Good Luck Ducks, Week 7: Deez Nuts

 

Number Two versus Number Three! 

 

To be perfectly honest, I thought I'd have a lot more to say about Ohio State this week. As it turns out, I really don't. Don't get me wrong: this is a huge, huge, huge game. However, with the expanded playoff format, this is no longer the game that is going to cruelly end someone's season, and unless there's a severe blowout (unlikely...?), it's probably not going to heavily alter the course of either team's trajectory. It should be fun, though!

At first thought of the Ducks joining the Big Ten, games against Ohio State and Michigan particularly seemed like a step up from their usual Pac-12 regular season competition. And on the flipside, as a fan of either of those schools, you probably weren't super thrilled to welcome a team of flashy-feathered fiends in goofy uniforms two or three time zones away. But we're here now, and we've never really liked Ohio. (My apologies to the unsettling amount of people I know personally with Ohio ties.)

The Ducks are going to quack regardless of the opponent, and they're coming off of another nice performance that showed off their talents but stopped just shy of showing their true potential. I think the best opponents usually bring out the best in top teams, so I'm hopefully that Oregon can step up and prove themselves today as one of those top teams. It's not going to be a sunken season if they can't come away with a W, but I would be shocked if the effort isn't at a season high.

A buckeye is some kind of tree nut, isn't it? Ducks can eat that in their sleep.

Notes and such:

• More uniform stuff: Oregon is busting out an all-black uniform in a new style tonight. It would probably work better if it was a month or so later in the season when it would actually be dark outside for the bulk of the game.
• Do they have any history at all? Oh, yeah. The Buckeyes were 9-0 heading into their meeting in the 2021 season. Oregon upset the Buckeyes on the road, but Ohio State would go on to win the Rose Bowl while the Ducks sputtered to a 10-4 season concluding with losses in the Pac-12 championship game and the Alamo Bowl.
• Ducks ranking this week: 3 (AP). It's #2 vs. #3!
• Dillon Gabriel something-or-other: Let's come back to this next week. This game could be huge... or not.
• Game time is 4:30 PM PDT on NBC. That's right, it's that network that used to only carry Notre Dame games. Go Ducks!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 4: Prime Day

 

The Quack Attack enters conference play against a ridiculous opponent. 

 

Oregon opens conference play today against one of the strangely overhyped teams of my lifetime. Since joining the Pac-12, the Colorado Buffaloes have tallied two Alamo Bowl appearances in twelve seasons and... that's it! Aside from a 10-win season and the weird COVID year, they have finished with a losing record in every season, including four double-digit loss seasons. Deion Sanders didn't just inherit a team on the skids, he started coaching the worst Power 5 conference team of the past decade. (Can anyone name a worse one?)

Of course, with a fresh gimmick and a fresh roster of players, the Buffaloes enter their final Pac-12 season with a tremendous amount of hype. It is also true that this team barely resembles last season's 1-11 team because, well, Sanders basically fired the whole roster and replaced it with a bunch of other dudes in the transfer portal just screaming for the spotlight.

I could turn this into some whole other thing where I complain about how the game has changed and blah blah blah, but I won't. This might yet be the last season of college football I really pay attention to because of the imminent conference realignment that spreads waste all over the past, but I'm trying to just be here for the moment. And the moment is where the Oregon Ducks stomp all over the Colorado Buffaloes once again.

Notes and other things:

1. Colorado's Travis Hunter suffered a pretty disturbing injury last week that will keep him out for this game and possibly others. He's a big part of their game on both sides of the ball, so it's frustrating to see him miss the game especially if Colorado fans end up blaming any sort of loss on his absence.
2. Where Are They Headed? Well, Colorado is back to the Big 12 after this season, where they previously spent 15 seasons and were a charter member. Maybe that early 2010's realignment didn't make sense after all.
3. Ducks Ranking This Week: 10 (AP). There wasn't a lot of movement ahead of them, but their continued dominance against weaker opponents apparently said something.
4. Bo Nix Heisman Watch: I mean, I figure he still has a leg up against Neon Deion's son, so that has to count for something.
5. Game time is 12:30 PM PDT on ABC. Go Ducks!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 2: EWU

 

The Ducks look to regroup against a top FCS opponent. 

 

Last week's game was the equivalent of watching someone repeatedly hurl themselves against a brick wall, without making so much as a scratch against that wall. It was one of the worst college football games I've ever seen any team play. If the team was looking to get off to a good start with a new coaching staff and a massively revamped roster, well, that was not it at all. No matter the circumstances, I can always find some sort of positive to take away from a game involving a team that I root for, but I'm really struggling here. At least there weren't a lot of... injuries?

Next up on the schedule is the Eastern Washington Eagles. While this is obviously a much needed step down from the reigning champs, it's still a storied FCS program that can cause a lot of problems for any so-called Power 5 program. Bo Nix should have an easier time against the EWU defense. A lot of things should happen that didn't happen last week. Let's just see how it all plays out.

Notes and other things:

• I don't want to complain about conference defections all season (or really at all), but certain events have only continued to add to the continued decline of the Pac-12 (on the football side, at least.) In hindsight, I think adding Colorado and Utah years ago really hurt the conference's standing, even though Utah clearly was the best team in 2021. They're never going to overcome the time zone issue on their own, but tradition was one of the best things they could hang on to.
• There is no way that the sudden, tragic death of tight end Spencer Webb didn't affect the Ducks roster in the worst way. It happened back in mid-July, but it had to have been weighing heavily on his teammates mind as they took the field for the first time.
• Okay, fine, I'm going to talk about it again. USC has barely been relevant since Reggie Bush was getting paid to play before being paid to play was cool, and UCLA hasn't made a top tier bowl in almost 25 years. It's almost like these decisions are being made by out of touch geriatric idiots! Have fun with your mediocrity, B1G.
• Eastern Washington has one of the sillier, but still kind of cool sports logos. I'm not jealous, but I'm kind of interested.
• Oregon sent out some sort of "we know we told you to wear black, but, just kidding... please wear yellow" email blast this week. This is the first time I've heard of such a change, and it makes me wonder what prompted it. It was mentioned that the team was going to wear yellow, but in the past the directive to wear a certain color didn't always match up with what the team was planning on wearing. Also, having attended a few games in the past dozen years or so, Ducks fans don't really follow the rules all that well.
• Big thanks to buckstorecards for my first ever Kayvon Thibodeaux card. Man, I miss him. He made the last couple of frustrating, post-Herbert seasons more bearable.