Why No. 8 Oregon Ducks, Most Complete Team In Pac-12, Have the Advantage At No. 13 Utah
By STEVEN VAUGHAN, 750 THE GAME
ESPN’s College Gameday will be at the Oregon game for the second time in three weeks. And it’s another road game for the Ducks as they are in Salt Lake City to take on Utah.
Pac-12 Network analyst and former Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti joined the Bald Faced Truth and talked about how good of a game this will be and who he is leaning with.
“I think it’s a very tough game,” Aliotti said on 750 The Game. “But I think advantage: Oregon. And not because I have any loyalty or coached at Oregon. To me, Oregon is the most complete in this league. They run the ball and they throw the ball almost 50/50 as far as their statistics. They’re the top offense in maybe the country. They’re playing good defense.”
Utah is coming off of a huge win against USC where quarterback Bryson Barnes made a couple huge plays to help the Utes win. But Barnes has been up and down this season. Aliotti says Barnes play is going to be big.
“I just don’t think Bryson Barnes, although I love what the kid stands for, has enough offense to match Oregon. But defensively, they certainly do. Both defenses will play well. I think Oregon will have a little more offense and should have an easier time stopping Utah the Utah will have stopping Oregon.”
The difference maker could be the home field advantage Utah has at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Utah has won 18 straight games at home and if you take out the Covid year when there was no fans, the Utes have won 27 straight games at home with fans in the stands. Aliotti told Canzano why the Utah fans are so good.
“They love their football. Salt Lake and Autzen have the two best home crowd advantages I think week in and week out. They’re packed. Both places all the time. Their students and their fans get into it and they get loud and they understand the game. So it’s a tough place to play.”
The No. 8 Oregon Ducks (6-1) are on the road against the No. 13 Utah Utes (6-1) where the Ducks are -7 according to betonline.ag.
Listen to the full interview with Nick Aliotti by clicking the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively on 750 The Game.
