Statistically Speaking: Oregon Ducks vs Michigan State Spartans

Michigan State Game Week has arrived and following Saturday’s win over South Dakota there is no rest for the weary when it comes to covering this week’s matchup between likely Top 10 ranked teams. Add to that the additional attention of ESPN College Gameday coming to Eugene for the early season Big Ten/Pac-12 Matchup and you have the recipe for a great atmosphere for a late summer college football game.

After one week both teams enter the the game 1-0 after winning last week. The Michigan State Spartans took care of business against Jacksonville State 45-7 and enter the game on Saturday with the 2nd best passing efficiency in the country at 240.15, The Oregon Ducks ranked fifth in the category at 219. Oregon is ranked third in scoring offense where the Spartans are twenty sixth, but that category isn’t really fair with each team playing just one game so far.

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There is one statistic that stands out about the Spartans and that is rush defense, where they allowed just twenty-two yards on the ground against Jacksonville State. We will see of that holds up this week against the Oregon Ducks Three Headed Monster on the ground in Byron Marshall, Royce Freeman, and Thomas Tyner. Freeman had two touchdowns on Saturday against South Dakota. Marshall added a touchdown catch to his early season resume as well. Marshall also had the first one-hundred yard rushing game of his career and all three combined for over two hundred thirty yards on the ground.

Throught the air, Oregon Ducks Quarterback Marcus Mariota was efficient as well. He threw for two hundred sixty seven yards and three touchdowns(also ran for one) in one half of play. His passing efficiency also put him in the top five in the category for the week. The win also extended Oregon’s home-opener winning streak to ten games.

In looking at the stats, Michigan State can be found on the page, but not in the top five. In some instances not even in the top twenty, but again, each team has played one game this season. This weekend between the Oregon Ducks and Michigan State should tell a lot about both teams.

Oregon and Michigan State faceoff at Autzen Stadium on Saturday, September 6th at 3:30pm Pacific Time. The game will be broadcast on FOX.

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