Oregon Ducks Hold Top Spot, Trying to Be The First to Take Down Cal at Home

The Oregon Ducks are steamrolling through the Pac 10 after handling the Washington huskies 53-16, without even scoring in the first quarter. 

They have taken a big loss to backup QB and special teams field-goal holder Nate Costa with yet another knee injury. This hurts, big time.

The nerves have been jumping in every true Duck fans' body when Costa went down, due to past memories of 2007, where Dennis Dixon went down when the ducks held a No. 2 national ranking.

Duck fans can only hope for the best. 

With better news, the offense continues to dominate. Granted, UW has one of the worst defenses in the Pac 10, and their so-called "star" quarterback Jake Locker was out with an injury.

But nonetheless, Oregon yet again "won the day," as Coach Kelly would put it. 

Next up, they travel to Berkeley, Calif., to take on the Golden Bears, who are a homer team to say the least. California is 5-4 on the season, but their record says little about them until you look at the difference between home and away games. 

Cal is undefeated at home, taking it to Arizona State 50-17 earlier this season and ripping UCLA a new one 35-7. They have been unstoppable when playing on their own turf, and quite the opposite when playing away games.

The Golden Bears have only one win on the road this year, and that came last week by a slim margin of one touchdown against an extremely-weak Washington State football team. 

Cal is the definition of inconsistent. You have to wonder: Will their dominant side show up against Oregon this coming Saturday?

Or will Oregon keep on rolling through the Pac-10 straight to the national title game?

It is an unknown at this point. QB Kevin Riley is out for Saturdays game, which puts a big pressure on Cal's backup QB Brock Mansion, who is coming off a 171 yard effort with 2 interceptions against the weakest defense in the Pac 10. 

It still amazes me how inconsistent California is at every position. 

There is one thing that is for sure: Cal shows up to play in Berkeley, and the Ducks better come ready to play, for it is not a game to look past. 

There is always little talk about the Pac-10 across the nation, due to the unconditional love that analysts have for the SEC. I am fine with that.

As long as Oregon keeps doing what their doing, getting motivated each week by skeptics really wondering if they are the real deal, then you will see them on Jan. 9 to take down whatever teams wants to face them. 

I see Oregon having the best game of the season against the Bears this week.

Go Ducks.

Prediction: UO 63, Cal 10