Weekend Predictions

• Every Day Should Be Saturday expects the Ducks to come crashing back to earth again.
• Ted Miller from ESPN predicts that while Oregon isn't the same team as last year, it's not the same Utah team either... Ducks win by 3.
• The Sports Network expects Utah to roll by over two touchdowns.
• Mr. Pac-10 believes the Ducks will barely squeak out another one.
• Nick Daschel at Buster Sports thinks that if the Ducks don't win this one it's hard to see them achieving a winning record. Ducks in a low scoring game.
• Arizona Star likes the Ducks over the 16 game winning streak of Utah
• Brad Vipperman at Bleacher Report thinks Utah will continue their winning streak.
• Rumors & Rants picks Oregon to win but not cover the spread.
• Jason from the Portland Tribune thinks the home team will win a close one.
• Condotta from the Seattle Times has Utah winning by a touchdown.

Some Links

George Schroeder wrote a great article on reducing expectations yet not being surprised with this Oregon team if they develop into their new roles.. At this point, who knows what the Ducks will do.

Going into the Utah game, here are some defensive numbers.

If you didn't know, Oregon picked up two North Carolina recruits last week. Here's an interesting article on them and recruiting nationally.

While Oregon's opponents have been tougher, Utah is riding into this week's game with a 16 game winning streak.

Blount debuted on the scout team this morning. After breaking up last week's scrum and now practicing with the scout team I believe Blount deserves some much needed respect for rising above the Boise disaster.

Oregon is trying to work Ed Dickson into the offense more after only having 3 catches for 17 yards.

Oregon will likely play the Washington State Cougars at 6:15pm now so that if the game isn't picked up for two of the television windows it can be played on Oregon Sports Network.

Here is this week's football release for Utah.

Top Non Conference Games in 2009

Collegefootballnews.com came out with the Top 50 Non conference games. 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50

Not surprisingly, 2 of Oregon's 3 non conference games ended up in the top 15...

• 12. Utah at Oregon, Sept. 19
• 7. Oregon at Boise State, Sept. 5

Here are where other Pac-10 non-conference games ended up

• 47. LSU at Washington, Sept. 5
• 40. California at Minnesota, Sept. 19
• 37. Arizona at Iowa, Sept. 19
• 35. Arizona State at Georgia, Sept. 26
• 28. Cincinnati at Oregon State, Sept. 19
• 27. UCLA at Tennessee, Sept. 12
• 25. Maryland at California, Sept. 5
• 4. USC at Notre Dame, Oct. 17
• 1. USC at Ohio State, Sept. 12

Looking Ahead

Wide receiver Jeremy Childs, a junior from Boise State who had 5 receptions for 102 yards versus Oregon in 2008, will forgo his senior season to enter the NFL draft. Utah's cornerback Sean Smith and defensive end Paul Kruger will also both pass up their final season(s) of eligibility to enter the draft in April.