Good Luck Ducks, Week 10: The Cal of it All

 

Oregon hosts a familiar foe from NorCal. 

 

Fresh off of a dominating win over Utah, Oregon takes their shiny #6 ranking and solidified position in the new College Football Playoff poll back home to Autzen Stadium to host California. Everyone will be missing the rivalry with Oregon State for years to come, but there are other annual matchups that are being eliminated that sting as well. The Ducks and Bears have a long and interesting history of entanglements, which has only been amplified with the vast number of students that live in northern California but choose to go to school at UO.

On paper, this game isn't expected to be as close or competitive as their usual meetings, but these things have a strange way of playing out on the field sometimes. At last check, the Ducks were favored by more than three scores, but we all know that games aren't played on paper (because that would be boring.) Of course, the Bears haven't actually won in Eugene since 2007 for what it's worth.

Bo Nix will look to be in top form again, although the damp but mild weather could lead to the Quack Attack leaning heavily on the ground game. This is also something that suits this Duck team just fine, with their two-headed attack that features Bucky Irving and Justin James. This tandem reminds me of when Oregon had LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner running wild all over everyone.

Notes and other things:

• Last week's wild 50-49 loss in Berkeley to USC was delayed by more than seven minutes due to a student protest which had something to do with a former professor. This sounds like a very Cal thing to do.
• Where Are They Headed? The Northern Cal team will be headed to the eastern seaboard for a chunk of their schedule as they are joining the ACC. We'll see how long this stuff lasts.
• Ducks Ranking This Week: 6. The CFP is finally in action and they felt that Oregon is the best of the one-loss teams. Sounds good to me.
• Bo Nix Heisman Watch: He's back in the discussion, it would seem.
• Game time is 2:30 PDT on the Pac-12 Network in Eugene. Go Ducks!