University of Oregon
4-1 , 2-0
California
4-2 , 1-2
Defense Dominates As Ducks Overcome Early Struggles To Beat Cal, 17-7
10/05/19 | Football
Oregon's defense allowed a single touchdown and gave the offense time to clean up some early errors in Saturday's victory.
The stands in Autzen Stadium were quiet Friday afternoon, a little over 24 hours removed from being packed to the gills with a rollicking, sellout crowd for No. 13 Oregon's showdown with fellow one-loss conference foe California.
Gathered in the middle of Rich Brooks Field was the UO football team, having just wrapped up its "Fast Friday" workout for the game the next day. Head coach Mario Cristobal had the Ducks take a knee, then invited offensive line coach Alex Mirabal to address the team.
Mirabal's message was threefold. First, he talked about the team as a whole, and his desire to see the Ducks be dominant against the Golden Bears. Then, he addressed his offensive linemen, about wanting to watch them control the line of scrimmage and get Oregon's run game going at peak efficiency.
And then, Mirabal had a request: Would all members of the travel squad defense, he asked, please stand up? Members of the defense seemed surprised, slowly rising to their feet as the offense and special teams stayed on one knee around them.
"I really didn't know what he was going to say," junior cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. recalled Saturday night. "And then he said, 'We're going to go out and show the country that we're one of the best defenses in the Pac-12 – and not just in the Pac-12, the whole nation.'"
"That," sophomore safety Jevon Holland said, "was energizing. For sure."
It was also prescient. Because while Oregon's defense saw its streak of games without allowing a touchdown end Saturday, the Ducks held California to but a single score in winning 17-7 before 54,766 fans in Autzen Stadium. Three first-half turnovers denied the Ducks a bigger margin of victory, but it wasn't lost on the team that, a year or two ago, this might not have been a victory at all.
"I look at us now and the rallying that goes on, and I get ridiculously fired up about that," Cristobal said. "Because that's coming from the inside. It's hard to stop a team that's motivated from the inside out. In our opinion, that's a huge step for the program."
The Ducks (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12) committed turnovers on their first three possessions, with Justin Herbert throwing an interception and Travis Dye fumbling twice. There were killer penalties, and a missed field goal, too.
All of that, combined with the first first-half touchdown allowed all season by the UO defense, sent the Ducks into the halftime locker room down 7-0.
From there, senior linebacker Troy Dye took over. He addressed the team in no uncertain terms during the halftime break.
"It was something we needed to hear," Holland said. "Basically, we need to step up. Because this is not our standard."
The message was received. Cal mustered just 93 yards of offense over the final two quarters. The offense held on to the ball, and rallied its way past the Golden Bears.
Camden Lewis got the Ducks on the board first by atoning for his first-half missed field goal, converting an attempt for the first time in his career to make it 7-3 midway through the third quarter. During a break later in the quarter, a fan decided to run onto the field, and running back Cyrus Habibi-Likio ended up helping out security by getting the fan to the ground.
That moment went viral online, but more important to the Ducks was another contribution by Habibi-Likio minutes later. With starter CJ Verdell nursing an ankle injury and Travis Dye sharing the load after his fumbles, Habibi-Likio gave Oregon the lead for good with a one-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter.
"It was a great feeling," said Habibi-Likio, who's been something of a short-yardage specialist the last two seasons. "Especially the goal line, I'm comfortable there. So it was nice to see the offensive line hyped up. I just wanted to bring momentum back."
The Ducks never let it get away again. Troy Dye intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter while Cal still had life, setting the stage for Herbert's dagger touchdown pass to Jaylon Redd. The offense wanted to atone for all its first-half mistakes, and finally did, thanks to the defense keeping the Ducks in the game.
"It's great to have, but we don't want to be completely dependent on that," Cristobal said. "If we could have played the first half like we did the second half (offensively), we'd have been more what we're accustomed to. But we really struggled to get out of our own way."
Certainly, the offense wants to hold up its end of the bargain for four quarters. But as Mirabal made clear Friday, the coaching staff has confidence this defense is good enough to help the Ducks win no matter how many points they score. And the defense proved as much Saturday night.
"We have so much respect for our offense, so much respect for Mirabal," Graham said. "We tell them all the time, we don't care if you score 100 points or you score three. We're going to find a way to win the game."
Team Stats
CAL 7, ORE 0
CAL - Brown Jr., Chri 22 yd pass from Modster, Devon (Thomas, Greg kick) 6 plays, 63 yards, TOP 2:09
CAL 7, ORE 3
ORE - Lewis, Camden 28 yd field goal 13 plays, 72 yards, TOP 5:36
CAL 7, ORE 10
ORE - Habibi-Likio, C 1 yd run (Lewis, Camden kick), 3 plays, 30 yards, TOP 1:01
CAL 7, ORE 17
ORE - Redd, Jaylon 1 yd pass from Herbert, Justin (Lewis, Camden kick) 5 plays, 64 yards, TOP 2:06
