‘Be careful;’ Kirk Herbstreit warns against people writing off the Ducks after slow start to season

“Be careful. Autzen is still Autzen, and this defense with Dan Lanning is still real. Oregon might remind you that they know how to play football today.”

For a majority of the Oregon Ducks fan base, it has been a relatively frustrating start to the 2022 season. The first game of the year saw a blowout loss to the defending champions, and while the second game resulted in a blowout win over an FCS school, everyone is still looking to see who this Oregon team really is, and how good they can be under new head coach Dan Lanning.

While they looked good a week ago, the season-opening loss did a good job of throwing the national media off of the scent, so to speak. Rarely do you hear the Ducks in any conversations about the best teams in the Pac-12, let alone the nation. That’s what makes this game against No. 14 BYU so important.

On ESPN’s College GameDay Saturday morning, Kirk Herbstreit offered a word of advice to any doubters out there that think Oregon isn’t a good college football team.

“Dan Lanning will find a way to get his boys to show up,” Herbstreit said. “I think everyone forgot that Oregon still plays football after Week 1 when they got embarrassed by Georgia.  Be careful. Autzen is still Autzen, and this defense with Dan Lanning is still real. You have Noah Sewell and Justin Flowe in the middle. I’m just saying, Oregon might remind you that they know how to play football today.”

That belief was reflected in Herbstreit’s pick on GameDay, where he was one of only two pickers to side with the Ducks.

“I’m going with Dan Lanning, a team that everyone’s forgotten about after their debacle against Georgia. Their defense in Autzen I think could be the difference.”

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