Good Luck Ducks, Week 10: That's Why They Play The Games

Oregon heads up north to face their top ranked conference rival. 

Last week, the Ducks were able to stop their losing skid in spite of playing without starting QB Justin Herbert for the fourth straight game. It put the young team just a win away from bowl eligibility and undoubtedly restored some confidence. This was a team that had taken quite a few lumps in October. While they're still not exactly healthy, Herbert should be back soon. A bowl game is more reachable now than ever.

On the other hand, Herbert still hasn't been declared the starter for tonight's game, where the Ducks will be taking on a Huskies team that thoroughly destroyed them last season on their own home turf. The less said about that game, the better, but tonight's game is up in Seattle. Washington is #12 in the current college football playoff rankings, which makes them the top ranked team in the conference. While no one has been unbeatable in the Pac-12 this year, the gap between the two schools has suddenly become so wide, it's resulted in Oregon being a larger underdog than any point in the last 13 seasons.

If Herbert doesn't go, the logic goes that he will have a bye week to recover. Looking ahead, the next opponent is suddenly scary Arizona (expected to be a pushover but suddenly carries its own CFP ranking) and what's left of Oregon State (suddenly extra motivated to finally win for their interim head coach.) It won't be easy. No one is expecting a Ducks victory tonight, except perhaps the players themselves. Oregon will have their hands full with Jake Browning, and you never know. As [insert old sports cliche spouting man here] always said, that's why they play the games!

Some links for you:

• One solid victory, and suddenly we're talking about Willie Taggart jumping ship? #DoSomething indeed.
• REVENGE! 
• This is what a true villain always says: "It's just another opponent"
• Justin Herbert Status Alert: Still smiling and looking 14 years old according to his official school photo. He'll never tell.
• Know Your Opponent: Hilariously, The Pick (aka "Kenny Wheaton's Gonna Score") is only ranked #5 on this list. Because UW is terrible.
• The Unis!: All white with chrome (wings) helmets. Almost full stormtrooper, but not quite.

Chris Solomona and the Ducks defense got the 12 year winning streak started in 2004.

Game time is 7:00 PM PDT. Broadcast channel is FS1. Your scheduled broadcasters are Aaron Goldsmith, A.J. Hawk and Danny Kanell. Go Ducks! Let's start another streak!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 10: Business

Two unranked teams just doing some business on the field. 

The Ducks may just have a quarterback on their hands. A week after throwing a record tying 6 touchdowns, Justin Herbert tied another school record with his 489 passing yards last week as Oregon finally got back in the win column by outgunning the Arizona State Sun Devils. Airing it out on nearly every possession may be the only way this team can win, as the defense has proven to be ineffective and the normally rock solid running threat Royce Freeman has been stuck in the mud after getting injured earlier this season.

Today the Ducks hit the field to take on USC, another similarly humbled team that had larger aspirations at the beginning of the season. Unlike Oregon, however, USC pulled it together earlier in the season and has a winning record (5-3) compared to Oregon's 3-5 mark. A win today would be another step in the right direction for a Ducks team that still has an outside chance at becoming bowl eligible, while USC still has an outside shot at a Pac-12 South title. These are big stakes, but not the usual kind of stakes you would see in an Oregon/USC meeting.


It'd been awhile since an Oregon win, so let's look at some highlights from last week's 54-35 victory over ASU.
Game time is 4:00 PDT with national coverage on ESPN. Go Ducks!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 9: Buff

By some strange scheduling quirk, Oregon plays Colorado for the second consecutive year since the Buffaloes joined the conference. They have yet to face Utah in a Pac-12 game, which is who they would normally face in any season that does not feature a Colorado game on the schedule. I'm not really sure how this scheduling wizardry is supposed to work.

Last year's 45-2 victory over the Buffs was not very memorable. It was the only game where backup Bryan Bennett got the start (due to a relatively insignificant Darron Thomas injury) and the outcome was never in doubt. This year's Colorado team may be the worst in the entire nation. There's likely a good number of FCS teams that could beat the Buffaloes, yet the Washington State Cougars still managed to Coug It and cough up a game to CU. The odds reflect this. At last check, Oregon was a 46 point favorite, a truly staggering amount for what's ostensibly a conference game.

This is the time where I'm supposed to write about how nervous about the game I am, but I'm not. Stranger things have happened in college football, sure. But if Oregon goes out and loses tomorrow, they will have been exposed as a fraud and it's probably better for that to have happened after 7 games than later in the season when it would sting a lot more. Expect plenty of points on the Oregon side tomorrow and not so many for the other guys.


Last year's game was a bit of a snore.

Game time is high noon (PDT) with national coverage on the Pac-12 Network. Go Ducks!