Ducks strike a blow for Pac-12
Win at Ohio State overshadows conference struggles
No. 12 Oregon rolled into No. 3 Ohio State without its best player available and walked out with a victory that has the potential to define a season for both the Ducks and the Pac-12.
NOTEBOOK
The consensus best team in the Pac-12 beat the consensus best team in the Big Ten on Saturday for the league’s first nonconference victory against a top-five team since Stanford beat Notre Dame in 2015.
Make no mistake, this was much bigger than that.
Since 2015, the Pac-12 has placed just one team in the College Football Playoff and far too often has come out on the short end of these types of marquee games. It has turned the conference into a punching bag for the rest of major college football.
The past two weeks, UCLA pushed around Louisiana State, and then Oregon beat the big, bad Buckeyes in the Horseshoe, while pass-rushing demon and potential topfive NFL draft pick Kayvon Thibodeaux (foot injury) watched from the sideline along with star linebacker Justin Flowe.
It was not a banner day across the conference. No. 21 Utah had its nine-game win streak against Brigham Young snapped. Washington was crushed by Michigan. California let one get away at Texas Christian. Colorado was game but lost to No. 5 Texas A&M.
No. 14 Southern California looked awful in its conference opener against a Stanford team that nearly was shut out by Kansas State in its opener.
The Ducks’ win more than balanced out the bad news.
It was a masterpiece from Oregon’s offense and coordinator Joe Moorhead. The Ducks sliced up the Buckeyes for 269 yards rushing, at 7.1 yards per pop.
“Hard to express in words the magnitude of coming out here down a couple of guys due to injury and just playing gritty, gutsy football, executing at a high level,” Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said. “A tremendous job of preparation and turning that into game reality by our players, by our coaching staff.”
Week 2 is a long way from Selection Sunday, but the Ducks fired a shot that could echo throughout this season.
Peacock struts
The most notable thing about No. 8 Notre Dame against Toledo was where the game was available to be watched. Not NBC, like most Notre Dame home games. This one was available only on NBC’S Peacock subscription streaming service.
A lot of casual college football fans, and probably some Notre Dame fans, too, were comfortable sitting this one out.
The Rockets, however, gave the Irish all they could handle, and it felt reminiscent of when Appalachian State upset Michigan in 2007 on the newly launched Big Ten Network. There had to be more than a few folks wondering if there was a free trial available for Peacock somewhere.
The Rockets ultimately melted down in just about every way possible, and
Notre Dame survived for a second straight week.
Struggling to beat Toledo wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to the Irish. That would have been losing. But it was probably a good thing for Peacock.
Around the country
■ BYU seems to have found another fun quarterback in Jaren Hall to replace Zach Wilson.
■ For all Matt Campbell’s success at Iowa State, and it’s remarkable given the history of the program, the Cyclones just can’t beat Iowa. The Hawkeyes became the sixth team since 2000 to open a season by beating two ranked teams, and the first since Louisiana State in 2015.
■ A week after Florida State was inspiring in a hopeful loss to Notre Dame, the Seminoles found a new bottom. The loss to Jacksonville State on the final play of the game was Florida State’s first against an FCS team.
■ Welcome to the SEC, Texas. The Longhorns got thumped by former Southwest Conference rival and future Southeastern Conference rival Arkansas. The Razorbacks ran for 333 yards, a dream performance for Sam Pittman, the former offensive line coach who has turned around the Hogs.
■ What is happening at Navy? The Midshipmen are 0-2 after being dominated by Air Force and have been outscored 72-10.