BERKELEY, Calif. – Jonathan Stewart grabbed the hand-off, headed up field and found himself swarmed by gold and blue uniforms.
That result repeated itself throughout the Ducks’ loss.
Saturday’s final statistics showed 18 rushes for 25 yards. Stewart’s performance marked the first time he’s started and finished with less than 100 yards rushing. Oregon’s leading rusher, quarterback Dennis Dixon, gained 45 yards on 11 carries.
“We thought we were ready but we just didn’t come out to play,” Stewart said. “It seemed like they were right on top of our whole game plan.”
Anything close to ordinary Saturday changed in this meeting of undefeated Pacific-10 Conference teams. The Oregon and Cal buildup teased of a showdown between Stewart and Marshawn Lynch.
It was anything but.
Lynch suffered a first-half ankle injury. Justin Forsett slid in and gave Cal a reliable go-to option on the ground with 163 yards on 27 carries. His touchdown, a 23-yard run with six minutes left, provided the exclamation point on the Golden Bears’ 45-24 win.
Stewart, from the start, never found his way.
Dixon threw an interception on Oregon’s first drive. On Oregon’s second drive, Stewart ran three times for seven yards. Oregon managed to stop Cal at its goal line in the second quarter when Jairus Byrd intercepted a pass in the end zone.
Almost immediately, Oregon gave the ball back, the victim of a Stewart fumble on the Oregon 26-yard line. Abu Ma’afala recovered the football and coincidentally led to Lynch’s injury.
Lynch ran 24 yards on the first play of the next possession to the Oregon 2 yard line, where Oregon rover Patrick Chung pulled the senior tailback to the ground. Lynch left the game, and Forsett and Longshore made consecutive rushing attempts with the second reaching the end zone.
California led 21-3 at that point. The Golden Bears had the answers and Stewart and his Oregon teammates were left trying to find an explanation.
Stewart, who entered Saturday averaging 114.2 yards per game, had equal yards in the air with three catches for 25 yards.
“I thought the (Cal) coaches had a very nice plan defensively,” Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. “That’s a feat to stop those guys, to slow them down like our defense did.”
Stewart deflected any concerns about his sometimes troublesome ankle, saying he felt better after the game than he has in a while.
“Right now it’s a little sore, but it’s way better than it has been,” he said.
The nationally televised showdown before an ABC audience placed Oregon in a boisterous Memorial Stadium Saturday.
“The crowd was loud,” Stewart said. “There was a lot of noise, that’s for sure, but I don’t think we were nervous at all.”
Either way, Oregon started inauspiciously, when Dixon threw an interception on the first play of the game. Cal consistently pressured the junior quarterback, who threw three interceptions after having just two in the Ducks first four games.
Oregon players tried to “shake it off” and mount a comeback, Stewart said. They discussed at halftime making a large comeback from Oregon’s 28-10 first half deficit.
“Anything’s possible out there,” Stewart said.
Cal kept the pressure on and scored the first 10 points of the second half, pushing the lead to 38-10 with 2:18 left in the third quarter.
Oregon and Stewart stay at home next weekend against UCLA. Now 4-1, what did the Ducks learn in it’s first loss of the season?
“Just to prepare ourselves and stay focused and play our game – don’t let anyone take us out of our game,” Stewart said.
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