Let’s be honest, the Oregon Ducks haven’t quite looked like the No. 3 ranked team in the nation in three of their four games so far this year.
The reached the mountain top in their Week 2 victory over Ohio State on the road, but in home wins over Fresno State, Stony Brook, and Arizona, the Ducks struggled at times and played down to their opponent. Through four weeks of the year, they rank 51st in total offense, and 103rd in total defense. Despite this, they are undefeated and have an inside track to the College Football Playoff.
How you ask? By making plays when it matters and finding a way to get the job done. It may not be the identity that a championship-contending team wants, but it’s good enough to get by at the moment while the stage continues to be set for late-season football.
Despite the early struggles, Oregon will face one of the biggest tests of the season this week as they travel down to California to take on the Stanford Cardinal. Stanford is 2-2 but has an impressive win over USC, and a close loss to No. 24 UCLA. The Cardinal are a big and powerful team that is absolutely worthy of giving the Ducks a test on the road.
After a handful of uninspiring wins, Oregon fans may be a bit warry of the Ducks’ ability to go on the road and stick it to the Cardinal. However, we’re here to offer you some confidence. Here are 4 reasons that we think Oregon will find success this weekend in Palo Alto:
The Big Game Narrative
There are a lot of things that we don’t really know about this Ducks’ team, but one thing that has become clear over the first four weeks of the season is that they get up for big games, and tend to play it cool against mundane opponents. There is no doubt that Stanford has been circled on Oregon’s schedule, despite their non-ranking in the Top-25.
Stanford is a good, extremely physical team that is well-coached and capable of knocking any team off if they aren’t ready. Look at USC earlier in the year. Look at UCLA last week. David Shaw is surely going to have his team ready for the Ducks this week.
Fortunately, we can be 100% confident that Mario Cristobal will do the same with his squad. We saw how prepared this team was for a big test against Ohio State early in the year, and we witnessed the fire and intensity that they played with in the ‘Shoe. This Oregon team is one that shows up when people are watching, and they prove that they are as talented and disciplined as almost any team in the nation.
After a few subpar performances, there will be eyes on Oregon this week to see if they can take care of business and assert themselves as the top team in the Pac-12. I have very little doubt that they will do so with authority.
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