Media Credit: Zac Goodwin California's quick defense held Oregon's Jonathan Stewart to 25 yards rushing on 18 carries. He also was held to three catches for 25 yards.

BERKELEY, Calif. - Jonathan Stewart grabbed the hand-off, headed up field and found himself swarmed by gold and blue uniforms.

That result repeated itself throughout the Ducks' loss.

Saturday's final statistics showed 18 rushes for 25 yards. Stewart's performance marked the first time he's started and finished with less than 100 yards rushing. Oregon's leading rusher, quarterback Dennis Dixon, gained 45 yards on 11 carries.

"We thought we were ready but we just didn't come out to play," Stewart said. "It seemed like they were right on top of our whole game plan."

Anything close to ordinary Saturday changed in this meeting of undefeated Pacific-10 Conference teams. The Oregon and Cal buildup teased of a showdown between Stewart and Marshawn Lynch.

It was anything but.

Lynch suffered a first-half ankle injury. Justin Forsett slid in and gave Cal a reliable go-to option on the ground with 163 yards on 27 carries. His touchdown, a 23-yard run with six minutes left, provided the exclamation point on the Golden Bears' 45-24 win.

Stewart, from the start, never found his way.

Dixon threw an interception on Oregon's first drive. On Oregon's second drive, Stewart ran three times for seven yards. Oregon managed to stop Cal at its goal line in the second quarter when Jairus Byrd intercepted a pass in the end zone.

Almost immediately, Oregon gave the ball back, the victim of a Stewart fumble on the Oregon 26-yard line. Abu Ma'afala recovered the football and coincidentally led to Lynch's injury.

Lynch ran 24 yards on the first play of the next possession to the Oregon 2 yard line, where Oregon rover Patrick Chung pulled the senior tailback to the ground. Lynch left the game, and Forsett and Longshore made consecutive rushing attempts with the second reaching the end zone.

California led 21-3 at that point. The Golden Bears had the answers and Stewart and his Oregon teammates were left trying to find an explanation.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools

Be the first to comment on this story

• Name: (required)
• Email: (required)
• NOTE: Email address will not be published
• Website:

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

Email notify will not work because you are not currently logged in.
Click here to quickly login or create a free account.

Type your comment below (html not allowed)

  I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.