No. 20 Northwestern is 6-1. Oregon is 4-3 and unranked. And when they kick off at Autzen Stadium at 2:30 p.m. Central today (Peacock), Oregon is a 3.5-point favorite.
Résumé over reputation is how we rank teams around here, so let’s put the two résumés side by side.
Northwestern, 6-1
- Beat Penn State 34-13.
- Won at Michigan State 24-21.
- Beat Colorado 41-7 and Rutgers 42-14.
- Only loss: 29-23 at Indiana.
Oregon, 4-3
- Best win: 41-27 at USC.
- Lost 39-31 at Oklahoma State.
- Lost 17-15 at home to UCLA.
- Lost 21-10 at Illinois last time out.
- Needed everything to beat Nebraska 17-14 and Boise State 34-27.
My take
I get it. It’s Eugene in the fall, the Ducks are at home, and Oregon is the bigger name. The number is built on the jersey.
But at some point the jersey has to win something. Northwestern has the better record, the better best win and the only loss to a top-five team. Oregon has three losses and has scored 10 and 15 points in two of them. If Northwestern wins today, nobody should call it an upset. Make it make sense.
We posted the numbers on Instagram first:
Schedules and records from ESPN.
Résumé or jersey, Faders? Tell me on X @fiveandafade or on Instagram.
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Jeremy Durham is a sports columnist for TriStar Daily and the founder of Five and a Fade.
