No. 9 Oregon finally shores up, finds its championship form with road thrashing of Oregon State

After two weeks of seeing Oregon’s stock drop with each result, the Ducks finally looked the part of a championship contender in a 49-14 thrashing of Oregon State. 

Oregon started as the preseason No. 3 team in the country in the AP top 25, but the voters dropped the Ducks to No. 7 after a 24-14 win against FCS Idaho, then down two more spots to No. 9 after a 37-34 win against Boise State. Each of the wins fell short of the pregame expectation in terms of margin, and each of the wins included some noticeable issues keeping this talented Oregon team from playing its best football. 

Recent performances led to those high expectations of Dan Lanning’s program. The Ducks went 22-5 across the last two seasons and had one of the best teams in the country last year. While QB Bo Nix is off to the NFL, it was easy to see how another veteran like Dillon Gabriel could step right in and have similar success in the Ducks’ system. But the reality is more complicated, and there were more personnel moves than quarterback that had to be sorted out for Oregon to finally click on all cylinders. 

That happened on Saturday in Corvallis, and Oregon finally started to look like a team ready to take on the challenges of a Big Ten schedule and emerge as one of the top teams in the country. The Ducks imposed their will at the line of scrimmage against a rival in their own house and were relentlessness in putting the Beavers away in the second half. Those kind of wins build confidence and establish a standard that Oregon can carry through the season, as they will no doubt again find themselves in a close game on the road moving forward. 

Oregon State had offered answers in the first half in the form of two long touchdown drives and only trailed by eight points…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/no-9-oregon-finally-shores-up-finds-its-championship-form-with-road-thrashing-of-oregon-state/

Author : Chip Patterson

Publish date : 2024-09-15 05:01:32

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