Despite some early season issues that continue to be a work in progress for Oregon football, the Ducks are 3-0 and embark on their first season in the Big Ten with a visit to the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
Dillon Gabriel is hitting on better than 80 percent of his passes and the run game showed signs of life a few weeks ago in a win over Oregon State.
For Oregon, the first bye week of the season could not have come at a better time. Injuries in key areas have been a concern since the start of the year and the downtime can only help. The Ducks were back to it this week before getting into the meat of the schedule. Following their trip down I-5, they will host Michigan State and Ohio State in back-to-back weeks.
All eyes are about to be focused on Dan Lanning's team as we get into October.
Back to the Ducks and Bruins. At 1-3, UCLA is at the bottom of the Big Ten standings. I still find it strange looking at now 18 teams. Quarterback Ethan Garbers has thrown for just under 700 yards this season completing just 60 percent of his passes. He has also thrown four interceptions. The ground attack for UCLA looked a lot like the Ducks over the first two games. Oregon has improved thanks to better offensive line play, the Bruins are averaging just 90 yards on the ground per game in 2024.
While this is clearly not one of the more 'sexy' games of the day, it is the last one played and officially a 'Big Ten After Dark' game (with homage to the former Pac-12). UCLA hosts Oregon then visits a top-10 Penn State team next week who may also have their hands full on Saturday hosting a hot Illinois team.
Oregon and UCLA kickoff just after 8 p.m. Pacific on FOX on Saturday night from the Rose Bowl.