Oregon football: Huge second quarter leads Ducks to win

2. Cal can win nine games

While it may not seem like it from the final score, I think Cal was actually pretty solid today, all things considered. While they unfortunately won’t be ranked after this week, and their undefeated record has been sullied, I think the future is still super bright for this team, and for the Justin Wilcox era.

There a couple of things to get excited about here. Firstly, until Oregon went on that run with about six minutes left in the half, Cal was absolutely in this game. They looked ready to compete, and were right there with Oregon for most of the first half. When the dam broke, it really broke though. Their mistakes compounded, and they fell out of the game. Without the disastrous second quarter, this is a 21-17 game in favor of Oregon. Cal just couldn’t avoid the run that we knew was coming.

Outside of that though, the Golden Bears were actually pretty good! They had more than 400 yards on the game, ran the ball extremely well with Brandon McIlwain and Patrick Laird, and in general, their offense was pretty good! The issue, just like on defense, was mistakes. Cal had five turnovers.

Chase Garbers was intercepted in the first quarter, Brandon McIlwain’s second quarter fumble was returned for a score, a third quarter Garbers pick in Oregon territory kept the Ducks up 35-17, and two fourth quarter McIlwain picks, one of which was returned for a touchdown, all but ended the game. Oregon had 14 points off of turnovers, and would’ve had way more had their offense played a little better. If Cal can clean up the mistakes, I think they can win almost every game left on the schedule (not Washington and Stanford).