Late in their 42-24 victory over California, Bo Nix hit tight end Patrick Herbert with a pass that he lugged into the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown and the Oregon sideline exploded in a wild celebration that engulfed Herbert when he made his way back to the bench. At the team meeting before the game, coach Dan Lanning pointed out that this would be the last opportunity for a Herbert to score a touchdown in Berkeley as his brother, currently a star in the NFL, never breeched the promised land. Patrick’s celebration was an example of the gusto and vivacity of the team’s unity; a product of the masterful job the coaching staff has done resurrecting the mess that was Oregon after a humiliating demise in a week-one, nationally televised beat down in Georgia.

Saturday, the Ducks travel for the second week in a row and take on Colorado, a team that struggles to score points, averaging only 16 points per-game, earning them just one win this season, in overtime against California. Being a heavy favorite can distract a team from the business at hand, especially on the road and against a team with nothing to lose. Lanning has set a tone of hard work, attention to detail, and playing together, in an environment that never excludes some fun. As you watched the gleeful Ducks congratulate Herbert, you saw a team together, not just for themselves, but for each other.    

The strongest influence on winning or losing is whether you have a good or great quarterback; this is where the Buffaloes are hurting the most. Coming into the season, Brendon Lewis looked to be the guy, but he lost the job to freshman Owen McCowan and entered the transfer portal. McCowan played in four games this season, was injured and may be held out the rest of the year to save his redshirt season, leaving JT Shrout as the starter.

Karl Dorrell was the head coach when the season started, but was fired after only five games, another casualty to football failure in Boulder. He was replaced by interim head coach Mike Sanford, who was a highly rated assistant at Minnesota. Sanford named Shrout as the starter in their last game, a 42-34 defeat to Arizona State, completing only 13-of-34 passes, but threw for two touchdowns in a late rally. McCowan, who still might play against the Ducks, is at least a year from being ready for the big show.

Digesting that, it’s hard to see coach Dan Lanning’s Ducks with a severe challenge this Saturday. Colorado has tough defenders in their front seven and offensive line, but realistically do not have a chance to win this one. Unless, that is, Oregon is flat and assumes that things are the way they have been. Lanning is a disciple who preaches “learning opportunities” from the mistakes the Ducks committed in their previous game and the list is fairly long in the categories that would make a difference in competition between more equal teams, which is what Lanning faces in the three games after this one.

Oregon was poor in red zone play (inside the 25-yard line), scoring on only 4-of-7 trips. The Ducks had four turnovers on two interceptions and twice failing on fourth-down conversions; prior to the Cal game a 90 per-cent sure thing. The offense continues to have penalties, several of them false starts occurring in the red zone. Perhaps the linemen get so excited being in the red zone they have a hard time concentrating on the snap count.

Quarterback Bo Nix was sharp statistically, but in some of the fundamentals throwing the ball, he was sloppy, not getting his feet set when he threw and throwing some balls that shouldn’t have been thrown. He takes pride in protecting the ball however, and the two interceptions weren’t really his fault: the Hail Mary into the Cal end zone at the end of the first half and another that bounced off the hands and chest of Troy Franklin, his most reliable receiver.

As a position group, it was hard to find fault with the running backs. They ran hard and fast, as usual, and added 176 yards on pass reception yardage—the Ducks’ offensive success was decided by the efforts of Bucky Irving, Noah Whittington, Jordan James, and Sean Dollars, the most consistent offensive position group. The offensive line played decent and have only given up one sack this season, but a lot of that is due to the survival and running instincts of Nix, who knows when to abandon ship and take off on his own.

The Duck defense sensed Cal’s weakness in their offensive line and had their best pass rush pressure of the season. Edge rusher DJ Johnson was named Pac-12 defensive lineman of the week with two sacks, several hurries on the quarterback and made his presence felt in Berkeley. For him, it was a breakout day and the rest of his teammates brought pressure also, causing two interceptions and allowing only 4-of-15 third-down conversions. Lanning pointed out two learning opportunities in red zone defense after allowing scores on 3-of-4 opportunities and 2-of-2 fourth-down conversion attempts.

Kris Hutson returned one punt for 21 yards, the longest this year, but missed a chance for a potential touchdown when he fair caught the first Cal punt of the game, unaware that his downfield blockers had all five Bear defenders walled off ten or more yards in front of him. Unfortunately, the return team put out their best effort of the season and it went for naught, just as the majority of anemic Duck punt returns have gone quietly into the gloom.  

The Ducks continued their mastery on the “middle eight” which refers to the four minutes before halftime and the first four of the second half. In that category, Oregon outscored Cal 14-0, which provided most of the difference in the game and continued a trend the Ducks have established this season. They are one of the highest scoring teams in the country in the second quarter, which sets up their defense with an advantage in the second half. Oregon’s defense is not the most gifted in the country, but their talents are made more effective and productive by the points generated by the offense.

Colorado coach Sanford said, "This team is gonna fight to the very end, and there will be a breakthrough and I believe that… putting it all together, we're going to see that will come to fruition at some point." It’s up to the Ducks and their game focus, to see that the Buffaloes’ “fruition” happens sometime after they leave Boulder.