In a night that will mostly be remembered for an excruciating injury to the right elbow of LaMichael James, the ninth-ranked Oregon Ducks returned to form with 29 unanswered points in the second half to defeat California 43-15 Thursday night at Autzen Stadium.
Oregon (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12) overcame a sluggish first half offensively with a 22-point third quarter and kept the Golden Bears out of the end zone for the final 30 minutes of action.
“They don’t panic; that’s the great thing about these guys,” Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. “They’ve been down at halftime before and they know that you really do have to play two halves, and they did a great job in the second half tonight.”
After Cal’s Giorgio Tavecchio put the Bears on top 3-0 from 27 yards out with his first of three first-half field goals, it took Oregon just two plays to cover 64 yards to take its first lead on a James 53-yard touchdown run.
Tavecchio, a senior from Moraga, Calif., added another field goal from 38 yards on Cal’s ensuing possession before the two teams exchanged punts on back-to-back possessions.
From there, Oregon put together its best scoring drive of the first half, taking the ball 70 yards on eight plays, capped by a 17-yard touchdown run from true freshman De’Anthony Thomas. James shouldered most of the load during the drive, carrying the ball three times for another 53 yards, including a 47-yarder that set up Thomas’ score.
“His learning curve has just been awesome,” Oregon offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said. “His commitment to getting better is great … he’s just a great guy to be around.”
The Ducks’ 14-6 lead was short-lived, however, as Cal (3-2, 0-2) scored nine unanswered points in the second quarter to take a one-point lead into halftime. Tevecchio added his third field goal of the first half — a career-long from 54 yards out — just 49 seconds into the second quarter.
Despite several long runs from James, Oregon continued to struggle moving the ball offensively, and Cal quarterback Zach Maynard found his rhythm after a shaky 5-for-11 start in the first quarter. With 6:05 left in the opening half, Maynard connected with Keenan Allen on a 12-yard scoring strike to give Cal the 15-14 advantage, and neither team would score for the rest of the half.
Allen finished with nine receptions for 170 yards and one touchdown.
“Keenan made some plays (and) he had guys draped all over him,” Kelly said. “One of the tough receivers in the league, couple times I think there was three guys around him and he still came up with a big play.”
After trailing at the half for the first time since the season-opening loss to LSU, Oregon used a 13-play, 88-yard drive that killed more than five minutes off the clock to regain the lead.
A heavy dosage of James and Kenjon Barner — seven straight combined carries for 27 yards —set up a perfect 23-yard touchdown pass from Darron Thomas to De’Anthony Thomas to go ahead 21-15.
Oregon extended its lead on the ensuing possession when Barner took a handoff 68 yards into the end zone on the third play of the drive for his third rushing touchdown of the season and fourth overall.
Darron Thomas added two more touchdown passes — a 21-yarder to De’Anthony Thomas and a three-yard strike to Lavasier Tuinei following James’ injury — before the game was over.
De’Anthony Thomas finished the game with six receptions for a career-high 114 yards and two touchdowns, while Darron Thomas completed 13 of his 25 pass attempts for 198 yards and three scores.
Defensively, Oregon held Cal to just 87 yards passing and 35 rushing in the second half.
“We put good pressure on the quarterback and we kept them out of the end zone the second half and that was very satisfying,” Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said. “I thought we played out best game of the year overall.”