Oregon has secured bowl eligibility for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons, but there’s a strong sense of dissatisfaction amongst members of the team, coaching staff, and those that comprise the Oregon fan base. A 6-3 record currently has the Ducks on pace to surpass preseason expectations, though their play of late has generated real doubt as to whether this team can achieve that mark.
With a road tilt at Utah on the slate this weekend, the Ducks hope to shed some of these feelings of dissatisfaction by earning a victory against what has been one of the hottest teams in the Pac-12 over the past several weeks. Fortunately for Oregon, Utah is also dealing with considerable issues of their own enter this week’s game, making it one of the more intriguing matchups on the Pac-12 schedule this Saturday.
Below, WFOD takes a look at biggest questions for Oregon as they prepare to face Utah in Salt Lake City.
1. Can Oregon overcome their woes on the road?
No matter the sport, it’s generally true that teams and individuals play better close to home than they do on the road in unfamiliar, and often times hostile, territory. But even with that commonly accepted belief, the difference between Oregon at home and Oregon on the road this season has been quite staggering. In six home games this season, the Ducks have averaged 43 points and 484 yards of total offense per contest. On the road, however, those numbers dip drastically. In their three road games in 2018, the Ducks have averaged approximately 25.7 points and 361 yards of total offense per game. Certainly Oregon’s home statistics are somewhat inflated given the fact they faced perhaps the weakest non-conference schedule of any Power 5 team in the country (Bowling Green, Portland State, and San Jose State), but even when you crunch the numbers and exclude those games from your calculations, the Ducks are still nearly 10 points (34.3 points per game) and more than 100 yards (104, to be exact, at 465 yards per game) better at home than they are on the road.
This Jekyll and Hyde phenomenon has underscored the wild inconsistencies we have seen from this team this season, but particularly in recent weeks. Though there were notable signs of vulnerability through the first half of the season, these shortcomings didn’t really reveal themselves to a significant degree until Oregon’s trip to Pullman nearly three weeks ago. From that point forward, the Ducks have performed as a vastly different team. With another season-defining game on deck this week at Utah, the focus should rightfully center around whether Oregon has the wherewithal to overcome their apparent inferiority complex away from Autzen Stadium.
2. Can the Ducks capitalize on the injury to Utah QB Tyler Huntley?
As disappointing as Oregon has been on the road this season, they received some beneficial news over the weekend when it was announced that Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley would miss the remainder of the season with a broken collarbone suffered last Saturday at Arizona State. Injuries of this magnitude rarely, if ever, come at a good time. However, the timing was especially bad for the Utes, who had designs on wrapping up the Pac-12 South division in emphatic fashion with an improved Huntley at the controls of what had been a rapidly improving Utah offense. With him now officially sidelined, the Utes turn to freshman Jason Shelley.
Ranked as the nation’s 17th-best dual-threat quarterback in the 2017 class by 247Sports’ Composite rankings, Shelley has played only sparingly for the Utes since his arrival in Salt Lake City. Though he appeared in three games this season prior to last Saturday, Shelley’s first extended action came in relief of the injured Huntley at Arizona State – and the result weren’t exactly encouraging. Shelley completed just 4 of 11 passes for 59 yards and one interception, as he led Utah to a field goal on the drive in which Huntley was hurt before the Utes surrendered 17 unanswered points. The Ducks still have plenty to prove when it comes to performing well on the road, but with Huntley injured, they have a tremendous opportunity to steal what had appeared to be an unlikely win just a few weeks ago.
3. Will Oregon’s rugged run defense reappear?
The odd disappearing act performed by Oregon run defense has been one of the more disheartening things surrounding this team over the second half of the season. Through their first four games, the Ducks were dominant against the run, limiting their opponents to only 75.5 yards per game on the ground. Since then, Oregon has had fits slowing down their opponents’ rushing attack, as the Ducks have surrendered 197.4 yards per game over a five-game stretch. In retrospect, it appears as if those figures over Oregon’s first four games were bolstered due to the fact that the opposition they faced wasn’t all that good on the ground to begin with. It’s expected that Oregon would stifle the likes of Bowling Green, Portland State, and San Jose State, but when the Ducks shut down Stanford and talented running back Bryce Love in their Pac-12 opener, there was good reason to think that Oregon’s front seven was for real.
That’s no longer the case, as Stanford has surprisingly proven to be one of the worst rushing offenses in the Pac-12, while the Ducks have been a virtual sieve against the run since that game. Though they’re talented running backs in their own right, Arizona’s J.J. Taylor (212 yards, two touchdowns) and UCLA’s Joshua Kelley (161 yards, one touchdown) ran roughshod over Oregon the last two weeks, hammering home the fact that the Ducks’ defense as a whole has taken a sizable step back in Year 2 under defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt. With Oregon still set to face three of the Pac-12’s top four rushers, beginning with Utah’s Zack Moss this week, the question now is whether the Ducks’ veteran group up front can rediscover their stingy form against what figures to be a one-dimensional Utah offense.