The scoreboard may read 48-7, but even the rankers at ESPN agree that it wasn’t the most impressive showing from Oregon on Saturday.
The Ducks blew out the Stony Brook Seawolves and wrapped up their non-conference schedule with an undefeated record, standing as the only Pac-12 team in the conference that can claim that. However, the inability to pull away from the FCS school early certainly was notable, and the lack of offensive explosion early needs correction.
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Because of this, the Ducks dropped a spot to No. 4 in ESPN’s weekly College Football Power Rankings, being passed by the Iowa Hawkeyes. Here is what ESPN had to say:
It took some time for the Ducks to pull away from Stony Brook, but they’ll happily take a 48-7 win to wrap up the nonconference schedule undefeated. Starting QB Anthony Brown completed 14 of 18 passes for 159 yards with a TD before coach Mario Cristobal was able to get important game reps for both Ty Thompson (6-for-9, 82 yards, 2 TDs) and Jay Butterfield (2-for-3, 22 yards). After giving up a 75-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter, the Oregon defense settled down and allowed just 169 yards the rest of the way.
After skyrocketing to No. 3 in the rankings following their win over Ohio State last week, Oregon fans shouldn’t be too worried about this drop to No. 4. It wasn’t an incredible performance on Saturday, and there are a lot of things to clean up heading into Pac-12 play. What is important is that the Ducks are still on the inside track towards the College Football Playoff, and should they take care of business throughout the rest of the season, none of it will ultimately matter in the end.
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