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Royce Freeman came to Oregon as one of the nation's top recruits, but expectations were tempered for his first season given the Ducks' depth at running back.
He's proving more and more each week that he's ready to carry the load.
The true freshman hopes for another solid effort as the sixth-ranked Ducks seek a sixth straight victory over California in Friday night's matchup at Levi's Stadium.
Oregon (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12) has bounced back nicely after suffering a surprising 31-24 home defeat to then-unranked Arizona on Oct. 2, defeating then-No. 18 UCLA 42-30 on Oct. 11 before beating Washington 45-20 last week.
Freeman has been instrumental in both, rushing for 121 yards and two scores against the Bruins before carrying 29 times for 169 yards and four touchdowns versus the Huskies.
"Royce is Royce," said quarterback Marcus Mariota, who had 336 yards and two TDs against Washington. "I don't know how to explain it. He's done amazing things all year."
Freeman has had at least 75 yards on the ground six times and ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in rushing yards while adding 11 touchdowns - tied for fifth in the nation.
"I'm just trying to go each and every week and improve and get a breakthrough," he said. "I'm just trying as hard as I can."
The Ducks have plenty of contributors at running back, including Bryon Marshall, Kenny Bassett and Thomas Tyner. Though coach Mike Helfrich used Marshall mainly as a receiver last week and gave the majority of the carries to Freeman, he would prefer to spread out the rushing load a bit more moving forward.
"We need the committee," Helfrich said. "For us, that committee's good. But there are going to be things that happen in games, whether it's game-plan related, readiness related, guys are going to have to carry the load differently."
Oregon has won five straight against Cal by an average of 30 points, including last season's 55-16 home victory in which Marshall rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
Mariota threw a career-high six touchdowns in a 59-17 win in 2012, and he could be in for another big day against a Bears squad that is allowing an FBS-worst 391.7 yards per game through the air.
Cal (4-3, 2-3), coming off a 36-34 loss to UCLA, also has allowed the most passing TDs in the country at 26. Its offense hasn't performed as well the last two weeks, either, being held to fewer than 400 yards for the only times this season in back-to-back defeats.
Jared Goff threw for 303 yards and two touchdowns against the Bruins before being picked off at the 2-yard line with 51 seconds remaining on Cal's last possession.
"It was a tough game and a tough way to lose down the stretch," coach Sonny Dykes said. "There are some things we have to get better at as we move forward. It is a tough way to lose. We have got to give our guys credit for putting ourselves in a position to win it. We just came up a little bit short down the stretch."
Goff has attempted at least 41 passes in four straight games, completing 64.7 percent with 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
"We gave up some pressure, and I thought Jared handled it pretty well most of the game," Dykes said. "Obviously we have got to get better, but I thought he did a pretty good job extending some plays with his feet, moving around in the pocket and getting the ball down the field."
Dykes benched Goff in the first quarter of last season's rainy meeting with Oregon after he lost two fumbles and completed 3 of 7 passes for 11 yards.
