In hindsight, it’s difficult not to compare your team to others.
As college football fans, that’s what they typically do when a team doesn’t live up to the hype or expectations.
The browbeaters were out Saturday evening after No. 3 Oregon snatched a close 24-14 victory over Big Sky foe Idaho.
And those same browbeaters are out this Sunday morning.
Yes, Oregon didn’t have the same luster that No. 1 Georgia had when the Bulldogs annihilated Clemson 34-3.
But they also weren’t nearly as bad as Colorado State who got waxed by Texas 52-0.
The Ducks offense sputtered in critical moments on Saturday.
But they also flashed the excellence in their aerial attack that we expected accumulating 380 passing yards.
At times the Vandal defensive line seemed impenetrable, but at other times both Jordan James and Noah Whittington showed why they might be the best one-two punch in all of college football.
The Idaho defense came prepared for battle in both scheme and personnel.
In passing situations, or in just correctly reading the Duck’s offensive set, the Vandals linebackers dropped in deep coverage forcing Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel to throw underneath, which he did often, limiting the explosive plays.
“Just finishing, not beating ourselves up, more explosive plays so there’s not as many third downs and just being efficient, you know?” explained Gabriel after the game.
Idaho came to play.
The Vandals are a very solid team and tackled extremely well in space. They also have a solid defensive line and consistently put pressure on Gabriel.
That said, this Oregon offense has a stable of weapons that can rival any team in the country, including Texas and Ohio State.
“I wouldn’t say disappointment,” said Gabriel after the game when asked about the Ducks performance.
“It’s just more like, gosh, we’re explosive, we’ve got a lot of weapons, and I think at times we bit ourselves in the foot. It was strenuous when it didn’t have to be.”
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning saw exactly what the rest of us saw.
“I thought they (Idaho) did a good job of stopping our interior run game and we struggled at times to get the ball in the perimeter and be able to move it down the field,” said Lanning.
“I think they did a really good job of staying on top defensively as well to stop us from creating explosive plays down the field, and they did a good job generating pressure, so we have to evaluate some of those looks.”
In every game, there are always teaching moments and in this one against the Vandals, there were many.
Lanning continues to always view the glass as half full as opposed to half empty.
“Every single game we look for an opportunity to grow,” he explained.
“We certainly walked away from this game with opportunities to grow. Always going to celebrate a victory, but there are some opportunities for us to get better for sure.”
Are the Ducks Georgia, Texas, or Ohio State?
One certainly couldn’t make that comparison at the moment.
But Lanning’s expectations are high and he’ll work harder than any coach in college football to close that comparison gap.
In fact, with Boise State coming to Eugene next Saturday that comparison gap will need to be closed much sooner than later.
GAME HIGHLiGHTS