Greg McElroy: Oregon ‘showed a lot of guts’ vs. Wisconsin

Greg McElroy had nothing but praise for Oregon, despite the Ducks struggling a bit with the Wisconsin Badgers in Week 12.

The Ducks advanced to 11-0 by virtue of their 16-13 victory in Madison, but fans and analysts alike expected a more lopsided Big Ten clash. Still, McElroy believes we learned a thing or two about Dan Lanning’s team this past Saturday, and he’s actually more encouraged by the performance than he was going into last weekend.

“I thought Oregon showed a lot of guts on Saturday night, a lot of guts,” McElroy said, via his Always College Football show. “There have not been many teams this year that have kind of kept this offense in check. There’s not been, honestly — if you really look at the defenses that Oregon’s faced this year, there’s really only one team that had Oregon scrambling just a little bit, and that was Idaho. I mean, other than that, Oregon’s been able to move the football consistently. … This was not a clinic offensively, but when the offense was down, who rose to the occasion? That was the defensive side. I think it was their best performance of the year. … I think when you look at it, when the offense was slightly down, the defense elevated, and that’s the makings of a phenomenal football team.

“If I’m Oregon, and I know while Oregon fans are probably sitting there like, ‘Man, that was kind of a gut wrenching performance to watch,’ I get that. That performance was needed. That is going to benefit Oregon long term. To have a close call on the road at night, hostile environment, nowhere near your best stuff offensively, and still find a way to win? That tells you an awful lot about the makeup of this team. Super encouraged by what I saw this past weekend.”

As McElroy alluded to, it wasn’t a great night for Oregon’s offense, but their defense came through on Saturday evening. They proved they can win in a multitude of ways, and that shows how high their ceiling is moving forward.

The Ducks will enjoy a bye week, and then their chase for a championship will continue against Washington during the final week of the regular season. Greg McElroy and the rest of the college football world will be watching close, not willing to bet against Oregon just yet.