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BERKELEY – Justin Herbert and the Oregon Ducks, ranked 19th, served as a rough stick for the 24-caliber Saturday night.
The Golden Bears have not been up to it.
For the second consecutive year, Cal, who had not yet taken part in a conference, failed to qualify for the third day in a row. Cal's young quarterbacks had five turnovers – two of them were hit – and the Bears could not beat the speed and accuracy of Oregon.
"It starts with turnarounds," said Cal coach Justin Wilcox. "You can not hit the ball so many times against a team like that. We moved the ball from time to time, and we had some turnovers and missed opportunities. "
Wilcox also criticized the Bears' defense against the race, which allowed a 45-yard run by Travis Dye and a 74-yard dash by CJ Verdell. This resulted in a disappointing night.
"It hurts," said Wilcox. "It looks like you got a kick in the belly. That sucks. But there is no other way to do it. Come back Monday and go to work.
Herbert, who had six touchdown passes two years ago in Cal's win against the Ducks, was almost perfect in the first half on Saturday, scoring 173 yards and a 1-2 as Oregon scored 28- 10. drive. He did not have to throw much the rest of the way, finishing 16th for 22 for 225 yards without a turnover.
Wilcox called him one of the best quarterbacks he has seen since he started becoming a university coach.
The Ducks (4-1, 1-1) showed they had ended the collapse of the match they had played a week earlier against Stanford. It will be the turn of the Bears to demonstrate that 2018 is not 2017, when they went 2-7 in Pac-12 and missed a game of petanque.
Three points to remember from the first defeat of the Bears season:
1) The mistakes sabotaged the game of the quarter of Cal.
Chase Garbers debuted for the third week in a row and Brandon McIlwain played his star role off the bench. There have been some good times, especially at McIlwain, whose 123 yard rushing has been most worn by Cal's quarterback since Joe Kapp had 130 yards against Oregon in 1958. After scoring a goal against 6 in 1 a touchdown.
But McIlwain also returned the ball three times. Once, Lamar Winston Jr. scored 61 yards for a touchdown, scoring 28-10 at the end of the first half, and twice in interceptions, including one for 32 yards. by Ugochukwu Amadi for a score 3 minutes from the game.
Garbers threw two interceptions and was injured 4 times for 9 for just 44 yards.
The two back quarters have accepted defeat as a chance to grow from their mistakes. "You can not do anything," McIlwain said. "You have to use the right things as momentum and the bad things as opportunities for learning."
2) The racing game has become alive.
Oregon entered the nation's # 3 ranked game with the lowest allowed rushing yards per game (2.13) and # 4 against rushing yards per game (75.5), but the Bears beat those numbers.
Cal's rushed for 241 yards on 5.9 yards per clip. McIlwain had 123, but running back Patrick Laird also found a pace after averaging 2.9 yards per run in three games.
Laird ran for 92 yards at 5.1 yards per attempt and scored on a 10-yard run.
3) Where are the bears from here?
Well, Arizona next week to face the Wildcats, who fell to 2-3 after a home loss against USC. There was no sign of defeat among Cal's players after this one.
"I'm waiting for us to fight," McIlwain said. "We are proud to be smart and tough. It is to be intelligent in solving our mistakes and continue to be hard to never stop fighting.
"I think we will respond very well. I think we'll be hungry as we go, as it should, "added Garbers. "We are looking forward to Arizona and I think we will bounce back well."
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