Auburn Football Three Keys: Oregon

Auburn faces Oregon on Saturday in Arlington, TX. Here are your three keys to a Auburn win over Oregon.

By Steve Wright

This is the most interesting matchup of college football’s first full weekend of games. Oregon is a legitimate national title contender with every expectation of winning the Pac 12. A win here over a big name SEC program like Auburn would be huge. For Auburn – a team with plenty of talent behind one of the youngest quarterbacks in the country – this is a chance to make a statement against a school that will finish with a gaudy record in 2019.

Key 1 – Stop Justin Herbert

If Herbert had a wide receiver corps at or close to his level then we would probably be writing this down as a Ducks win already. Instead it is going to be down to the ability of the Oregon No. 10 to work with what he has, putting his receivers in position to make plays even though the speed and size of the Auburn secondary will make that task almost impossible.

The thing is, though, that Herbert might just be great enough that the mismatch that is out of his favor doesn’t even matter.

He has a huge arm, he can make all the throws, for Herbert to be stopped the Auburn defensive front – front that is mighty – will have to provide the pressure to get the future NFL first Top 10 pick out of his rhythm.

Key 2 – Keep it easy for Bo Nix

The amount of pressure on Bo Nix here is huge. It is one thing being the No. 1 ranked dual-threat quarterback recruit in the country and a consensus five-star recruit. It is quite another turning that talent into instant success, especially when you are thrown into the deep end as a true freshman.

Nix will be facing a veteran secondary here in a game being played on the national stage. This is an Oregon defense with the skill and savvy to confuse nix and pounce on any mistakes the young quarterback makes. Expecting Nix to toss a perfect game is unrealistic – he is going to have to get lucky at times – but Auburn can help his transition into starting his first college game in certain ways.

Part of this will be establishing the running game early. Next, use Nix’s elite athleticism to get him out of the pocket on single or double read rollouts. If the pass isn’t there, just take the ball up field. This doesn’t need to be a complicated game plan and, honestly, it can’t afford to be that.

Key 3 – Win the battle at the LOS

For fans of good, hard, old fashioned line play, well this is going to be a game you enjoy.

Oregon has the best offensive line in the country and it will face off against an Auburn defensive line that may also be the best such unit in the nation. When you add that both the Auburn offensive line and the Oregon defensive front are considered strengths, you get a recipe for a football game that could have taken place 40 years ago.

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

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