Penn State's 1st half performance vs. Ohio State has the Ducks sitting pretty

As the No. 9 Oregon Ducks enjoyed their week off, they also got to enjoy a showdown between the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes and the Penn State Nittany Lions.

It was just a few weeks ago that the Ducks took down the Nittany Lions in overtime. Since then, Penn State lost three more games and fired head coach James Franklin. All of a sudden, the team that had been spiraling in a negative direction was keeping pace with the best team in the country.

At halftime, Penn State was just three points behind Ohio State, scoring 14 points in the second quarter to keep the Buckeyes within reach.

To put it simply, the Nittany Lions keeping up with the No. 1 team in the nation made the Ducks' win look that much better.

Now, as you probably know, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning never truly takes a day off, using bye weeks to recruit more blue-chip prospects and game plan for his team's upcoming matchup.

The rest of Oregon's season isn't exactly filled with powerhouse opponents, other than the game against the currently ranked No. 23 USC Trojans. However, winning out could be crucial for the Ducks without a lot of big-time matchups on their resume.

Lanning will ensure that he can truly put the screws to the last four teams Oregon faces, especially when the team faces the Washington Huskies, a team that the Ducks' head coach struggled to get a handle on during his first two seasons as head coach.

Next week, the Ducks host the Iowa Hawkeyes, who are currently 6-2 overall and 4-1 in Big Ten play. Oregon and Iowa are scheduled to kick off on Saturday, Nov. 8, but the time and broadcast channel have yet to be announced.