BERKELEY, Calif. — Down 31-14 at halftime, quarterback Justin Herbert didn’t give up.
Making his first road start, the 6-foot-6 true freshman bounced back from a mediocre first half to help the Ducks grab their first lead since Sept. 24 against Colorado.
Herbert and Oregon’s offensive efforts weren’t enough, however, as the Ducks (2-5) squandered a late lead to Cal to drop their fifth consecutive game of the 2016 season, 52-49.
“Just a ton of support in the locker room,” Helfrich said of Herbert after the game. “You can see guys around him. He’s obviously very hard on himself, but we should have never been in that situation. I’d do the same exact thing at the end.”
Oregon’s defense gave Herbert and the offense no help by giving up 636 total yards to Cal (4-3).
The true freshman quarterback, in his first road start, finished 22-of-40 for 258 yards and six touchdowns. His lone interception came on the game’s final play when Cal’s Jordan Kunaszyk picked off a potential touchdown pass. That sent the Cal players into a flurry of excitement — and Herbert into the arms of six teammates who picked him up.
“I definitely thought we were in a great position to win the game,” Herbert said. “I made a mistake and let the team down.”
He started 8-of-17 but came back from halftime to complete 14-of-23 passes. Herbert connected for touchdown passes with three Oregon tight ends: Pharaoh Brown, Johnny Mundt and Evan Baylis.
Helfrich said the message at halftime was “do your job.”
Both teams were flagged for 14 penalties for a combined 279 yards.
“We had just a bunch of self-inflicted wounds,” Helfrich said. “It got after us.”
Oregon forced overtime when Herbert completed a long 43-yard pass to Charles Nelson to tie the game at 42 with 3:15 left in regulation.
In overtime, Herbert connected with Jalen Brown, then Oregon allowed Cal’s Davis Webb to rush for a touchdown to push the game to its second overtime. Cal kicker Matt Anderson connected on a 28-yard field goal. Herbert was then picked off on the second play of Oregon’s possession.
Tyree Robinson said the team must take away a moral victory from Friday night’s game. Though the Ducks have now lost five straight, Friday marked a noticeable improvement on both offense and defense.
“I’m not walking around with my head down,” Robinson said. “Herb played a great game. He made some difficult throws, but we’re limited at receiver. There’s a lot on that. A lot of guys nicked up. We just have to get everybody back.”
Oregon used a team of running backs against Cal. Royce Freeman didn’t look like the player Oregon fans have come to expect, but said that he’s 100 percent healthy. Tony Brooks-James led the Ducks in rushing with 15 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown.
“It was a close game, so it’s always a heartbreaker,” Freeman said. “We just have to finish games.”
Helfrich was noticeably upset after the loss when he spoke with reporters deep under Cal’s Memorial Stadium. His voice cracked. His eyes were red with emotion.
He said knowing how close Oregon was able to come to the win made the loss tougher to stomach.
“They competed their butts off, but at the same time, it makes it that much harder,” Helfrich said. “That result and near miss, but they competed a bunch of times. They could have splintered. They could have fallen apart, but they didn’t.”
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne