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Oregon Ducks vs Colorado Buffaloes Twitter Stream, 7pm PT, ESPN

By Justin Phillips

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Oregon Ducks vs Colorado Buffaloes
FINAL

Preview
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The Oregon Ducks are 2-2 on the season and are certainly out of having a shot at playing in the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row. So far this season the Oregon Defense has rarely had much of a moment to shine. The team has managed to give up over one-thousand yards to opposing Wide Receivers and the Secondary is in desperate need of a good game. Oregon will be without Cornerback Chris Sesay, their most experienced in the backfield for a while after he underwent surgery earlier this week. The Ducks are also without a key player on Offense.

Wide Receiver Byron Marshall was carted off the field on Saturday against Utah and was not listed on the depth chart for the game at Colorado this weekend. Mark Helfrich in a press conference earlier this week called his situation more ‘week to week vs day to day’. With Marshall out, look for Dwayne Stanford to play a bigger role this week, as well as Addison, particularly on Special Teams in the return game. The big question of the week has been who will start at Quarterback, Jeff Lockie or Vernon Adams. Lockie showed some confidence against Utah but threw two interceptions. Adams issue has been a broken finger and has been well documented this season. At times, Adams has also appeared sluggish and not appearing to know what he is doing with the ball. One thing the Offensive Line can do is help Adams and open some holes for Running Back Royce Freeman.

MUST Read: Oregon vs Colorado, Three Things I’ll Be Watching – Autzen Zoo

Freeman started the season on fire and has since cooled off after a big season opening game against Eastern Washington that saw Freeman rush for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns. Freeman is one of the keys for Oregon to not only pull out the win on Saturday on the road, but also could be the spark plug to get the Ducks back on the right track for the rest of the season. Last season, Oregon lost to Arizona at home and won nine straight games losing to Ohio State in the National Championship.

Sep 19, 2015; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks running back Royce Freeman (21) runs the ball against the Georgia State Panthers at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

The Oregon Defense needs to show they can at least handle what Colorado gives them and not give up big plays. The Ducks Offense needs to maintain control and composure and whoever starts at QB needs to get some early confidence. Freeman can handle the Oregon Running Game and should be able to alleviate some of the pressure off the QB.

This should be a game where Mark Helfrich sees his team answer the questions that were asked last weekend. If there are more questions after Saturday night, it could be a long season with no answers in Eugene.

In The Know:

Autzen Zoo Live Coverage will begin at 6pm Pacific Time with our Live Twitter Stream, which will be located at the top of this page. Kickoff in Boulder is set for 7pm PT on ESPN.

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