Oregon football has been playing some darn good ball lately and that has fans buying in after what was a disappointing start to the season in Weeks 1 and 2.
The Ducks opened with close victories at home against Idaho and Boise State but have since smacked around Oregon State and UCLA on the road. They have fared better against teams that were in the Power Five a year ago (Oregon State is without a conference currently) and that was a little shocking to see.
Now they welcome one of the peskiest teams in the Big Ten in Michigan State who might just be 3-2 and riding a two-game losing streak, but the Spartans should be 4-1 with a close home loss to Ohio State but they have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot.
As has become tradition here, I ran a simulation on EA Sports College Football 25 for the game.
Simulation results for Oregon football vs. Michigan State
While I don't see this game being quite this close, I do believe that the Spartans will hang around for a bit and be a thorn in Oregon's side until they run out of gas like they did against Ohio State.
But EA Sports' simulation has the Ducks winning just 17-13 in similar weather conditions under the lights at Autzen Stadium. They also only out-gain Michigan State 253-235. Not exactly an offensive outburst by either team.
Here were the top performers for the Ducks.
Player | Stats |
|---|---|
Dillon Gabriel | 7-for-14, 86 yards, 1 INT; 7 carries, 27 yards, 1 TD |
Jordan James | 22 carries, 117 yards, 1 TD |
Terrance Ferguson | 2 catches, 30 yards |
Traeshon Holden | 1 catch, 29 yards |
Matayo Uiagalelei | 9 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 1 sack |
Jordan Burch | 4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss |
Jabbar Muhammad | 2 tackles, 2 interceptions |
Atticus Sappington | 1-for-2 FG, long of 32 yards |
Honestly, just an ugly game but Oregon comes away with a win regardless. I doubt Dillon Gabriel has a game that even slightly resembles this as he'll probably go off for over 300 yards again but I could see Jordan James breaking through for over 100 yards.
We'll see just how close this simulation is to reality on Friday night.