Whew lord is that a disingenuous reading of the Tech/Oregon State game. They had <100 yards at halftime and and barely over 100 yards passing at the end of the 3rd quarter when we pulled everyone after we got up 38-0. They had a few garbage time drives for Maalik to pad his stats against the scrubs.
One thing that gives me pause is how they got manhandled in the trenches at home by Indiana, a team with a talent index far lower than theirs. The final 30-20 score wasn't really indicative of how badly they got beaten at the LOS in that game. I get how good and well coached Indiana is and I'm not saying Tech is as good as Indiana, but both play a very similar style of football.
Oregon needs to be able to run the ball efficiently for their offense to function well and no one has been able to run the ball on Tech this year, including Utah, who has multiple first round draft picks on their offensive line and is absolutely comparable or even superior to Oregon from a running game perspective. Regardless, it'll be at very least the 2nd best O-line we've faced all season and the most talented on paper.
Also, Oregon hasn't been great against the run despite not really playing against a good rushing offense all season outside of Indiana. That kind of manifested itself again in this game where that little bitty RB from JMU was hitting the edge pretty regularly and having a good day even while they were getting beat down in the first half. Tech's running backs can do exactly what that kid was doing except they're both bigger, faster, and stronger.
Two common opponents.