BERKELEY – The No. 24 Cal football team had a handful of sustained drives against No. 19 Oregon on Saturday night, but ultimately was done in by missed opportunities and a few costly mistakes in a 42-24 loss at California Memorial Stadium.

The Bears (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) opened the game with a methodical 15-play drive that resulted in a 25-yard field goal by Greg Thomas and added three other drives that contained double-digits in plays. But Cal committed five turnovers and was victimized by a few untimely miscues that proved to be insurmountable.

"We had moved the ball well at times but there were too many turnovers and missed opportunities," Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said. "We had chances for big plays and we didn't connect on them. We were staying in rhythm and moving the ball, but then we had the turnovers and missed opportunities. Against a really talented team like that, you have to make those plays. We just have to play cleaner and take advantage of of our opportunities."

The Ducks answered the Bears' opening drive with a scoring march of their own, culminating in a 7-yard touchdown run by Travis Dye to make it 7-3. Cal quarterback Chase Garbers threw an interception to begin the Bears' next possession, but Cal's defense stiffened up and forced Oregon into a punt.

The Bears then went in front after another sustained drive, moving 90 yards in 11 plays and ending on a 28-yard touchdown run by quarterback Brandon McIlwain to make it 14-10 with 9:32 remaining in the first half.

Oregon followed by scoring touchdowns on each of its next two possessions, but Cal's defense tightened up to force the Ducks into a punt late in the second quarter. Oregon then scored a pivotal touchdown just before the half on a 61-yard fumble return to make it 28-10 at the break.

The Ducks scored a touchdown on the third play of the second half to take a commanding 35-10 lead, but the Bears spent the second half chipping away at the deficit. They answered Oregon's early third-quarter score with a touchdown drive of their own, with running back Patrick Laird doing the honors with a 10-yard scoring run. Cal forced an Oregon fumble on the ensuing possession, but couldn't capitalize after Garbers was intercepted in the end zone.

The Bears continued to bend but not break on defense in the second half, forcing the Ducks into a missed field goal and a punt. Cal then cut it to 35-24 on its longest drive of the season, taking possession at its own 3 and driving 97 yards for the score with Jordan Duncan hauling in a 1-yard touchdown toss from McIlwain.

"I think we had a lot of opportunities but we didn't operate how we wanted to," McIlwain said. "We made a lot of mistakes that we need to work on. There were a lot of good things too, and we need to keep working at it. We need to use the good things as momentum and the bad things as a learning opportunity. We can learn from this and really behind it."

McIlwain finished the game with 115 yards rushing, becoming the first Cal quarterback to go over the 100-yard mark in a game since Joe Kapp in 1958. Linebacker Evan Weaver once again led the Bears defensively with a career-high 14 tackles, marking the fourth game in a row to start the season with double-digits in tackles.
The Bears are back on the road next week when they travel to Arizona for a Saturday evening matchup at 7:05 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.