The vibes were curious for the Oregon Ducks after their win against the California Golden Bears on Saturday. The scoreboard read 42-24 in favor of Oregon, but the level of enthusiasm seen from players and head coach Dan Lanning after the victory might make you question which team came out on top.
The Ducks know that they could have played a lot better, and they’re frustrated by the fact that simple, self-imposed mistakes stopped them from putting on a truly dominant performance. As if racking up 588 yards and scoring 42 points behind 6 total touchdowns from your quarterback isn’t dominant. Still, with three trips to the red zone that resulted in zero points, and a handful of mistakes on offense, it’s clear that the team still has things that they can get better at going forward.
The same can be said for a lot of the players on the roster. There were some standouts on Saturday — again, Nix became the first Oregon QB since 2009 to have 3 rushing TD and 3 passing TD in the same game, and the 4th ever — but some frustrating mistakes as well.
As we do every week, let’s identify players who saw their stocks go up, and a few who might have seen a slight dip against California: