Tez Johnson delivers career day, leads No. 6 Oregon to blowout win over Cal

Coming off the back of a statement win for Dan Lanning and Oregon against Utah, the Ducks looked to back it up with a dominant performance back at Autzen stadium. Against a Cal team that nearly knocked off USC, they entered the game as 25.5-point favorites. The overarching feeling was that Oregon would continue to assert its dominance and cover the spread. After a slow start, the Ducks finally found their groove and would cruise to a dominant 63-19 victory — the most the team had scored since their victory against Portland State.

Bo Nix tallied six total touchdowns and Tez Johnson had a career night, with 12 catches for 180 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also contributed 75 yards from punt returns alone. Oregon finished the night with 597 total yards, with 444 of those coming through the air. 

The suspicions about how good Oregon’s defense really is were also confirmed — this group is really good. Cal put up 49 points against USC last week, but could not muster up any momentum against this ferocious defense and only scored 13 offensive points. Oregon also forced three turnovers; two fumble recoveries and one interception.

How it happened:

Oregon received the kickoff and on the first play of the game, Bo Nix threw his second interception all season to Patrick Morris, setting up the Golden Bears near the red zone. 

Oregon forced fourth down and Cal set up for a field goal before Khyree Jackson blocked the kick and Jahlil Florence took it to the house to seemingly put the Ducks up by 7. However, the play was called back on an offside and Cal moved inside the 10. On the ensuing play, Fernando Mendoza threw a blind ball that was intercepted by Oregon, and the game was already off to the most insane start all year.

Nix and the Ducks offense, looking to regain control of this game, cruised down the field and into Cal territory. Bucky Irving was open in the flat and Nix hit him for the score, but the play was called back due to offensive pass interference. The wildest start of the year got wilder as Oregon was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. On second-and-37, Nix connected with Tez Johnson in the middle of the field for 48 yards and the opening score to put Oregon up 6-0, and Camden Lewis hit the upright on his extra point to make it 7.

Cal’s offense struggled to get anything going in the first quarter and that trend continued to ring true. On third down, Mendoza tried to get rid of the ball but was unsuccessful, losing control of the ball. The Ducks recovered on the 1-yard line and Nix kept it himself to put Oregon up 14.

Mendoza was able to string together a pair of completions for 46 yards, but couldn’t get anything else and the drive ended at the 26-yard line. Cal drilled a 43-yard field goal. On the first play of the drive, the snap was fumbled and Cal scooped-and-scored to cut the deficit to just 4.

The Ducks drove down deep into opposing territory, but couldn’t execute on third-down. Camden Lewis’ struggles continued as his 53-yard attempt was nowhere near where it needed to be.

An uncharacteristically bad start for Oregon continued. Even though the defense stood its ground and forced a field goal, up by 1 point midway through the second is not how Lanning would’ve drawn it up.

Oregon really needed a spark and something to reassert themselves, and Irving took matters into his own hands–three straight runs and 33 yards put the Ducks in prime position to score. A defensive pass interference kept the drive going and Nix pounded it in for his second rushing touchdown on the day. 21-13.

After ad three-and-out from Cal, Nix drove his offense to another score in just five plays. An impressive drive was capped off with a perfect throw from to Tez Johnson for his second touchdown of the day to make it 28-13. Johnson also broke 100 yards for the first time this year–and the first half hadn’t even ended.

The defense stood its ground again to force a punt–which Tez Johnson brought 47 yards downfield to the Cal 21. Nix was able to squeeze a ball into Troy Franklin on the sideline to put the Ducks up 35-13 going into the halftime break.

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Cal put together an impressive drive to open the half. 6 plays and 75 yards were capped off by an impressive touchdown run by star running back Jaydn Ott. They tried for 2, but were unsuccessful. 35-19.

After a three and out for Oregon, Ross James punted the ball 64 yards and pinned the Golden Bears at their own 3. The Ducks needed a defensive stop to keep hold of momentum, and they got just that. Cal punted and Oregon took over near the 50. 

Oregon took over with great field position and took advantage of it, scoring in just five plays. Irving finished off an efficient drive with a 6-yard touchdown run.

Cal’s offense finally started to get going, putting together numerous consecutive positive yardage plays. After getting all the way to Oregon’s 5, their freshman running back Jaivian Thomas lost control of the ball and Evan Williams recovered.

Oregon, starting from their own 1, were able to get a first down to get some more space, and then three consecutive completions to Franklin and Johnson got them to the 11 before the end of the 3rd quarter. The game was as good as over when the Ducks faked the entire Cal defense on play action and Nix found Ferguson wide open in the back of the endzone to make it 49-19. 

Ty Thompson entered the game for Nix on Oregon’s next drive, leading them down the field before Jordan James ran 16 yards to the endzone. Ty Thompson also threw an impressive touchdown to Holden in the corner of the endzone, who barely got one foot in bounds. Oregon took care of business, but will be disappointed with the slow start.