How's this for a program-boosting win? The #19 Utah Utes went into Autzen Stadium on Saturday night, one of the notoriously scary places to play in all of college football, and totally manhandled the #13 Oregon Ducks in a jaw-dropping 62-20 road win. Here's 3 things we learned from this eyebrow-raiser in Eugene.
1. Oregon's Defense Is Awful
There really is no other way to put it. This is a Ducks defense that gave up 70 combined points to Eastern Washington and Georgia State. So, how can we excuse them for completely no-showing tonight's game and making a very good Utah offense look absolutely world class?
We can't. On days like this when Oregon's high-powered offense falters, the Ducks simply don't have the cohesion and the horses on the defensive side of the ball to win things in the trenches. Not only is this Ducks team not College Football Playoff material, they may not be high-end bowl material the way they allowed Utah to gash them all night long.
2. Travis Wilson Is Ready To Step Up
The senior Utes QB has been troubled by a shoulder problem all season long and hadn't looked anymore than serviceable to open things off in 2015. That changed in a big way on Saturday. Wilson lit up the Ducks for four touchdowns through the air and ran for 100 yards and another score against a shell-shocked Oregon defense. While he's not Heisman material (just yet), tonight's performance has announced Wilson to the world as the ultimate X-factor for a newly-minted College Football Playoff contender.
3. USC/Oregon Has Been Replaced By...
Utah/UCLA as the Pac-12's biggest game to come in 2015. UCLA absolutely crushed Arizona in the desert on Saturday. Utah just ripped the collective hearts out of Autzen Stadium in a "we're EXTREMELY for real" kind of game. November 21st's Utes/Bruins game could be a de facto Pac-12 South title game and give one of these teams an inside track to a CFP berth.
It may be early to make these claims. However, both UCLA and Utah look well-built enough to assume they'll at least be in the conference title mix by mid-November.
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