After a rough start, the No. 6 Ducks seem to have gotten their season back on track.
Oregon was ranked No. 3 in the preseason AP Top 25 but fell in later polls after disappointing nonconference wins against Idaho and Boise State to begin the season.
However, the Ducks (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) have convincingly won their last two games, first against their former Pac-12 rival Oregon State and then last weekend in their conference opener at UCLA.
Oregon outscored these two opponents 83-27, but coach Dan Lanning wants to improve even more on Friday night when the Ducks face Michigan State.
“I see all the things that we can get better at,” he said after the 34-14 victory over UCLA. “Again, we won in a lot of categories, but I know what we’re capable of, too.”
Michigan State (3-2, 1-1) is going in the opposite direction after losing two games in a row against Boston College and No. 3 Ohio State.
“I think one of the things we said in the locker room that was really important is that it’s easy for good, great teams, which I believe we have, to get to this point of the season where we lose a couple of games and now it can go downhill,” Spartans running back Nate Carter said. “I think the message in the locker room is for us not to allow that to happen.”
Spartans coach Jonathan Smith knows the Ducks well. He coached at Oregon State, which is nearby Eugene, for six years before joining Michigan State in November. While at Oregon State, Smith was 2-4 against Oregon.
He acknowledged that the Ducks have worked through their early problems.
“Credit to those coaches, they got better,” Smith said. “Early on, against Boise in special teams there were a couple of huge explosive plays and then they’ve tightened some details up and improved in Week 3 and Week 4.”
