There are four games this week that pit schools ranked in the top-25 against one another. They are games that, along with true upsets, stand to either help solidify or alter a schools ranking. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a look at #11 Oregon Vs. #16 California (October 7, 2006 at 8 pm ET)<\/p>\n
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#11 Oregon Vs. #16 California<\/p>\n
California (4-1) seems to have put that first-week 35-18 surprise loss to Tennessee behind them, winning four straight and over that time scoring an average of 43.5 points while holding opponents to an average of just 17.75 points. A few weeks ago the then #18 Oregon Ducks (4- 0) rallied late to beat the #15 Oklahoma Sooners 34- 33 with the aid of two controversial late fourth-quarter calls that went the Ducks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 way. Oregon has played four games, scoring an average of 40.25 points per contest and allowing opponents only 20 per outing.<\/p>\n
Both teams possess fine offenses run by smart and athletic QBs\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDennis Dixon (Oregon) and Nate Longshore (California). A lot comes down to the front lines. Although the Ducks have shown a strong pass rush, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re up against an offensive line that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s allowed only four sacks in five games. The Bears\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 QB Nate Longshore (67.2% COMP, 14 TD) should be well protected while the Ducks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 secondary is their weakest and most vulnerable unit. Oregons\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 secondary has suffered key injuries and is manned by talented but in experienced players.<\/p>\n
The receiving corps for the Bears, which includes DeSean Jackson (16.5 YDS\/REC, 7 TD), Lavelle Hawkins (17 YDS\/REC, 2 TD) and Robert Jordan (14.1 YDS\/REC, 1 TD), will be tough for the Ducks to handle. Seasoned running back Marshawn Lynch (7.0 YDS\/ATT, 4 TD, 11.2 YDS\/REC, 3 TD) can open up the field and is also a receiving threat. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be involved in at least one big play. The match-up between California\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s LOT Andrew Cameron and Oregon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s DE Dexter Manley II is key.<\/p>\n
QB Dennis Dixon (65% CMP, 6 TD) is on track to pass for over 3,000 yards and hit for 18 touchdowns this season. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great inside and outside the pocket, possessing the ability to exploit the option to its fullest. The Oregon running game is especially explosive, with Jeremiah Johnson averaging 8.1 yards per carry and Jonathan Stewart 7.9 yards per carry. California MLB Desmond Bishop will be important in defending against the run. The Bears will have to disrupt Dixon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game by holding his key receivers, Jaison Williams (16.5 YDS\/REC, 4 TD) and Brian Paysinger ( 14.3 YDS\/REC, 1 TD), in check and paying attention to tricky TE Dante Rosario (11.8 YDS\/REC, 0 TD). Look for Oregon to establish their run game and then try to open up the passing corridors. The Bears\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 DC Daymeion Hughes will have his hands full with the Ducks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 WR Jaison Williams, but he should prevail.<\/p>\n
The hometown California Bears are -5 to -4.5 according to odds makers, while most prognosticators also see this as a close call with Oregon falling to the Bears by a margin of 3 to 7 points. Look for California to move up in the rankings after today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high scoring contest and for the Ducks to be demoted.<\/p>\n
Technorati Tags: California Bears<\/a>, Oregon Ducks<\/a>, NCAA Football<\/a>, PAC-10 Football <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are four games this week that pit schools ranked in the top-25 against one another. They are games that, along with true upsets, stand to either help solidify or alter a schools ranking. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a look at #11 Oregon Vs. #16 California (October 7, 2006 at 8 pm ET)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1251,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/1251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}