The breakdown: It seems that both of these programs are headed in opposite directions. The Ducks are well-ahead of schedule in terms of head coach Willie Taggart’s rebuild while the Sun Devils are 1-8 across their last nine games and have a coach planted firmly on the hot seat in Todd Graham.
Non-conference play isn’t always the greatest indicator of the strength of a football team, but Oregon does look completely re-tooled on defense and incredibly efficient on the offensive attack. Ducks quarterback Justin Herbert is looking more and more ready to jump to the Josh Rosen/Sam Darnold tier of Pac-12 signal callers and Royce Freeman is inarguably the best tailback in the conference.