Our Oregon Ducks football program had a huge defensive victory this past Friday over Michigan State. After a handful of chunk plays, the Spartans were held virtually motionless in the second half, and had zero answers for Oregon’s pass rush. Even with Dillon Gabriel playing arguably his worst half of football in his lengthy college career – the Ducks still hung 31 points. Gabriel found a way to bounce back. The Ducks started to look like themselves again in the second half.
Now, they look ahead to the biggest game of the season so far, where the Buckeyes will travel to Autzen as the second-ranked team in the nation. Fortunately, Oregon’s right behind them at three. This’ll be a tightly contested, high-scoring dogfight with tons of momentum shifts, big plays, and a whole lot of pushups for The Duck. We shouldn’t expect anything less than a nailbiter for sixty minutes, and after five weeks of tape have been put up, the Ducks surely have surely scouted this team out from top to bottom. As we take a look ourselves: who’s Ohio State’s biggest threat? Who will change this game and make the most impact?
Kobe Savage and co. are going to need to play their absolute guts out in the secondary – Via Craig Strobeck
Ohio State’s Big-Time Receiving Threat
Jeremiah Smith is my answer. He’s been dominant from the jump this season and is going to cause problems for ANY defense he faces. Playing against Oregon and being able to make us pay on any give snap, any mistake— Jabbar Muhammad, Kobe Savage, and all the DBs have to be as prepared as they’ve ever been for any single player when facing Smith. Any extra film, any extra snaps: fresh, sound football is what the Ducks will need against a vertically-threatening Buckeyes squad.
Fortunately, Oregon has a great wide receiver room too. That makes for some great practices, some great looks, and a good feel for what our own DBs can expect Saturday in the most highly anticipated matchup of the Ducks’ 5-0 season so far. They looked solid behind such a dominant front seven in the MSU game – let’s see more of the same against Ohio State and beat the Buckeyes in what will surely be the game of the year.
Is Smith the right pick? Who do you think will x-factor in this game? Who needs to have a truly dominant performance to push the Ducks to a victory? Let us know in the FishDuck Forum with decorum.
Go Ducks!
Alex Heining
Los Angeles, California
Top Photo By: Craig Strobeck
Alex Heining is an Oregon alumni from the graduate class of 2021. After studying sports business and media studies, he has moved into the field of digital marketing as a copywriter and content manager in the Los Angeles area. Still, he loves his Ducks and goes to local high school games all over the Los Angeles and Orange County area to check out new recruits of the future (and a SoFi game or two with the pros). On any given Saturday, expect to find him doing martial arts, playing the guitar, or screaming at the tv over a missed holding penalty.