Instant Analysis: California-Oregon

Throughout the Jeff Tedford era in Berkeley, the California Golden Bears have had trouble closing down opponents. Saturday afternoon in Eugene, Tedford beat his teacher in a high-stakes game, but in all honesty, the Ducks ultimately slammed the door on themselves.

This was an even-steven football fight in the Willamette Valley, a September showdown with athleticism and hitting worthy of a matchup between two top 12 teams. Cal and Oregon played this game in three distinct stages, and when the smoke cleared at Autzen Stadium, the simple difference was that the home team flinched.

Stage one of this contest lasted for almost the full balance of the first half. Like two tennis players more interested in studying their opponent than in bringing out the big guns from the get-go, Cal and Oregon poked and probed each other. Misdirection and play action dominated the first half, as Tedford and Bellotti seemed to tease each other in a friendly shell game. The two esteemed offensive minds held back, in an attempt to set up plays for the second half. Sure enough, both wizards saw their plans find fulfillment.

Stage two of this contest lasted from the end of the first half until the early part of the fourth quarter. After the game crawled along in the "wait and see" opening act, the skill position stars came to play. Justin Forsett, DeSean Jackson, Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart began to play liberated football, and a mini-shootout took shape. Receivers began to break wide open, running backs found ample amounts of open real estate, and defenses began to drag. As this intense affair careened toward the inevitable nail-biting finish, the score stood at a flat-foot tie, 24-all. Then came the third, final and fateful act in a stadium that rocked all day but would become deathly quiet in the final, fragile seconds.

The third phase of this gargantuan game was a naked test of nerves. Late-stage combat in any sport isn't so much about the sport itself; endgame phases of huge sporting events are contests of belief, resolve and concentration amidst the elevated heart rates and climbing blood pressure levels. In this cauldron of withering pressure, Cal would bend, but Oregon would break.

The Bears earned their enormous breakthrough victory not because of what they did right on offense, but because of what they avoided. Cal quarterback Nate Longshore overthrew open receivers at key junctures in the fourth quarter, but what he didn't do was throw a devastating interception. Longshore steered clear of crucial mistakes, and he led his team like a champion. He provided tremendous presence in the huddle and was able to take snaps--though injured--while Forsett and an inspired offensive line powered the ball into the end zone for the game's deciding points with 3:11 left in the fourth quarter.

On the other sideline, however, nightmarish visions of last year returned, just when the Ducks had seemingly righted their ship.

Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon wasn't spectacular for most of this game, but he was unquestionably steady and in firm control of Bellotti's offense. Dixon managed the game well, displayed superb focus, and showed the discipline that had been so manifestly lacking for much of his career in Eugene. But in money situations on Saturday, Dixon reverted to his younger, less poised self. A pair of careless interceptions at crunch time set up Forsett's winning score while denying the Ducks on a drive that had penetrated Cal's red zone. And while Dixon regrouped to lead his teammates downfield in the final minute, the snake-bitten signal caller could only watch as receiver Cameron Colvin prematurely tried to reach the ball inside the left pylon at the goal line, only for the outstretched and unprotected ball to be knocked into the end zone and then out of bounds on the sideline. When the ball rolled out the side of the end zone--on a play that would hold up under subsequent review from the replay booth--Cal's triumph had been secured. It came about because, in a duel of gunslingers, Oregon had the shakier trigger finger. Dennis Dixon made a noble charge in that final, frantic minute, but it was his collection of mistakes that put his team in trouble in the first place. An unsteady hand at the worst possible time would doom the Ducks precisely when they had re-established an advantage, due to the injury that hampered Longshore's mobility.

Cal--with gumption and guts more than raw artistry--is steadily silencing its critics in 2007. But after Oregon's four turnovers in the fourth quarter, the victorious Bears still need to learn a thing or two about going for the jugular. They won't mind, though: in triumph, teachable moments are much easier to learn from.