For fans that arrived to Autzen Stadium about 10 minutes after kickoff because of the rain, the cold, or perhaps the beverage in their hand, it turns out you were right on time.
For those of us punctually in our seats at 7:36 p.m. on Saturday night at Autzen Stadium, we saw how the California Golden Bears mauled through the Oregon defense and were ready to catch interceptions like jumping salmon. All of which teased a game that wouldn’t occur.
After two failed offensive possession that resulted in a three-and-out and an interception thrown in the end zone, the Ducks trailed by 10 points and were without any momentum as the crowd of over 56,ooo filed in.
“Our guys put our heads down and just kept fighting,” said sophomore strong safety Tyree Robinson. “We flushed it down… We just had to get some stops.”
The offense took its third drive 55 yards on 11 plays for an Aidan Schneider field goal. More importantly, it awoke an Oregon defense set to force a string of four-consecutive California punts, the majority in three-and-out fashion.
“That was a big momentum swing,” junior defensive back Reggie Daniels said. “They were moving the ball on us but we all bucked down and said ‘we have to get a stop’ and we went out there and got it done.”
It was contagious. And during a game where the temperature dipped to 49-degrees with scattered showers, the offense fed off the momentum.
“We kept it going,” Adams said. “We knew we were good and went out there an ran Oregon’s offense.”
The rules of the game? Don’t slow the other down. As if on cue, the Ducks offense, after each of the four-straight defensive stops, kept up with consecutive touchdown scores of its own. The four drives added up to 286 yards of offense and 31 unanswered points.
“We had to keep making plays because the defense, whenever they get a stop, we just want to keep going and give them momentum,” sophomore wide receiver Darren Carrington said. “If they stop the [opposing] offense, they know we’re going to go out there and score.”
The two, in essence, competed with each other for the first 30 minutes.
“That definitely motivates us,” Daniels said. “(The defense) did our part on the backend to lock it up, and I feel like we got the job done.”
The tone was set for the rest of the game as Oregon took complete control in its 44-28 home win over the Bears.
“When (the defense) sees the offense make a great play, we feel like we have to step it up just because we can’t just have one side of the ball playing great,” Robinson said. “If both sides of the ball are playing excellent, the sky’s the limit.”
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