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Oregon was one of the popular picks to make the College Football Playoff before the season, but has looked far from a threat through two games. The Ducks narrowly escaped the clutches of FCS Idaho in Week 1 and needed a walk-off field goal to top Boise State last weekend.

Plus, the Ducks looked like a shell of the team coach Dan Lanning has built. They’d given up 13 tackles for loss and were tied for 11th in the Big Ten in plays of 20 or more yards with six. Toughness and explosiveness were gone.

Until Saturday.

The Ducks had 16 explosive plays, rushed for 240 yards and averaged 9.3 yards per carry in the 49-14 win over rival Oregon State in the “Civil War.” What’s scarier is that the score isn’t indicative of how much of a beat down the Ducks gave the Beavers in Corvallis.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Jordan James of the Oregon Ducks runs after a catch during the second half against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium on September 14, 2024.  (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)

This is the team that was pegged to play Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game by the “unofficial” official pre-season media predictions that are annually put out by cleveland.com. These are the Ducks who can score from everywhere on the field at any given time. These are the Ducks that hit you in the mouth up front, hit you again when you stand back up and hit you a third time to finish you off.

Remember last year when Lanning famously said that Colorado doesn’t “hunt for clicks, it hunts for wins?” That was Oregon’s “get right” game, which is exactly what happened on Saturday in Corvallis.

Slow starts aren’t deal-breakers these days, especially in the day and age of the 12-team CFP when teams will have a bigger margin for error. However, coming back like Oregon did against a rival that not only is an in-state foe, but a pissed off foe that got left in the dark in the Pac-12 during the latest round of realignment, is a massive statement.

Oregon is back and, if the Ducks keep playing like they did on Saturday, they might be better than ever.