After Further Review: Oregon football's resolve outshines mistakes in win over Cal

In the Pac-12, there is a saying, “football fans don’t remember September, they remember what happens in November,” relating to the conference championship and opportunities for the playoffs. With their first contest in November, coach Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducks patiently endured rain showers and their own sloppy play and stuck it to the California Golden Bears, 63-19, before an appreciative crowd of 54,046 Saturday at Autzen Stadium.

For fans who are skittish and have doubts believing dreams will come true, there was a shock on the first play of the game when national passing leader Bo Nix threw an accurate pass to Tez Johnson, who bounced it off his chest into the hands of a Bear defender. Startled, the Duck defense came on, gave up one first down and forced a field goal try. On this day, a couple of kicking game situations were going to happen for the first time in recent memory.

First, Tysheem Johnson blocked the kick and Jahlil Florence alertly picked it up and raced to a touchdown that unfortunately was negated by Johnson being offside on the play. The last time anyone could remember a blocked field goal was in the 2006 Oklahoma game.

The ball would come back to the Oregon 19-yard line where the Ducks were promptly tagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, advancing the ball to the 9-yard line. Not losing their poise, Oregon’s defense stiffened and safety Steve Stevens made an interception. With the world now on an even keel, Nix came in and led the Ducks on an 86-yard touchdown march in 13 plays, overcoming two major 15-yard penalties in the process. The score came on a second-and-37 pass to Tez Johnson who saw open turf and outran beleaguered Bears for a 48-yard score to put Oregon in the lead, seven-zip.

A banner game for Tez Johnson

Johnson had a great day: gaining 180 receiving yards and if you can believe it, 75 more on punt returns. For the past several years, Oregon’s special teams have not made observable efforts to establish their punt return potential; from blocking and slowing covering opponents to passing on the usual fair catch and catching and running with it on the few opportunities the blockers afforded reasonable room for the return man to do his thing. Johnson had a long return of 47-yards that set the Ducks up for a short drive and 35-13 halftime lead, and the crowd was buzzing; it seemed years since that sort of excitement occurred when the Duck defense forced an opponent’s punt.

Camden Lewis missed a 53-yard field goal in the first half, and you have to give Lanning credit for attempting the kick; it’s not been easy for him to make that decision. Lewis was short on the kick and an old kicker might have mentioned the weather conditions were not ideal for booting the ball. In case people are interested, Lewis had made kicks in practice and warmups of that length, so it’s not out of the question; just this time, it was.

Nix continued his steady accuracy, completing 29-of-36 passes (80%) for 386 yards and four touchdowns with one interception, which wasn’t really his fault. Among his throws were several that wobbled, indicating that perhaps the wet ball was an issue for passers as well as kickers.

Oregon’s punt team has quietly made progress in their performance, which is a great asset to the defense and field position. Ross James, racked by inconsistency last season, averaged 55 yards per kick, including a towering 64-yarder that bounced out of bounds on Cal’s three-yard line in the third quarter when the Bears forced a three-and-out after scoring on their first possession to cut Oregon’s lead to 35-19. Recalling Cal’s previous game against USC, when the Bears scored 49 points and had a chance to win it at the end, Duck fans squirmed, but the defense prevailed and the score would not get closer.

Oregon defense continues to improve

Lanning’s defenders continue to make progress, and look more like the kind of defense his team played at Georgia before he got the head job at Oregon.  After the game, Lanning observed, "We put ourselves in some tough positions at times; didn't play to our standard of play certainly in the first half, but I thought our guys overcame that and … showed flashes of what we can be."

Oregon’s dramatic improvement on defense has come about through a combination of recruiting, coaching and developing a team mindset that is confident, resilient and determined by all players. The defense forced five three-and-outs, two fumbles, an interception and a turnover on downs by a good offensive team. Cal has excellent skill players and was only able to score two touchdowns, the other coming on a fumble recovery by their own defense.

Oregon defensive lineman Casey Rogers said, "That's just part of our standard on defense, holding the score as low as possible — obviously we had a good, decent game — you know, the scoreboard said what it said — but I think honestly there's a lot we could have done better today. And the good thing is, we'll be able to go back and fix it."

Penalties could derail Ducks' postseason dreams

The offense committed two turnovers, which doubled their number for the season and five major teeth-grinding penalties that disrupted offensive drives. For the game, the Ducks committed nine penalties that cost them 99 yards, which doesn’t include the yardage lost on plays that gained yardage nullified by the penalty call. Lanning will point out that penalties often determine who wins and loses, and the next three games will be won by the teams that are most disciplined in avoiding mistakes.

In a post-game interview, Tez Johnson echoed his coach’s comments: "We can't let one play mess up the whole day, So, that's basically what we just talked about and ran with throughout the whole game. We had multiple bad plays out there, but it's the way we respond to each play. That's how we take that."

Both Rogers' and Johnson’s observations are indicative of the positive mindset Lanning and his staff have been able to instill in this year’s football team. Nix’s leadership on offense is stellar and it never appears negative circumstances overwhelm the players on either side of the ball. However, nine penalties is unacceptable for a championship team and is an obvious weakness that can torpedo a “positive mindset.”

Next, the Ducks host mighty USC, losers of two out their last three games. The defeats came at the hands of Utah and last week, the Washington Huskies — both games going down to the last minutes of the fourth quarter. The Trojans score large on everyone they play and have the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Caleb Williams, who, until recently, was the frontrunner in this year’s Heisman race.

Williams will not win any awards for sportsmanship and the Trojans seem to play defense as an afterthought and have had a hard time holding the score down. It seems like a straightforward matchup: the good guys against the bad guys. USC is in desperate straits. If they can win out and have the Beavers knock off the Ducks in the end, they could possibly slide back into a rematch of their exciting game with Washington for the Pac-12 championship.

Coach Lanning’s players have bought into his credo of aggressive attitude and acceptance of the hard work and discipline demanded of champions. USC has the fastest group of skill players in the Pac-12 and one of the greatest quarterbacks in college history. But the Trojans have been bloodied, and the time has come for Troy to fall.

After playing at Oregon, Ken Woody coached college football for 18 years as an assistant at Oregon, Washington, Utah State and Washington State and as a head coach at Whitman College and Washington University-St. Louis. He has been a commentator on Oregon football on Fox, Prime Sports Northwest and KCPQ. He conducts a free, weekly coaching clinic at the 6th Street Grill every Wednesday at 6 p.m. during the season. Plays from Oregon games are analyzed, there are scouting reports for opponents, and highlights from referees; all to learn about football and understand why the Ducks win or lose.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon football's resolve outshines mistakes in win over Cal Bears