The first-ever top-five matchup will take place inside Autzen Stadium this week as the No. 3 Oregon Ducks host the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday afternoon.
ESPN’s College GameDay will be in town, and it guarantees to be among the most electric games inside Autzen Stadium that we’ve ever seen.
While the eyes of the college football world will be on this game, it will be a good litmus test for a pair of national championship contenders who have not played the greatest of opponents thus far this season. Both teams are 5-0, but the Ducks have the only ranked win of the group, beating No. 17 Boise State in Week 2.
For the Ducks to come out on top, they are going to have to be a physical team that can match up with the Buckeyes in the trenches and stop an elite rushing attack that features one of the best RB duos in the nation — Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson.
That’s something that Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt doesn’t feel confident that they can do.
“The one thing that I think if you’re an Ohio State fan you take a little bit of backing in is that they’re great at the line of scrimmage,” Klatt said this week on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “This Ohio State offensive line, they can get after it. It was a question mark coming into the year, but they can run the football. The reason why I’m nervous for Oregon is because I’ve seen, even in that building — and I agree, it’s a really difficult place to play — we’ve seen Ashton Jeanty run for 195 yards on that Oregon defense in that building.”
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In Week 2, Boise State’s Jeanty had 192 yards and 3 touchdowns on 25 carries. However, looking at just the numbers doesn’t tell the whole story.
Jeanty had just three “explosive” runs in the game, including a 70-yard touchdown run in the second half, which accounted for a majority of his yardage total. He also had runs of 2, 3, 0, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 3, 3, 2, and 4 yards in the game. While his total yardage was certainly a lot, the Ducks did well against the Heisman Trophy front-runner, for the most part.
It’s pretty clear that the Buckeyes are going to try and rely on the ground game in this matchup vs. Oregon, though. Partly because they’ve got one of the best rushing attacks in the nation, and partly because it offers their best opportunity to take the crowd out of it.
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“How do you take the crowd out of it? How do you minimize crowd noise effect? You beat them up physically,” Klatt said. “And I think that’s what Ohio State is going to try and do, and particularly early with a run game and offensive line that is pretty elite.”
So far this season, Oregon’s defense is allowing 101.4 rushing yards per game, which ranks No. 24 in the nation. Outside of the 221 rushing yards ceded to Boise State, the Ducks have three games with fewer than 60 rushing yards allowed.
It will be a point of emphasis on Saturday afternoon, and could very well be what swings the game in either direction. If the Ducks can stop the run, they’ve got a great chance to get out of this game with a victory.
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