After a gritty win against Iowa the Ducks have to play 6-3 Minnesota on Friday night with the Gophers coming off a bye.
Oregon beat Iowa 18-16, marching 54 yards in the last two minutes, Atticus Sappington drilling a 36-yard field goal in swirling winds and driving rain with :07 to play.
The Ducks played without right receivers Dakorien Moore and Evan Stewart, tight end Kenyon Sadiq, right tackle Alex Harkey, running back Jayden Limar, plus losing veteran receiver Gary Bryant during the game, an incredible display of resilience and relying on each other.
They beat the No. 20 Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium but the Big Ten schedulers don't seem to think that's enough. Now 8-1, the Ducks play in six days. Minnesota enjoys a full 14 days to prepare, having last played at home November 1st against Michigan State, a game they won 23-20 in overtime.
That's absurd scheduling that handicaps the defending conference champions. You couldn't hand P.J. Fleck's team a bigger scheduling advantage, unless the game was moved to Bloomington.
Now the challenge is to heal, recover and change the page quickly on a short week against a rested opponent. The Ducks flew home Saturday night. They'll have treatment Sunday and have a meeting Monday morning and go to work.
Harkey rolled an ankle at practice. Moore tweaked a knee. Sadiq has been dealing with a variety of injuries. He and Harkey both begged to play in Iowa City but the trainers and doctors prevailed as they should.
Scheduling a conference leader to play on a short week against an opponent coming off a bye is something that would never happen in the SEC. They'd play The Citadel or Furman Saturday afternoon at home instead. But the Ducks won't make excuses. They'll just go back to work. A win like this can give a team a lot of unity and confidence.
Dan Lanning said after the game, "I’m really just proud of the way the guys played. Ultimately, it was kind of a weird week. We actually didn’t have a lot of contact. Dakorien kind of tweaked his knee on a non-contact play in spiders. I think he’s gonna be OK but was obviously out tonight."