(Written by kencraw)

The pre-game Storyline:
The biggest game of the season in the Pac-10 so far, Cal vs. Oregon would determine the front-runner to challenge USC for the conference championship. With Cal ranked #6 and Oregon ranked #11, it was considered a very even matchup once the home field advantage was taken into account. The game should be a shootout with both team’s offenses being nearly unstoppable all season.

The pre-game reality:
The reality was that Oregon and Cal had the most under appreciated defenses in the Pac-10. Particularly with the matchup between Belloti and Tedford, two coaches who know each other all too well, and hence their teams, well, the game was nearly guaranteed to be more balanced than the pundits thought. Oregon was also a fairly untested team when one took into account the reality that Michigan was in horrible shape when Oregon destroyed them in week 2. Cal, although more tested than Oregon, was also less tested than people believed.

The key plays:

• Oregon’s QB Dennis Dixon over threw a wide open receiver down the sideline on 3rd down on their first drive. Not only did it force Oregon to punt, it also cost the Ducks an easy touchdown.
• Jeremiah Johnson slipped some tackles to go for a 26 yard run after Cal had pinned Oregon deep in their territory with a good Larson punt. A couple 1st downs later, Oregon was able to kick a field-goal and put the Bears in an early, albeit small, hole 0-3.
• Jordan Kay got back on track after a couple shaky weeks, capping a meticulous drive by the Bears to tie the game at 3-3 mid-2nd quarter.
• A truly, remarkably bad personal foul call on Ezeff turned a 4th and 7 from near mid-field, to a 1st and 10 just outside of the redzone for Oregon. Ezeff’s hit was more than just legal, it was prudent the way Oregon had been tip-toeing up the sideline. The refereeing blunders continued on the next play when a blatant block in the back was not called on a reverse play that gave Oregon the 1st and goal they needed to take back the lead, Cal now down 3-10.
• Forsett broke a 30 yard run play to get Cal into the Oregon redzone. Unfortunately Kay’s kick went over the short Oregon goal posts and was called no-good on a very close kick leaving Cal down by 7, 3-10.
• A punt to DeSean never got to him because Oregon interfered with the opportunity to make the catch. That gave the Bears the ball near mid-field. A couple first downs later the Bears were in striking distance.
• Later on the drive, DeSean broke free on an exceptional post route for an easy touchdown to tie the game at 10-10 with less than 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
• A Dixon to Colvin slant up the seam went for 42 yards and a touchdown, getting Oregon back their touchdown lead on the ensuing possession. It was clearly a missed assignment by the Cal secondary and the Bears were down again 10-17.
• DeSean caught a nice fade pattern down the sideline that would have gone for a touchdown had Jackson not had to try and tip-toe down the sideline. Nevertheless it got Cal down into the redzone where the Bears were able to punch it in and tie the game at 17-17.
• Jackson made an awesome stutter step move to run past the Oregon corner in route to another touchdown and to give Cal their first lead of the game, 24-17 with just over 11 minutes left in the game.
• Jahvid Best ran down and recovered the fumbled kickoff by Oregon. Cal got the ball back inside the Oregon 30. Unfortunately Cal was unable to make any progress from there and actually went backwards to take the Bears out of field-goal range. However, Cal was able to pin Oregon inside their own 10 yard-line.
• Back-to-back long passes got Oregon all the way down the field into the Cal redzone where Oregon was able to punch it in to tie the game at 24-24.
• Anthony Felder did a nice job of disguising his zone coverage and induced Dixon to throw his first interception of the season, giving Cal the ball just outside the Oregon redzone.
• With Longshore back behind center but obviously gimpy, Forsett and the offensive line took the team on their back and ran the ball in for a touchdown on three consecutive plays putting Cal up 31-24.
• After Oregon surprisingly easily marched down into the Cal redzone, Mika Kane tipped the ball for Alualu to intercept.
• Jeremiah Johnson eluded a handful of tackles on a play that would have had him down in bounds (and hence left the clock running) still in Oregon territory. Instead he was able to run across the field for a 30-yard gain and get out of bounds.
• And of course… the defining play of the game… Marcus Ezeff forced a fumble of Colvin just before the goal-line. The resulting touchback went to Cal because the ball crossed the goal-line and then dribbled out of bounds. This gave the Bears the ball back to take a knee and end the game.

The forgotten:

• The crowd noise at the beginning of the game rattled Cal on their first possession and was nearly the sole reason that not only did Cal go 3-and-out, but also managed to go backwards on those three plays.
• Oregon was heavily committed to stopping the run early in the game. Cal’s play calling played right into that with a heavy load of run plays.
• The 1st quarter had only 3 points, a field-goal by Oregon. Otherwise both offenses were mostly held in check despite both sides getting a fair amount of yards. There was a lot of “Bend But Don’t Break” working very effectively.
• On Cal’s first drive of the 2nd half, Cal started with a lot of play-action passing to loosen up the Oregon defense. The resulting gains got Cal onto the Oregon side of the field. At which point Cal was finally able to get some production from their running game.
• Cal’s defense held Oregon to almost zero offense on their first few drives of the 2nd half. That both gave Cal additional possessions and allowed them to wear down the Oregon defense.
• Although DeSean Jackson never got a good punt return opportunity nor was there a horrible shank trying to punt away from DeSean, his presence did play a big hand in the field-position game. There were a lot of very high and relatively short punts that gave Cal better than average field-position.
• Oregon fans are whiners about hits along the sideline, arguing for personal fouls when their players are tip-toeing up the sidelines. The most egregious was an extended boo for a play where Dixon was still well in-bounds when he was hit out of bounds inside the 5 yard-line.
• The game was still tied when Longshore went down injured. The Bears had to punt right away with Riley behind center who was only handing off to Forsett (and that’s what Oregon was expecting/defending).
• Longshore, although he came back into the game, never threw the ball again on two possessions. Oregon was clearly ready for this and outside of the short-field touchdown, completely shutdown the Cal running game.

The post-game storyline:Cal won a tight fought battle between two excellent teams, making Cal the clear challenger to USC for the Pac-10 title. With USC coming to Berkeley there was much to be hopeful for in a big showdown with USC. All Cal needed to do was beat the handful of mediocre Pac-10 teams that stood between Cal and the USC game.

The post-game reality:This is one of those rare games where the ‘storyline’ pretty accurately reflected the actual situation. The one catch was Longshore’s injury. However, at the time, every indication was that it was a minor sprain and with the bye-week in between the Oregon and Oregon State games, there was little to be concerned about… or so everyone thought.

The 2007 learnings:

• Marcus Ezeff was going to get a lot of playing time in 2007. He was coming of age as a young safety.
• DeSean Jackson still was the most electrifying threat on the team. While he had been in a minor slump for a few games, there was no doubt that when we wasn’t being double and triple covered, he was very dangerous.
• The Bend But Don’t Break defense was working at its best during this game. Both keeping Cal in the game when they were trailing and slowing the Oregon offense when Cal finally got the lead. Additionally it showed its ability to force interceptions with the frequent use of the zone defense in confusing ways that could induce errors by the opposing QB.

The 2008 implications:
Number 1 on the 2008 implications is that the Cal vs. Oregon game in Berkeley will be another good one. Looking at these two teams and both how stocked they are with young talent but also how many experienced players were lost in 2007, there’s every reason to believe that when these teams meet in November, we’ll be looking at two young teams that have come of age during the season. With them both reflecting the similar mindset of Belloti and Tedford, there’s every reason to believe it’ll be another close one.

The conclusion:
This was definitely the highlight of the 2007 season and was an extremely fun game to both be at and watch at home for the looking back series. This is Cal football with Tedford at the helm at its finest. What separates the last few seasons from 2004 was the consistency with which Cal has been able to play at this high level. In all 3 of the most recent seasons, Cal has had some troubling slumps that followed exceptional games like this one. What Cal needs to get over the hump is play with this kind of intensity and consistency through a whole season.