Good Luck Ducks, Week 11: Pivotal Road Fight

Oregon faces their biggest road test of the season against a stubborn Utah team.

Having unceremoniously dispatched Stanford last week without much trouble, Oregon finds themselves facing perhaps their toughest test of the season. The Ducks head to Utah for a late game against a team leading the entire nation in sacks. This wouldn't be the biggest concern in the world were it not for a vastly depleted offensive line that suffered yet another injury on the very last play of the Stanford game.

Marcus Mariota is still in the driver's seat of the Heisman race (who cares?) and the Ducks find themselves ranked #4 this week in the CFB playoff rankings. If the season ended right this second, Oregon would have something besides an Alamo Bowl to play for, and that would be fantastic. Unfortunately, that's not how these things work and the Ducks face a very scary and real test on the field tonight.

I have the utmost confidence in the offense at this point, but if this game follows the script of past Ducks games where the line can't seem to do anything right and positive yardage is the most difficult thing in the world, this could spell doom. I have a feeling of dread about this game for sure, but my hope is that the team has learned something about past games where positive yardage was no given. The running game has improved by leaps and bounds since early in the season, and even Thomas Tyner is getting back into the action as Oregon's three-pronged attack has stuck opposing defenses time and time again. If the run is working tonight, there's very little to dread.

Last season's meeting with the Utes led to impressive Oregon things on the ground.

Game time is 7:00 PST with national TV coverage on ESPN. Go Ducks!