Good Luck Ducks, Week 3: The Other Spartans

Oregon has a final non-conference tune-up before the big prime time ABC game. 

As discussed last week, the Ducks non-conference schedule was less than stellar this year. On the other hand, it is probably ideal for this year's team, considering their coaching situation and need to show some significant improvement in order to get back to their status of perennial favorites that they enjoyed earlier in the decade. I'm heading down to Eugene in person to see Oregon play the San Jose State Spartans today, because tickets for these sorts of games are pretty affordable.

The (other) Spartans were shut out by fellow Pac-12 North school Washington State last week, which doesn't bode well for their chances here. The Ducks offense seems to be returning to juggernaut status under the guidance of suddenly top something NFL pick Justin Herbert, and there's been bright spots on D as well. I wouldn't expect a shutout again today (who actually expects a shutout in any football game?), but I do think Oregon will outpace the Cougars 31 from last week.

Things are nice now. The only real drama in Oregon football are the grumblings about backup quarterback Braxton Burmeister, who had limited action in the first two games despite the lopsided scores. Most fans are concerned that the team is a Herbert injury away from utter doom, because... well, last year? It's a concern. The hope is that the Ducks can put away San Jose State early, and (again) see what they may have in Burmeister. It definitely seems hard to throw a backup QB into the kind of situation where you don't really want to pass the ball, and actually be able to understand what they could do in a close game situation.

In other news, here are some links:

• A Reno newspaper/website isn't too thrilled about San Jose State continuing to be in the Mountain West. They were part of the big college conference migration earlier in the decade, moving over from the WAC.
• Ugo is the guy to watch for me, and also Ken Goe, one of our state newspaper/website's long tenured guys. Is there a better term for "newspaper/website" these days?
• He's only seventeeeeeeeen! [insert guitar riff]
• Know Your Opponent: "Emo Night brings rager to SJ" - sometimes the headline says it all.
• The Unis!: Not officially announced yet (as of "press time"), but this is a "Wear Black" game so I would expect black, since the unis matched the fan commandment the past two weeks. [Update: Yep, black.]

The Ducks smashed their last Mountain West opponent, last season, and were ranked in the Top 25 and then... things got dark. Let's hope for a better end result this season.

Game time is 2:00 PM PDT on the Pac-12 Network. Roxy Bernstein, Anthony Herron and Lewis Johnson probably have their own barstools at Rennie's by this point.