The game between the California Golden Bears and the Oregon Ducks was shaping up to be a very interesting battle\u2026until California lost their starting quarterback to injury. Can California still make this a competitive game with their stalwart defense or will the loss of Chase Garbers turn this into a blowout?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The California defense can play really well. The Golden Bears won at Washington \u2013 a contender for the Pac-12 championship alongside Oregon \u2013 because they allowed only one touchdown to the Huskies. Linebacker Evan Weaver has been averaging double-digit tackles per game and is the face of this tough unit. He has been everywhere on the field for California, easily the team\u2019s best player under head coach Justin Wilcox. The question is can this defense do enough if the offense hangs them out to dry like they did last week. Backup Devon Modster came in and had just 23 passing yards with one pick. Cal\u2019s defense is good but if the offense can\u2019t even pickup a first down, they won\u2019t compete here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flipside of it is that Oregon hasn\u2019t been that impressive this season. This is a team that entered the season in the Top 15 but they lost to Auburn. They really haven\u2019t been tested that much since. Last week\u2019s win at Stanford should have been a blowout but it was just a mid-sized 21-6 victory. It feels like the Ducks are not the elite offense we thought they\u2019d be, so if Cal can drag them into a low-scoring affair, they\u2019ll have a shot here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ducks are in very good position to cover the spread because Cal lost its offensive leader. The Bears had been doing really well under quarterback Chase Garbers, who wasn\u2019t spectacular but who played really well in clutch situations the first four weeks of the season. Garbers led a last-minute go-ahead scoring drive against Washington in Week 2 and made all the important plays in Week 4 against Ole Miss. He was a leader whose presence in the huddle mattered more than raw statistics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was injured last Friday against Arizona State and everything went south after that Modster, the former UCLA quarterback, but he looked shell-shocked last week. Maybe a week of preparation gets him to a better place but he was just 5-of-14 for 23 yards and a pick in just over a half of action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oregon\u2019s defense is decent this year and they shouldn\u2019t have too many challenges here. Cal is going to run, run and run some more. They don\u2019t offer much threat of a pass. If Oregon gets up by 10 or 14, this game is a wrap because the Bears don\u2019t have the tools to come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cal\u2019s defense is good, but Oregon\u2019s offense is a lot better. Oregon should be able to score in the mid-30s, and as long as Cal scores a few touchdowns to get to 17 or more points, this game should climb over the number. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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