As Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders get set to face the Oregon Ducks, it should be abundantly clear that this will be the toughest test that the Texas Tech football team will have faced up to this point in the season.
This is, by far, the most talented team that the Red Raiders will have had a chance to meet up with and, in addition to it being the most athletic team, it might just be the most physical team as well. There just aren’t many rosters assembled the way that Oregon has assembled theirs. It’s an incredibly well put together group that can win in so many different ways.
If you want to try and run up and down the field with the Ducks, they’ll be happy to do that. If you want to play some old school bully ball and just slow things down in a classic Big Ten sort of way, Oregon has demonstrated that it will happily win a game or three in an ugly rock fight.
It doesn’t matter. Oregon has shown that it just likes winning. Above all else, that’s what matters most.
But because they seem to be apathetic about playing any one specific style of football, the Ducks are ready for a number of different types of matchups. And that makes preparing for them interesting, especially when you’re coming out of the Big 12 and most Big 12 teams don’t look anything like Oregon.
Except, maybe one. Just, you know, a little bit. Kinda. If you squint.
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire notes subtle similarities between the Oregon Ducks and Utah Utes ahead of Orange Bowl
During a press conference, as part of a multipart question, McGuire was asked about what Big 12 team he thought the Oregon Ducks most closely resembled. And he noted that there were a few small similarities between Oregon and the Utah Utes.
“I think, if there’s one team,” McGuire mused and pondered about the question. “A little bit different at quarterback, even though he’s a dual threat. I mean, he’s pretty special throwing the football, [Dante] Moore is, but Utah, as far as their physicality on defense.”
Obviously, we’re talking about a very talented Oregon team. And it’s not that Utah isn’t also talented, but it feels like the Ducks are on a bit of a different level here. But there are some similarities present.
“They’ve got really good length at corner and in the secondary,” McGuire continued. “So I’d say a little bit like Utah.”