#9 Ducks win game, Lose James

LaMichael James breaks free against California (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

At the half, it appeared that Oregon was on upset alert at home. They trailed 15-14 going into the break after Keenan Allen's 12 yard touch down reception and memories of last season began to well up in the minds of the home crowd. Oregon had a chance to respond, but Darron Thomas' errant pass was intercepted by D.J. Campbell and Cal was on the march again..After driving to the Oregon 23, Giorgio Tevecchio had a field goal blocked by John Boyett and the Ducks took a little momentum back heading into the locker room at the break.  However, the upset effort was shut down as the Duck defense shut down and shut out California in the second half en route to a 43-15 win for Oregon.

 California opened up the scoring with a Tevecchio field goal after a promising drive. The Cal kicker had a career night going 3 for 4 including a career best 54 yard kick which brought the bears within 5 early on at 14-9. Oregon answered back with a two play 64 yard drive to answer back. The drive was capped off by a 53 yard run by LaMichael James for his only rushing touchdown of the game. James went for 239 yards but encountered a scary moment early in the fourth quarter when on a rushing play, James dislocated his elbow and stayed on the ground for several minutes. In a great sign of support for the injured superstar, 54,000 began to chant his name as they feared the worst. LaMichael, the NCAA's leading rusher left the field with a smile on his face to the relief of the home town crowd.

California quaterback Zach Maynard missed on several passes early, but started to find his rhythm as he threw for 218 yards, Keenan Allen a nice compliment with 170 receiving yards and the only touchdown California would score on the night. As good as Allen and other Cal receiver Marvin Jones were, Oregon's defense was simply better. They put pressure on Maynard early forcing high and errant throws and locked down  Isi Sofele, not letting him get rolling in the second half.

On the other side of the ball, Oregon really got rolling in the second half as fans have grown accustomed to seeing, rattling off 29 unanswered points to put the game away early in the fourth. James had the yardage but the player of the game had to be De'Anthony Thomas who had two receiving touchdowns as well as one on the ground on a beautiful end around after a bit of misdirection by Darron Thomas.

Oregon put the game away with 68 yard touch down run by Kenjon Barner which seemed to break the spirit of the Golden Bears' defense. Coach Tedford was forced to pull Maynard early in the fourth and replaced him with Sophomore Allen Bridgeford. It appeared that Maynard got sandwiched between two defenders and would not return. By that point the Ducks had the game well in hand as Bridgeford was ineffective in running the offense.

The loss gives the Cal Bears their second in the Pac-12 giving them a 0-2 record in conference, both losses coming against fellow members of the North division. Cal has won a game against a conference opponent, Colorado but due to the conference realignment and scheduling conflict the game was not ruled as a conference game. After this game, they have to go home to AT&T field to face a challenging game against the USC Trojans. The Ducks now 2-0 in conference have an extra two days of rest to prepare for #22 Arizona State in a potential conference championship preview. It will be interesting to see if LaMichael James will return against the talented ASU run defense and Vonteze Burfict.