Good Luck Ducks, Week 6: COLO

Is it too late to uninvite a school from a conference?

When the Ducks met Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl, it might have sounded like an amazing idea for the Buffaloes to one day be a part of the Pac-10. That was January 1, 2001. Since that fateful beatdown, Colorado's football program has been in a tailspin, putting together just two winning seasons and winning just 6 games since joining the conference for the beginning of the 2011 season. What was once a very tough school to play (in the '90s) has fallen on hard, and then very hard times.

This year's Buffaloes are essentially a one-player team, relying almost entirely on the talents of wide receiver Paul Richardson. It's tough to see Colorado giving Oregon much of a challenge this time around, even without star De'Anthony Thomas. Oregon simply has too many weapons. Even though this is a road game, I can't imagine Oregon playing in tougher conditions this season than the monsoon that they endured last week, where they put the game away early by capitalizing on many of Cal's mistakes. The Buffs will have to play razor sharp football to stay in this one.

Does that smack of overconfidence by a Duck fan such as myself? Probably. The fact is, until Oregon can play with someone at or near their level, the outcome of these games isn't going to be much of a mystery. Only Oregon can beat Oregon today, and that's something I don't even want to think about. Fortunately, a much tougher road test is lurking on the horizon. We'll talk about that one next week, however.

The last visit to Colorado saw Cliff Harris gifting Colorado their only points of the day. What a guy!

Game time is 3:00 PDT with national coverage on the Pac-12 Network. Go Ducks!