No team could have prepared to play in the monsoon Oregon and California faced Saturday evening. A slippery turf and soaked footballs were common occurrences throughout the night and they were reflected in the seven total turnovers committed by both teams.
While Oregon managed to cruise to its fourth win of the year, California was left in the storm to ponder its third loss of the year. The Golden Bears’ defense may have been ranked 121st in the country, but its offense didn’t look much better, only scoring 16 points.
The nation learned that Jared Goff doesn’t like the rain. After going 3-6 for 11 yards in the first quarter, California had no choice but to substitute for Zach Kline in the second. Entering the game, Goff was touted as one of the better quarterbacks in the Pac-12, but he left having no confidence in his arm en route to a blowout loss.
“The first three times the poor kid (Jared Goff) threw the ball, it seemed to go backwards,” Nick Aliotti said.
Believe it or not, California entered this game ranked second in passing as a team. Goff was connecting with his receivers at ease — completing over 60 percent of his passes — and posed as a legitimate threat through the air. The weather simply consumed Goff and the end result was an uncharacteristic performance.
Oregon was also affected by the rain. Byron Marshall fumbled the ball multiple times early in the game and was puzzled by it. He was confident that it wasn’t in his nature to fumble and was disappointed that it happened more than once.
“I don’t really fumble,” Marshall said. “No matter what the conditions, that’s not OK.”
Both teams had a share of frustrations with the monsoon and in a lot of ways, it evened out. Playing in the rain is something the Ducks are accustomed to and that experience came in handy tonight.
As the Ducks now continue their quest to win out in the Pac-12, they can safely say the worst weather conditions are behind them. Grinding through a game like this can help a team bond closer together and that is exactly what happened for the Ducks.