(Written by kencraw)

(We continue the looking back series for the 2008 season. Unlike prior seasons where I did these games in chronological order, I’m going to do them as what will look like previews for this year’s match up. Go here for past posts.)

Pre-Game notes and thoughts:
Rain was the order of the day for this game. The Bears had already racked up two losses to Maryland and more distressing to Cal’s Rose Bowl hopes, Arizona. While Arizona didn’t seem to be a Pac-10 title contender, it was still a bad sign for Cal with all the tough teams still in front of them on the schedule. So while Cal controlled their destiny, Oregon had only one loss, but it was a blowout loss to USC. The rest of their schedule was still in front of them too. Riley was back under center starting the previous game against UCLA after a couple of game where Longshore had gotten the start.

Scoring and momentum changing plays:

• Riley throws an interception on the first drive of the game, trying to throw a dump-off pass to Best over the middle but throws right when Best moved left. Oregon gets the ball at the Cal 45.
• Masoli runs the read-option to the right from 17 yards out and the Ducks score in very easy fashion after the Cal interception. Things don’t look good early for the Bears. The extra point is blocked to minimize the damage: 0-6
• Riley completes a 3rd and 15 pass to Tucker after escaping pressure and rolling out on the ensuing drive. With Oregon having scored so easily on their first drive, Cal keeping the ball and not going 3 and out was critical for momentum reasons.
• Riley throws passes of 23 yards to Tucker and 30 to Ross for the touchdown, the pass to Ross a nice seam route on the slant. Bears take a one point lead: 7-6
• Best rips off a 60 yard run, cutting it back to the middle after going up the sideline. However, at the end of the run the ball squirts out and the Bears give up their 2nd turnover of the game. At least this time the ball was at the Oregon 30.
• Oregon’s long-snapper snaps the ball WAY over the punters head sailing out of the back of the endzone for a safety. The Bears extend to a field goal lead: 9-6
• Riley runs up the middle on a broken play for a sizable gain but takes a hard hit at the end of the play and goes off the field woozy. Nate Longshore comes in as his backup.
• Tedford has the team go for it on 4th and 17 from the Oregon 35 and Longshore completes it to Tucker for a 1st down, getting Cal into the redzone.
• After guiding the team down to the Oregon 5 yard line, Longshore bobbles the snap on the hold for the field goal and Oregon escapes without a Cal score.
• Best fumbles the ball inside the Cal redzone when he didn’t have a good grip on the handoff. Oregon gets their second short field of the day.
• Sean Cattouse picks off the pass from Masoli on the goal-line cutting off the slant pattern. It prevents the Ducks from scoring on their short field.
• Vereen gets in on the fumbling act as Oregon gets a helmet on the football, shooting it up in the air, giving Oregon the ball around midfield.
• Oregon tries a fake punt by putting backup QB Roper as the punter. However, the fake fails and Cal gets the ball back at their own 40.
• Tavecchio from 41 yards out pulls a line drive wide left.
• Oregon tries for a end of half score and Masoli throws an interception to Worrell Williams who rumbles down to the Oregon 3 yard line.
• Longshore throws a nice out-pattern to Boateng who turns it up field just enough to get it into the endzone. Bears take a 10 point lead: 16-6
• Oregon kicks a long field goal to finish of their first drive of the 2nd half. Bears lead shrinks to a TD: 16-9
• Tavecchio kicks a 32 yard field goal from “the lake” after a nice drive by Longshore that was aided by a pass interference call. Bears back up by 10: 19-6
• Jeremiah Johnson has a surprisingly easy 21 yard run into the endzone on the 3rd drive of the game where the Ducks offense comes to life. Bears lead down to a field goal: 19-16
• Oregon misses a field goal attempt at the start of the 4th quarter leaving Cal with that 3 point leed and now the benefit for the Bears of not running into the lake.
• Oregon’s return man drops the punt and the Bears recover the fumble at the Oregon 6 yard line.
• Vereen finds a hole on the edge for a 2 yard touchdown run. The Bears are back out in front by 10: 26-16
• Oregon is unable to move the ball for the entire 4th quarter ending with an incomplete on 4th and 17 from around midfield with 39 seconds left.

Observations:

• Oregon did a really nice job with their first possession. They spread the ball around and proved to Cal that Masoli could throw the ball with a couple of nice pass plays. I had completely forgotten about the early interception and easy TD that really made it look like it was going to be a long day in the rain in Berkeley. Luckily the Bears marched right down the field and got a return touchdown to undo the momentum.
• The Oregon secondary was playing very physical in this game as evidenced by a couple of pass interference calls and the hit on Riley. Cal was doing a good job of not letting it affect them and doing their best to stay on their routes.
• It’s effectively impossible to understate how much of an affect the rain had on the game. From bad snaps, to bad holds, plus fumbles and errant throws, about every other play was notably affected by the slick conditions.
• Oregon’s tendency to go for it at the end of the half has burned them on more occasions than it has helped them from my vantage point. They treat it like it’s the end of the game and big interceptions have been the rule of the day.
• Oregon’s run game seemed to come back to life at the beginning of the 2nd half, similar to how they did well to start the game. But the defense made adjustments both times and locked them down.
• The difference between how the north end of the field looked before halftime and after halftime was very notable. It had turned into a lake in the mean time. It was pretty much impossible to be effective down on that side of the field, particularly when running to the right. Tavecchio’s field goal from that lake was darned impressive whereas when the Oregon kicker tried to make effectively the same kick from the same spot later in the game, he missed.
• The Cal offense was really ineffective in the 2nd half with lots of 3rds and long that they weren’t able to convert.
• At the same time, the Oregon offense became resurgent towards the end of the 3rd quarter, their run game coming to life. Probably their biggest mistake was letting the 3rd quarter expire while they were driving all the way into the redzone. That put them squarely in the middle of the lake when they switched sides. A false-start on 3rd and 1 was likely due to the lineman not being comfortable in the lake and then the Ducks were unable to convert the 3rd and 6 in the middle of the lake. Then to add injury to insult, the field goal attempt from the lake is wide right.
• The impact of “the lake” just can’t be understated. It effectively ensured the defense only had to cover half the field. Each time Oregon would get to midfield, their drives would come to a halt.
• Roper came in for Masoli on the final drive of the game. Although Masoli clearly isn’t as good of a passer, it was an odd choice in my mind because Roper was on the sideline all game and he just doesn’t have the time to get in rhythm that he needed.

Implications for 2009:
After looking at the statistics and watching Oregon’s games this year I was starting to buy into the notion that Oregon isn’t all that good and that Masoli stinks. Re-watching last year’s game and knowing how many of those players are back, I have much more respect for Oregon than I did before. At the same time, the weather was a HUGE factor in this game and its hard to draw too many conclusions. What we know for sure is that when Oregon’s run game is firing on all cylinders, it can be a long day for the opposing defense, so shutting it down is key to victory. If Masoli can’t improve on last year’s throwing performance or even more critically is weak throwing performances this year, that could prove to be the key to a Cal victory. However, if he can force the Cal defense to play Oregon balanced, it will make the game much more challenging.

Conclusion:
This will always be a game that sticks with me because of the weather. I think I’ll call it “The Lake Bowl” from now on…