The USC passing game is pretty darn good, and they were making GREAT catches in the pouring rain. Oregon's offense has to know they will need to score a boatload to stay on top, and for those who point out how Iowa ran the ball so well on USC?

Yeah...in the first half. In the second half the Trojans shut the Iowa offense down, unlike our defense in the fourth quarter a week ago.

USC is running the ball better, and their passing game is elite. Their defense is not great, but improved and damn-it....they have a ton of incentive to play for. I believe we have the superior squad overall, but we have to show it. While we can survive with Benson, the BEAST, and Jamari Johnson, (One WR, and two TEs to focus on) I wish we could get one WR back between Bryant, Dak, or Stewart. I'm sure Bryant would love to play the team he transferred from...

The most pleasant surprise for me this season is the secondary, and that matchup is crucial for the next two games as the Bastard Huskies have a great passing game as well. I expect a higher-scoring game where our secondary will eventually make some plays that decide the game, and the seven point line might be pretty accurate.

Needed: Painful Sacks...

I read this morning that Iowa lost 3 of its 5 o-line starters by very early second half. That probably made some difference in how they weren't able to move the line of scrimmage in the second half. The replacements were pretty inexperienced.

Iowa's coach called Lemon the best receiver he's seen in 20 years.

Makai Lemon is an absolute stud but we have Autzen Stadium! GO DUCKS!

The Iowa coach didnt have the chance to see the best receivers Oregon had due to injury.

I see a shootout coming. I watched some of the USC/IA game and as usual USC has some studs for receivers.

Plus for the Ducks is Moore and our RB's.

I have a couple concerns about OBD, first off is that Moore has had some trouble at times at throwing to wide open receivers. Two throws to Sadiq are perfect examples, he was wide open but he had to make a great diving catches. One of them was the one he got hurt on a couple weeks ago. He also has done the same to other receivers. I hope he can solve this issue in the USC game.

The other issue is how handsy (if that is a word) our DB are, they have had a number of PI calls against them and many that were not called. If they call it tight against USC it could be trouble.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Duckman60

26 minutes ago, HDuck said:

I read this morning that Iowa lost 3 of its 5 o-line starters by very early second half. That probably made some difference in how they weren't able to move the line of scrimmage in the second half. The replacements were pretty inexperienced.

Iowa's coach called Lemon the best receiver he's seen in 20 years.

So... Even though USC beat an inferior Iowa team they will get the same amount of credit for beating them as we do.

But our win gets the Penn State treatment... Diminished for what happened after our game.

I think there is an interesting discussion to be had about how do ranked wins count. Do they count in the moment, the end of the season, or something in between? Hard to say. It's probably an off season article for sure. I'll save that for later.

But our win against Iowa regardless just lost its shine. Now time to beat the Trojans for them to get injured in the process and lose to UCLA and that win to become worthless.

2025 opponents

9-2 Montana State

1-9 Oklahoma St

5-5 Northwestern

2-9 Oregon State

4-6 Penn State

11-0 Indiana

5-5 Rutgers

3-7 Wisconsin

6-4 Iowa

6-4 Minnesota

8-2 USC - next at Oregon

7-3 Washington - next at UCLA

Indiana and USC are currently ranked.  The Ducks have very little margin for error relative to the CFP.

 

1 hour ago, Charles Fischer said:

the seven point line might be pretty accurate

Do you mean for each quarter?