The Oregon Ducks are one of the most explosive teams in the country and sitting at number two in the rankings ahead of the BCS release, the team is ready to improve to 7-0 on Saturday night as they host the Washington State Cougars at Autzen Stadium in a game that is airing on Fox Sports 1 at 10:00 pm in a Pac-12 conference matchup.
Oregon is coming into the game on Saturday night after a win against Washington in a tough road game last week and that was the first challenging game for the Ducks in weeks and they still won by 20. The team played two straight road games with Colorado and Washington and before that they won games against California and Tennessee by large margins, putting up over 50 points in each of those games. The team is averaging nearly 60 points per game this season and is 6-0 overall, including 3-0 in the Pac-12 conference. The Ducks offense puts up over 600 yards per game and that will be very tough for Washington State to stop and now Oregon is gearing up for its toughest stretch of the season.
Check here for the Fox Sports 1 coverage of the Oregon Ducks and the Washington State Cougars online.
The Ducks are ranked 22nd in the nation in passing yards per game with over 300 and Marcus Mariota has been playing some fantastic football for the team, playing himself into the Heisman race with 1,724 yards passing and 17 touchdowns. Mariota is also second on the team in rushing with 426 yards and eight touchdowns and if he has another big game he could end up as a front runner heading into the second part of the season. Oregon is currently tied with Oregon State at the top of the Pac-12 North division and they have the advantage overall at 6-0. The team has the advantage over Stanford after they were upset by Utah and over the next two weeks they will play against ranked teams in both Stanford and UCLA.
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The Ducks will be tested through the second half of the season with the Bruins game and then the Cardinal and the final three games of the season include home games against Utah and Oregon State as well as an away game against Arizona. Many thought that the Ducks would slow up after losing Chip Kelly as head coach, but that has not been the case at all and at times the team has been even more prolific than they were back with Kelly. The team is ranked third in rushing yards per game with over 320 yards on the ground and they are ranked second in points per game with 56 points per game, while the defense has been just as good, averaging just under 14 points allowed per game.
Mariota has been very accurate with the ball this season, throwing 17 touchdowns with zero interceptions and he is completing over 60 percent of his passes while averaging over 10 yards a completion. Mariota has been the catalyst for the offense and the Washington State defense will be focused on him for Saturday night. The team is coming off of a loss to Oregon State and they are allowing over 25 points per game and their hands will be full against the Ducks. The team averages 30 points per game but they will need to do better than that to win against the Ducks. The team will next play Arizona State after this and the passing offense is ranked in the top 10 with over 340 yards per game. The matchup against the Ducks and Washington State will be in Oregon at Autzen Stadium on the Pac-12 Network at 10 PM.