Make no mistake, traveling into Salt Lake City and winning in dominant fashion at Rice-Eccles Stadium is as impressive as it gets in college football.
Not only did the Ducks snap an 18-game home winning streak for the Utes in one of the most difficult environments in the Pac-12, if not in all of college football, but they did it in a way where they took a page from Kyle Whittingham’s playbook and used it against him.
Oregon proved it could play a brand of physical football that Whittingham has built his coaching career and philosophy on.
“Not winning the line of scrimmage,” explained Whittingham when asked where the Utes’ deficiencies were against the Ducks.
“Them [Oregon] being more physical. We very rarely get out-physical but today we got out-physical. If I had to say what was the single biggest problem in the entire game, that was it,” he said.
Not often do the Utes get completely outplayed in the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage, especially at home, but Saturday the Ducks came into Rice-Eccles Stadium to prove they are as physical as any team in the country.
“That’s as thoroughly as we’ve been beaten in a long time, particularly at home” said Whittingham after the game.
“I give Oregon credit, they’re a complete football team, just like I’ve been saying all week long. Size, quickness, athleticism, depth, all sides of the ball. They took it to us,…we didn’t get much done in any phase of the game.
“The two emphases were to win the line of scrimmage and to win the turnover battle and we didn’t do either of those, among a lot of other things we didn’t do. But again, they’re very deserving of their ranking, they took it to us today.”
The national narrative about Oregon and where they stand among the elite teams in the country is on the rise. That single win against Utah has placed the Ducks at the forefront of teams who can compete for a national championship.
“Of the teams that I have seen live this year @oregonfootball is as good as any,” said Fox color analyst Joel Klatt after the game.
“They have good depth, size, length, and speed. They are my favorite to win the Pac 12 right now.”
Now, let’s not get too carried away just yet.
There’s a lot of football yet to be played in the Pac-12, but if you watched how dominant ( and balanced ) the Ducks were, you can see why pundits around the country have Oregon in their top six leading into Tuesday’s first CFP poll.
It’s difficult to argue with the top four,…1) Georgia, 2) Michigan, 3) Ohio State & 4) Florida State,…although some might flip-flop OSU and FSU.
But where it begins to get interesting is numbers 5, 6 & 7.
Undefeated Washington is thought to be sitting at No. 5,….but with Oklahoma losing to Kansas, it opened the door for both Texas and Oregon to fight for the No. 6 slot.
The Longhorns beat an average BYU team in Austin, however, the Ducks’ statement road win over Utah could land Oregon right behind Washington in the top six.
Whatever the committee decides to do on Tuesday evening, Oregon certainly showed they should be in the national conversation as a complete team with a shot at the final four.
However, as mentioned above, there’s still a lot of football left to be played, but the remaining schedule does play into the Ducks’ favor.
Of the remaining four games on the schedule, three of those are in the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium.
The Ducks will face California next week, USC the following week in Eugene, then travel to Tempe on November 18th, then return home to face in-state rival Oregon State.
If the Ducks take care of business and stay on the trajectory they’re currently on, they’ll find themselves in Las Vegas on December 1st for a likely rematch with the Huskies.
It was a statement win for Oregon over Utah.
And the statement says the Ducks are ready for primetime.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS