No. 9 Oregon holds off tenacious Cal
Its regular-season schedule now at the halfway point, the Cal football team still hasn’t figured out how to win the close one.
On Friday night at Oregon’s Autzen Stadium, the Bears got the ball to the Ducks’ 2-yard line in the final seconds but could not finish the job in a 24-17 loss to the nation’s ninthranked team.
“It’s very frustrating, extremely frustrating, there’s no other adjective to use ... it’s very frustrating,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said.
The Bears fell to 1-5 overall, 0-3 in the Pac12 and still are without a road victory over an AP Top-10 team since beating No. 10 Indiana 17-14 in 1969. Cal is 0-34-1 in those settings over the past 52 seasons.
A study in near misses this season, the Bears lost by five points to Nevada in their opener, by two points at TCU a week later, and in overtime at Washington. Against the Huskies, they fumbled the ball at the 1-yard line on the final play with a chance to extend
the game.
“We feel like we feel after every loss,” safety Elijah Hicks said. “We’re just a couple plays away from winning. That’s been a recurring theme.”
Cal led 17-10 when quarterback Chase Garbers threw his second touchdown of the game, a 4-yarder to tight end Gavin Reinwald with 13:37 left. The Ducks (5-1, 2-1) needed just 12 plays over two drives totaling 132 yards to take a 24-17 lead, going in front when quarterback Anthony Brown scrambled 11 yards into the end zone with 4:50 to play.
The Bears responded with an 18-play drive that took them from their own 25 to the Oregon 8.
After a timeout with 5 seconds left, Garbers faced a ferocious blitz up the middle. Crawford, his hot receiver, was covered so Garbers tried finding Nikko Remigio but didn’t come close to completing his fourth-down pass.