Good Luck Ducks, Week 12: Crunch Time

It's down to a two-game season as Oregon hosts a surprising Arizona team. 

It comes down to this: at 5-5 on the season, fresh off their bye week, the Oregon Ducks have two games remaining to become bowl eligible. And with Justin Herbert expected to get the start for the first time since September (when Oregon was actually 3-1), the final two games, both at home, are starting to look pretty winnable.

That's not to forget, of course, that winless Oregon State will be hungry next week. But the main obstacle that stands in the way is human highlight reel Khalil Tate, a quintessential dual-threat college QB that has nearly 1300 yards on the ground to go with nearly 1000 in the air. The Ducks improved run defense will certainly be tested today in Eugene in trying to contain Tate. It will be a tough game for sure, as Justin Herbert (assuming he's able to go) with need to shake off the rust against a team still competing for a spot in an upper tier bowl game.

After the bye week, and five weeks of miserably inept football on the offensive side of the ball, Oregon hopefully has a chance to reboot their season here. With a win today and/or next week, it will at least start to feel like the program is headed in the right direction after the freefall that began with the Alamo Bowl two years.

Links o' the week:

• Jim Leavitt's defense has been one of the bright spots of the 2017 Ducks season. He apparently almost was Kansas State's head coach.
• The schedules are officially out, and Oregon looks primed for a huge improvement in 2018 if anything due to Texas A&M backing out of their home-and-home agreement a few years back.
• Every few years it seems there's a good/sad story about a 5th year senior backup QB worth reading about.
• Justin Herbert Status Alert: Playing! Reportedly! Sources! Uhhh...
• Know Your Opponent: There's confidence all across the board here in a team that was supposed to be at the bottom of the conference.
• The Unis!: Green and yellow classic. The best look this team has to offer. This is the first time they have repeated a uniform combination this season, going all the way back to their Week 1 look.

After an earlier home loss to Arizona would be their only stumbling block on the way to the championship game in 2014, Oregon came out and absolutely wrecked the Wildcats in the Pac-12 Championship.

Game time is 4:00 PM PST. Broadcast channel is Pac-12 Network. Your scheduled broadcasters are Roxy Bernstein, Anthony Herron and Lewis Johnson. Go Ducks!