched a second-half shutout against a team that was leading the Pac-12 in scoring at 38.5 points per game.
Cal (1-3), which was picked second in the Pac-12 North, cost the Ducks (3-2) a chance to move into first place in the division. Washington entered the day at 3- 0 but
lost to Stanford, creating an opening for the Ducks.
The Bears made sure Oregon went home disappointed.
Remigio, the team’s top returning receiver, had caught just four passes for nine yards through three games. He also fumbled away a punt last week, setting up a Stanford touchdown in the Bears’ 24-23 loss in the Big Game.
But Remigio had six catches for 81 yards and a touchdown and returned four punts for 40 yards. Remigio’s 5-yard catch on fourth-and 3 from the Oregon 35 gave Cal a first down with barely 4 minutes left that helped clinch the win.
The Ducks moved to the Cal 38 before linebacker Kuony Deng forced a fumble by Oregon receiver Johnny Johnson III and freshmen Mo Iosefa recovered with 53 seconds to play.
The defense, led by linebacker Cameron Goode and nose guard Brett Johnson, kept Oregon out of the end zone in the second half, holding the Ducks for the second year in a row.
Oregon scored two touchdowns in the final 2:08 of the first half to spoil Cal’s ball- control game plan.
The Bears took a 14- 3 lead on the strength of drives that spanned 13 plays for 75 yards and 5:43 off the clock, and 19 plays for 80 yards, eating up 9:51.
But Oregon showed that time of possessions means only so much. The Ducks pulled within 14-10 when
Tyler Shough found Johnny Johnson III on a thirdand-16 play that went for 39 yards and a touchdown.
After getting one first down, Cal was forced to punt, giving Oregon the ball at its own 25 with 46 seconds. The Ducks needed only 23 of those seconds to take the lead.
Shough passed 67 yards to running back Travis Dye, who ran alone down the right sideline until being tackled at the 8. Two plays later, Cyrus HabibiLikio, a junior running back f rom St. Francis High in Mountain View, piled in from the 1 and Oregon was up 17-14.
Cal played turnover-free football in the first half and took a 7-3 lead when Garbers scored on a fourthdown sneak from the 1 with 2:23 left in the first half.
The Bears pushed the margin to 14-3 after a 19play drive that was buoyed by three critical penalties against the Ducks, including a pass interference call in the end zone on a fourthdown incompletion.
That gave Cal one more chance and Bradrick Shaw scored on a 1-yard run with 5:31 left in the half.