5 Things To Watch: California
12/04/20 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
The Ducks go on the road to face the Golden Bears on Saturday (4 p.m., ESPN).
BERKELEY, Calif. – The Oregon football team is looking for a bounce-back effort when the No. 23 Ducks go on the road to play at California on Saturday.
The Ducks (3-1) are coming off their first loss in more than a calendar year, last Friday at Oregon State. The Golden Bears got off to a late start to their season due to a couple cancellations and are 0-3, but they have played progressively better each week, losing 31-27 at OSU on Nov. 21 and 24-23 to Stanford last week.
Saturday's game will be televised by ESPN, with Dave Flemming on play by play, Rod Gilmore providing analysis and Taylor McGregor reporting from the sidelines.
Some storylines to follow in the game …
1. No game ever comes down to one thing, but for the Ducks there's no bigger priority than solving some issues with their run defense.
A win over UCLA two weeks ago created some concern when the Bruins rushed for 267 yards, and the loss to Oregon State featured 269 rushing yards by the Beavers. The Ducks have missed some tackles through four games, but at OSU a bigger problem was getting off blocks and ensuring that every gap at the line of scrimmage was covered.
California is rushing for 137.7 yards per game, but that average is skewed by a 54-yard performance against UCLA to open the season. The Golden Bears ran for 241 yards against Stanford, so the UO defense faces another tough test.
2. The Ducks were able to overcome UCLA's gains on the grounds two weeks ago by winning the turnover margin, something Oregon would like to do again Saturday at Cal.
Otherwise this season the Ducks have been on the wrong end of the turnover margin. And overall they're minus-5 for the season. After being one of the top five teams in the country in turnover margin last year, Oregon is just outside the bottom five in 2020, at a tie for 117th among FBS teams.
Oregon's four takeaways this season were all during the win over UCLA. Offensively the Ducks can be a little cleaner, although that group's mistakes have been magnified by issues elsewhere.
3. Oregon is hopeful that its personnel situation will be a little better than it was last week at Oregon State.
Receiver Mycah Pittman only played one rep in that game after returning to practice late last week, but he should be available for a bigger role Saturday at Cal. Pittman is sure-handed and plays with an edge, qualities that can only help the Ducks even though the emergence of Devon Williams the last two weeks has masked the impact of Pittman's absence.
On defense, the Ducks played at OSU without their starting nickel defender, Jamal Hill. For a defense looking to create more turnovers, Hill has the potential to be one of Oregon's best playmakers on that side of the ball, and his return Saturday would be most welcome.
4. Will the Ducks be able to mine their depth of talent on offense any deeper this week?
Mario Cristobal said he'd like to involve a few more players on offense, given Oregon's depth of talent. Players like Sean Dollars, Josh Delgado and others haven't been involved all that much through four games, thought they have the ability to be playmakers when they get the chance.
Part of the problem, Cristobal said, is that Oregon would like to be running 80 or more plays per game, which would help get more guys on the field. But for various reasons, the Ducks are running closer to 65 plays a game. If they can get off the field a little faster on defense, and limit turnovers on offense, the Ducks very much have the potential to run up their play count.
5. Oregon would welcome another solid week from new placekicker Henry Katleman.
A week ago in his debut as the UO kicker, Katleman made five extra points and his only field-goal attempt, from 33 yards out. That kind of stability is exactly what the Ducks sought when they held an open competition for the position leading up to the OSU game.
This week, Cristobal said Katleman has the range to hit field goals from 50 yards and beyond — as does sophomore Camden Lewis. Will the Ducks give their placekicker a chance to show off that range this week?
