Oregon is back on their home turf in another Top Ten battle.
The Ducks are coming off of a much needed bye week today, but the goal ahead of them isn't much different from the huge Penn State obstacle that they overcame a couple of weeks ago. Yes, it's another meeting of Top Ten Teams (TTT!) The Big Ten schedule does not offer much in the way of a reprieve, but at least Oregon will be on their familiar home turf in the Willamette Valley today. We're already nearing the midpoint of the college football schedule and yet it still feels like we're in the learning process of what this year's Ducks squad is all about.
The Fighting Ducks acquitted themselves well against Penn State, despite losing their lead and having to squeak out an epic win in overtime. I think it was an excellent experience for Dante Moore, who had never been elevated to that kind of stage in his career previously. The big win was somewhat tempered by last week's debacle where Penn State ended up losing again to UCLA in shocking fashion. (These days, it's shocking when UCLA beats anyone!) However, nothing can really take away from a big road win against a top tier program.
So what's up with Indiana? They're... really good? Are they a football school now? After rolling through the B1G gauntlet with an 11-2 record and a College Football Playoff berth (wow!) last year, they've mostly steamrolled their way through their early schedule this season, aside from squeaking by Iowa on the road a couple of weeks back. They're also coming off of a bye week themselves, neutralizing the advantage Oregon might have had. It's shaping up to be another huge challenge, but fortunately it'll be on friendly turf.
Notes and miscellany:
- At one point, I could have sworn that Oregon played Indiana last season, but it appears that I confused my I-states when I realized that they actually played Illinois. At some point I'm going to get a handle on this Big Ten thing, but with eighteen teams in the conference, it's going to take awhile to breed familiarity. (You know, familiarity breeds contempt, but... well, anyway.)
- Opponent fun fact: The most familiar Hoosier football alum names to me are Antwaan Randle El and Trent Green. The former was a big deal during a pocket of time where I was paying a lot of attention to the NFL (the early Andy Reid Eagles years) and the latter was a bit of a journeyman QB who was famously tossed aside in St. Louis for a former Arena League and NFL Europe vet named Kurt Warner after going down with an ACL tear in the preseason.
- Opponent history: Oregon is 2-1 all-time against Indiana, but they haven't faced each other since 2004 when the Hoosiers topped the Ducks to start a rough season for the green and yellow.
- Game time is 12:30 PM PDT on CBS in Eugene. Go Ducks!
