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Cal might've been looking ahead to next week's showdown with suddenly vulnerable USC, but they certainly sucked all the excitement out of it after getting whipped by the throwback jersey-wearing Oregon Ducks, 42-3. They probably did just as much harm to Jahvid Best's Heisman campagin. The Ducks shut down the star running back, holding him to 55 yards and also battered Bears' quarterback Kevin Riley into a feeble 123-yard outing.
Saturday's victory is part of a stunning turnaround for Oregon, following its opening night embarrassment against Boise, a game marred by offensive ineptitude and LeGarrette Blount's sucker punch heard 'round the world. Since then, Oregon has beaten Purdue, Utah and now California. Amusingly, the Ducks dominated Cal in a manner similar to how Boise State handled them.
The takeaway here is that Cal's shaky passing game was thoroughly exposed, with Riley looking like another link in the chain of suspect Cal quarterbacks since the departure of Aaron Rodgers after 2004. The Duck defenders harassed him all afternoon and he made little headway in connecting to a mostly anonymous group of receivers.
But it all started with shutting down Best. His afternoon wasn't a complete flop but 55 yards on 15 carries just won't cut it when he's such a critical part of the Bear offense. Most will likely write his Heisman hopes off, but he still has a shot. Much depends on the other candidates, however and both Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy have done little to suggest they won't be in New York.
The Ducks have clearly moved past the Blount situation, riding freshman back LaMichael James to a 118-yard afternoon, his second 100-plus yard outing in as many games. Even more impressive, quarterback Jeremiah Masoli went off, hitting 21 of 25 passes with three touchdowns in an extremely efficient effort. Oregon's passing game was supposedly exposed by Boise State, but perhaps it was merely dormant as Masoli struck early, before the run game was firmly established. His main target was versatile tight end Ed Dickson who had a career outing, catching 11 balls for 148 yards and all three of Masoli's touchdowns.
He shredded the Bears defense, reminiscent of recent USC tight end Fred Davis, who had several 100-plus-yard games of his own his senior year on the way to the Mackey Award.
The trio of name victories should be sufficient to launch Oregon into the polls this week, as the Ducks look forward to games against Washington State, UCLA, Washington and USC in October.
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