5 major questions for Oregon Ducks to answer vs. Arizona State Sun Devils
Though this is far from the most competitive point spread we’ve seen the Oregon Ducks have going into a game all season, it’s fair to say that this is going to be among the most important games of the season for Dan Lanning and his team.
Of course, if you were to ask the head coach, every game is the most important game because it’s the next game on the schedule, but when you consider everything that is at stake, from breaking curses, clinching title spots, and potentially rewriting records, there are a lot of things that can happen over the next 48 hours for the Ducks.
Let’s take a deeper dive into those potential scenarios. Here are the five biggest questions that I am look to find the answers to over the next day and a half.
Can the Curse Be Broken?
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This is the final time that the Oregon Ducks and Arizona State Sun Devils will play each other in who knows how long. Will it be the first time that the Ducks can get a late-season win in Tempe?
That’s something that has never happened before. Oregon fans know good and well that many a successful season has met a devastating fate at the hands of a November trip to Arizona, whether it came in Tempe or Tucson. In 2019, the No. 6 Ducks went down to Arizona State and lost to a Sun Devils team that had no business beating them. Two years before that, the No. 24 Ducks lost at ASU once again, though that game came in September.
Regardless, it’s clear that there is some scar tissue when it comes to the Ducks and the desert, going all the way back to the Dennis Dixon days and that fateful night 2007 against the Arizona Wildcats. There’s a lot on the line in this game, with the Ducks holding a clear path to the Pac-12 title game and potentially the College Football Playoff with a win.
It will be the last time Oregon plays in the state of Arizona for quite a while. Can they break the curse?
What is the Injury Impact?
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Several players suffered what appear to be minor injuries last week vs. the USC Trojans for the Ducks. Among them are RB Bucky Irving, C Jackson Powers-Johnson, and CBs Khyree Jackson, Jahlil Florence, and Dontae Manning. From what we were able to watch during practice this week, all of those aforementioned players participated.
It will be interesting to see how much any of those players plays on Saturday vs. Arizona State, if at all. With all due respect to the Sun Devils, this is a game where the Ducks should likely be able to handle business without their full arsenal of players, so it may be beneficial for Oregon to rest some of their players and make sure that they are as healthy as possible for the regular-season finale against the Oregon State Beavers.
Sunday's Heisman Outlook
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Bo Nix entered this week as the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy according to most sports books across the nation, leading Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and LSU’s Jayden Daniels. I’m curious to see how that race is impacted based on what we see from all of those players on Saturday.
Nix will go up against a defense that can definitely be had, and we could see another set of big numbers from him. Meanwhile, Penix will face a solid Oregon State defense in what could be a very close game, or potentially a loss for Washington. It will provide an opportunity for a Heisman moment, undoubtedly, but could also hurt the Washington QB’s case if he is unable to wow on the national stage.
Outside of the Pac-12, LSU has a game against Georgia State, so Daniels will almost surely put up more jaw-dropping numbers. We’ll see what the odds look like on Sunday morning.
Record Watch
As I covered this week, there are a number of Oregon Ducks school records that are in danger of being broken this season, assuming that the Ducks get 3-4 more games of production from some of their top players.
The records could start falling this week, with both Camden Lewis and Troy Franklin very close to historic marks.
Starting with Franklin, the Oregon WR is just 92 yards shy of breaking the Ducks’ single-season receiving record. At the moment, that record his held by Dillon Mitchell, set at 1,184 yards in 2018. Going into Saturday, Franklin has 1,093 yards. Additionally, with 2 touchdowns, Franklin can tie the Ducks’ all-time receiving TD record at 24, and break the single-season receiving TD record, previously set at 12.
Meanwhile, Lewis needs just 6 total points to break Royce Freeman’s record for most career points as a Duck. Freeman ended his career with 384 total points, and at the moment, Lewis has 379 points. So whether it comes as six PATs, a couple of field goals, or a combination of the two, it feels pretty likely that Lewis puts his name in the record books on Saturday.
Pac-12 Chaos
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We’re still waiting for some true chaos in the Pac-12 world this season, and it feels like this is the week that it might finally be delivered, though it would come at the Ducks’ detriment.
No. 5 Washington faces No. 11 Oregon State, and the Beavers are currently favored by a couple of points at home. Should Washington win — plus a Utah win and an Oregon win — the Ducks would clinch their rematch against the Huskies in the Pac-12 title game. If Oregon State wins, though, then a whole world of possibilities opens up. For starters, it would make it so the winner of Oregon vs. Oregon State next week means the winner likely gets into the Pac-12 title game based on some tiebreaker scenarios.
Suffice it to say, Oregon fans want Washington to win this week.
