It’s finally here.
After weeks of waiting, the build-up is over. No. 4 Oregon at No. 9 USC – the battle for Pac-12 supremacy.
Oh, that’s next week? My bad.
It’s easy to look past the Colorado Buffaloes. They dwell under the floorboards of the cellar in the conference this year, and even the Denver media has proclaimed they’ve entered the Dark Ages. Within the Pac-12, they rank dead last in scoring offense, scoring defense, total defense, passing efficiency, punt return average, kickoff coverage, turnover margin and redzone defense.
Meanwhile, on the other side of what some Ducks fans consider a glorified scrimmage, waits USC and resurgent Heisman candidate Matt Barkley.@@http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/barkley_matt00.html@@
Many analysts are pegging this week as a trap game for both teams – USC takes on a slightly stiffer foe in Arizona – and with expectations so low, it’s fair to ask if the Ducks are locked in and focused.
“I worry about our guys no matter who we play,” head coach Chip Kelly said. “I can tell our mindset on Monday in practice. This team, since I have been here, has been really, really good at preparing for every opponent, and I hope this week is no different. I worry every Sunday when I sit in the office about what our mindset will be when we come in on Monday, but these guys don’t disappoint me.”
Of Kelly’s six losses as head coach, three of them have come as the favorites. But two of those, the loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and 2011’s letdown to USC, render the rankings meaningless. In fact, Oregon’s only true loss in a game it should’ve won on paper was when unranked Stanford’s running back Toby Gerhart@@http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/gerhart_toby00.html@@ steamrolled the Ducks in Kelly’s first year as coach.
Since then, Oregon has won the games it was supposed to win. And as 47-point favorites, there’s never been less certainty before kickoff.
But Kelly’s message is clear: “We will prepare like we normally do.”