11-0! Kudos to

Dan Lanning and the entire coaching staff. They are ruling the college football world now for a few weeks. It is not easy to be on the No. 1 rank for weeks, considering the tough competition. So far, they managed to dominate their opponents, but week 12 came up with surprises and a reality check.

Although the Ducks defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 16-13, it wasn’t their best performance. Lanning’s key player and the strongest Heisman contender was seen struggling without his support cast, especially wide receiver Tez Johnson, who got injured last week against Michigan. Many experts and analysts already predicted this day, and Joel Klatt, an analyst for Fox Sports, was one of them; however, he has now overturned his big prediction.

On November 18,

 the former player of the Colorado Buffaloes discussed Oregon’s survival on his YouTube channel, The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast. On Saturday, Klatt tweeted that he does not feel great about putting the Ducks at number one. However, after a thoughtful analysis of Ducks’ performance over the season, particularly after analyzing the poor performance this week and comparing it to other big programs, Klatt said, “After thinking about it and after looking at their season a little bit more and doing a little bit of research for this program, I’m thinking to myself, I’m like, Hold on a second, everybody has done this, you are going to throw out a stinker at some point.” This week, the offense struggled badly and Lanning and his coaching staff now know where to work.

So far, everyone has appreciated Dillon Gabriel’s performance, but against the Badgers, he did not throw a touchdown. That’s not all; he had an unusual interception in the first half. He was also sacked twice and managed only 225 total yards. Now, the big question is: who will stand up if Dillon has a bad day in the future?

Klatt further backed his statement and added,

“You are going to have a game where you’re not at your best, and the key is if you’re a great team, you can still win that game.” We all know the landscape of college football keeps changing every single week. Klatt just enclosed a fundamental truth of sports, particularly in the high-stakes environment of college football. However, the Ducks need to work on their mistakes because the competition will just get tougher, and they may face significant challenges from their opponents moving ahead.

Dan Lanning praises defense as their offense struggled in week 12

Madison witnessed a thrilling game on Saturday. The Ducks defense made some crucial stops and kept them alive throughout the game. After the game, the head coach spoke with the media and praised his defense. The Ducks are the only team to come back from a six-point deficit in the last quarter, which also happened three times this season. 

“We can handle critical moments. We can handle it when it’s tough. At some point, that experience is going to pay off for us. It certainly paid off for us tonight. Going through some of that before. It paid off tonight.”

Who thought the Ducks offense would struggle in Week 12? But the defense was ready for it. Taking about the same, Lanning said, “I think that, at some point, we talked about it at the beginning of the season in fall camp, that you’re going to have to put the team on your back and go win in critical moments. At some point, that’s going to be offense. At some points, that’s going to be defense. Tonight was defense, and big-time play by them to be able to put us in that situation. But that’s what you want. You want the pressure in those moments.”

Ducks are now going to enjoy a bye week, and they deserve a stress-free week after eleven straight victories. The next game? Week 14 matchup against the Huskies (6-5) at home.