The Fighting Ducks hit Lake Michigan for an early first road test.
Oregon hits the road for the first conference game of the year, after completely obliterating their first FBS opponent last week. Oklahoma State seems to be facing some dark times, but it was a bit of a surprise just how dark things got last Saturday, even though the Cowboys were coming off of a 3-9 season with a freshman backup QB at the helm. It's hard for me to feel completely sorry for a (*checks notes*) Big-12 school, especially from the part of the country that eats and breathes and does other unsavory things to the sport of football, but I was feeling bad for Oklahoma State late in that game, especially their overmatched quarterback.
The Ducks are up against Northwestern today with the Wildcats in a temporary home, in a very small venue with Lake Michigan right in the background. Unfortunately, since this isn't baseball, it doesn't seem likely that any balls will end up in the drink, but I suppose you never know. They once again start the day off as favorites by around four touchdowns, but playing outside of Eugene can always throw a wrench into those expectations. With FOX's "Big Noon Saturday" crew in full effect, it won't be treated like any other game, and certainly the small crowd at full tilt will provide an experience that most Ducks players aren't quite accustomed to. SMU transfer Preston Stone (what a name!) has already racked up seven touchdowns on the young season for Northwestern, so it's fair to expect a lot of balls in the air today.
Oregon's incredibly deep looking roster should be up for the challenge, but it will be interesting to see how all the playing time shakes out as you would figure that touches will be more proportionately distributed among top performers and the season moves along. The Ducks had 10 non-QB players carry the ball last week and 10 different players caught passes (9 in the first half alone if I'm not mistaken), but that kind of distribution isn't expected nor necessarily sustainable. Still, it was fun to watch, and the hope is that the fun can continue on today as Oregon inches closer and closer to the massive game against Penn State later this month.
Notes and miscellany:
- Northwestern, of course, is in the midwestern United States, and I've never in my life mistaken their geography for being located somewhere closer to my territory in the Pacific Northwest. However, outside of vaguely knowing they were a school located in the Midwest and probably not far from one of the Great Lakes, I couldn't have spotted them on a map. Such are the things you need to learn when joining another big conference. I doubt many Big Ten diehards could have pinned the tail on the Eugene donkey at most times in their lives.
- Opponent fun fact: As alluded to, Northwestern is in the process of renovating Ryan Field, their home in Evanston for nearly a century. It honestly looks pretty cool from the project renderings, and they purport to be doing it without taxpayer money.
- Opponent history: Their last meeting was in 1974, before I was born, with the Wildcats taking down the Ducks 14-10 in a season where both schools combined to win a total of 5 games. Yikes.
- Game time is 9:00 AM PDT on FOX in Evanston. Go Ducks!
Not that they needed it even before the game started, but good luck, Ducks!
ReplyDeleteI know exactly where Northwestern is, because I'm an alum. My dorms were a very short walk from where they played today. It should be noted that when the University was founded in 1851, that WAS the northwest of the country--most of the west wasn't states yet.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the game was closer than I expected, so there's that.