Are You Not Entertained?

Oregon went on the road to play a team picked to finish in the top half of the conference, to play a game marked before the season as a possible stumble, spotted the opponent a 7-0 lead, gave up 60 yards rushing to their star back in the first quarter, missed two field goals, gave up a touchdown on a quarterback sack and fumble into their own end zone, scored only once on offense on a 29-yard, one-play drive, got miserably outplayed at the offensive line of scrimmage, couldn't run or pass, only sustained one drive, had eight penalties for 62 yards (with two 10-yard holding penalties declined).

And won by two to go 10-0.

Most undefeated seasons have narrow escapes. Not every win is a work of art. The Ducks dominated UCLA, New Mexico, and Portland State in one-sided blowouts where they shut down the offense after three quarters. They surged past Tennessee, Arizona State, Washington State and Washington after struggling early. They won shootouts with Stanford and USC. Now they have won an ugly defensive battle, and they did it with a 9 minute, 25-second drive that took 19 plays and produced no points.

Chip Kelly doesn't believe in statements, but that was the ultimate statement. At least three times in the game Jeff Tedford had his players take a dive to slow Oregon's furious tempo. Players looked over to the sideline and went down on cue. In the fourth quarter, that drive said, perhaps parenthetically, okay, you want to stop the clock? You want to slow our tempo? How's this? This slow enough for you? Cal missed a field goal to start the fourth quarter, stopped an Oregon drive on downs at the Cal 36, sputtered in six plays with a chance to make a go-ahead drive, punted the ball for a touchback, and never saw the ball again. The Cal offense in the fourth quarter? One shanked field goal, six plays, nine yards, one punt. Go ahead, take a dive. Take all you want. Slow the game to a crawl. Get so desperate to get the ball back that you refuse a 10-yard penalty in field goal range. You lose. Your players can make bold statements afterward about how they should have won the game, but we're 10-0, and you're 5-5. Have a nice winter.