5 Things To Watch: Oklahoma State

EUGENE, Ore. — Rivalry week isn't for another two weeks in Autzen Stadium, but this Saturday's game will have the feel of one.

The No. 6 Oregon football team will take on a different OSU that wears black and orange this week. The Ducks host Oklahoma State in Autzen Stadium on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., a week before opening Big Ten play at Northwestern and two weeks before returning home to host rival Oregon State.

The Ducks are 1-0 on the season after opening the campaign with a 59-13 victory last week over Montana State at home. The Cowboys also are 1-0 and had a little extra time to prepare after a season-opening defeat of UT Martin last Thursday.

Oregon leads the all-time series with Oklahoma State thanks to a win in the only previous matchup between the two, the 2008 Holiday Bowl. This is a match-up of two of college football's most prolific offensive teams this century — since 2010, Oregon leads the nation in scoring with 40.32 points per game, and the Cowboys are fifth at 36.53 points per game.

Saturday's game will be televised by CBS, with Brad Nessler on play by play, Gary Danielson providing analysis and Jenny Dell reporting from the sidelines.

Some storylines to watch once the game kicks off …

1. Oregon's staff does rigorous scouting of opponents during the offseason. But everything can change once games kick off, and that was the case regarding the Cowboys.

Oklahoma State's quarterback in the opener was Hauss Hejny, but he was injured and will miss extended time. He was replaced by redshirt freshman Zane Flores, who completed 13-of-20 passes for 136 yards.

"That's college football, right?" Lanning said. "So you've got to prepare for what you see on film. The system is the system, more than it is they're going to completely change what they do for a player. They have complements where the quarterback can run the ball or throw the ball, so they carry that in their system. Might make them a little bit more reserved to run the quarterback, based on that situation."

2. Oregon started two freshmen at cornerback in the opener, Ify Obidegwu and Brandon Finney Jr. They could be in for a tougher test this week against the Cowboys.

"This will probably be the team that we play that takes the most vertical shots down the field to date that we've seen, and probably my time here," Lanning said. "They're going to push the ball down the field, a lot of quick passing game and a lot of shots down the field. … If you leave somebody single covered, they're going to let their wide outs go, have an opportunity to go win and compete down the field for the ball."

Receiver Terrill Davis was a D-II all-American and had 1,609 receiving yards a year ago before transferring to Oklahoma State.

3. Oregon utilized its depth to great effect last week, and there could be more Ducks available Saturday.

UO coach Dan Lanning was asked earlier this week about several players who didn't appear in the opener, and he sounded hopeful that linebacker Dylan Williams and cornerback Theran Johnson could see the field this week. And offensive lineman Emmanual Pregnon, who didn't play in the second half against Montana State, should be good to go, Lanning said.

A week ago the Ducks utilized almost 80 players, including 29 freshmen — 12 of them true freshmen. And it seems like the rotation could expand even further this week.

4. Having all that talent available means jobs have to be shared, among players more than capable of filling bigger roles on a team without as much depth.

Take running back, where heralded transfer Makhi Hughes had two carries against Montana State. He was one of seven running backs with multiple carries for the Ducks last week.

"We've got a lot of really good players," Lanning said. "There were some plays that he was in with called runs and we had heavy boxes and the ball was thrown; he was also in the two-minute scenario, where the ball is probably gonna be thrown a little bit more. But we have a lot of really, really talented players, and it's going to be a continuing challenge for us to figure out how do we use these guys in the proper roles."

5. When there's that much depth, players need to do everything possible to separate themselves. True freshman receiver Dakorien Moore did exactly that in week one.

Already having earned a starting assignment based on his performance in preseason camp, Moore didn't get complacent. He caught three passes for 26 yards, and also had a number of impressive blocks on the perimeter.

"It's awesome, because it's not natural, right? It's not natural," Lanning said. "And he did it, but several guys did it in that game and I'm really proud. I'm really proud of the effort that our guys gave. You want to see people play 100 miles an hour, and I thought we had a lot of guys playing 100 miles an hour on Saturday. But the way you block again tells me how much you love your teammates. And that guy was blocking really hard, right? And there were several guys that blocked really hard on Saturday."