Cal Football: Oregon Beat Writer Answers 5 Questions About the Ducks
Oregon is ranked No. 9 in the country, is the only Pac-12 team ranked in the top 15 and is a two-touchdown favorite against Cal in their game on Friday night in Eugene, Oregon.
However, there are a lot of questions about the Ducks heading into that game against the Bears (1-4, 0-2 Pac-12): Did the loss to Stanford indicate that the Ducks are not as good as everyone thought? Will the loss of running back CJ Verdell for the rest of the season and the absence of defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux for the first half Friday have an effect against Cal?
So we went to Max Torres, who covers Oregon football for Ducks Digest, to get some answers. We asked Max five questions about Oregon (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12), and he provided some enlightening answers, and he did it in person in the form of videos.
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Question No. 1: How significant are the losses of running back CJ Verdell and defensive back Bennett Williams to Oregon’s season?
Max provides his answer to this question in the video atop this story. Both standout players were lost for the season as a result of injuries sustained against Stanford.
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Question No. 2: Is Oregon as good as it showed against Ohio State, or are the games against Arizona and Stanford more representative of the kind of team the Ducks are?
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Question No. 3: How has standout defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux played since returning from his ankle injury, and how will his absence in the first half against Cal affect the Ducks’ defense?
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Question No. 4: Assess the play of quarterback Anthony Brown this season
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Question No. 5: Is there any chance that Oregon coach Mario Cristobal will leave for another job in the near future?
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Cover photo of Oregon quarterback Anthony Brown is by Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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