We are one day away from the 115th Civil War kickoff and this game has Rose Bowl implications for Oregon. Just last weekend, the Trojans marched into Autzen Stadium and shocked the Ducks and the Duck faithful with a 38 – 35 victory. Suddenly the Ducks were out of the “one-loss team” discussion for the BCS title game. The good news is that the Rose Bowl is nothing to scoff about and with a win against the Beavers, and a Pac-12 championship victory, the Ducks are smelling roses.
Oregon leads this series 58-46-10 and has clinched the last three Civil Wars. Now the Beavers would love to knock the Ducks out of the Pac-12 North title, especially in front of an Autzen Stadium crowd.
Throughout this season, Oregon State has had trouble stopping the run and that could be disastrous for the Beavers against an Oregon offense featuring explosive runs by LaMichael James and crew. James leads the Ducks in career all-purpose yards with 5,310. Oregon leads the Pac-12 conference with an average of 294 yards rushing per game. On paper, Oregon shouldn’t have much trouble with the Beavers, but this is a rivalry game and anything can happen tomorrow. Unfortunately for OSU, the Ducks are ready to forget their first home loss since 2008 with a dominate Civil War victory. James commented on the team’s frame of mind.
“Practice has been going really well. We’re really fired up. It’s gonna be a different game than it was last week. Everybody’s really motivated to put that loss behind them.”
From scores.espn.go.com (share this quote)
In order for the Beavers to come into Oregon’s house and get the upset, QB Sean Mannion will have to light up the field against Oregon and the OSU defense has to put pressure on Oregon’s rushing game. The Beaver’s head coach Mike Riley chose not to elaborate on his team being 29 ½ point underdogs but did have this to say;
“We can’t really worry about that. It’s not anything in our radar,’’ he said. “We know we’re playing a great team, with a lot of ability and a lot of speed. A team that is well-coached. We just have to play a great-great game. For our team, it’s just an opportunity to try and pull off something they’ll never forget.
From www.oregonlive.com (share this quote)
Autzen Stadium was rocking last weekend before the time expired, but I suspect the decibels will rise even more as Oregon fans play 12th man in tomorrow afternoon’s game. Autzen Zoo’s prediction: Oregon 45, OSU 14.