Oregon football's 3 keys to victory vs. Michigan in Big Ten matchup

Oregon football’s 3 keys to victory vs. Michigan in Big Ten matchup

Posted by Admin October 30, 2024 Football

Ranked No. 1 and heading on the road to play against the defending national champions, the Oregon football team will look to continue its unbeaten start to the season against Michigan this Saturday.

The Ducks (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten Conference) will play the Wolverines (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) at 12:30 p.m. in Michigan Stadium.

Here are three keys to a successful outing for Oregon football on the road.

Oregon football must establish the run against Michigan’s Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant

Facing one of the best interior defensive linemen duos — if not the best — in the nation, Oregon must contend with Michigan’s tandem linemen Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant on Saturday.

“They’re game-wreckers,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning. “They’re guys you have to have a game plan for … They make an impact consistently in a game. They beat single blocks there, they’re certainly good against double teams and they’re good against the run and the pass. They’re guys that you have to spend time and effort for.”

The pair have combined for 11 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks through eight games this season and have anchored a Wolverine run defense that gives up 101 yards per game, good for sixth in the Big Ten.

The Ducks, for their part, have been strong on the ground. The Oregon offense ranks eighth in the conference in rushing yards per game with 167.13 and has seen an emergence from secondary running back Noah Whittington.

The junior scored two touchdowns last week against Illinois, one through and the air and another on the ground.

Don’t let Michigan’s Davis Warren or Alex Orji get into a rhythm

The Wolverines‘ offensive struggles have been well-documented this season. A once-prolific passing and rushing attack that ranked in the top half of the Big Ten a year ago now ranks near the bottom in scoring offense (21.5 points per game) and total offense (303.1 yards per game) in 2024.

A big reason why? The Wolverines haven’t found any consistency at quarterback a year after previous starter J.J. McCarthy was drafted in the first round of last spring’s NFL Draft.

Michigan has started three quarterbacks over the course of eight games, and the trio have combined to throw for just 1,044 yards, eight touchdowns and nine interceptions.

The eldest of the group, Jack Tuttle, just announced his medical retirement.

That leaves walk-on Davis Warren as the presumed starter with backup Alex Orji as a change-of-pace runner. If the Ducks want to preserve their winning streak, they’ll need to make sure neither QB gets going Saturday.

“It’s different based on who is in the game,” Lanning said. “They’re both capable and they can win in different ways. (Warren) played well in the last game and I think getting in a rhythm and finding some consistency is probably important for them. But they both can beat you in different ways.”

Take lessons learned from long Purdue trip on another three-time-zone flight

After its first cross-country flight of the season against Purdue ended with a 35-0 win, Oregon will look to emulate that success against Michigan this Saturday when it again travels to the Eastern time zone.

When asked if there were any lessons learned from the Ducks’ trip to West Lafayette, Indiana, Lanning minimized the impact of longer travel had on Oregon’s success.

“Traveling for games is not new,” Lanning said. “It’s not like we didn’t travel for games last year, but this is certainly longer distance, and we’ll continue to adapt and prepare.”

When asked specifically about Michigan Stadium — aptly named “The Big House” for holding over 100,000 fans — Lanning said he’d never been before but was looking forward to the challenge.

“That’s one of the things I think that’s exciting about being in this conference is getting the opportunity to play at some historic places,” Lanning said. “And this is certainly a historic place.”

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.