Conference play begins with the biggest of games.
This is it. Tonight, the Ducks hit the Autzen Stadium turf for arguably their biggest game since Marcus Mariota's Heisman Trophy season. After a fairly listless outing against San Jose State, Oregon remains unscathed heading into conference play where their first real test is a game against the Stanford Cardinal.
Before I get into anything about tonight's game, let's just pause for a minute and remember that The Tree is terrible. The Tree is garbage. The Tree sucks. Someone actually documented all of the names of the people have have dawned The Tree garb, and I kind of feel bad for all of them.
The Ducks have done well against the run so far this season, and will be put to the test against Bryce Love tonight. Love returned for his senior season after winning the Doak Walker Award, but has started slowly so far. They didn't look especially good or even motivated defending the pass last week, but there's hope that a top ten opponent will bring the best out of the Oregon defense.
Since the conference expanded, Stanford has been a constant thorn in the side of the Ducks, so (recent-ish) history should be a factor here as well. Oregon should want to beat Stanford. They should want to beat them badly. The talent seems to be on Oregon's side, but the biggest questions always seem to remain unanswered until a team like this faces quality competition. I'm not quite sure what to expect, but I'm hoping for an entertaining game.
Some links:
- Oregon has a new backup QB, but it's mostly because their old backup QB got hurt. Justin Herbert is not allowed to get hurt.
- A history of ESPN's College GameDay in Eugene begs the question - will Corso don the Duck head?!
- Herbert Heisman Temperature Level: Lukewarm. Check back next week.
- Know Your Opponent: Stanford is ready for Autzen madness and is using jet engine noise to simulate the anticipated crowd noise.
- The Unis!: Green! The best.
#20 hosts #7, with ESPN's College GameDay in town for the 11th time in Eugene history. This should be fun!
Game time is 5:00 PM PDT on ABC. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Maria Taylor are on the call. Go Ducks!
Ouch. That game had to hurt. That call by the officials really went against the Ducks. But even with that call and the bad snap, they had multiple opportunities to shut the door on Stanford and they didn't. Fans on both sides are going to remember this game for years.
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