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5 Beavers the Ducks need to pay close attention to in Civil War

Oregon State still has plenty to play for in this year’s Civil War, including being a spoiler to Oregon’s playoff hopes.

Although last week’s loss to Washington took Oregon State out of the running for the Pac-12 title, there’s nothing they want more than to knock the Ducks out of, not only a chance at a conference championship but also a College Football Playoff appearance as well.

Oregon has plenty on the line as the Ducks prepare for the Civil War (5:30 pm, Fox) at Autzen Stadium. With a win, they’ll head to Las Vegas with the intention of avenging the only loss of the season to the Huskies.

Whether this will be the last Civil War in quite some time remains to be seen as the two schools are trying to work out a plan to meet since the Pac-12 is dissolving.

The Beavers are 8-3 on the season and ranked 15th in the country and will be a formidable opponent, just as Oregon found out last season when OSU rallied for a 31-10 deficit to upset the Ducks.

Here are the five Beavers Oregon needs to pay close attention to in order to ensure it plays for the conference title the very next week.

Five Sun Devils the Ducks have to pay close attention to on Saturday

Arizona State may be offensively deficient, but that doesn’t mean the Ducks can just overlook some good pieces to that puzzle.

If all of the Pac-12 schools were asked if they wanted Cam Skattebo on their roster, all 12 would most likely answer with a question of their own.

Who?

Now if they were asked that same question, all 12 would be jumping up and down with both hands in the air.

The tailback transfer out of Sacramento State chose Arizona State for his next destination and as it turns out, the Sun Devils were the lucky ones to get his services. Not even his old coach at Sac State, Stanford’s Troy Taylor, were so lucky.

Skattebo made the right choice and it’s been Arizona State’s saving grace on offense as he is their most legitimate threat. ASU has been through three quarterbacks, none of which has separated themselves from the other through injuries and poor play.

Arizona State does play hard for the entire 60 minutes and could have two or three more wins if the ball bounced a different way. If Oregon wants to get out of Tempe with an expected victory, the Ducks will have to pay close attention to these five players.

5 Golden Bears Oregon needs to look for in Saturday’s game

The Ducks need to pay extra attention to these five Golden Bears in order to ensure victory on Saturday at Autzen.

Utah played USC the week before Oregon came to town and when the Utes played the Ducks, they were a very different team.

California is now in the same spot as they also just played USC with Oregon looming the very next week. The Bears looked pretty good on offense before going down to the Trojans 50-49.

Now they have to avoid that sense of being better than they actually are as the Bears head to Autzen Stadium to face the No. 7 (US LBM Coaches poll) Ducks Saturday afternoon.

What Oregon needs to find out quickly is which Cal team they will be facing. Is it the Bears that went up and down the field against the Trojans or the team that struggled for most of the day against Idaho?

Here are five Golden Bears Oregon to pay close attention to in order California plays like it did against the Vandals and not the Trojans.

5 Utah Utes Oregon needs to look out for on Saturday

These are the five Utes Oregon needs to play close attention to if the Ducks want to win on Saturday.

Not many would have thought Utah would be in this position without their starting quarterback Cam Rising. The Utes are No. 13 in the country with a 6-1 record and are coming off a big win over USC on the road.

And all of this has been done by switching quarterback numerous times between Bryson Barnes and Nate Johnson, neither of whom has been spectacular, but both of whom have been serviceable.

It’s been the Utah defense that has held everything together and it’s that defense that will give the Utes a good chance against Oregon this Saturday. They have one of the best defensive ends in the country as well as an opportunistic and fundamentally sound unit that gives Utah a fighting chance, no matter who is at quarterback.

Currently, it looks as if Barnes has won the job after his good game at USC, but he has shown to be inconsistent at best.

These are the five Utes Oregon needs to pay close attention to if the Ducks want to get out of Rice-Eccles Stadium with a win on Saturday.