What does Oregon get for its difficulties after a reduction a week at home against Stanford? : A road game against a better version of the Cardinal.
The Ducks play in No. 11 Utah Saturday in Salt Lake City, Utah, and on newspaper have zero chance to win, or even remain close. So much so that the 14-point spread seems to be an insult to Utah by about 10 points.
Oregon (3-7, 1-6 Pac-12) will roll into Utah (8-2, 5-2) using all the second-worst rushing defense at the Pac-12 in 255.4 yards allowed per game to face the hottest rushing attack in the conference.
“Same thing as last week, actually,” Oregon defensive coordinator Brady Hoke said. “You have got to stop the run. There’s no doubt about it.”
Uh oh!
Oregon hasn’t stopped the run . Not even against UC Davis and Virginia in what appears like beams ago. Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey ran rampant a week, scoring three touchdowns as the Cardinal, owners of the worst offense in the conference, averaging 340 yards per game, put up 540 yards of total offense on the Ducks.
Utah, averaging 433.7 metres per game is better on offense than Stanford thanks to this amazing performances of running Joe Williams. He”retired” for four games to start the season just to be spoken back into playing. Since his return, Williams has averaged 216 total yards and 156.5 yards rushing per game. He’s gained 939 racing yards on 7.0 yards per carry.
“He is maybe the most explosive and also the quickest of any of the backs we’ve had here up to a home run-type back that can extend the distance away from anywhere on the field,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham told reporters this week.
To make things worse for Oregon, Williams runs behind a veteran offensive line.
“They’re bodily upfront,” Hoke said. “Very senior-oriented offensive line together with three guys up there which have played a lot of football”
The Ducks are the opposite with one senior starting on a young defense that’s rotated through 14 defensive linemen this year.
“We had a fantastic week of training precisely the same thing we did the week before,” Hoke said. “Our men have come out and struggled , and been physical every time we go to the field.”
That intensity has not translated into powerful performances on game titles. Saturday will probably be no different.
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