On Saturday, the No. 6 ranked Oregon Ducks will face off against the California Golden Bears. The Bears’ trajectory this season has been much different than Oregon’s. They are 3-5 and don’t have much hope for a bowl appearance whereas the Ducks are in a race for the College Football Playoff. Still, every game is just as important, and a win this weekend would be big for Oregon. In preparation for Saturday’s game, I looked back at the long and rich history of the series between these two teams.
This series is as deadlocked as it gets — historically that is. In recent years, the Golden Bears have struggled to maintain a good football program, which has allowed the Ducks to win 13 of the 15 matchups between the two teams.
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But all-time, the story is different. The Bears and the Ducks have played 83 times — with the first game dating all the way back to 1899. 42 of the games have gone to Oregon and the other 41, to Berkeley.
During the 2000s, this series was a marquee matchup each year, as both teams were perenially ranked in various polls. For the first part of the decade, Cal owned Oregon, winning 4 of the 5 games from 2004-2008. But, after Chip Kelly took over in 2009, the unranked Ducks beat the No. 6 Golden Bears 42-3, snapping Oregon’s losing streak. A year later in 2010, the No. 1 ranked Oregon would beat Cal on their way to the BCS National Championship game.
A game that longtime Duck fans won’t want to look back on was the 1993 matchup between the Ducks and the Bears. Deemed by Cal fans as the “Miracle at Memorial,” Oregon led 30-0 at halftime and ended up losing 42-41 after a Bears touchdown and a 2-point conversion on the game’s final drive.
Unlike in years past, Oregon vs. Cal isn’t a game most fans will have had circled on their schedule, but the Golden Bears shouldn’t be overlooked. Last week against USC, Cal put up nearly fifty points and almost beat the Trojans. In order to keep their season alive, it will be important for the Ducks to remain focused on the game ahead of them and not look ahead to USC on November 11th.
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