In their second road game of the season, the No. 12 ranked Oregon Ducks (4-1, 2-0) will travel to Tucson, Arizona, to battle the revamped Arizona Wildcats (3-2, 1-1). It will be interesting to see how the Ducks fare in a desert climate for the first time this season.
After a resilient comeback win in Pullman, Washington, against the Washington State Cougars in week four, and a 45-27 home blowout victory over the Stanford Cardinal in week five, the Ducks are fully immersed into their conference schedule.
Senior quarterback Bo Nix set a career best with 428 passing yards against the Cougars and followed up that performance with a personal best in rushing yards with 141 against the Cardinal, which included an electric 54 yard scamper.
While Nix has been performing very well since his two interception performance in week one against the Georgia Bulldogs, he has rebounded in a tremendous way. However, Oregon’s red zone offense needs to execute better.
Oregon’s red zone offense is ranked 24th in the country, but should be much higher. In 30 red zone trips this season, the Ducks have scored 28 times, so they’ve been efficient. Eleven of those 28 came on rushing touchdowns, while 10 of those scores were through the air. On seven of those trips, Oregon had to settle for field goals, which is where they need to improve.
Versus Washington State, Oregon’s first four red zone visits resulted in three field goals and a pick six for the Cougars. On their first red zone trip, they had a false start on offense on first and goal, which stalled that drive. The succeeding drive saw some questionable play calling, which included a quarterback sneak — a common goal line play — from the 2 yard line. Had Oregon capitalized on those four trips, they would have been up 28-17 at halftime, opposed to being down 17-9 in a hostile Pullman environment.
Against Stanford, Oregon had three false start penalties in the red zone, two were on the same drive, which handicapped the Ducks’ to 3 points. This is an improvement, but against an Arizona team that averages 32 points per game and 473.6 total yards, Oregon will have to capitalize on every scoring opportunity that they receive.
Arizona’s offense is led by some high profile transfers in Washington State transfer quarterback Jayden de Laura and The University of Texas at El Paso wide receiver transfer Jacob Cowing. De Laura has passed for 14 touchdowns, six interceptions and 1633 yards, which is ranked as the fifth most in the country. Cowing has been nothing short of a disappointment, as he’s posted a statline of 40 receptions, seven touchdowns and 566 yards, which is also fifth best in the nation. Arizona’s second leading receiver Dorian Singer has 450 yards receiving, listed as the second most in the Pac-12.
The Wildcats rank fifth in the conference in total offense, while the Ducks are third. In total defense, Oregon and Arizona rank in the bottom half of the conference. The Ducks are listed as seventh best, while the Wildcats are 10th, so this matchup may be a shootout, especially given that the Caesars Sportsbook listed the Over/Under at 70.5 combined points.
Tune into Pac-12 Network this Saturday at 6 p.m. to watch the No. 12 Ducks (4-1, 2-0) storm into Tucson, Arizona, to battle the unranked Wildcats (3-2, 1-1) and achieve their first win there since 2011.
