The Ducks (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12) saw their eight-game winning streak end last week at the hands of rival Washington. Like Oregon, the Utes (8-2, 6-1) also lost their opener to an SEC team on hostile territory — at Florida — and have lost just once since, at UCLA.
The teams have four common opponents — Oregon beat the Bruins, WSU, Arizona and Stanford, while the Utes lost to UCLA but have wins over the Cougars, Wildcats and Cardinal over the past three weeks.
Oregon leads the all-time series between the two, 23-12, including 13 out of 18 in Eugene. The Ducks have won five of the nine matchups since Utah became a conference rival, though the Utes have won three of the last four.
Saturday’s game kicks off at 7:35 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN, with Dave Flemming on play by play, analysis from Rod Gilmore and Tiffany Blackmon with reporting from the sidelines.
Some storylines to watch Saturday evening …
1. Not since the first week of September has the Oregon football program found itself regrouping after a loss. But that was the situation this week after the Ducks let a late lead slip away against Washington last Saturday.
After dropping their opener to Georgia, the Ducks bounced back emphatically with a win over Eastern Washington and kept it going the next week against BYU. The challenge is greater this time around, with the defending Pac-12 champion Utes next up.
“I know this, we didn’t let Georgia beat us twice; I’m not gonna let Washington beat us twice,” UO coach Dan Lanning said earlier this week. “We played them once. And I’m not gonna let that happen. My focus is, we gotta go play a really dang good Utah team — probably one of the most complete teams that we played this season. And you’re not going to do that by crying over spilled milk.”
2. For all that went wrong for the Ducks against UW, they probably win the game if not for the injury to starting quarterback Bo NIx. When he went down in the fourth quarter, momentum was lost.
The silver lining to that dark cloud was, Nix was able to return to the game after missing a series. That fueled cautious optimism that he’ll be good to go against the Utes.
“(Nix) has been able to be out there on the practice field for us this week,” Lanning said. “We’re being really conscientious with him and his reps, want to do a good job…
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