Auburn Football First Look: Oregon

Oregon meets Auburn on Saturday in Arlington, TX. Here is your first look at Oregon.

Oregon Season So Far

Season opener.

Key Stats (2018 Stats)

Oregon Injuries and Suspensions

Challenges for Auburn

First off, you probably want to know a little about Oregon. Oregon finished the 2018 season 9-4 and played in the Redbox Bowl defeating Michigan State 7-6 in what was likely a boring darn game, but, hey, if you are Oregon you won so it’s fabulous. The Ducks have a ton of starters back from 2018 including 10 on offense and 7 on defense.

On offense, the Ducks have QB Justin Hebert back. Last season he completed 240 of 404 passes for 3,151 yards, 29 TDs and 8 interceptions. Sophomore running back CJ Verdell is also back from a 1,000 rushing season last season. Perhaps the personnel loss from last season is that of wide receiver Dillon Mitchell (75 catches) who is now with the Minnesota Vikings. After Mitchell, the next five Duck reception leaders are back with Jaylon Redd leading the way with 38 catches last season. The entire offensive line is back for ’19.

On defense, the Ducks return one linebacker (of 3), all three starting defensive linemen, and 3 of 4 of defensive backs. Last season, first-year head coach Mario Cristobal made some strides when his defense reduced opponent points per game to 25.4 which is the lowest since 2014.

Auburn’s challenge is to win this game for their coach. Gus Malzahn is now in year seven. Tiger faithful will only go so long with just “decent” seasons. Look what happened to Gene Chizik who was fired just two seasons after going 14-0 and winning a national title. Yeah, Chizik had that one terrible 3-9 season but if Malzahn continues to settle with 7, 8 and 9 win seasons his rent will run out too.

Saturday‘s game kicks off at 6:30 PM CT (7:30 PM ET). Watch on the ABC network.

14Powers.com Football Stories For Week 2