No. 6 California Golden Bears (3-0) at Oregon (2-1)
With Southern California suddenly looking very vulnerable in the Pac-10, Saturday’s game between Cal and Oregon takes on that much more significance.
The Ducks are 5.5-point betting underdogs on WagerWeb.com.
California has looked pretty dominant in its three wins, outscoring the opposition 146-41 thus far. Oregon, of course, started the season with an ugly loss at Boise State and then barely beat a bad Purdue team. But the Ducks looked back to normal in beating Utah last week and ending the nation’s longest winning streak.
Bears coach Jeff Tedford, a former Oregon assistant, is 4-2 against the Ducks since taking over in Berkeley. In fact, the Bears have won three in a row in the series, beating three ranked Oregon teams in the process. The last three meetings in Eugene have been decided by a touchdown or less.
Behind Heisman Trophy candidate Jahvid Best, Cal ranks second in the nation in offense with a scoring average of 48.7 points per game while allowing only 13.7 points per contest defensively to rank No. 20. The ground game averages 249.7 yards, with Best average 7.8 yards per carry to go along with eight touchdowns. He leads the nation in scoring (18.0 ppg), as well as the Pac-10 in both rushing (137.3 ypg, No. 3 NCAA) and all-purpose running (160.3 ypg, No. 15 NCAA). Best also has seven consecutive games of 100 or more rushing yards dating back to the final four games of 2008.
Meanwhile, QB Kevin Riley, who has been inconsistent his entire career, is completing nearly 65 percent of his passes thus far, for 698 yards with five TDs and no interceptions. That’s probably because defenses are focusing on Best.
Oregon has struggled offensively. They rank 111th nationally in total offense, averaging 273.3 yards per game. QB Jeremiah Masoli has a very average rating of 88.81 and was 4 of 16 for 95 yards with an interception last week against Utah. He also fumbled twice but did run for 145 yards. Oregon might have found its replacement for LeGarrette Blount last week when freshman LaMichael James rushed for 152 yards against Utah.
Cal’s defense limits foes to just 62.3 yards on the ground and it has 13 sacks. The Bears have won their Pac-10 opener in each of the last six seasons. However, Cal hasn’t been a good road team lately, with last week’s win in Minnesota ending a four-game slide away from home.
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