Ducks emerging as a big story nationally, set for Big Noon Kickoff

The national media is waking up to Oregon, and realizing just how much better this team is than those cautious/question mark preseason evaluations.

Big Noon kickoff will be at Northwestern for the Oregon-Northwestern game, and they're not there to talk about the Wildcats.

Northwestern lost at Tulane in Week One 23-3, won Saturday against Western Illinois 42-7. SMU transfer quarterback Preston Stone had a big day against the Leathernecks, 21-29 passing for 245 yards and three touchdowns, adding a scramble that went for 13 yards.

The Wildcats ran for 281 yards on 41 carries, 6.9 yards a carry on their FCS/Ohio Valley Conference opponent, led by 5-10, 215-pound senior Cam Porter who had 12 carries for 91 yards including a 43-yard touchdown early in the first quarter. He's averaging 7.6 yards a carry this season after rushing for 501 yards a year ago.

Porter went down in the third quarter against WIU with a lower-body injury, carted to the locker room. Junior Griffin Wilde led all receivers with five catches for 94 yards, a transfer from South Dakota State, 6-2, 200.

Number two back Caleb Komolafe, 5-11, 210 ran for 63 yards on 11 carries, tough for the undersized Leathernecks to bring down.

In the opener Tulane shut down the NU offense, limiting Stone to 161 yards passing and intercepting four of his passes with three sacks.

Martin Stadium on Lake Michigan, Northwestern's temporary home while their stadium is being renovated, holds just 12,000 fans. It's a game where the Ducks will have to create their own juice, on the road at 9 a.m. Pacific Time.

Ordinarily that would be challenge for a team after two lopsided wins. A team might be tempted to relax a little bit. This will be a good test of the character of this Oregon squad-- they seem very committed to the standard and don't seem to be a group to go flat or take an opponent for granted.

After the win over Oklahoma State Dan Lanning said, “It’s hard to prepare for when multiple guys can score. Our team is the secret sauce.”

Already this is looking like the best Oregon defense Duck fans have seen in several years. The defensive backs stick to receivers and contest catches. The unit rallies to the ball and gets after the quarterback. The defensive line is hard to stop and hard to move.

Teitum Tuioti said after the game, “We know each week if we affect the quarterback, good things are going to happen.”

Big Noon could turn into high noon for Preston Stone.

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