Winless Cal hosts Oregon in game of reduced import
BERKELEY >> The 2020 football season hasn’t been what either Cal or Oregon imagined.
Blame some of it on COVID-19, but that doesn’t explain the Bears’ special teams breakdowns or the Ducks’ sudden inability to defend the run.
Oregon was the preseason Pac-12 favorite and Cal was picked second in the North Division. So today’s clash at Memorial Stadium was expected to be a showdown of so much greater significance.
Instead, Cal (0-3) still is seeking its first victory — and it’s December. Even in 2001 when the Bears started 0-10, they finally got into the win column during Thanksgiving week.
The Ducks (3-1) are coming off a 41-38 road loss to rival Oregon State, changing the trajectory of their possibilities. Yes, they still can win the Pac-12 championship, but the College Football Playoff is off the table after Oregon dropped to No. 23 in this week’s ranking.
Here are storylines to watch when the Bears and Ducks kick off at 4 p.m. today:
CLOSER TO WHOLE >> Cal got the expected news this week that players who were sidelined by COVID contact tracing the past two weeks have been set free from quarantine.
That means starting offensive tackles Jake Curhan and Will Craig and tight end Collin Moore will play. They rejoined the team in time for meetings and practice on Wednesday, so they are likely to start.
Running back Christopher Brown Jr., who rushed for more than 900 yards a year ago, seems healthy again after missing the
Oregon State game two weeks ago because of injury and being held out of the first half of the Big Game.
Linebacker Braxten Croteau, on the shelf the past two weeks for an undisclosed reason, is cleared to play, while the Bears await word on the status of starting guard Valentino Daltoso, inside linebacker Evan Tattersall and freshman nose guard Stanly McKenzie.
“We would still love to be able to have the entire team practice together,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said. “That’s not in the cards right now, but the more the merrier.”
FIXING SPECIAL TEAMS >> The Bears’ two most recent defeats can be directly traced to foulups by their kicking units. In the 2423 loss to Stanford, Cal fumbled a punt return to set up a Cardinal touchdown, had a 32-yard field goal blocked, then the potential game-tying PAT blocked with 58 seconds left.
Don’t expect wholesale personnel changes this week. Kicker Dario Longhetto will be coached to get the ball in the air more quickly, but he has a 52-yard field goal this season so he’s probably the Bears’ best choice.
Wilcox talked about altering launch point and tightening the blocking scheme, suggesting he still believes this can be fixed with a few tweaks.
“Our job is to identify it, remedy it, and if the guys are capable of doing it, we’ve got to help them get that done,” he said. “If they’re not (capable), we’ve got to find some people more capable in that situation. And that’s ultimately our job.”
POROUS DUCKS DEFENSE >> Even in recent years when Oregon made its reputation with its explosive offense, the Ducks were stout defensively. A year ago, when they were 12-2 and won the Rose Bowl, the Ducks allowed just 16.5 points per game and 3.3 yards per rush attempt.
This season they are allowing 29.8 points and 208.2 rushing yards per game. Opponents are gaining an average of 5.4 yards per run attempt.
“We haven’t been to the level that we expected of ourselves,” Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said of his run defense that ranks 104th nationally. “There’s no sugarcoating that, but there’s also no finger-pointing.”
While the Ducks’ run defense has gotten worse — 267 yards by UCLA two weeks ago before 269 by Oregon State — Cal’s rushing attack has made quantum leaps each week. The Bears have improved from 54 yards to 124 to 241 against Stanford.
Even with Brown available only part-time last week, the Bears flourished because Damien Moore ran for 121 yards — the second most by a Cal freshman in the Big Game over the past 40 years. The most? Marshawn Lynch ran for 122 yards against the Cardinal as a freshman in 2004.
OREGON CLASS REUNION >> Wilcox insisted the topic didn’t surface all week, but he, offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon all played for the Ducks.
Musgrave, a newcomer on the Cal staff, was the first-team AllPac-10 quarterback as a senior in 1990. But he was 10-for-29 passing in a 28-3 loss to the Bears and absorbed a big hit by Rhett Hall while being sacked.
“He planted me like he thought it was Arbor Day,” Musgrave hilariously recalled shortly after being hired by Cal.