Ducks Don’t Waddle, They Run Past Bears : Pacific 10: Whittle rushes for 177 yards, Philyaw for 130 in Oregon’s 23-7 victory.

Oregon ran California out of a share of the Pacific 10 lead.

Tailbacks Ricky Whittle and Dino Philyaw had the best rushing games of their careers Saturday as the Ducks defeated the Bears, 23-7, snapping Cal’s string of five consecutive conference victories dating back to last season.

Whittle, who sat out the last two games because of a pulled hamstring and had been bothered by injuries much of the season, rushed for 177 yards in 24 carries.

“We can run against any team,” he said. “It’s not just Cal because they were ranked, what, second in the league, and we went out there and showed up.”

Whittle wasn’t there last week when the Ducks managed 27 yards rushing against Washington State, a statistic skewed by 10 sacks.

Philyaw gained 130 yards in 21 carries, including a 62-yarder that was Oregon’s longest run in two years. The Ducks gained 304 yards rushing against a Cal defense that had been giving up 98 yards a game.

The Ducks, 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-10, dominated on defense after spotting the Bears an early 7-0 lead.

California (3-3, 2-1) managed only 162 yards, including only 43 rushing. Kerry McGonigal completed 11 of 32 passes for 119 yards.

McGonigal had riled the Ducks’ defenders with his comments about how he welcomed the Oregon blitz because he’d be getting up to see one of his receivers standing in the end zone with the ball.

“He might be an all-right guy, but the guy hadn’t played hardly any Pac-10 downs and he’s coming in talking like that?” Oregon safety Chad Cota said.