Five Questions Ahead of No. 1 Oregon vs. Maryland

The No. 1 Oregon Ducks (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) will welcome the Maryland Terrapins (4-4, 1-5 to Autzen Stadium in just over 24 hours for a Saturday afternoon (4:00 PM PT) matchup on the Big Ten Network.

There’s a lot to watch for in this game as Oregon navigates injuries at key positions and looks to continue their upward trend on the field.

Here are my five questions ahead of kickoff in Eugene.

1. How does Oregon’s offensive line look down Marcus Harper?

Oregon is averaging 467.4 total yards of offense per game and 168.1 rushing yards per game this season. On Saturday Will Stein’s offensive will be without starting right guard Marcus Harper, with sophomore Kawika Rogers set to slide in for him.

Rogers has not started a game for the Ducks, which could also open the door for fans to see fellow sophomore Dave Iuli, who’s been dealing with injury for a majority of the season. How effectively Oregon can run the ball, not just to the right side but overall, will tell us how effective they can still be. It will also serve as an early indication of how well the Ducks will be able to put up points and generate offense for the next few weeks, which is about the duration people are expecting Harper to be down for.

2. Will the Ducks struggle in the third quarter?

For how well Oregon has been playing this team has really struggled to find consistency in the third quarter. The offense has sputtered in the third quarter basically all season, but they’ve built such big leads and the defense is playing well that they’ve been able to get away with it.

No one anticipates Maryland to be the one that gives them issues, but this is an area that gets more pressing for Oregon to address as the regular season begins to wind down. The Ducks are at home so the circumstances appear favorable for them to break their third quarter funk.

3. Can the Ducks break 50 points?

Oregon has yet to break 50 points this season, but they got closer with 49 against Oregon State. Maryland’s defense is not a strength of their team and they give up a lot of points. Just look at last week against Minnesota. They gave up 48.

I have Oregon winning 45-21, and part of me thinks I could be giving their offense too much credit, but if the Ducks want to break 50 I think they have to have a good third quarter.

4. Will the defense force turnovers?

I really like watching this Oregon defense play. They have dudes at all three levels and are not easy to move the ball against. Even so I’d like to see them force some more turnovers. They forced one fumble last week against Michigan but didn’t recover it.

They recorded one sack and eight tackles for loss, which clearly shows they were close to breaking through and probably wold have if the ball bounced their way just a few more times. This secondary is doing a great job of matching the play of the front seven, one that proves to be a matchup problem in both the run and passing games.

I think they have another level they can tap into and I think we could see Jabbar Muhammad get his first interception as a Duck this weekend.

5. How many reps do the backups get?

Oregon has had most of their games decided relatively early, which means they have had the chance to get some backups and younger players into their games. Many people, myself included think this should be a good chance for them to give these players some quality reps against Maryland.

Keep in mind those reps will be even more important as the season continues to wear on. Players are dinged and their bodies have been through a lot. So trotting a player out there to give them some confidence or experience could pay off in a big way down the line.