BERKELEY, Calif. – Any dreams of an Oregon football national title dissipated Saturday night in California’s Memorial Stadium.
Any dreams of challenging USC for the Pacific-10 Conference crown are likely gone as well. Cal was that dominant in its 45-24 rout Saturday night.
Oregon’s high-powered offense, averaging 497 yards of total offense, was held to 358 yards. Quarterback Dennis Dixon tossed three interceptions. Jonathan Stewart ran for 25 yards on 18 carries.
Receiver Jordan Kent gave Oregon one of its few positives with a career high 113 yards receiving on six receptions. In Oregon’s first four games, the Ducks relied on Jaison Williams with no clear second option. Williams caught five passes for 66 yards Saturday.
The Dixon-Kent connection started early when the track star caught two 16-yard passes on Oregon’s second drive, leading to kicker Paul Martinez’s 22-yard field goal to bring the Ducks within 7-3.
Kent made a 44-yard grab in the fourth quarter to set up Oregon’s final score, a 20-yard touchdown pass from Dixon to receiver James Finley.
Finley’s first touchdown of the season complemented his 39-yard, three reception performance – more than his season total of 30 yards entering the game.
“It was a game where I don’t think we executed well on offense,” Kent said. “We came out and we were a bit antsy.”
Afterwards, Kent focused more on the team’s performance, dismissing any attention for his performance.
“It doesn’t even matter to me,” Kent said. “The fact we didn’t get that win is tough. I’ll still be getting out there early before practice on Monday. There are still a couple of more plays out there I could have made.”
Game Notes
– Saturday was the first time since the Sun Bowl in 2003 that Oregon failed to rush for 100 yards as a team. Conversely, Oregon has allowed a 100-yard rusher in each game since the season opener against Stanford. Fresno State’s Dwyane Wright, Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson, Arizona State’s Ryan Torain and, now, California’s Justin Forsett, have all rushed for more than 100 yards against Oregon’s defense.
– Oregon successfully ran its second fake field goal of the season. Holder and backup quarterback Brady Leaf connected with Dante Rosario for 25 yards to set up Oregon’s first touchdown of the game in the second quarter. Oregon’s other fake field goal was the game-winner at Fresno State.
– Oregon punter Matt Dragich lost his starting job to Aaron Knowles Saturday after Dragich averaged 30.7 yards per punt last week against Arizona State, including a nine-yard punt that went out-of-bounds. Knowles averaged 38.8 yards per punt Saturday against the Bears.
– UCLA, Oregon’s opponent next week, lost sophomore quarterback Ben Olson to a leg injury in the first quarter of the Bruins 27-7 win against Arizona Saturday. Olson is set to undergo an MRI on Monday to determine his status for next week’s game against the Ducks. If he can’t play, backup quarterback Patrick Cowan, a sophomore who tossed two touchdown passes in Olson’s absence, will make his first career start at Autzen Stadium.
– Earlier this week, fans of the Texas Longhorns, anticipating their Red River Shootout against Oklahoma, purchased duck calls from the Eugene Duck Shop to mock the Sooners. Oklahoma lost in a controversial game at Oregon on Sept. 16. The Sooners lost to Texas 28-10 Saturday .
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