The Oregon Ducks were expected to carry the banner for the Pac-12 in the College Football Playoff conversation but that all came to an end last week when the Ducks took a surprising loss to in-state rival Oregon State. The loss tumbled the Ducks down the rankings and with a shortened season, all but ended Oregon’s chances of making the final four of the CFP rankings.
Just three weeks after saying that Oregon was a program that had the “juice” it took to be in contention for a national title, former college football coach and current FOX Sports analyst Urban Meyer offered his assessment after watching Oregon’s game last week.
“Last year, they had a really good year. They have a good coach, good staff, really good players — I hear the build up, I was hoping they’d get to play Ohio State.” Meyer continued, “I couldn’t wait to watch this game, this was the first chance I had— I was really disappointed.”
Getting to watch the Ducks for the first time because the game was on the Friday of Thanksgiving, Meyer wasn’t impressed with what he saw in the Ducks loss. Oregon struggled in the second half, not able to close out the game and let the Beavers score with 0:33 left to take the eventual lead.
“That is not a team that looked like a team competing for the College Football Playoff. So I was disappointed,” said Meyer. “I still have great confidence in that staff will get it going. They have good enough players but something happened that night. They just didn’t look big, fast, and physical.”
Although now two Oregon coaches and six seasons removed, Meyer recounted the last time that he faced Oregon and what the brand of Oregon football he is familiar with.
“When we played Oregon in that National Champions game several years ago, remember those big defensive ends? Those big, thick, and fast players? I didn’t see that,” said the analyst.
Back in mid-November, Meyer appeared on Fox Sports and commented that he liked how Mario Cristobal was bringing the juice back to the Oregon program. Meyer commented then about how Cristobal has used his last three recruiting classes to elevate the talent on the roster and set the Ducks up for success.
While Oregon didn’t get it done against Oregon State and likely ended the Pac-12’s playoff hopes for 2020 in the process, Meyer still had confidence in what Cristobal is doing in Eugene.
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