The Oregon-Nebraska game on Saturday in Eugene is one of the best matchups of the weekend. With the smoky skies from the past week starting to clear, the teams and fans will now focus 100% on the game at hand. The Duck Sports Authority staff has been sharpening their prognostication skills the whole time and now join forces to make their predictions about Saturday’s outcome.

Analysis first with the scores at the bottom.

Prior to going down with an injury, Royce Freeman ran for 31 yards on five carries against Nebraska last year in Lincoln. Despite the loss of Freeman, Oregon still racked up 336 yards on the ground, a 7.1 yard per carry average. This year, I would expect a physically better prepared Freeman to post a 100+ yard game against the Nebraska defense. The three-headed monster, including Benoit and Brooks-James, will continue the first game trend of pounding the rock against the opposing front, and could realistically surpass last year’s total.

In the opening game, Arkansas State only rushed 21 times for a 3.9 yard per carry average, but that 3.9 ypc was greater than their 2016 average (3.5 ypc). Arkansas State dink-and-dunked Nebraska in the air for 415 passing yards on 46-68 passing, only a 6.1 yard per pass average. Oregon won’t go to that extreme in passing, but can use Herbert’s downfield ability to keep the Nebraska defense honest. Oregon averaged 13.1 yards per pass in their opening game, albeit against Southern Utah.

Despite losing the turnover battle (2-0, both interceptions), Arkansas State still ended up walking out of Lincoln with only a 7-point loss, after failing to convert two attempts from the Nebraska 11 to tie to football game. If Oregon stays even or positive in the turnover battle, I don’t think Nebraska has a realistic shot in this game.

Added into the home field advantage of Autzen, the air quality may become an x-factor in this game. As Oregon has had a chance to acclimate to the poor quality air conditions and may be more ready to perform in the environment. This could impact the game in a minor way, similar to an altitude change when the Ducks visit Colorado.

I think the Ducks win this game because although both teams are in a sense rebuilding this year, the Ducks have much of their team back from last season and have added a number of true freshmen to the mix who will help right away.

In Oregon’s season opener against Southern Utah, they showed that they can score, that they have good depth and they are more active on defense. Nebraska showed that they were not especially strong on defense in their opener.

I think Oregon will win the line of scrimmage on offense as the game wears on and that will allow them to control the game.

One of the best matchups available in week 2. Nebraska has a running back, Tre Bryant, 5-11 200, who carried the ball 31 times for 192 yards and a TD against Arkansas State in their opener. It'll be a good test for Jim Leavitt's new defense. They held Big Sky opponent Southern Utah to 99 yards rushing and 2.6 yards per carry. The Ducks ran for 348 yards with 9 rushing touchdowns while Nebraska's defense held the Red Wolves to 21 carries, 82 yards, 3.9 a carry.

Both teams have new DCs, so that's equal. Bob Diaco is a good one, the architect of Notre Dame's 2012 defense and a strong football guy.

Mike Bellotti always used to say big games came down to running the football and stopping the run. He had a defensive coordinator who was pretty good at it. Taggart’s new-look Ducks played with energy and swagger in Week 1. Scott is right: this week they have to add better discipline.

This will be an interesting game – I think Oregon is the better team overall, but Nebraska is very physical on offense. The play-action pass will be critical for the Cornhuskers. If they run effectively, then the safeties are going to ‘bite’ on those play-action passes which could create some tense moments throughout much of the game. In the end, I think Oregon has the better offense and will have enough defense to make the difference.