No. 10 Oregon takes on No. 14 Utah in a battle for Pac-12 supremacy on Friday night and the Duck Sports Authority staff has their crystal balls highly polished for the event. In this edition of Game Stars, DSA experts Scott Reed, Dale Newton and A.J. Jacobson give their takes on which Ducks will shine brightest in the battle for a berth in the Rose Bowl.
Reed
Offense: I am going to go with one on each side of the ball for the sake of equity and balance. While I think that the obvious choice here is Travis Dye – I expect him to get more early opportunities in this game – but I am going to be a contrarian to some extent. This team has its best chance when Anthony Brown is playing well and I think that he will bounce back nicely in this game. Weather will not be a factor and I think that the staff has spent two weeks poring over game film from the loss at Utah and will have a much different game plan.
With Brown more active early in a power run game, the edges will be softened up some for Dye on edge carries and screen passes and that will start to open up other areas for the offense to score some points.
Defense: Since Dale went with Kayvon, I am going to go with Noah Sewell here. One of the keys for the Oregon defense is going to be stopping the run on first down and letting Thibodeaux wreak havoc – but for him to do so, Oregon must force the Utes to pass on second and third down. I expect a stacked line with some well timed blitz packages on first down to put Cam Rising under pressure should the Utes think the solution is to pass the ball.
Sewell had 10 tackles in the first meeting and I expect him to play even better Friday night.
Newton
The two best games of Kayvon Thibodeaux's career at Oregon have been the two PAC-12 Championship Games. In them he's totaled 18 QB pressures, 10 tackles, a blocked punt, 4.5 TFL and 3.5 sacks. He was MVP last year against USC.
In the first game the Utes threw quickly and ran away from KT, chipped him with tight ends, double-teamed him. Expect Tim DeRuyter to move him around a bit more to thwart that strategy and keep them pointing. Duck fans will want to see Thibodeaux rushing the passer more and dropping off into coverage almost never.
In the back end, Utah tight end Brant Kuithe scorched the Ducks last time with 5 catches for 118 yards, including a 49-yard rumble down the middle of the field. In the rematch expect Verone McKinley to zero in from his safety spot and clean this up. McKinley is fierce about film study. He'll follow quarterback Cameron Rising's eyes and swoop over the top for at least one pick.
Jacobson
Offensively the Ducks will do everything they can to establish the run, even if it means calling passing plays to keep Utah honest. But primarily, the game plan will likely be to run the football a lot. In this scenario, I think the offensive line will be the game stars. Most fans would not pick up on it that way. What they will see is success of the running backs and Anthony Brown in the ground game, and crucial time in the pocket should the Ducks look to throw downfield. Alex Forsyth at center will be my game star.
On defense I cannot help but go with Verone McKinley. He has a nose for the football and is very interception prone this season. He will also get some tackles in run support. Key to his success will be the pass rush that Thibodeaux, Dorlus, Aumavae and company can muster.
