Despite blowout of Michigan State, Oregon looks vulnerable with Ohio State coming to town
The Ducks breeze past Spartans, but is Dillon Gabriel becoming a concern?
EUGENE — In the grand scheme of things, Oregon’s 31-10 win over Michigan State on Friday was a roaring success.
In a season that’s so far seen the Ducks edge by an FCS team and slip past a Mountain West program, the Ducks were never in danger of losing their Big Ten home opener.
Oregon doubled up the Spartans in total yardage. The Ducks scored on every drive in the second half with their starters in the game. The defense was aggressive and tallied a season-high five sacks. The running game nearly outgained the entire Spartans roster, the Ducks finally took advantage of the middle eight and, hold on to your seats here, even drilled a 50-yard field goal. In every facet of the game, the Ducks were dramatically better than their new Big Ten rival — and that’s true at quarterback, too, where Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel accounted for three touchdowns and 277 total yards compared to the 183 yards and no scores produced by Aidan Chiles on the other side.
“Overall as a team,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said, “I thought we played pretty well.”
Granted, that was expected coming into a game against a Spartans team that struggles to hold on to the ball and had already lost to Boston College 23-19 before getting smoked last week by Ohio State 38-7.
And it’s those Buckeyes on the horizon that have me leaving the press box here at Autzen tonight feeling pretty uneasy about what’s directly in front of the No. 6 Ducks. Because while Friday night had storylines — it was Oregon’s first home conference game in the Big Ten. It was Jonathan Smith’s return. It was the first time these two teams have played a regular season game since their pair of thrillers a decade ago. It was a Friday. — none of those hold a candle to what’s coming.
Next Saturday will be the most anticipated game in Autzen Stadium history, one that will feature an Ohio State team coming into Eugene with a top-20 passing offense, a top-20 rushing offense and the No. 3-ranked program in the country. And while I still don’t know if the Ducks are good enough to beat the Buckeyes for a second time in program history, I do know this:
Gabriel isn’t good enough to beat Ohio State on his own.
That ship might not have completely sailed before the Ducks took to the field Friday night, but it was certainly well out of the harbor by the end of the first half.