Oregon and USC entered the season looking like two teams potentially destined to meet for the Pac-12 Championship in December. Instead, the Ducks and Trojans have taken different paths to their Saturday meeting at Autzen Stadium.

Dan Lanning's team has rebounded nicely from a close mid-season loss to undefeated Washington and looks like the best team in the Pac-12 entering the final stretch of conference play.

Oregon (8-1, 5-1 Pac-12) is coming off 63-19 victory over Cal last weekend and is in the midst of a three-game winning streak. The Trojans recently cut ties with their defensive coordinator and have been shaky throughout their recent conference schedule.

USC (7-3, 5-2) has lost three of its last four games with its only win in that stretch coming in a 1-point victory against those very Golden Bears that the Ducks beat by 44. Its most decisive conference wins this seas came back in September against Stanford and Arizona State, which have combined for just five victories this year.

Despite the seemingly opposite trajectories for both teams, there will be plenty of star power on the field when the Ducks host the Trojans at 7:30 p.m. (FOX) with Bo Nix guiding the Oregon offense opposite USC quarterback Caleb Williams.

The Ducks currently sit in between UW and USC for second place in the Pac-12 standings, and at this point in the season every game matters for the conference and College Football Playoff races.

To prepare you for the matchup, DSA staff members Scott Reed and Brandon Gibson dissect the matchup set for Saturday night at Autzen Stadium.

Scott Reed: This is one of those games where there are few concerns from the Oregon side. What I will go with as biggest concern is coverage. At times the Ducks have struggled due to depth and given up big plays in the passing game. Given the stress Caleb Williams puts on defenses by extending plays (longest time to release in all of college football), that requires exceptional coverage by the defensive backfield for 3-4 seconds. That is difficult even for the best coverage teams in the nation. This leads to the secondary concern – if the coverage is solid for that long, will Williams have room to run given the defensive backs are likely to have their backs turned? Those two things are going to cause some problems and lead to big plays and lots of points.

Brandon Gibson: Oregon’s defense is much improved from the start of the season, but showed weakness early on against a dual threat quarterback in Tyler Shough. With all respect to Tyler, Caleb Williams brings another level of threat on the ground, and through the air. Oregon will need to contain Williams to the best of their ability, and accept that USC is likely to move the ball through the air. Fortunately for the Duck defense, they won’t likely need to shut down USC, and as long as the offense starts out strong, Oregon will likely have a few chances to take the ball away. USC’s offense line has struggled to protect Williams, and Oregon brings pressure from all over the field. Williams has been sacked quite a bit and has lost a few fumbles in the process.