3 keys to victory for No. 10 Oregon Ducks against Cal on Friday

The Oregon Ducks need a commanding victory in a major way on Friday night against Cal. Here are three keys to ensuring that happens.


The Oregon Ducks have had almost two full weeks to digest the difficult loss against Stanford – which pushed them down in the rankings and made the path to the College Football Playoffs significantly more daunting.

Season-ending injuries to CJ Verdell and Bennett Williams won’t help either, although a date with the Golden Bears could be just what Mario Cristobal’s team needs to get things back on track.

Cal is 1-4 on the year, and their defense has struggled to stop just about everyone they have faced – which should allow Oregon to put this one away early.

Of course, we’ve said that before, and the Ducks haven’t exactly played up to their level when facing inferior opponents, so this is far from a sure thing.

In order for Oregon to secure a much needed blowout victory, here are three key things that need to happen:


Travis Dye needs to ball out

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Star running back and fringe Heisman Trophy candidate CJ Verdell is out for the rest of the season, a devastating blow for this Oregon squad after his dominance early in the year.

The Ducks are fortunate to have a stellar back next to him in Travis Dye, and he’ll be counted on in a major way for the rest of the season.

Dye was great against Stanford, one of the team’s few bright spots, and in a game where the Ducks should build a lead early – effectively running the ball and burning clock in the second half will be crucial. Dye is the man for the job at the moment, and how he does will be a big factor in this one.

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Watch: Jared Goff calls ‘Curry’ audible during Rams vs. Buccaneers Monday Night Football

During Monday Night Football, Rams passer Jared Goff barked an audible that should sound familiar to fans of the Golden State Warriors.

While the Golden State Warriors are busy with NBA free agency, the NFL’s playoff picture is heating up at the end of week 10 of the season.

For the final game of the NFL slate, the Los Angeles Rams traveled to Raymond James Stadium for a Monday Night Football tilt against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

As the Rams were trying to break the 14-14 tie with 19 seconds remaining in the first half, quarterback Jared Goff stepped to the line of scrimmage and yelled out an audible that may sound familiar to fans of the Warriors.

Before snapping the football, Goff shouted “Curry! Curry! Curry!” to trigger an audible to a wide receiver screen. After catching the pass, Robert Woods scampered for 35 yards to set the Rams up in field goal position.

Via @rashadalaiyan on Twitter:

Although he didn’t include his first name in the audible, there’s a chance the play was a reference to the two-time Most Valuable Player. Although he plays in Los Angeles, the Rams signal-caller grew up in the North Bay Area and attended college at Cal Berkeley. In the past, Goff has admitted to being a fan of the Golden State Warriors.

While helping lead the Rams to a road victory, 27-24, Goff passed for 376 yards on 39-of-51 attempts with three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Goff isn’t the only quarterback to have NBA All-Stars in the audible playbook. During Sunday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr called an audible at the line of scrimmage that included “James Harden.”

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Add Another – Pac-12 Cancels Football this Fall

Just hours after the Big Ten set the tone the Pac-12 followed suit and joined the Big Ten in cancelling football this fall.

It didn’t take long for the Pac-12 to again follow the Big Ten’s lead.  Under two hours after the Big Ten announced their were cancelling football in 2020 the Pac-12 is about to do the same.

Related:  Big Ten Cancels Football this Fall

A news conference had been scheduled by the conference for this afternoon and now it appears we have confirmation that the conference will be cancelling all sports this fall.

The Pac-12 joins the Big Ten, Mountain West, MAC, Connecticut and Massachusetts as the conferences and teams that have fully cancelled football for 2020.

No word yet on what the remaining Power Five conferences plan to do, including the ACC which Notre Dame will be a part of for this fall.

Report: Pac-12 calls college football season off, eyes spring

The Pac-12 is falling in line with the Big Ten and MAC in calling off fall football.

It is a matter of semantics whether the Pac-12 is canceling or postponing its football season until the spring. Either way, the conference is following the Big Ten’s lead Tuesday and there will be no fall football.

Like the Big Ten, the Pac-12 will eye spring football if this turn for the better in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

And this is an amazing nugget:

And then there is this:

Another Cancellation Coming? Pac-12 Sets Afternoon News Conference

With the announcement of an afternoon news conference today will the Pac-12 be the next conference to cancel football this fall?

The Big Ten did what pretty much everyone expected them to do on Tuesday afternoon, officially cancelling their football season this fall with no guarantee or promise that it’ll be played in the spring.

Over the last few weeks most have expected the Big Ten to act first in cancelling their season and that the Pac-12 would quickly follow, just like they did when announcing conference-only schedules last month.

Related:  Big Ten Cancels Football this Fall

Now we may be getting that second domino in the Power Five to fall as the Pac-12 has scheduled a news conference for later this afternoon, at 4:30 p.m. ET to be specific.

They’re either announcing they’re cancelling their fall sports schedule as well or will be announcing a plan to move their schedule back further into the fall.  Either way this certainly has to do with the colleges athletic schedules and if you’re really hoping for teams to be playing, I’d say there is nothing that will come from this that you’ll see as “good”.

Stay tuned to Fighting Irish Wire as we’ll continue to keep you updated on all things regarding college football as they happen.

Pac-12’s statement on 2020 fall sports (football plans)

The Pac-12 announced they will play only conference games in 2020. Read the entire statement here.

The Big Ten made a bombshell of an announcement on Thursday as it announced the conference members would only be playing fellow Big Ten teams in the 2020 college football season.

It’s not a shock by any means but the Pac-12 followed suit on Friday which means no Notre Dame vs. USC for the first time since 1945 and no Notre Dame vs. Stanford for the first time since 1996.

Read the whole statement below:

SAN FRANCISCO – The Pac-12 CEO Group announced today that the fall season for several Pac-12 sports, including football, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball, would schedule Conference-only games, and that it is delaying the start of mandatory athletic activities, until a series of health and safety indicators, which have recently trended in a negative direction, provided sufficient positive data to enable a move to a second phase of return-to-play activities.  The CEO Group made clear that it hopes to play football and all other fall sports provided that it can meet the health and safety needs of its student-athletes and obtain appropriate permissions from state and local health authorities.  Today’s decision will result in the start dates for the impacted sports being delayed. The decision is effective immediately across all Pac-12 member universities and was made following a meeting of the Pac-12 CEO Group earlier today.

“The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports continues to be our number one priority,” said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. “Our decisions have and will be guided by science and data, and based upon the trends and indicators over the past days, it has become clear that we need to provide ourselves with maximum flexibility to schedule, and to delay any movement to the next phase of return-to-play activities.”

“Competitive sports are an integral part of the educational experience for our student-athletes, and we will do everything that we can to support them in achieving their dreams while at the same time ensuring that their health and safety is at the forefront,” said Michael Schill, Pac-12 CEO Group Chair and President of the University of Oregon.

Pac-12 student-athletes who choose not to participate in intercollegiate athletics during the coming academic year because of safety concerns about COVID-19 will continue to have their scholarships honored by their university and will remain in good standing with their team.

The Pac-12 has developed a series of potential fall sport scheduling models including Conference-only schedules and delayed season starts.  Details on Conference-only schedules will be announced no later than July 31.

About the Pac-12 Conference

The Conference has a tradition as the “Conference of Champions,” leading the nation in NCAA Championships in 54 of the last 60 years, with 529 NCAA team titles overall. The Conference comprises 12 leading U.S. universities – the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of Utah, the University of Washington and Washington State University. For more information on the Conference’s programs, member institutions, and Commissioner Larry Scott, go to Pac-12.com/conference.

5 things to know about new Jets DB Ashtyn Davis

Here are five things to know about new Jets defensive back Ashtyn Davis, who the team selected with the 68th pick in the 2020 NFL draft.

With the pick the Jets acquired in the Leonard Williams trade, Joe Douglas went the unconventional route.

Douglas took Cal defensive back Ashtyn Davis, a player who had not been linked to the Jets primarily because he played safety in college. However, the Jets seem to be infatuated with his positional versatility and had several teams kicking themselves when they stole him with the 68th pick.

With that said, let’s get to know the Jets’ newest member of the secondary. Here are five things to know about Davis.

Betting on Himself

(Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports)

From college walk-on to third-round pick, Ashtyn Davis’ NFL dreams became a reality when the Jets selected him with the 68th selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Davis was set to go to the University of Redlands following his senior year of high school but changed his mind following a last-minute visit to Cal. The problem? Cal’s football coaches had no idea who Davis was. Even worse, Cal’s track coaches said they’d rescind their scholarship offer if Davis played football. This led to Davis ultimately turning down a track scholarship offer from Cal, which forced his parents to take out loans to pay for his college tuition.

Eventually, Davis made both teams and wound up being put on a full football scholarship by Cal.

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Ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft, Cal linebacker Evan Weaver revealed some of his favorite things, the most shocking of which may be his favorite food. You likely couldn’t guess it if you had 100 tries.

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Linebacker Evan Weaver Reveals Why He Wears #89

It’s not common for a MIKE linebacker to wear the number 89. Former Cal linebacker and 2020 NFL Draft prospect Evan Weaver shares the reason that he wore that number throughout his time with the Golden Bears.

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