After several years of being the laughingstock among the Power Five conferences, UCLA and Oregon are out to prove that the Pac-12 can once again be a powerhouse in college football.
UCLA stunned No. 16 LSU last week with a pivotal 38-27 home win, which has been tabbed as the biggest win of the Chip Kelly era with the team.
This time around, it was Oregon’s turn to pull off a shocker in the world of college football.
The No. 12 ranked Ducks stormed into Columbus, Ohio and pulled off a shocking 35-28 road win over No. 3 Ohio State. Ducks running back CJ Verdell led the way in the game as he recorded 195 total yards and three total touchdowns.
The reigning Pac-12 champions did have some struggles on the defensive end, especially as they were without defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux and linebacker Justin Flowe due to injury.
Led by redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud, the Buckeyes managed to record an astounding 612 total yards in the contest. But due to the lowly 40 percent third down efficiency coupled with Stroud’s late fourth quarter interception, the reigning Big Ten champions simply could not secure what would have been a pivotal top-15 win.
PICKED OFF!@oregonfootball gets the ball back up a TD with under 3 minutes left in the game pic.twitter.com/y20H9oIAf2
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 11, 2021
This win was a crucial one for Oregon and also a landmark one for the Pac-12.
Oregon became the first Pac-12 side since Stanford in 1990 to clinch a non-conference road win over a top-five ranked team.
A monumental win for Oregon’s program. They were tougher, faster and better coached than one of the best programs in the country.
Pac-12’s first non conference road win over a top 5 team since 1990!
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 11, 2021
Pac-12 teams came into today with an astounding 25-game losing streak in such games. As mentioned, one would have to go back to unranked Stanford’s upset victory over No. 1 Notre Dame in the 1990 season to find the previous time that a Pac-12 side picked up a non-conference road win against a top-five ranked team.
Oregon now has plenty of momentum at this point in the season. The Ducks are now set for four straight encounters with unranked teams, with three of them coming against Pac-12 sides.
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