Oregon suffered its first loss of the Willie Taggart era in a 37-35 defeat to Arizona State on Saturday. The team will be looking to bounce back against one of the early surprise teams in the Pac-12: the California Golden Bears this Saturday night at Autzen Stadium.
The Golden Bears went undefeated during a challenging nonconference schedule. The season began with a road game against North Carolina, then two weeks later, after beating Weber State from the Big Sky Conference, they took on Mississippi at home.
Like the Ducks, California also opened their conference schedule last week with a loss to the No. 5 USC Trojans in a game that California quarterback Ross Bowers would like to forget. He’s coming off his worst game of the season during which he threw four interceptions and lost two fumbles. Through four games, he’s thrown for 1,102 yards and has six touchdowns, but eight interceptions.
Joining Bowers in the backfield will be a duo of running backs that have shared the workload this season. Look for Vic Enwere and Patrick Laird to contribute on Saturday. Laird enters the game as the team’s leading running back, but that was largely due to him running all over Weber State. Enwere has been better against the Golden Bears’ Power-5 opponents.
When looking to throw, Bowers has three main targets he’s utilized this season led by Vic Wharton III. His best game came in the season opener against the Tar Heels when he caught five passes for 156 yards and a touchdown. Kanawai Noa is coming off his best game of the season, catching six passes for 110 yards against the Trojans but was kept out of the end zone.
Oregon fans will see some familiar faces roaming the opposing sidelines on Saturday. Bears head coach Justin Wilcox attended nearby Junction City High School, leading them to the state title in 1995. He then played four years as a defensive back for the Ducks. Saturday will be the fifth different school he’s coached against the Ducks with, but the first as head coach.
Wilcox loaded his coaching staff with former head coaches as well as former Oregon coaches. California’s offensive line coach is longtime Oregon assistant coach Steve Greatwood. The team’s defensive line coach is Jerry Azzinaro, who coached at Oregon for three years with Chip Kelly before departing with him to the NFL. Additionally, former Eastern Washington head coach Beau Baldwin, who coached former Duck quarterback Vernon Adams, left his head coaching job to serve as the Golden Bears’ offensive coordinator.
After Cal, wins may be hard to come by as Oregon’s next five opponents have a combined record of 14-4 and three of those games will be on the road. Oregon’s bowl game hopes may rely on picking up a win on Saturday and spoiling Wilcox’s return home.
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter @zlast3445
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