(Written by jsnell)

11:50 AM: Ken has reported in from Eugene.

12:16 PM: Ken: “The teams have left the field and it’s time for the band performance! It’s a little stanford’esque…They ran out in random fashion, although then they dropped into a formation (spelling out Oregon).”

12:27 PM: Ken: “Weather is overcast and cool. 66 degrees. Looks like we’ll be rain free.”

12:32 PM: I can not believe ABC didn’t bother to broadcast this game in HD. Oh god, and it’s Dan Fouts.

12:35 PM: Man, it’s the ugly uniform shootout. Cal in the all-whites (which aren’t horrible, though I prefer colored pants), and Oregon in what is even ugly for them: green shirt with the black arms and white tire treads on the sleeves, and black pants.

12:40 PM: Ken: “Longshore just missed a fairly open DeSean, WAY downfield on first play of the game.”

12:41 PM: 3rd and long for Cal.They want the screen, and it’s an obvious call. Fourth and a zillion. Punt time.

12:44 PM: Oregon moving the ball with ease.

12:46 PM: Dennis Dixon misses a wide-open receiver down the slidelines. Jason Williams was wide open, blew past Ezef, and Dixon just overthrew it. Ken: “Corner released WR like it was cover 2 and the safety sure didn’t play like he thought it was.” Punt time.

12:51 PM: First down Bears! Longshore to Jordan on 3rd down. Nice. First good Cal play of the day.

12:52 PM: Forsett stuffed on a run again. Ken: “I hate that bunch formation, particularly for running. It puts too many defenders in the box. But Longshore is getting all the throwing time he needs.”

12:55 PM: Longshore making some good completions here. Great one to Jackson. Ken: “Wow, how did DeSean pull in that pass? I thought for sure he was going to drop it.”

12:59 PM: 47-yard, 11-play drive stalls, so Larson comes out to punt. Now Oregon will start from deep in its own territory.

1:04 PM: Ken: “Dixon is doing a much better job avoiding the tackle. That’s twice now he’s made positive yards on a broken play. In that case it was huge because the 2nd from inside the 5 would have been rough.”

1:06 PM: Ducks have moved downfield with some good runs by Dixon and Stewart. Now inside the 20.

1:09 PM: Dixon misses a wide-open receiver in the end zone on 2nd down, and throws it behind a receiver at the goal line on 3rd down. 32 yard field goal attempt… good! Oregon 3, Cal 0.

1:11 PM: 3-0! This is a barn-burner. Ken: “So much for those 24 points in the 1st quarter that ‘respectful’ Duck commentator was talking about.”

1:13 PM: Ken: “Bellotti still refuses to kick to Cal, even on kickoffs.”

1:14 PM: Ken: “Oregon is tackling much better than Cal right now.”

1:14 PM: End of First Quarter. Oregon 3, Cal 0. The first time Cal hasn’t scored in a quarter since the fourth quarter versus USC. Brr.

1:18 PM: Three and out. Oregon is playing really well. Punt. Oregon ball at the 23.

1:23 PM: Dixon escapes for another run. Ken: “AGAIN!?! Cal really needs to get him down one of these times.” Next play… they get Dixon in the backfield. Ken: “Like that!”

1:24 PM: Great punt for Oregon. Jackson has to retreat to catch it and can’t make much out of it. Ken: “Jackson blew another punt return opporunity by not getting back behind the punt. He just can’t accelerate when he’s backpeddling to catch the ball and doesn’t get away like he usually does.”

1:28 PM: A couple of hand-offs to Jahvid Best, including a first down run. He’s definitely a different sort of runner from Forsett, which is why I think using him can be effective. Montgomery seems to be much more like Forsett. Now in comes Forsett and has his best run of the day, to the left side with a good block by Jackson.

1:31 PM: Great play call — a fake handoff to Forsett, running left, then a turn back for a screen to the right for a first down. Ken: “Yup, now the Tedford damned if you stop the run, damned if you stop the pass play calling comes to life. Tedford loves that swingout in that situation.”

1:33 PM: Cal in the red zone, but now it’s 3rd and 8 after an incompletion and a short run. Big play. Ken: “And the crowd just got louder than it has been since the opening series.” And it’s right off of Jordan’s chest at the goal line…

1:34 PM: Jordan Kay’s first big kick of the year. 34 yards. Up… good! Cal 3, Oregon 3.

1:35 PM: Nice drive. 12 plays, 66 yards, 5:44 off the clock. Some signs of life in the running game.

1:45 PM: Good Oregon drive here, and some poor decisions by the Cal defense on a couple of 3rd downs. Cal’s playing fairly well, but not consistently enough to force a punt.

1:47 PM: Ken: “These outside rushes are just fast enough that Cal can’t seal the corner before Stewart gets there.”

1:49 PM: Ezeff hits a Duck when he was already out of bounds, 15 yard penalty. STUPID. Oregon would have had to punt. Instead, first down at the 22 yard line. About as bad as you can get. Ken: “ARG!?! They’d been stopped. Why, why, why!?! Admittedly it was a marginal call but JUST DON’T DO IT!”

1:50 PM: This is going to be a gift score for Oregon, and that’s how you lose football games. This one’s on Ezeff.

1:51 PM: Touchdown Ducks, Stewart walks in. Oregon 10, Cal 3.

1:56 PM: Ken: “Critical possession coming up here. If Cal can score, negates the bad situation, if they can’t Oregon gets the ball to start the 2nd half up 10-3. Cal wasted WAY too much time. 1:43 to 0:38 on two plays.”

1:57 PM: Cal fails on fourth down on a dropped pass. So let’s tally it: Bad tackling, dropped passes, and a stupid penalty. Not a good half. At least they’re just down 7.

1:59 PM: Halftime. Oregon 10, Cal 3.

2:21 PM: And we’re back. Telling halftime stat: Cal 2-7 on third downs, Oregon 6-10.

2:22 PM: Ken: “Halftime thoughts: This is a definite grudge match. We’re one stupid penalty from a 3-3 game. I suspect we’ll see a slight improvement for Cal’s offense in the 2nd half. Sadly I expect Stewart to continue breaking tackles. That’ll be the key to a Bear victory. If Cal can stop the missed tackles and get just a little bit more offense going, this game is very winnable.”

2:24 PM: Oregon is forced to punt after a lame play call. They had 3rd and short, but they called the deep hand-off up the middle. Why be forced to gain one yard when you can be forced to gain four? Punt goes out of bounds, Cal ball.

2:25 PM: Ken: “I can FEEL a fake punt coming from Bellotti, the question is when.”

2:29 PM: Good start to this Cal drive. Forsett had a great run with four missed/broken tackles.

2:30 PM: Huge Forsett run. First down Cal inside the 20. It’s like night and day versus the first half, right now. And another Forsett run to the 13.

2:32 PM: Longshore’s pass on third down batted away, but definitely some contact on DeSean that the ref didn’t call. A missed opportunity. 34-yard attmept by Kay, no good. Best drive of the game and nothing to show for it — not good.

2:37 PM: Ken: “The offense needs to hold its head high after that. The Bears are only down by 7 and if they keep up that kind of play, they’ll score more than enough points to make up the differential… asuming the defense can continue to slow the Ducks.”

2:37 PM: Ken is much more positive than I am. But we knew that. Great defensive stand and Cal gets the ball on a punt. 15-yard penalty on Oregon for failing to let DeSean catch the ball. I’ll say this for DeSean: he clouds men’s minds. Ken: “No joke. At least they didn’t pull an ASU and level DeSean.”

2:42 PM: Ken: “If there’s one thing Cal has been doing well all day it has been protecting Longshore. Has he been hurried or knocked down yet? Not that I can remember.” Once or twice, but not a lot.

2:43 PM: Touchdown DeSean Jackson! 25 yards from Longshore, wide open. Cal 10, Oregon 10. Ken: “YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It had to happen eventually. This is one of the few moments I hate being in the press box. I probably look like I’m having a seizure trying to keep my mouth shut.”

2:46 PM: Great drive. Two good drives in a row, and good defense on two Oregon possessions. Things are looking up right now.

2:49 PM: Cal has a tad of momentum right now. Ken: “Definitely. the crowd is doing some extra cheers to try and lift the Ducks spirit.” But two quick first downs here by Oregon get the Ducks into Cal territory, and off we go…

2:50 PM: 3rd and long for the Ducks, and Cal plays up to stop the first down. Deep pass, touchdown Ducks. Oregon 17, Cal 10. This hearkens back to an earlier play when Cal played deeper on third down, allowing the first. Here they seemed to play up and the result: someone broke deep, end of story.

2:54 PM: This game is starting to remind me a little bit of the Cal-USC game from last year. Slow, struggling play for a while, then a quick burst.

2:56 PM: Forset stuffed. The momentum, she is gone, as quickly as she came. Good third-down conversion to Hawkins into Oregon territory, though. Longshore well protected.

2:57 PM: Deep completion to Jackson downfield, first and goal Cal. Jackson was wide open, and he’s showing his skills as a receiver today.

2:58 PM: End of Third Quarter. Oregon 17, Cal 10.

2:59 PM: Jackson is showing a lot more as a receiver today than in previous weeks. Ken: “Yup. And Oregon seems to be playing him more balanced than our previous opponents.” That’s probably why.

3:03 PM: Ken: “QB sneak, watch.” Longshore tries to go to the left, stopped short. Third down.

3:04 PM: Touchdown Bears! Forsett over the right tackle. Cal 17, Oregon 17.

3:07 PM: Ken: “I’d better go on record with this in case my heart gets broken in the next hour: this has been a very enjoyable, good game.”

3:08 PM: Another terrible kick return by the Ducks, letting the ball bounce and almost losing the ball to Cal. For a team with scary returners, this has been a bad performance — or good kicking by Cal. Ken: “Cal almost got the mistake it was looking for.”

3:09 PM: Another Duck third down. They’ve been crazy on third down today. SQUAD HIT! Come on, Bears. Pressure. GET THAT GUY!!! No. GET THAT GUY!!! Thrown deep. Complete? No. Intercepted? No. To the ground. Wow.

3:13 PM: Cal starts at the 50 after a Jackson fair catch.

3:13 PM: Ken: “This is the moment Cal needs to take the reins and win this game… RIGHT HERE.”

3:14 PM: Third and long… time out. Ken: “That was a good time for the Bears to call a timeout.” And it allows ABC to show me some more ads. A new car you say? A cell phone you say? A drill that turns into a motorcycle? Oh, I don’t want that one. Away with you, ABC.

3:17 PM: After the time out, huge third down. COMPLETE to Hawkins! Ken: “Perfect call for that defense.” Hawkins is slow getting up, I think maybe he got banged on his leg. It looks all contusion-y.

3:19 PM: DeSean Jackson catches it for a new first down… and runs it all the way into the end zone! Ken: “He stayed in, he stayed in… I just know it.” Cal 24, Oregon 17.

3:21 PM: ANOTHER HUGE ERROR ON THE KICK RETURN. The two returners bump into each other and leave the ball on the ground. Jahvid Best wearing his nameless #14 jersey recovers! Gigantic. Gigantic play. Cal ball.

3:23 PM: First play, deep to Jackson in the end zone, just missed. But the perfect call. Get ’em when they’re stunned.

3:24 PM: Holding call makes it 2nd and 20. Ken: “I wouldn’t have taken that penalty.” I agree. Gives Cal two chances. Unfortunately, Longshore threw it wide and missed some open receivers on the other side. So now it’s 3rd and long. And Longshore is sacked for the first time. Fourth down. So the penalty-accepting strategy works.

3:26 PM: Well, it’s too bad that they didn’t score on that, and by getting penalized they moved out of field goal range. But I liked the first-down call, which almost put Cal up by two touchdowns. A lot of pressure on Longshore there, and after the holding penalty the run was taken away from them. Anyway, Oregon now gets the ball on their own 8 with 10 minutes to go, down a TD….

3:30 PM: Oregon advances out to the 50 yard line. And the Ducks are in business… Oregon passing with comfort right now. Another huge pass, and the Ducks are down to the 15.

3:32 PM: Momentum, she has shifted allegiances once again. Failing to capitalize on the failed kick return, and now the Ducks are about to tie it.

3:33 PM: Quick snap, line plunge, touchdown Ducks. Cal 24, Oregon 24.

3:36 PM: Ken: “Looking back. The inability of Cal to capitalize on that turnover was huge, particularly in a back and forth game like this.”

3:37 PM: Ken: “They let the crowd back into the game, it’s louder now than at any point in the game.”

3:40 PM: Longshore goes down, hit late in the knee. He’s limping slightly off the field. Kevin Riley has to come in.

3:42 PM: Two hand-offs with your backup QB, and the Bears have to punt. What a crushing turn of events. Larson must punt. Oregon gets the ball at the 10.

3:44 PM: FELDER WITH THE INTERCEPTION AT THE 20 YARD LINE!!!! Dixon with a terrible pass… First down Bears with 4:23 to go. Dixon’s first INT of the entire year.

3:45 PM: Forsett all the way to the one! Hold on to that ball, Mr. Forsett.

3:46 PM: Touchdown Bears! Forsett over left guard with 3:11 to go. Cal 31, Oregon 24.

3:48 PM: Okay, Oregon ball, 1st and 10. 3:06 to go. One pass, and they’re over the 50. This ain’t near over yet, my friends.

3:50 PM: Stewart plows down to the 20. Ken: “Cal should call a timeout.”

3:50 PM: AluAlu intercepts! He starts to run and Joe Starkey shouts, “Fall down, for pete’s sake!”

3:51 PM: Forsett runs. PROTECT THE BALL. Timeout Ducks. Cal really needs to get a first down here or they’ll have to give Dixon another chance.

3:53 PM: Forsett goes nowhere, timeout Ducks, 2:07 to go. Third and long.

3:54 PM: What to do on 3rd down with a hobbly QB? Handoff again, Montgomery gains some yardage but it’s 4th down.

3:55 PM: In the interests of un-jinxing I have removed a comment Ken made about a bag and a rosary. Ken didn’t realize they had all 3 timeouts. Good call, JoshieMac.

3:56 PM: Oregon gets the ball back… one more defensive stop is needed. They start from the 23. 1:45 to go, no Duck timeouts.

3:57 PM: 1:30 to go, Ducks first down at the 34. Dixon pressured, throws it away.

3:58 PM: Huge gain — Cal had Oregon stopped after 5 yards, in bounds, and instead it’s first down Oregon, Stewart. Clock ticking, ducks driving, under a minute, 34 yard line.

3:59 PM: Down to the 20 yard line. 30 seconds to go after an incomplete pass.

4:01 PM: Timeout Cal, maybe a play too late. Two picks on Dixon and yet, mostly owing to the Longshore injury, Cal can’t move the ball and now Oregon is trying to push this into overtime or even win it on a two-point conversion. Four shots for Oregon at the end zone…

4:03 PM: Oregon fumbles the ball out of the back of the end zone! Ezeff with the hit! Redemption? Ruling on the field: touchback! If the ruling stands, Cal wins.

4:06 PM: This is clearly the right call. No way it was a TD, no way he was out of bounds. It has to be a touchback. This will be a travesty of Oklahoman proportions if it’s reversed, when the visual evidence is clear that the call on the field was right.

4:07 PM: The ruling is affirmed! Cal ball, 16 seconds to go, on the 20.

4:08 PM: Final Score: Cal 31, Oregon 24. Great game. Unbelievable. Lived up to the hype.