Staff Picks: Bucks vs. Ducks

A rare regular season Top 3 showdown will take place in Eugene (OR) on Saturday night as the Buckeyes face the No. 3 Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium, one of the nation’s most hostile environments.

Oregon’s home losses are few and far between in recent seasons, can the Buckeyes crack the code to winning at Autzen or will the Ducks spoil the Buckeyes’ undefeated season?

Ross Fulton

Oregon’s offense is even more RPO based then Ohio State’s, looking to use trips and motion to force the defense to defend sideline to sideline and open running lanes for their talented running back. Look for Jim Knowles to use a mixture of cover 1 and cover 4 to limit the RPO throws and count on his defensive front to win inside to limit the run game. Ohio State wants to force Oregon into must pass situations and to let Caleb Downs and Lathan Ransom play downhill.

On offense, look for Chip Kelly to utilize 2-TE sets to get Oregon in its odd front and open things up on the perimeter. Kelly will likely try to get matchup for Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka on Oregon’s second corner, safeties, and linebackers. Look for Will Howard to continue to play a big role in the run game.

Ohio State 29 Oregon 25

Tony Gerdeman

I expect the defensive tackles to control this game up front for the Buckeyes, so then the question is how the Oregon offense moves the ball without being able to go forward all that well.

Then it comes down to the Ohio State defense tackling in space, which the secondary has done well but the linebackers have not. They were better last week, but tackling Iowa in space isn’t really all that spacious. This will be six levels up from that one, but everything a team needs to stop this Oregon offense, the Buckeyes have.

Offensively for Ohio State, it won’t always go well, but when it does, it will look entirely too easy. I expect the Buckeyes to be able to run the ball. They will get ahead of the chains and make life even more difficult for an Oregon defense that is already challenged.

If Ohio State plays its best game, they win by multiple scores. I don’t think you can expect somebody’s best game against their best opponent though. I like Judkins and Henderson to win this one for the Buckeyes. If Oregon wants to stay back in a zone, Chip Kelly will be happy to run the ball.

Ohio State 31 Oregon 24

Marc Givler

I’ve grown slightly more confident in Ohio State’s ability to win this game since mid-August. The Buckeye offensive line has played better than I expected it to this early in the season and the group seems to be getting better each week.

The Buckeyes are also doing a lot of the major things that teams need to do to win games like this one, especially on the road. The redzone touchdown percentage is north of 95-percent, a drastic increase from previous seasons.

The Ohio State defense is also turning over its opponents at a higher rate than recent seasons. I can think of no bigger factors in these types of games than scoring touchdowns in the redzone and turning your opponent over.

Additionally, Ohio State has been generating more explosive plays on offense. All of these things add up to an Ohio State win on Saturday night, in my opinion.

Oregon will create some tough situations with its speed, and Autzen is maybe the toughest place in the nation to play as a road opponent, but I think the Buckeyes win the trenches and create enough big plays on offense to pull this one out.

Ohio State 27 Oregon 21

Kevin Noon

I know that I have had this game circled for some time and as I have watched Ohio State’s previous five games, I walked out of each game trying to forecast how that would look against the Oregon Ducks.

I am not ready to say that the Big Ten will be down to two teams for the foreseeable future, but Ohio State and Oregon will be on any list, when talking about conference superiority.

I understand that Ohio State is going to have to fly a couple thousand miles to get to Eugene (Ore.), but I also think a little too much is being made of that. Ohio State has played games at Washington, at Cal, at USC through the years, and managed to get on the plane, fasten the seatbelt and get to their destination.

Not all of those games went well, it’s been 60-years since Ohio State has won a game at Southern Cal, on its home field.

That doesn’t matter here. What matters here is who will be the better team that night.

Oregon absolutely has the personnel to beat Ohio State, and we are not talking about “if 12 things go right for Oregon” but more like “if two things go right for Oregon”.

Road woes aside, Ohio State has a team that is “over built” in several categories, and if one thing fails for Ohio State, there are a lot of other things that can carry Ohio State forward.

Will Howard has his national moment and plays out of his head. 

Ohio State 31 Oregon 21

Tom Orr

When the week started, this felt like a close, relatively low-scoring game to me. Something in the neighborhood of 24-21 or 27-24, with the Buckeyes’ talent advantage narrowly winning out over the intimidating atmosphere, cross-country travel, and Oregon’s possible advantage on special teams.

But the more I look, the more it seems like Ohio State should have small but meaningful advantages in a few key areas. Can the interior of the Oregon offensive line hold up against Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton? Maybe.

Can Oregon’s defense really hold TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins in check enough to force the Buckeyes to get one-dimensional and put the game on Will Howard’s shoulders? 

And even if they can, is 5-foot-10 corner Jabbar Muhammad really going to be able to contain 6-foot-3 alien Jeremiah Smith? 

The more that I look at it, the more I see a lot of questions that Oregon may not have good answers to. 

If the Ducks can’t run the ball inside, is Dillon Gabriel going to be able to dink and dunk the ball down the field against the Ohio State secondary? Are the Oregon receivers really going to be able to consistently get open against Denzel Burke, Davison Igbinosun, and Jordan Hancock? 

There are absolutely ways for Oregon to win the game, but unless they can lock down the Buckeye run game, a lot of them probably involve a score on defense or special teams, or a couple of critical mistakes by Will Howard. 

When in doubt, go with the more talented team.

Ohio State 31 Oregon 20