I think they were good, but not quite the whole package. They seemed a couple of pieces short of the whole puzzle.

If they can play their best for an entire game, they have a chance to knock off anybody.

If they could take back the bad OC promotion and Dante was still playing, I would say they make the playoffs but have an early exit from there.

As bad as we were against UCLA, we were a play or two away from winning. They are ranked top 5, so we would at least be there.

Especially now that the defense is playing great and the O-line seems to be more settled.

Most of us expected a lot more from this version of the Ducks. Then reality struck.

This team may be on the verge of correcting serious issues. The players are talented but the coaching and the effort have been greatly disappointing at times.

At this point the Ducks are better than mediocre. The intensity I saw in the players in the NW game gave me hope Oregon could win 3 of the next 4 and go 6-3 in the BIG and 8-4 overall. Not great but better than most.

Not sure about getting into the playoffs since this season has been a shakeout for most ranked teams. Which has added a lot of excitement to the season.

I think they were at their best against USC. But they’ve always looked a little “off” to me. This is a weird year in college football with no dominant team except, maybe, Miami. So, at their best I think our Ducks were top 10.

The O-Line is not good. The defensive fronts from Ohio State and Michigan will be the best ones they’ve faced all season. I don’t anticipate a great showing in the next two games.

When you look at the USC game and the 2nd half against Northwestern, you see how good this team can be at their best. But, that’s not the real question, which is unbelievably how bad they can be at their worst.

3 hours ago, DuckyBronco said:

I think they were at their best against USC. But they’ve always looked a little “off” to me. This is a weird year in college football with no dominant team except, maybe, Miami. So, at their best I think our Ducks were top 10.

Yes, I remember saying when Dante was injured we would get to see how capable we really were and we struggled to pull away from them, which was honestly a little disappointing at the time, but reflective of our ceiling.

Then again, we did what Ohio State could not, beat a highly motivated USC team at home, but I think that was more a case of us playing to our ceiling while OSU played to their floor.

I do think our ceiling has an opportunity to continue to improve since the USC game, but unfortunately OSU is next week, and they won't be playing to their floor for a second week in a row at home with their be acks against the wall.