Oregon Ducks vs. Tennessee Volunteers

Oregon Ducks running back De'Anthony Thomas (6) scores against Tennessee.

(Bruce Ely / The Oregonian)

EUGENE -- Though No. 2 Oregon continues its "improvement week" today with the second of three practices aimed at developing young players and resting the older ones for its next, faceless opponent, I wanted to peek ahead at the differences between the Ducks and California.

The Golden Bears (1-2) play at Autzen Stadium on Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m., led by Sonny Dykes, the former Arizona offensive coordinator. It will mark the second consecutive game Oregon faces a coach in his first year at a school who is trying, with mixed success, to form a team in his own image.

There have been many growing pains -- we'll discuss that Pac-12-worst defense soon -- but one of the most striking differences stems from Dykes' hallmark passing attack. Since he became Louisiana Tech head coach in 2010, his teams have been near the top of the FBS ranks in passing. Last season, his LaTech starter Colby Cameron threw 302 more times than Marcus Mariota.

That attack continues this season with true freshman quarterback Jared Goff, and has left Cal's running game to wither. Again, no one expects the Cal rush attack to thrive given the offense's passing priority, but the numbers still jump out -- especially when compared to only one of Oregon's options out of the backfield.

The Bears are averaging 117.3 rushing yards per game (ranking 98th in FBS) on 38.3 attempts per game, about 3 yards per carry. They had 352 total yards on the ground, and three touchdowns.

Now, go to Oregon, where De'Anthony Thomas alone has 338 rushing yards on an 8.0 per-carry average, with six touchdowns, for 112.7 yards per game.

The Ducks have already out gained opponents on the ground by a nearly 3-to-1 margin this season. Look for that gap to widen against Cal.

To the links:

Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti is wary

for his defense.

Video links from Molly Blue:

is recent comments, and

the bye week.

Colt Lyerla and Mark Helfrich 'make nice,'

.

KEZI has more interviews

.

The Daily Emerald

and Alejandro Maldonado.

A practice

about Tuesday's action.

-- Andrew Greif