The Oregon Ducks suffered their first loss of the 2023 season on Saturday afternoon, falling to the No. 7 Washington Huskies, 36-33, in a thrilling game that will go down as one of the best matchups of the season.
Despite the loss, I’m not sure that many people who know college football in the nation feel worse about the Ducks than they did before the game.
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Sure, you would have liked to see some better execution in fourth-down situations for the Ducks. But going into this game, the biggest knock on Oregon was that they hadn’t played anyone, so we weren’t sure how good they really were. Well, now they’ve played one of the best teams in the nation, and they had more total yards, rushing yards, passing yards, first downs, and fewer turnovers.
That’s a team that deserves to hold its ground in the polls, in my opinion.
FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt feels the same way, keeping the Ducks inside the top 10 in his recent poll update. Here’s where things stand in his opinion after Week 7: