The Oregon Ducks and BYU Cougars will face off in a nonconference top-25 matchup between two of the best in the west.
Oregon coach Dan Lanning will hope the team that shows up at Autzen Stadium looks more like the version that played Eastern Washington last week and not the team that had its bell rung by Georgia in Week 1.
BYU represents an extremely difficult opponent. It is ranked 14th as it plays its final season before joining the Big 12 conference in 2023.
For Oregon to pull off a victory and begin the process of rebuilding faith in the new staff and new personnel, here are three keys they’ll need to take care of between the lines on Saturday:
Defensive Line Needs to Step Up
BYU left tackle Blake Freeland is a potential first-round pick. Alongside Clark Barrington and former Oregon lineman Kingsley Suamataia, all three stand 6 foot, 6 inches or taller and offer elite levels of production for quarterback Jaren Hall.
If the Ducks cannot generate an effective pass rush, something they struggled mightily to do against Georgia in Week 1, the Cougars will have no problem marching up and down the field, using up clock and scoring a lot of points.
All that is a recipe of a home loss, and folks such as Brandon Dorlus will need to have their best game of the season if they want to keep BYU from doing whatever it wants offensively.