Oregon shows that style counts for nothing without substance

Published 12:11 am, Saturday, October 25, 2014

Oregon's caravan marched into Santa Clara on Friday, a good-natured brigade of green and gold. The Ducks offer a snazzy standard for 21st-century college football, from their flamboyant uniforms to their high-powered offense to their legion of fans.

There's a lot for Cal to emulate, really.

The Ducks are chasing their seventh consecutive 10-win season, an extraordinary streak of dominance. The Bears are chasing respectability, a laughable concept last season but an increasingly realistic goal in 2014.

So the lesson, then, of Oregon's wild and entertaining 59-41 victory Friday night at Levi's Stadium: It takes more than style. There must be substance behind all the flash and dash.

Oregon sometimes masks its substance. The Ducks looked especially sleek on this night, clad in white jerseys (with splashes of green) and silver pants. The outfits made them look even faster than usual, if that's possible.

They ultimately ran away from Cal in the second half, reminding the Bears there's a sizable gap between an elite team and one trying to claw its way back to relevance.

'The biggest thing is, they're playing guys who have played,' Cal head coach Sonny Dykes said. 'That's what really good programs do, graduate 15 seniors one year and then have guys come in and take their place. We're playing a lot of young guys right now.'

At least Cal made the Ducks sweat a bit. But the Bears (4-4) remain a work in progress, and their third straight loss showed they still have much ground to cover to contend in the Pac-12.

The disparity between the two teams was on full display early in the third quarter. The Bears trailed 38-28 at halftime, so they were still in the game, theoretically, if they could make an occasional statement on defense.

Then, on the first play after intermission, Oregon's Byron Marshall got wide, wide, wide open near the sideline. Quarterback Marcus Mariota found him for 32 yards, as if they were playing catch in the backyard. Way too easy.

Three plays later, Cal again allowed Marshall to get wide, wide, wide open. Mariota again connected . Touchdown.

Oregon, by contrast, came up with a big defensive play at an important moment. The Bears were driving again when linebacker Christian French broke into the backfield and sacked quarterback Jared Goff. That led to a missed field goal attempt, and before long the Ducks scored another touchdown to stretch their lead to 52-28.

Ballgame, as they say.

Let's be honest: Cal's defense isn't performing much better than it did last season. The Bears have allowed an average of 48.3 points in their six conference games. That's astoundingly bad.

Dykes was undeterred, saying, 'I think the defense is definitely improving. I thought we played well enough defensively to win against UCLA. Oregon is a little different - that's an elite offensive team, with a lot of weapons.'

Cal long ago modeled itself after Oregon, in a sense, when the Bears hired Jeff Tedford as their head coach after the 2001 season. Tedford had been Oregon's offensive coordinator, as the Ducks burst on the national scene - propelled by a creative, dynamic offense.

No matter how sloppily Tedford's reign in Berkeley ended, he was an unqualified success for many years. The Bears rose from the ashes to become a legitimate winner, propelled by a creative and dynamic offense (think Aaron Rodgers, Marshawn Lynch and DeSean Jackson).

But Cal also played solid defense in those years, just as Oregon does now. The Ducks and Bears have the two highest-scoring offenses in the Pac-12, bound by their no-huddle, fast-paced style.

Peer past these turbo-charged attacks, though, and some profound differences emerge. Oregon also showed up at No. 4 in the conference in points allowed; opponents are scoring a relatively modest 25.9 per game, even counting Cal's outburst on Friday night (a season-high for Ducks foes).

Dykes deserves full credit for digging his program out of the abyss. But it's impossible to picture the Bears as a strong, steady program - anywhere near Oregon - until they stop somebody. Anybody.

At any rate, Friday night's event carried larger meaning as the first college football game at Levi's, a distinction arising mostly from Berkeley's parking crunch. Pac-12 teams, as part of their television contract, are required to host two weeknight games every three years - and football during the week really doesn't work in Berkeley.

Santa Clara made sense, even if Oregon fans outnumbered Cal fans (it wasn't close among pregame tailgate parties). Another important incentive: Cal officials expect to clear at least $1 million more from this game than they would have for a true home game in Berkeley.

It's a reasonable trade-off, given Cal's giant debt for renovating Memorial Stadium. The intriguing question: What will school officials do in 2016, the next time they must host a game on a Thursday or Friday night? Cal alums bristle at the commute, but a Santa Clara field trip every few years isn't too much to ask.

Next time, maybe, the Bears will bring a complete team.

Ron Kroichick is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: rkroichick@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ronkroichick

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